6x03 Georgia

[8.6/10] It's always good to have Minna back in the fold. This is a pretty classic formula for Veep now -- have Selina put in a position where she can do the right thing or the self-serving thing; have her, naturally, choose the self-serving thing over and over again; and have it backfire in unexpected ways. I'm not complaining -- it's a dependable formula, and it works well here, it's just interesting seeing the way the show employs it and wraps it in the trappings of foreign dictatorships.

Plus Stephen Fry! I can only hope that he comes back for an interaction with Tom James for some reason. There was lots of great stuff with Minna's romance with him as the Georgian opposition leader. Her giddiness amid her matter-of-factness makes for a great combination, and the way that she thinks of Selina as her best friend, much to Selina's chagrin, was superb.

I also loved the other little reunions in this one. Jonah getting ostracized by the Congressional delegation as the dork that he is was amusing, but seeing him and Richard paired up together, with Jonah's angry deludedness juxtaposed with Richard's chipper wholesomeness is just great. The story of Jonah being happy to have a buddy to go to things with and ending up at a nazi death metal concert is great stuff too.

It was brief, but I also loved Gary and Mike getting paired up again a little bit. The two down-on-their luck, kind of dopey underlings always make for a great pair, and the fact that they both accidentally voted was a small but classic bit of buffoonery from the two of them. Plus Kent and Ben advising Selina again was a treat in and of itself.

I was a little colder on the Amy/Buddy stuff, with her clear disdain for her fiance and Dan messing with her via his show, but I assume it's leading to the inevitable Dan-Amy thing that the show's going to pull the trigger on eventually. Yawn. Also, Dan offering his sperm to Catherine and Marjorie was a little abrupt, but I assume they're going somewhere with that too.

Overall, still a very funny episode being driven by a classic Veep formula.