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Veep, Ep 3.04: “Clovis” further complicates Meyer’s campaign manager decision

Veep, Ep 3.04: “Clovis” further complicates Meyer’s campaign manager decision
Kevin Dunn, Reid Scott

Kevin Dunn, Reid Scott

Veep, Season 3, Episode 04: “Clovis”
Teleplay by Kevin Cecil, Roger Drew, and Andy Riley, Story by Armando Iannucci, Kevin Cecil, Roger Drew, and Andy Riley
Directed by Armando Iannucci
Airs Sundays at 10:30pm (ET) on HBO

While Meyer formally kicked off her presidential campaign last week, she has yet to select a campaign manager, a decision she has previously wrestled with. While Ben has pushed the idea of hiring an outsider, Dan and Amy have both expressed an interest in the job. Despite neither one speaking openly to Meyer about the position, she is aware of their eagerness. This week’s episode sees both characters put in positions that further complicates Meyer’s eventual decision, in another superbly funny episode that proves Kent’s value to the team.

Dan effectively manipulating Jonah this week is a fascinating development. This season has made it clear that Dan is feeling the pressure of the campaign to a higher degree than anyone else on Meyer’s staff. However, his ability to successfully manipulate Jonah to both cast the cloud of controversy on Danny Chung and discredit Ryantology proves that Dan hasn’t lost his touch after all. With this being his strongest bid for campaign manager to date, it will be intriguing to see how Dan acts now that he’s got a victory under his belt. While Meyer is somewhat dismissive of his accomplishment this week, Dan has proven himself an effective strategist on prior occasions, and a few more moves along the lines of what he did this week will make it difficult for Meyer to ignore his accomplishments.

Amy’s job offer this week is also a promising turn of events. While Dan posits himself as a potentially effective campaign manager this week, it is Amy who has been at Meyer’s side throughout this campaign, with the exception of Mike’s wedding. While she is loyal to Meyer, it’s unlikely that she will tolerate cleaning up toilets on the vice-president’s behalf if circumstances make her see it as a dead end job. Meyer selecting Dan over Amy as campaign manager could conceivably be such an event. It will be interesting to see if Meyer realises this, and takes steps to mitigate it. While it’s clear that Meyer wouldn’t function as well in Amy’s absence, it’s unclear if Meyer herself understands this, and what kind of concessions she is willing to make to keep Amy around.

Overall, this is another strong episode in what’s shaping up to be a fine season. Meyer’s tour of Clovis is an excellent parody of popular tech corporations and effectively communicates how the company’s carefree attitude is less of an organic working environment and more of a constructed image. Gary’s injury this week is another illustration of the dedication he has to his job. Much like Amy, Meyer will have a hard time functioning without Gary, and it will be worth keeping an eye on him to see if anything manages to pry him away from Meyer. This episode once again uses Jonah in a compelling way, by positing him as an underdog before reminding the audience of the type of person he really is, and his arc over the course of this season will be worth keeping an eye on.

– Deepayan Sengupta

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