Veep Recap Season 6 Episode 1: “Omaha”

After sitcoms have been on the air for a while, there comes a time when the creators need to blow up the premise in order to create fresh original stories.

Veep found itself in that boat last season when Selina Meyer was stripped of her presidency and the future of the characters was left uncertain for the first time.

It was a move that made sense because it would have been a regression to see Selina back in a vice presidential role and right now the real-world politics are so absurd that Veep would have trouble crafting any narrative that didn’t seem like a criticism of the current administration.

The premiere, “Omaha,” is a fine opening episode but spends most of the time just updating viewers as to where each of the characters has landed since leaving the White House.

“Omaha,” takes a one year time jump but still opens up right into the storyline without too much exposition. Dan is thriving at his job on CBS This Morning, which makes sense considering how he has managed to adapt to any environment.

Image Credit: HBO

He gets the opportunity to interview Selina Meyer, where she hilariously attempts to remain optimistic while Julia Louis-Dreyfus perfectly conveys her frustration under the surface. For anyone who missed her forced happiness/self-awareness, Selina immediately settles back into her regular self the moment she gets to devolve into a pool of narcissism and anger.

The two of them aren’t the only ones who are dealing with change in, “Omaha,” because Ben and Amy are both the fish out of the water in their new jobs. She’s now engaged to Buddy Calhoun and running his campaign but her foul-mouthed wit is clearly out of her depth now that she’s surrounded by polite, wholesome people.

It feels like Amy has been stranded the most out of the entire cast, and it’s sad to see her separated from Dan and Selina when she works off the two of them the best. Anna Chlumsky has long been an under-used force of nature on the show that it’s hopeful she is reunited with the rest of the cast. Meanwhile Ben has gotten a job at Uber, but his “old school humor” doesn’t fit in with easily offended millennials.

The jokes are definitely racist, but back in the White House, he would’ve easily fit in but nowadays he can’t get away with his rough humor. Luckily for Ben, he is unhappily going to join Kent working for Jonah by the end of the episode which will at least reunite him with part of the cast.

Speaking of Jonah, he seems to be thriving as freshman Congressman of New Hampshire where he’s campaigning to make school lunches taste better. His entire career seems to have flourished after his cancer diagnosis, which Dan uncovers is actually a lie.

Well, that the cancer is in remission and that Jonah is still shaving his head. It comes as a saving grace for Dan, who is hoping to tank his television career by having a terrible interview with Jonah which ends up actually lands him a permanent position on CBS This Morning.

Image Credit: HBO

Selina attempts to rally her troops to support another presidential campaign but is shot down making her the least successful out of all of her former employees. “Omaha,” has small references to a meltdown and depression that she has suffered through since getting booted out of the White House.

Thankfully it looks like nobody (even Gary) is on board with a second campaign, which means that Selina will be out of politics for a while. Catherine and Marjorie are still going strong, as well as financing all of her current endeavors which make for a welcome change since the two have always been under her thumb since the start of the series. It’s nice to see Sarah Sutherland take on a larger role in, “Omaha,” because she has more than proven herself as a key player over the past six seasons.

Veep continues to be entertaining even in its sixth season but “Omaha” misses the mark slightly just because it requires so much reshuffling of the entire cast.

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Dan’s venture into journalism opens up the possibility for the show to comment on the current media climate, but it seems like only a matter of time before Amy and he return to the political game they love. Selina’s end game is still murky but again, it feels like the show will eventually reunite her with everyone in some sort of venture rather than keep her sidelined with only Richard and Gary as her company.