Recap / Veep S 5 E 6 Cnntgate

As the country faces a massive financial crisis, Selina must make an important decision. Meanwhile, Jonah campaigns in New Hampshire and Amy is asked to find the source of disparaging comments made about Selina.

Selina is faced with bailing out two of three banks to avoid an American financial crisis. However, she's also read in a Politico article that someone in the White House called her a cunt, and recruits Amy to discover who. Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, Dan, Jeff, and Richard struggle to help Jonah succeed in his campaign against the erstwhile Senator Sherman's widow.

Tropes:

• Being Good Sucks: Selina ultimately decides to do the best thing and not bail out her boyfriend Charlie's bank, averting a financial meltdown and keeping her presidency. But despite Charlie's alleged promise to not be angry over what she chose, he flips his lid and breaks up with her over it.
• Blatant Lies: Selina's staff have to scramble to pretend to be surprised when she mentions reading someone has called her the C-word.
• The Bus Came Back: Bill Ericcson has gotten out of prison on appeal, and is the widow Sherman’s campaign manager. An Oh, Crap! moment for the Jonah campaign.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: There are unfortunately so many bad Politico articles about Selina that her cabinet can’t immediately identify which one she’s talking about.
• Butt-Monkey: Mike is such a loser that he's only just paid off his student loans, and they were actually paid off by his wife. For context, he's at least in his forties.
• Can't Take Criticism: Jonah can’t handle forty-five seconds of dislike from a focus group reviewing his campaign ad.
• Cold Equation: The government only has enough money to bail out two out of the three banks, meaning no matter what, a major American bank is going down.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Candi Caruso returns and once again is used to leverage one of Selina's staff into accepting a job quickly, in this case, Dan.
  • Catherine is still filming things, this time Jonah’s campaign.
• Country Matters: A big part of this episode, and the word is thrown around in various ways.
• Everybody Did It: The end result of the Cuntgate investigation. Selina immediately guesses that was the result.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: During Jonah's campaign ad one can catch a glimpse of Richard’s hand when the log is split in close-up. This is confirmed several episodes later in Kissing Your Sister when we see all the outtakes of Jonah failing, while Richard splits the log on the first try.
• Hidden Depths: Sue apparently speaks Korean, as she speaks some to Mike when he brings up Korean barbecue.
• Idiot Ball: Selina has to make a choice no matter what, and there are really only two choices - include Charlie's bank and one other, or don't. But she goes back and forth on her decision until the last possible moment so every moment of drama can be milked from it.
• Insistent Terminology: The Meyer administration are insistent that the bank plan is not a bail-out, just a "massive capital infusion”.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: Ryan’s campaign ad features him gleefully chasing a child around a playground, which, combined with his appearance, leads to the screen test audience saying he looks like a creeper.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Selina calls Jonah to hate on him for a bit of stress relief, but this leads to him attacking her during his next campaign speech, which is then wildly successful.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The economic crisis is enough to make Kent angrily address Selina as "Madam President, if-you'd-like-that-to-remain-your-title!"
• Pet the Dog:
  • Selina is a little slow on the uptake, but once she realizes what Catherine's confessing, she has nothing critical to say, and is even encouraging.
    Selina: I’m going to need a moment to process all this, girls. But I’m happy for you.
  • Dan and Jonah have a rare moment of camaraderie when they both complain about Selina, with Jonah even complimenting Dan for being an excellent campaign manager and Dan reluctantly accepting it.
• Racist Grandma: Selina regrets that her mother isn't alive to see Catherine date a woman ... because the resultant shock would've been enough to kill her.
• The Reveal:
  • Catherine is dating a woman. Said woman? Marjorie, a member of Selina's security detail, although Marjorie mentions she'll be resigning from it due to conflict of interest.
  • Also, confirming what Dan deduced previously, Mike sees Tom James having dinner with Sidney Purcell and Speaker Marwood, meaning he's both working with shady lobbyists AND may be subverting Selina's interests.
• Ripped from the Headlines: Jonah has “Women For Jonah” signs
• Running Gag:
  • Different characters confessing they called Selina the C-word.
    • Amy and Mike admit it to each other, with Mike saying he shouted it in the quiet car on the Acela train.
    • Ben admits he thinks he said it to the reporter who broke the story.
    • Kent admits he said it once and dignifiedly asks for clemency.
    • And Gary subverts it by thinking he did, but upon investigation, revealing he thinks the C-word is “Crone”.
  • Mike is also trying to get people to use Groupons with him.
  • Jonah keeps getting copyright-struck for using country music on his campaign, to the point parties start sending pre-emptive cease-and-desist letters
• Slave to PR: Selina has created a dilemma for himself. Since her boyfriend is head of one of the three banks they have to choose between, her advisors are telling her not to pick it, because it will make her look prejudiced towards her boyfriend's company. But in addition to not wanting to make her boyfriend mad, his bank IS one of the stronger banks. Selina thus has to labor over whether it's worth the bad press.
• Take That!: Tom James explains the severity of the situation by saying that if they don't avert the financial meltdown, “We will be Greece. The country, not the musical.”
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: Catherine's Dull Surprise tendencies and Marjorie's The Comically Serious nature lead to this.
  Catherine: [blank-faced] I can't stop smiling.
  Marjorie:' [equally stoic] Me too.
• Unusual Euphemism: Kent celebrates a victory with, “Thank non-existent Jesus.”