Mother (Veep)

Synopsis

Selina Meyer heads to North Carolina with her daughter Catherine after learning her mother had a severe stroke with slim chances of recovery. Meanwhile, her staff—Amy, Dan, Ben, and Kent—stay glued to the Nevada presidential recount, coordinating with Selina from a distance. At the hospital, Selina sees her ex-husband Andrew and visits her mother, but Catherine grows upset by Selina’s emotional distance, as she spends most of her time on recount calls.

Doctors confirm the mother is brain-dead, and the family agrees to remove life support. Elsewhere, press secretary Mike McLintock and his wife Wendy keep looking into surrogacy. Dan gets increasingly frustrated with the election limbo, and Amy struggles to manage the campaign’s response during the drawn-out recount. After her mother dies, Selina attends the funeral.

During her eulogy, fresh updates from Nevada arrive, pulling attention away; Selina learns the recount has helped her opponent further. She then finds out her mother’s will leaves most of the estate to Catherine, not to her.

Critical reception

The episode received critical acclaim. Den of Geek and Vulture each gave it a 5 out of 5 rating, and Time magazine called it "a transformative half-hour of TV". The A.V. Club awarded it an A, praising Louis-Dreyfus for "embracing Selina's narcissism and cruelty and presenting them without apology". Louis-Dreyfus won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for this episode at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2017, Stern was nominated for an Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series award at the Directors Guild of America Awards, and Paper was nominated for Best Edited Half-Hour Series for Television at the American Cinema Editors Awards.