Veep season 4

Plot

Selina Meyer becomes president after President Hughes steps down to care for his depressed wife. Her staffers' incompetence ruins her first State of the Union address when her speech fails to load on the teleprompter. She pursues a bill called Families First to benefit working mothers, despite her team's advice against it. Gary struggles with his reduced role as her bag man, and they reconcile after a screaming argument over expensive decorations for a state dinner.

Amy manages Selina's campaign unofficially but is frustrated when Selina hires top campaign manager Bill Ericsson. A data breach revealing an HIV-positive student's identity brings negative press; first Leigh, then Dan are fired as scapegoats. Dan goes to work for Sidney Purcell at a consulting firm. At the party convention, Doyle unexpectedly drops out, and Selina's team scrambles for a new running mate.

Amy quits over Selina's equivocating friend Karen Collins, and Selina asks Tom James to be her running mate. Dan gets Amy a job at his firm, but she struggles with anger. Selina's team convinces her the Families First bill is a liability, so they work to ensure it fails. Gary meets with Dan and Amy to pay them to lobby against the bill.

In "Testimony," staffers undergo congressional hearings and scapegoat Ericsson. Selina takes steps to end Catherine's engagement to Jason.

Production

Season 4 marked the end of Armando Iannucci’s tenure as showrunner, with the creator stepping down due to the strain of running a U.S. series while his family remained in London. Iannucci still co-wrote every episode’s story. The executive producer roster included Christopher Godsick, Frank Rich, Chris Addison, Becky Martin, Stephanie Laing, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Directing duties were handled by Addison, Martin, Laing, and Iannucci. The season premiered on HBO on April 12, 2015, and ran Sundays until its finale on June 14, 2015.

Reception

Season four of Veep received critical acclaim, with a 90/100 on Metacritic and a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, whose critical consensus called it "sharp, funny, rapid-fire dialogue." Departing creator Armando Iannucci was praised by Newsweek as the "funniest season yet." The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman wrote that the season "delivers its most thoroughly assured, hilarious and brilliantly written and acted episodes." Matt Zoller Seitz of Vulture described Julia Louis-Dreyfus as "her usual Swiss-watch self."

Ben Travers of IndieWire applauded the comedic duo of Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale, noting their chemistry drives episodes. In a less positive review, Variety's Brian Lowry found the series "a bit too precious in sidestepping issues of partisanship." David Hinckley of the New York Daily News noted that viewers who do not find awkward funny will not enjoy the show. Dan Pfeiffer of Grantland called Veep the most accurate depiction of American politics, capturing "the humanity, the banality, and the absurdity" of Washington D.C.