The penultimate episode of 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥� airs Sunday, as will the final episode of 鈥淰eep.鈥�
Both are rife with power dynamics and backstabbing 鈥� one figurative, the other literal.
Only one, however, elevated vulgarity, insults and vulgarity-laden insults to high art. That would be the HBO comedy that followed the up-and-mostly-down D.C. career of one Selina Catherine Meyer, former Maryland senator and first female vice president.
Over its seven seasons, the dysfunctional Selina and her equally dysfunctional staffers have endured a failed presidential campaign, an election recount and too many scandals.
They鈥檝e also been terrible to one another.
鈥淧olitics ain鈥檛 beanbag,鈥� the saying goes, and 鈥淰eep鈥� has frolicked in that cruelty. Even with an audience weary of political lemons, the series鈥� sour tone yielded sweet success: 17 Primetime Emmys and a Peabody Award, among other honors.
Before 鈥淰eep鈥� drops its final F-bomb Sunday night, it鈥檚 only appropriate to single out some of the things that kept this super fan tuning in. Here now are some categorized rankings. They are by no means definitive because we live in a democracy.
5 episodes most worthy of repeated viewings
“Signals” (Season 2, Episode 2): Selina used to have secret hand signals for communicating with her codependent bagman Gary (the great Tony Hale) in public. Or at least she used to: A tabloid has just decoded them, so the is left to improvise during a visit with “real Americans.” Choice quote: 鈥淥h gosh, that looks like finger-licking fun.鈥�
“C**tgate” (Season 5, Episode 6): When Politico reports that a staffer called Selina the C-word, she enlists her aide Amy (Anna Chlumsky) to root out the perpetrator. Selina also struggles to decide whether she should bail out her boyfriend鈥檚 bank. “C**tgate” is in my top five due to in which a focus group deconstructs Jonah鈥檚 congressional campaign ad. (Editor’s note: The scene contains language that may be offensive to some viewers.)
“Clovis” (Season 3, Episode 4): Selina visits an omnipotent Silicon Valley company to fundraise and finds that the tech lords have little time for her. Tim Baltz (a co-star in HBO鈥檚 upcoming 鈥淩ighteous Gemstones鈥�) stands out as Craig, the hoodie-wearing billionaire coder who acts like a cult leader. Choice moment: Using a prototype smartwatch, Selina attempts to call up her campaign Web page and instead accesses an adult website.
“First Response” (Season 2, Episode 8): With scrutiny looming over her management of a hostage crisis, Selina welcomes journalist Janet Ryland (Allison Janney) into the vice president鈥檚 residence for what she hopes will be a puff piece. It instead turns out to be a 鈥渞ough puff鈥� that descends into chaos. One highlight is a classic Selina quote, uttered in describing No. 1 Observatory Circle: 鈥淚 hate this house, to tell you the truth. It鈥檚 like living in a doll鈥檚 jail.鈥�
“Testimony” (Season 4, Episode 9): A House Committee investigates Selina and her staff over data breaches and a secret effort to kill legislation. Watching them all squirm for the duration is good fun. But it turns classic when one congressman reads an endless internal office list of secret Jonah nicknames (e.g. 鈥淭he Cloud Botherer,鈥� 鈥淭he 60-Foot Virgin鈥�) into the record. It鈥檚 an all-time scene that will not be linked here, because holy cow does it get NSFW.
5 top characters, ranked
Top 15 insults
鈥淪ometimes, like, in a futuristic 鈥� like a sci-fi movie, you’ll see, like, a robot that’s like the old version of the robot and you kind of feel bad.鈥�
鈥� Jonah, describing press secretary Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh)
鈥淐atherine, why is that your hair?鈥�
鈥� Selina Catherine Meyer to her daughter, Catherine Selina Meyer (Sarah Sutherland)
鈥� 鈥� You sentient enema.鈥�
鈥� Jeff Kane (Peter MacNicol), to nephew Jonah
鈥淵ou know, Dan, watching you try to be nice is like watching a baby smoke a cigarette. It’s kind of cool, but also very disturbing.”
鈥� Mike, to Dan Egan (Reid Scott)
鈥淕ary Walsh, you need to understand, is a 12-year-old boy trapped in the body of a 12-year-old girl.鈥�
鈥� One-time Meyer running mate Tom James (Hugh Laurie), on Selina鈥檚 bag man
鈥淩oger Furlong trying to play nice is like Brando trying to play Annie.鈥�
鈥� Mike, on the extremely foul-mouthed congressman from Ohio (Dan Bakkedahl)
鈥淲asn’t it Oscar Wilde who said, 鈥楧an’s a f–king terrible campaign manager鈥�?”
鈥� Mike
鈥淪o you’re the best the White House has to offer? Two giant children in their dads’ suits?鈥�
鈥� Congressman Moyes (Tom McGowan), to Richard and Jonah.
鈥淕od, that is the most grotesque country I have ever been in, and I have been all over Florida.鈥�
鈥� Selina, on the country of Georgia
“Every town up here is just two dirty piles of snow connected by a covered bridge 鈥�”
鈥� Dan, on northern New England
“I don’t have time to ignore you.”
鈥� Amy, to Jonah
“You are like an earlobe. You are just there. Just wobbling.”
鈥� Amy, to Mike
“I don’t know what those words mean, Mike. Are you in the middle of some sort of aneurysm?”
鈥� Selina, to Mike
“Hey, Hepatitis J!”
鈥� Dan, to Jonah
鈥淚’ve met some people. OK, real people. And I gotta tell ya, a lot of ’em are f–king idiots.鈥�
鈥� Selina, on the American electorate
