When are you from, anyway?

The episode begins with Selina learning that she’s up in various polls in time for Super Tuesday. Leon dumbed down Selina’s speech, while Ben informs Selina that Kemi Talbot has received some death threats. Selina has some too, but they’re mostly about her fat arms, and her shriveled old face. Typical insults, you know? As for where the team is now, they’re somewhere in the South.

It’s five days until Super Tuesday. At Oklahoma City, Leon informs Selina that she can’t use the story about a woman named Rosa story because she’s been deported. Luckily, Selina made her up. However, reporters will still ask about Andrew’s indictment, as it’s entirely possible that he’ll flip on Selina.

At Selina’s Alabama campaign office, Selina informs Marjorie that Andrew is in hiding. Catherine, meanwhile, is struggling with her depression.

Continuing with Andrew’s ongoing case, he has a new attorney: the indecisive-as-fuck Karen. She informs Selina that Andrew may be cutting a deal. While Selina reminds Karen that she could pardon Andrew once she’s President, Karen at least has the foresight to acknowledge that she could use this against Selina.

Well, she’s not wrong.

Just as Selina tells the team that Andrew is cutting a deal, Leon enters to inform her of a tip: he’s got a friend working at The Washington Post and is writing an article on a foreign interference story. Well, that could make things worse. No better time than now for Selina to reveal to Ben and Kent that Keith Quinn is working with the Chinese.

Kent suggests that Selina propose the other side, also get rid of the Chinese money. She then tells Gary to spend all the money from the faith based initiative on religious shit, even though he has no idea how the money got there.

Amy speaks with Jonah about starting a new fundraising initiative: donate $38 for his 38^th birthday. In enter Furlong and Will, with Furlong informing Jonah that he has actually been assigned a Secret Service detail: Officer Youngblood, played by Dutch Johnson. Furlong congratulates Amy on her promotion, which is anything but, though it at least pays well.

At the Lurlene Mayor’s office, Dan corrals the press to get them off of Richard’s back. When alone, he then tells Richard that the country sees him as a hero. That’s delightful, but Richard warns Dan that since he works there, he can’t dip his quill into the company ink. As in sex. Richard is talking about sex.

Mike hosts another episode of his podcast with Selina as his guest, with Selina bringing up the accusations of Senator Talbot’s husband and his tax evasion. While not having any concrete evidence, it’s enough to plant the seed.

In Clearwater, FL, Amy preps Jonah for how to appeal to the crowd. Jonah takes to the stage and rails against Selina Meyer’s age. Some in the crowd want her dead, even. It’s enough to get the crowd cheering in a chant of ‘When are you from?’

Selina doesn’t believe it’s a big deal and won’t show her birth certificate since, in her words, she’s always transparent about her age. In enters Keith Quinn to speak with Selina alone, but she informs him that Dan and Kent know everything. Quinn reveals Talbot voters in Houston believe that they will receive an IRS audit if they vote. Selina doesn’t want to know how Keith did that. In fact, she wants no updates whatsoever.

Also, a dissident in China has been arrested. Since Selina freed Tibet, perhaps the people will want his support. It can’t be done until The Washington Post story blows over. Keith will deliver the news. Oh, and by the way, Selina might want to talk with Andrew, as he has his own business in China.

If Andrew talks to the grand jury, this could be troubling. Who knew that election rigging could be this hard?

At a restaurant in Des Moines, Dan and Richard meet with Sidney Purcell, who brings up an upcoming vote on pesticide. Richard doesn’t know much about it, but the empty seat in the State Senate could belong to Richard’s.

Dan heads to the bar and recognizes one of the women there- it’s the OBGYN who provided Amy’s abortion.

An overjoyed Selina watches the news of Talbot denying reports about her husband’s tax evasion. She shares news to Gary just as Andrew arrives to tell her that he had no choice about cutting a deal. Selina is the third to ask him about the Chinese, but it turns out that it’s Selina’s doing yet again because her name is on the forms. Naturally, as Andrew put nine figure funds through the Meyer Fund.

Oh, and Andrew is well-acquainted with Keith Quinn already. Andrew proposes Gary as the fall guy, but the two soon settle on Marjorie, even though this would destroy Catherine.

Amy informs Jonah that they need a copy of his birth certificate, but he sees no reason to produce one since he was born in Toronto. Despite this, Amy won’t cancel the press conference because she believes all this talk about Selina’s age must be driving her crazy.

Later, Marjorie talks with Selina about Catherine, but Selina compliments Marjorie on her hard work with the Meyer Fund. Selina even calls Marjorie the mastermind. Sensing something amiss- and noticing that the flowers have been moved- Marjorie believes the conversation is being recorded and is proven right when she finds Andrew’s phone hidden in the flowers.

So Andrew reveals himself. Marjorie won’t be the fall-person. Instead, she asks for Selina and Andrew’s blessing because she wants to marry Catherine.

Andrew informs Selina that he has a suitcase packed for the last 20 years in case of emergency. The only thing the attorney’s office has on Andrew is Selina, but Andrew will need some walking around money if he’s to remove himself from the equation. Selina needs a day to process this.

The next day, Kent and Ben inform Selina that her fake information about Talbot’s husband is working. Also, the aforementioned Rosa has been found. Selina tells the two about Andrew’s trip, and Gary, meanwhile, spent the faith-based initiative the money on Bibles for the homeless. Selina decides that she needs to speak with Keith Quinn.

Mike’s next guest on his podcast is Buddy Calhoun, but it’s naturally interrupted. Selina calls into the show to talk some more about Talbot’s husband, as she heard that it’s much deeper than tax fraud. More than that, Selina needs more help from Keith Quinn.

Out of nowhere, Talbot releases a statement denouncing Selina’s comments about the supposed tax evasion. To counter this, Selina reveals that her daughter is getting engaged. Keith, meanwhile, will take care of Andrew.

Richard informs the reporters in Lurlene that he won’t be running for the State Senate seat, but he doesn’t stop there. This being Richard, he’s very open about the fact that Sidney Purcell made multiple offers for him.

Over in Boston, Ben informs Selina that Rosa will be spending the night there, but then Kent reveals some unexpected news: her mother’s boat en route to Cuba has exploded. The only person on board was Andrew.

But the show must go on. Selina- eventually- meets Rosa, as well as her sister, accidentally. Rosa shares her story with Selina, saying that she did nothing wrong. But Selina didn’t do anything wrong, either. She’s just running for President. Rosa then thanks not Selina, but Laura Montez instead. Terrific.

Catherine confronts Selina about ruining Marjorie’s proposal, but Selina brings up that Andrew is lost at sea.

Selina goes to Keith and asks if he’s responsible for what happened to Andrew, but Keith has no idea what she’s talking about. He remembers her telling him to take care of it. Based on the body language, Keith got the idea that Selina wanted him to blow him up. It was a ‘blow-him-up’ sort of face.

Following this, Selina leaves and embraces Catherine- briefly- before delivering a Mandarin form to Ben and Kent. Neither of them can read Mandarin, but the three know somebody who can. They would need to find someone who can read and translate the letter without knowing what it means.

We cut to Jonah’s home as the search for the birth certificate continues. They finally find it, and Jonah speaks to the press as he reveals his birth certificate. However, upon seeing the identity of his father, he suddenly leaves.

Nancy confirms that Lloyd is indeed Jonah’s real father. This wasn’t revealed because Jonah’s mother and father were second cousins. This would make Beth the half-sister to Jonah. Nancy just didn’t want to think about it, but Jonah, naturally, doesn’t want Lloyd to be his father.

Beth, meanwhile, is doing a lot of puking, so could she have a bun in the oven?

Selina, Ben, Kent, and Gary pop by Mike’s home to speak with his daughter. Selina presents the form and asks her to translate it. Ben reveals that the Meyer Fund investigation is dropped, but the good news doesn’t stop there. The Washington Post is dropping the election fraud story.

Mike’s daughter has finished translating the note: it’s about how Selina gaining the nomination for President would all but ensure a Laura Montez presidency.

Richard informs Dan that the Governor wants him to resign as Mayor- effectively immediately. Why? Because he’s been promoted as Lieutenant Governor. Well, Richard is moving on up in the world and quite quickly, isn’t he?

“Super Tuesday” is super, you know. Again, while it seems like Veep may be setting Selina up for a fall, she’s surprisingly been able to defy the odds and expectations stacked against her. Just as in American politics, Super Tuesday has the largest number of primaries, this episode presented Selina with, as of now, the greatest number of obstacles.

Whether it’s taking out Kemi Talbot, the Meyer Fund, Andrew’s upcoming indictment, The Washington Post looking into potential election fraud, the Chinese, and the comments about her age and appearance before anything else, Selina had a lot on her plate this week, but with the possible exception of Andrew, she got through it all unscathed.

While we don’t know the results of Super Tuesday, that’s not really important- despite the episode title, anyway. How is Selina doing by episode’s end? It doesn’t matter. What matters is her public image. In this episode, I don’t think Selina could give less of a shit how she’s polling. The Meyer Fund investigation, Andrew being referred to as her husband, the public finding out about the fraud- that’s what matters.

For so long, Selina has often been a lightning rod to misfortune. She still is, but this week, with everything thrown at her, Selina bats it all away through either good fortune or the usefulness of her team. Tom James is, for the moment, out of the picture. That just leaves Kemi Talbot. So Selina does what…some politicians do best: lie. Tax evasion is serious business, and whether true or otherwise, the accusation is enough.

This automatically put Kemi Talbot on the defensive, which is helpful because she’s Selina’s greatest obstacle to overcome at the moment. Were this Buddy or Jonah, it wouldn’t matter, but Talbot’s meteoric rise is cause for concern when you’re running against her. It’s a cheap tactic, but works in getting the press to lay off of Selina for a moment.

Not that they were ever going to leave her alone. The Meyer Fund investigation wasn’t going to just go away. I mean, it eventually did, but before that, Selina still has to deal with Andrew signing her name- effectively making her the fall-woman. Even with everything going on with the election, she’s got her (ex) husband to deal with and his presence just makes things worse.

He’s that itch that Selina just can’t scratch or burn off…but Keith Quinn certainly can. In such a short amount of time, Quinn has been able to make massive gains that no one on Team Selina ever could, all with a smile on his face. I love the enthusiasm that Andrew Daly brings to this role, but also how crooked Quinn can be. After all, he read Selina’s face as telling him to blow up Andrew. Hard to misinterpret that.

Though perhaps I’ve watched too much television. Even with the devastating news of Andrew’s ‘demise,’ I don’t believe someone dies until I’ve seen a body. It’s entirely possible that Andrew’s death is indeed just an off-screen death, but I remain skeptical. Perhaps the Meyer Fund investigation will pop back up and Andrew will be a surprise witness. Stranger things have happened.

That said, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was great in her scene when Selina learned about Andrew’s death. She was devastated, but like the death of her mother, she uses the tragedy for her own political purposes. For example, Catherine was rightfully pissed about her mother spoiling Marjorie’s engagement announcement, but Selina threw Andrew’s death right back at her.

You’ve also got Talbot issuing her statement refuting Selina. But rather than Selina just, you know, being honest, she brings up Marjorie’s announcement. Selina will use just about whoever she needs to whenever it fits her. It goes along with the “New Selina. Now” model she’s been touting. At least she’s graduated from showing Little Richard around like a prop.

On the other side of the political spectrum is Jonah, who is leaning very far into the Trump comparisons. At least ‘When are you from’ sounds a bit nicer than ‘Lock her up.’ Again, it really does seem like Jonah could stumble himself into high office. Whether intentional or by accident, he’s tapping into a segment of voters that love his rhetoric, nonsensical as it is.

It’s at least lit a fire under Amy’s ass since she’s doubling down on Jonah’s rhetoric. I doubt she believes in what Jonah is saying, but she sees the results. Like Ben and Kent pointed out earlier, Jonah has this ability to appeal to voters in a way that Selina cannot. Between that and Amy’s past frustrations with Selina, it makes sense that she would do a complete 180 and go all in for Jonah.

So despite everything laid before her, Selina emerged, for the most part, victorious. With just two episodes left, can this momentum lead her back to the White House? Or is this just the calm before the storm? We’ll find out.