In a refreshing change of pace from most television shows written by and for liberals, the May 28th episode of HBO’s Veep titled “Blurb,” the narrative that gender is fluid was shot down. The message was gender is simple.
As her daughter Catherine (Sarah Sutherland) tells Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) about her pregnancy wellness check, Selina’s assistant, Gary (Tony Hale), innocently asks if the baby is a boy or a girl. As Catherine and her partner, Marjorie (Clea DuVall) launch into their explanation that gender is irrelevant and that the baby can decide its gender when it is ready, Selina pushes back. Then when the potential baby names are brought up, well, Selina tells Catherine it is time for her to go.
Catherine: Mom, we had a great wellness check at the doctor's today.
Gary: So, is it a boy, is it a girl?
Richard: Oh, right.
All: It's a baby.
Selina: No.
Gary: Mm-mm.
Selina: We're not doing that.
Catherine: No, Mom, we don't wanna know.
Selina: Catherine, you are not going to be coy or twee about the sex of my grandchild. This is a human being you're making, not some Brooklyn-based, artisanal chocolate bar.
Marjorie: Birth gender isn't even that relevant. She/he will decide her/his ideal gender when she/he is/are ready.
Selina: Okay, is that how we're talking now, Marjorie, like some sort of bi-curious Porky Pig? I'm not doing that.
Mike: I had an aunt who transitioned twice. She was trapped inside a man, and then that man was trapped inside of another woman.
Richard: Oh, like a turducken. - Mm-hmm.
Catherine: Mom, it's not that big of a deal. We have baby names picked out either way. Yes, Leslie or Dana if it's a boy and... And for a girl we like Linus.
Selina: Seriously?
Gary: That feels like child abuse.
Selina: Yes. Okay, I can't. Can you just go away, Catherine?
Catherine: That's fine. We're late anyway. Richard has doula class and we're bringing the snacks.
Selina: What?
Richard: It'll be my first human birth, so.
Selina: What is happening? What is happening?
Gary: It just... - Gender is simple!
Selina: Right.
Gary: You’re a girl, I'm a boy.
Selina: Well.
The language in this show is frequently crude and offensive and there is one line in this episode that is particularly bad for Reagan supporters. As she pitches an idea to her book editor, Selina says the book would be “hotter than Nancy Reagan’s guide to co**s***ing.” Really? The line is totally gratuitous and unnecessary to the plot. Sliming a deceased woman cherished by conservatives simply because liberals hated President Reagan with this ugliness is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
