And the Emmy Goes to...

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Julia Louis-Dreyfus 

as 

Selina Meyer 

Veep 

Episode

"Running"

HBO

With the administration flailing in the fallout from the CIA agent-Uzbekistan hostage crisis scandal, Vice President Selina Meyer finally sees a door opening for her to attain the power she's always wanted. Unfortunately she crashes into a plate of glass when she tries to walk through it.

Last week, Selina caused a stir when she apologized for the cover-up of the presence CIA spy among some U.S. students held hostage some weeks back. She was actually just as in the dark about the spy's identity as everyone else in the country. But heaven forbid she admit being out of the loop.

"I mean, I lied and everything, but it sounded true, at least," Selina says, as the apology has earned her the moniker "the no BS VP."

The pressure is on for the president to come clean about the controversy, and Selina thinks she can ride out the scandal to the White House in six years. That is, until rumors emerge that someone from within the party will rise up to challenge the president before his first term is even over. Ambitious war veteran Danny Chung looks to be a prime suspect, releasing a Spotify playlist, a la Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), that had been curated by Dan, who along with Amy, is gunning for a spot on Chung's campaign.

Nevertheless, Selina must walk a fine line of appearing supportive of the president while using the scandal to her political advantage.

"There's going to be difficult choices to make, like 'Sophie's Choice' choices, except more important because they're gonna be about me," she tells her staff.

But before she can break the glass ceiling, and become the ovaries in the Oval Office, as Mike jokes (or "the womb in the West Wing," which Gary calls her, making everyone uncomfortable), she walks through a glass window on the way to a fundraising brunch.

"That woman has become a living metaphor for her own career," Dan smirks. And the situation only gets worse when the antidepressants Selina is taking react badly to some St. John's wort Gary gives her ("I think I got that off a Catholic school girl, once," Dan says, always the skeeze).

Selina turns into a bloody, loopy mess, unable to meet the donors who would fund a potential presidential run and unable to comment on the rumors that she is planning said run.

Among the things she promises while high on the herbal painkillers is that she will buy Mike's boat off of him (he is drowning in debt) and go to Gary's parents' anniversary party (he is drowning in mommy issues). The accident also inspires one of those crazy, Taiwanese animation news cartoons. (This company actually exists; check out the latest about Vladimir Putin's alleged Super Bowl Ring theft).

But Selina doesn't let the accident, or the painkiller high, stop her from running in the Let's Move 10K the next day, much to Gary's disappointment, as he can't keep up with her speedy pace. While on the run, the heat gets turned up on the president – with the possibility of an impeachment being thrown around – and Selina decides she will not be dragged down with him.

"Look at me. I am covered in scabs. I smell like a hobo's crap hole," she tells Amy. "I'm not going to run with him in two years. I am not going to be his vice president. I'm finished."

Just in time for the season finale, now Dan and Amy must decide if they want to jump Selina's ship for Chung's campaign, or stick along for Selina's political kamikaze mission.