Photo via Photo by Paul Schiraldi/HBO.

Could the Veep become the POTUS? That’s certainly Selina Meyer’s endgame and what looks to be the central theme of Veep’s third season. It’s been two months since Selina and her team were informed that POTUS isn’t seeking reelection and he still hasn’t gone public with it. Predictably, it’s driving everyone on Team Meyer to panic mode, obsessively wondering when he’s going to make the announcement and who else might be vying for the nomination in 2016.

And what better setting to send Team Meyer into a panicked frenzy then at Mike’s wedding? Thanks to the razor-sharp plotting from Armando Iannucci, and writers Sean Gray and Will Smith, season three opens at Mike’s wedding while Selena is off promoting her new faux-memoir out in the middle of nowhere, Iowa. With “Some New Beginnings,” the season three premier, Veep is the strongest its ever been. The show’s crude, biting humor is in full-force and we’re treated to some of its character’s finest moments, including some great Jonah schadenfreude.

With a new season and a new goal for Selina, let’s take a look at the power rankings to see where everyone stacks up:

1. Selina

Although she’s currently sequestered in Iowa in the middle of a long book tour, Selina has spent the past few months knowing that the President isn’t going to seek reelection and has thus been preparing for her campaign as soon as the timing is right. It’s unclear who else knows about the President’s decision to not run again (with the exception of Secretary of Defense Maddox, but more on that in a bit). As of now, we can only assume she’s got the advantage and her team is waiting for the moment to strike.

2. Maddox

Everything’s going smoothly at Mike’s wedding until news breaks that Maddox has resigned as Secretary of Defense, which can only mean one thing: he’s also seeking the Presidential nomination.

3. Mike

Mike just got married, so while he’s still involved in Selina’s campaign, he’s pretty distracted the whole episode. I especially enjoyed how he made all his co-workers deposit their cell phones in a punch bowls (and, subsequently, finding out all the various places they hide their backup phones). I’m interested to see how Mike develops throughout the season and I wonder if his money woes will come back to bite him and his new marriage in the ass.

4. Dan

Now that Selina is looking to run, it looks like the Dan and Amy rivalry is back in full force as they’re both vying to be her campaign manager. In this episode, Dan gets the edge on Amy as he finds out Jonah is secretly running the “gossip-tainment” blog “West Wing Man” and single-handedly forces POTUS to announce the big news early while also getting Jonah fired. Still, it’s not enough to convince Selina to appoint him as her campaign manager.

5. Amy

In round one of Dan vs. Amy, Dan was clearly the victor, but as the previous two seasons have shown us, Amy definitely has some tricks up her sleeve. Looking forward to seeing how she bests Dan in the quest to impress Selina enough to make Amy her campaign manager.

6. Ben

Ben doesn’t really do much other than function as Selina’s lapdog, but he’s pretty OK with that and thus I am to. Points for modesty.

7. Kent

Back at the White House, Kent is in panic mode thanks to Jonah leaking the picture of Selina’s staff freaking out over the Maddox announcement. He does damage control, but it causes POTUS to make his announcement early. Kent’s firing of Jonah would have put him higher in the rankings, but he’s mostly running around like a chicken without its head this episode.

8. Gary

I’m not entirely convinced Gary would be able to live without having someone to serve.

9. Jonah

Man, what a great episode this was for Jonah. In his most douche-tastic moment, he crashes Mike’s wedding and admits to running the White House “gossip-tainment” blog “West Wing Man”, only to have all of that backfire and he gets shit-canned. And, of course, the scene of his firing was nothing short of greatness. Can’t wait to see what the writers have in store for Jonah this season.

Photo via Paul Schiraldi/HBO.

Quotes, quips, and other observations:

• Mike: “It’s a nice day for a Mike Wedding.”
• Selina’s replacement bag boy, Richard, provided for some of the best subtle jokes in this episode and I really hope they keep him around for a while.
• Richard: “Butter doesn’t need to be refrigerated…it’s like a fruit.” Selina: “That’s not true.”
• The scene of Selina trying to call Gary while he’s giving a speech at Mike’s wedding really made me realize how much I missed Veep.
• Ben: “Get out of the way or i’ll fucking inhale you!”
• Ben: “New Beginnings: Our Next American Journey.”
  Selina: “What do you think of that title?”
  Ben: “It’s so full of shit there’s a colon right smack dab in the middle.”
  Ben really does have the best one-liners on this show.
• Dan: “You’re texting behind your back? Are you Hendrix texting?”
• Jonah: “What’s Google’s number?”
  Dan: “I don’t know, Ask Jeeves.”
• Ben: “I’m never ambiguous, ma’am. Not even sexually.”