S01E07: The State Dinner

If the last episode was a whole lot of fuss over nothing then this one is a whole lot of fuss over a whole lot. Union negotiations, extremists, hurricanes, protests and a state dinner all vie for attention in a gripping 44 minutes.

The whole episode is really about decisions, and the huge consequences both physical and emotional when we have to make big ones. Most of us are making decisions which are pretty inconsequential most of the time. We bite into our ham sandwich and wish we'd made cheese sandwiches instead. We realise that the colour we picked for our living room doesn't actually look as good in our house as it did in the brochure. It's rare that we make really big, life-altering decisions. These guys do it all... the... time.

Leo and Jed have to make a decision about what to do with a carrier group. It seems straightforward, so straightforward that Leo effectively makes it on behalf of the President, but it ends up most likely costing the lives of most if not all of the 12,000 men in it. You can tell from the final shot in the episode that Jed isn't looking to apportion blame, the weight of this decision sits squarely on his shoulders, at least in his eyes. He might not be able to tell a hurricane to change course, but it leads him to flex his muscles over the union dispute, settling that in short order.

Toby and Sam have to make a decision about how hard they go on Indonesia in the toast they're writing. Sam wants to keep it light, but Toby's principles force him to pull rank and go harder. The consequence - Toby's friend isn't getting released from prison in Indonesia any time soon. Richard Schiff's acting is fantastic in the scene as it begins to dawn on him just what "doing the right thing" has cost him. We almost see him die a little inside. Sam has his own low point of the night when it turns out Sledge Hammer has bought Laurie as his date. His decision to further his association with her has consequences too.

Mandy and Josh have to make a decision about how they deal with the faceoff between the extremists and Federal Agents. Mandy is far more idealistic than Josh about the whole situation, and she revels in the fact that the President takes her advice, not Josh's, but that's short lived when she discovers the consequences of that decision - the probable death of the negotiator she urged Bartlet to send in. Josh's "Well you're in the game now" reveals that he's been on the wrong end of these choices a great many times. For Mandy, it's absolutely crushing.

With all the weighty stuff in this episode it's nice to have moments of levity, and they come courtesy of the interpreting snafu and Danny's flirting with CJ.

Above all things this episode is just really well written. It has a lot to squeeze into its running time yet nothing feels rushed and all the subplots, and hence characters, get their moment to shine, and shine they do. There are episodes that are great and as a result the running time just flies by - before you know it they're over, but there are other episodes that are great, but are so densely plotted and so flawlessly executed that they feel more like a film. This is one of those. By this time The West Wing was already my favourite TV show on the air, but if I think back it was probably this episode which made me realise what potential the show really had. It could be the best show I'd ever seen. Turns out, it was, and still is.

Random observations:

I feel a bit sorry for the Indonesian president during the photo-ops. They make him out to be a real stuffed shirt, but I bet if he was talking to Bartlet in Indonesian (any one of the 583 varieties) Jed would be a little terse too.

There aren't many moments in this show where Toby gets comprehensively schooled, but the most extreme example of it can be found in this episode where he gets put in his place in no uncertain manner by Rahmadi Sumahijo Bambang (no, I can't spell it correctly either but IMDb is my friend).

Sam's "I'll give you $10,000 not to go home with that guy tonight" kills me. In an episode full of great lines it's hard to single one out, but I couldn't not mention that one.

I guess Sorkin is a big Yo-Yo Ma fan. Tiny spoiler: We actually get to see him play next season, not just hear his music.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, turns out FLotUS is a Pink Lady.

Episode grade: A+

So what did you all think?

S01E06: Mr. Willis of Ohio

"There is one fruit..." Yes, it's another opening that doesn't consist of any actual writing, more an exposition of various random trivia. As I mentioned previously though, I love that kind of stuff, and to this day I still know all 14 punctuation marks and regularly ask people which three words begin with DW.

The way I see it, the main thrust of this episode (involving the eponymous Mr. Willis) asks the question of what would happen if you abolished all lobby groups and soft money contributions and simply had two sides state their case to an impartial observer and let the chips fall where they may. Of course, Mr. Willis being a Social Studies teacher is somewhat convenient, but it allows for an interesting constitutional discussion. As someone from the UK, "everything I know about US politics I learned from watching The West Wing", and the 3/5s portion of the constitution was a bit of an eye-opener.

In the B plot we get some character development in the form of a field trip to a local bar, where Zoe gets harrassed by Milo from 24 and a few of his buddies. The purpose of it is to show what a good guy Charlie is, but it does a better job of showing how incapable Sorkin is of writing realistic dialogue for college kids. It's absolutely cringe-worthy. It does allow for some nice one-liners afterwards though, mostly while Josh, Sam and Charlie wait for the president.

Overall this feels like a bit of a nothing episode, where the whole manages to be less than the sum of its parts. There's some nice small talk (the dispute between Donna and Josh is well done, with a humourous coda) and a little bit of character development, but it's hard to really care about much of what goes on. The appropriations bill is about as dry as it gets and no amount of factoids make up for that. It's not a "bad" episode, during the entire run I'd say there are only two episodes that I'd describe in that way, it's just not very good.

Random observations:

If a Congress(wo)man dies in office does their significant other really serve out their term? That seems a tad unbelievable to me.

"It's OK by me, so long as it's not the same people who decide what's on television." Ain't that the truth.

Mr. Willis' parting words to Toby (the "wisdom of Solomon" speech) sound remarkably like something Jed would say.

For a Democratic president Bartlet has some decidedly conservative views on things, as exemplified by his conversation with Leo ("You're the man - fix it"). I know he backtracks later, but from the heart's abundance the mouth speaks.

Episode grade: D

So what did you all think?

Spoilers for the future follow.

CJ's total ignorance concerning the census made me question her later promotion to CoS. Bartlet said it needed to be someone smarter than you, and sorry, but CJ was never the smartest person in the room (except maybe in The Long Goodbye - and yes, I know I'm evil for even thinking that, but there you have it).

Probably the most famous scene in this episode is Bartlet's diatribe at Zoe concerning her potential kidnapping. It's famous due to its almost pinpoint accuracy in its description of the events in Commencement and Twenty Five. I often wonder if Sorkin ended his time on the show in that way to go out with a bang or simply to paint his successors into a hideous corner. I like to think it's a little of both.

S01E05: The Crackpots and These Women

Yes, it's our first "Big block of cheese" episode. I have a soft spot for these, as very often I find myself being taught stuff and entertained at the same time - always good.

Our first crackpot is Ted from Scrubs. While not taking him seriously Sam's still left with a nagging doubt about the alledged UFO over the Pacific.

During the early stages of the episode there is clearly friction between Toby and Jed. While it manifests itself in small ways initially (the basketball game, the press conference prep), it really comes to the surface during the Oval Office meeting where they discuss the LA trip. "Nobody ever looks like Joe McCarthy, that's how they get in the door in the first place" is a line that never fails to give me chills, and yet again we see that Toby finds it incredibly hard to just shrug things off when he's really impassioned about them.

Ron Swanson (!!!) then makes a less than compelling case for a wolf highway to CJ. Is it wrong that when the troupe reveals Pluie's fate I just crack up at their earnestness? After all, what's $900 million between friends?

As if Toby wasn't fragile enough at this point in the episode, Mandy then drops the bombshell that he wasn't PotUS first choice for Communications Director. There's a silver lining to that cloud though, as it proves to be the catalyst for genuine reconciliation between him and the President.

If you don't love Josh by the end of this episode then you're dead inside. The whole plotline of his nuclear strike card is wonderfully done. As gradually we see the penny drop with him that neither Sam, nor Toby, nor CJ get one, then see his visit to his psychiatrist, we begin to realise what a soft centre the President's bulldog really has. The scene where Ave Maria is playing and he has the conversation with CJ reduces me to tears every... single... time. His speech about smallpox is unbelievably well written and acted, and the whole scene is capped off beautifully with his tension-breaking "Well you better hurry 'cause I'm the only one with one of these cards." Then he gives the card back. He really is very sweet sometimes.

Right toward the end we get what I feel is the only duff note in the episode, which is Jed and Leo's appraisal of the women in the room. It's one of those cloyingly sentimental scenes that Sorkin occasionally throws in when he forgets that he's writing the best series ever. However, as far as the rest of the episode it's like Mary Poppins - practically perfect in every way.

Random observations:

Oh the irony that possibly the most idealistic person in the room gets described as one of the "more jaded" staff members.

I think they said Larry Posner when they meant Michael Bay.

Episode grade: A+

So what did you all think?

Spoilers for the future follow.

This episode is only enhanced when watched knowing Josh's full backstory, and which Donna nails when she's talking to Amy in Commencement. Talking of which, I'd never picked up before on Sam's line that his relationship with his secretary was like Donna and Josh's. Oh no it isn't.

S01E04: Five Votes Down

Once again, Sorkin goes to The American President well, but what a corker of an episode. The Monday caption at the outset along with the episode title tell us this is going to be a race against time to get back five votes that they've lost which is the difference between passing a bill or not. The President's speech where he promises success in the issue raises the stakes. Then we get the wonderful walk and talk with playful banter (which introduces a recurring theme of Toby's less than ecstatic reaction to the President's delivery of Toby's lines), and guess what - we still haven't hit the opening credits yet.

So who are our five defectors? Katzenmoyer and Wicke are our first two, though both Josh and Sam find Wicke an unlikely defector for some reason. O'Bannon makes three, and Sam guesses Tillinghouse and LeBrandt as four and five. The scene makes it clear that all these people are staggeringly in the know when it comes to the literally hundreds of members of the house. We'll deal with each of these and their various motivations in the course of the review. As a side issue, this encyclopaedic knowledge comes at a price, exemplified by Leo's failure to remember his own anniversary.

Katzenmoyer is Josh's first target, and he goes in hard against him. Just as we found out earlier that Leo is in actuality more powerful than Hoynes, so Josh is more powerful than any congressman. His whole shakedown is great writing, and Whitford nails it. One down, four to go. Actually, three down, two to go. Josh's performance was so great that O'Bannon and LeBrandt fall into line too.

Chris Wicke is next, and as it turns out all he wants is a game of chess with Bartlet. While it makes Josh sick (Wicke was a personal friend, which explains Josh's incredulity over his defection), at least it means four down, one to go. Tillinghouse is out due to Leo's feud with Hoynes, so off goes Leo to the previously unmentioned Richardson.

With the introduction of Richardson we see the first honourable congressman of the episode. He actually has a valid reason for voting down the bill, and as much as Josh displayed an in-depth knowledge of the bill in the previous scene, Richardson leaves him in the shade. He puts Leo in his place, which just goes to show that when you have the facts on your side all the power in the world doesn't mean a thing (something Bartlet alluded to in his speech at the start). Yes, in this episode a lowly congressman manages to accomplish what the VP couldn't, and all because he's right.

As it turns out, they need Hoynes to go to Tillinghouse after all (another congressman that is actually voting his conscience, though that soon changes when Hoynes wields his "I'm going to be president" stick), and that's that. Five votes grabbed, which saves Bartlet's face after the Monday speech.

The stoned Bartlet scene is fantastic - there's really nothing else to say about it. I defy any West Wing fan to dislike it.

Of course, with the VP coming into save the day, he ends up making all the political hay out of the events of the past 48 hours, and looking at this episode with the hindsight of familiarly with the Josh/Hoynes relationship, Bradley Whitford does a fantastic job when Leo says "Listen, we won" to him. Just look at his eyes during that sequence. Brilliant acting.

I guess the thing I really love about this episode is the realism that gets injected into it. The manouvering and political chicanery all feel eminently believable. Hey, it has to be good, because I haven't even mentioned smoking jackets, stock options or Leo's alcoholism, the first two in particular being lovely and whimsical subplots which will never be mentioned again yet really add something to the episode.

Random observations:

Leo get upset about the mis-spelling of a dictators name, but when he gets asked for names he "don't got 'em yet"?!

According to Sam, between Tillinghouse and LeBrandt, if they got one then they'd get both. So why was LeBrandt so easy and Tillinghouse so hard?

Things not to say to your wife: "X is more important than my marriage." I'm not married, never have been, but even I know that.

The sudden reconciliation between Leo and Hoynes feels really strange and out of place. I don't think Tim Matheson does a particularly good job in the scene, though the whole thing seems weird to me.

Episode grade: A-

So what did you all think?

Spoilers for the future follow.

"I'm going to be President some day..." Oh John, how wrong you are.

"Welcome to the NFL." This coming from the man who lost the Presidency because he didn't listen to Josh. Maybe "The pupil becomes the master" would have been more appropriate.

S01E03: A Proportional Response

The early scene in this episode provides a lovely insight into the character and morality of Toby, as he's often at odds with the rest of the staff when a principle is involved, and while Toby can often be more pragmatic than most of senior staff (Leo excepted), if he gets a bee in his bonnet he really can't let it go.

"What is the virtue of a proportional response?" On the one hand it's an interesting ethical debate, on the other, it's an incredibly familiar phrase, at least it will be if you've ever seen the Sorkin-penned The American President. When you watch it it's almost like seeing the real pilot episode of the show, and it touches on a theme: Sorkin often recycles, be that actors, plotlines, actual lines of dialogue or even episode titles. While I don't have encyclopaedic knowledge of these crossovers, I have seen pretty much everything he's ever written and a pretty good memory to boot, so I'll try to spotlight them as they occur. The proportional response line was a particularly notable example, though while I'm talking about The American President I may as well add for those few that haven't seen it, Martin Sheen takes the Leo role (CoS). In all honesty, I wish they'd reused the "this is the least Presidential thing I do" line too.

"Your transcripts, these grades are better than mine... well, not really but it's close." One of the things I loved about Josh in the early episodes was his cockiness. As much as I loved all these characters, in the early episodes Josh was definitely edging it as my favourite.

While I'm talking about the things I loved about characters, the way Toby rattled off the missile stuff when he's effectively a speech writer was incredibly cool.

We also get to meet Danny in this episode (who would later join Josh at Studio 60 in another one of those Sorkin crossovers). Quite how Sorkin manages to convey that Danny is the bigshot in the press room in the space of a couple of sentences is beyond me, but I guess thats why he's writing award winning series and I'm typing up a blog post.

Random observations:

Charlie takes care of his little sister, so Josh thinks it's a good idea to give him a job that involves 20 hour days? That guy has a serious work/life balance problem.

If the picture Mandy gives Josh is from the first time they met then why are they hugging like they're going out? I get the feeling there was a miscommunication between the writing department and the props department on that one.

I've heaped a fair amount of praise on Sorkin in this episode, but he occasionally throws in these really twee moments that can almost make you cringe. He does it in this episode when everyone in the oval office shuts up and hangs on the words of the black kid that no one's ever seen before. It then gets compounded when Leo (after apparantly letting Barlet get away with several snaps at his wife, to mention nothing of his mauling of the joint chiefs) decides that he needs a dressing down for sniping the new kid. Maybe it's the straw which breaks the camel's back, but even so... Don't worry though, we get lovable Jed back by the end of the episode with the cloyingly sentimental scene where he finds out which gun was used to kill Charlie's mother. Leo's "raise up an army" line also made me wince. On the other hand, Josh's "It doesn't go away" line gave me chills.

Episode grade: C+

So what did you all think?

Spoilers for the future follow.

"I had an interview with Miss de la Guardia..." Wasn't it Debbie Fidderer who spotted Charlie? Of course, Sam later refers to her as Debbie, so maybe de la Guardia was her maiden name and then she was married. Having said that, Lily Tomlin doesn't particularly look like a de la Guardia to me, but we'll give them a pass for at least getting her first name right.

"I've got some real honest-to-God battles here, I don't have time for the cosmetic ones." Still, Fitz will find time to weigh in on the gays in the military plotline further down the road.

S01E02: Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

"Do you know when we lost Texas?" "When you learnt to speak Latin?" I was a real fan of the little intellectual discussions they'd just randomly throw in to episodes, and this was no exception. Nothing says high brow like a Latin lesson five minutes in.

You may have gathered from the last review, I liked the pilot, and I mean I really liked the pilot. All too often though the subsequent series fails to deliver on the initial promise because the writers put so much creativity into the pilot in a deperate attempt to get the show picked up that they have nothing left for what comes afterwards (it even happens with great series, like The Shield. Good as that show was they took about four years to do anything as shocking as we saw in the pilot). Thankfully, this episode lays the concerns to rest. If anything this episode has even more rapid-fire dialogue than the first.

Tim Matheson does a really good job of making Hoynes competent but smarmy. It also highlights that CoS is in reality a far more influential position than VP, rightly or wrongly.

This is really more of a consolidating episode than anything else. We get to learn a little more about some of the main players, especially Jed and Sam, and we're given a proper introduction to Mandy. Of course, all that makes the final scene all the more shocking because it really comes from nowhere, and having the scene with Jed and Maurice adds further weight to it. One thing's for sure; we definitely want to see how this plays out.

Random observations:

Is "whomped" a real word?

Celebrity spotting: Maurice was the original chief from Castle.

How can people on White House staff money afford $100 a week for a sports pool?

Does anyone else think the poster behind Toby in his office looks like a caricature of him? If so, very nice work from the props department.

No one with Josh's political brains expects anything other than Mandy getting hired. He was talking her up in the previous episode - after Josh, Mandy was the go-to person for Lloyd Russell.

Episode grade: B-

So what did you all think?

Spoilers for the future follow. Caveat lector (see what I did there?):

"I worked with these people for two and a half years..." yet amazingly never appear in any of the flashbacks to the campaign. I was never Mandy's biggest fan but the way they wrote her out was just really poorly handled.

Did Maurice know about Bartlet's MS?

S1E01: Pilot

A few housekeeping points for starters: While I understand that the vast majority of people who ever read this will most likely have watched every episode (numerous times probably) I'd like the blog to be newbie-friendly. While there may be some mildly spoilerish details occasionally they shouldn't be enough to upset someone who's only watched up to the episode under discussion. When needed, there will be a section at the end (clearly marked) which will go into more detail on interesting points given knowledge of future episodes. Hopefully this method should satisfy all. Enough with that - onto the episode.

Of all episodes of The West Wing, the Pilot is the one I've seen the most. I show it to every new person I try to convert to the show, and as a result I've seen it somewhere between 15 and 20 times. In all of those times I can honestly say I've never been bored, as in my opinion, it's the best Pilot episode that's ever been made. It has an almost Herculean task to perform and it does it effortlessly.

For example, we have a pretty big ensemble to be introduced to, but for the most part we know a little something about all of them within the first five minutes. Sam is a fairly high level staffer for the President, in the know about issues that most people would be unaware of. Leo is rich, and the President's right hand man (he gets a call, not a page). CJ is awkward around men she's attracted to. Josh is a workaholic. Toby is an arrogant know-it-all. And this is all before the credits roll.

Then we have the scene with Leo actually arriving at the West Wing. Straight away we get a Scorsese-esque tracking shot (a few actually) and several plotlines are thrown at us (the Cubans, the President's accident, Josh's mis-step and a crossword puzzle). It doesn't feel like an information dump and it doesn't seem exposition heavy - this is what it must be like every day at the White House, right? Sorkin does a great job of making Josh likeable, while simultaneously making his job position appear really shaky. When I first watched the episode I didn't know Bradley Whitford was going to be a series regular, so there was the definite possibility that he was going to be gone by the end of the episode. The fact that I cared when I'd only been watching the series for half an hour is testament to the quality of the writing.

The first group scene (where they discuss the Cuban issue) is also a good sign that while this will undeniably be a drama series it will have some really funny moments too. We also get a glimpse of just how smart all these people are. Part of the rewatch value that the series has is that they discuss issues so quickly that on a first viewing you tend to pick up just the broad strokes of an episode - fine for understanding what's going on, but definitely not for picking up on all the nuance that's in the writing. Of course, that means you pick up on different things with each rewatch, which makes the investment in the DVD set an absolute bargain.

In an episode with a lot of great scenes/lines, the scene with the class and the one which immediately follows it in the corridor with Sam's monologue to Mallory have to be my favourite. By the time Sam says "Well this is bad on so many levels" I was in tears. Following that scene with the the heavily dramatic confrontation between Mary Marsh and Toby is a fantastic move.

Which all brings us to the introduction of the President. It's easy to see why the decision was made by the show makers to enlarge his role because Sheen nails the scene and clearly revels in the quality of writing. Oh the irony that Josh still has a job largely down to the actions of a far-right religious group.

While we're talking about good acting, you have to take your hat off to the entire cast here. This show will be the career-defining role for every one of them such is the strength of their acting. Whoever cast them was a genius.

As much as I love this episode, there are definitely a few things I can nit-pick:

"These things look exactly alike" is a huge telegraph of the swapped pagers plotline, and totally unnecessary.

Is the President really going to say "Economists were put on this planet to make astrologers look good" when he's won the Nobel Prize for Economics? Would the Economists in the room really let that comment go, much less laugh? It provides a nice soundbite but it doesn't stand up to any examination.

Leo phoned the New York Times? And from what he says it's a common occurrence? No way, not how busy they are. Realism is sacrificed for comedy.

Finally, is a member of the religious right really going to get the commandments wrong? And when know-it-all Toby corrects him would he really get it wrong too? "Honour thy father and thy mother" is the fifth commandment, not the first and not the third.

For the record I should say that I had no problem with any of these lines with the exception of the pager one when I first watched the episode. Indeed, I really liked most of them, which I guess is the point (this is first and foremost, an entertainment show, not a documentary).

Episode grade: A+

So what did you all think?