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shallownessThe West Wing - 1.2 ‘Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc’ and 3 ‘The Proportional Response’
Did not feel the massive drop-off of the second episode after the pilot, because there was a story to tell and characters to get to know better and money to help do it. We definitely get more of a feel for the dynamics of how the West Wing works and where Bartlet is coming from. Perhaps this is why Mandy feels forced, for, yes, she used to work with them on the campaign, but the audience hasn’t seen it. She’s an outsider to us already.
We meet the constitutionally important Hoynes in ep 2, but the more important Charlie (CHARLIE! I also loved what he drew out of Josh, after being more insufferable in the previous episode as Donna rightly predicted) and Danny. I remembered that the doctor would be killed, muttered ‘You’re better than this’ in Jed Bartlet’s general direction* for his response and loved Leo for telling him off, after loving him for standing up for CJ, who brings out my protective instinct because she's CJ, though she doesn’t need it, except there’s sexism even from the right-on dudes. What Sam is doing with Laurie is in no way as noble or uncomplicated as he'd like to think it is. (It's definitely written from a certain perspective, but there's room enough to take a different view based on watching them interact.) Also, I love the assistants (MARGARET! But also MRS LANINGHAM), the sense of familiarity with how their bosses work and the way things are.
The music still seems jauntier than it needs to be, I’m wondering if that’s due to shifts in how TV drama music is scored.
*Different times – also, I was reminded in the talk of this is what a superpower does that the rise of China hadn’t happened yet.
Did not feel the massive drop-off of the second episode after the pilot, because there was a story to tell and characters to get to know better and money to help do it. We definitely get more of a feel for the dynamics of how the West Wing works and where Bartlet is coming from. Perhaps this is why Mandy feels forced, for, yes, she used to work with them on the campaign, but the audience hasn’t seen it. She’s an outsider to us already.
We meet the constitutionally important Hoynes in ep 2, but the more important Charlie (CHARLIE! I also loved what he drew out of Josh, after being more insufferable in the previous episode as Donna rightly predicted) and Danny. I remembered that the doctor would be killed, muttered ‘You’re better than this’ in Jed Bartlet’s general direction* for his response and loved Leo for telling him off, after loving him for standing up for CJ, who brings out my protective instinct because she's CJ, though she doesn’t need it, except there’s sexism even from the right-on dudes. What Sam is doing with Laurie is in no way as noble or uncomplicated as he'd like to think it is. (It's definitely written from a certain perspective, but there's room enough to take a different view based on watching them interact.) Also, I love the assistants (MARGARET! But also MRS LANINGHAM), the sense of familiarity with how their bosses work and the way things are.
The music still seems jauntier than it needs to be, I’m wondering if that’s due to shifts in how TV drama music is scored.
*Different times – also, I was reminded in the talk of this is what a superpower does that the rise of China hadn’t happened yet.
