These are a pair of more filler-like episodes, aren't they?
Love Abbey, of course - though as you note with Ron Erlick, Jed can be petty, especially with her. You do get the sense that he's the kind of man who would never have wanted to marry a woman who didn't stand up and spar with him, though. He needs that energy, as much as Abbey might frustrate him at times.
The 100 years ago thing definitely strikes me as one of those things someone brought up in the writer's room and Sorkin got a little too enamored with, yeah. I can almost buy that it was a thing all the assistants were reading (an assistants' book club of sorts?) and that Leo had been getting tidbits from Margaret just as Josh had from Donna. And of course Bartlet could have gotten it from Zoey. But it takes a lot of behind the scenes work to get that coincidence beyond the suspension-of-disbelief point.
The Jackal strikes me as much the same - I'm sure it was cute in Allison Janney's trailer, but it's a deeply strange thing to have put in the show. I'm willing to accept it as a bizarre campaign ritual because it does make them feel more like a group of people with a long connection and inside jokes, but there's a reason bringing an inside joke to an outside audience usually falls flat! Add in the goofy white dude 'dancing' of the others to it and I have to side with Josh and Hrishi here.
Poor Mandy, she hasn’t even got that edge any more.
About as many edges as a panda! Poor Mandy, indeed. Her time is almost up.
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Date: 2021-03-13 10:24 pm (UTC)Love Abbey, of course - though as you note with Ron Erlick, Jed can be petty, especially with her. You do get the sense that he's the kind of man who would never have wanted to marry a woman who didn't stand up and spar with him, though. He needs that energy, as much as Abbey might frustrate him at times.
The 100 years ago thing definitely strikes me as one of those things someone brought up in the writer's room and Sorkin got a little too enamored with, yeah. I can almost buy that it was a thing all the assistants were reading (an assistants' book club of sorts?) and that Leo had been getting tidbits from Margaret just as Josh had from Donna. And of course Bartlet could have gotten it from Zoey. But it takes a lot of behind the scenes work to get that coincidence beyond the suspension-of-disbelief point.
The Jackal strikes me as much the same - I'm sure it was cute in Allison Janney's trailer, but it's a deeply strange thing to have put in the show. I'm willing to accept it as a bizarre campaign ritual because it does make them feel more like a group of people with a long connection and inside jokes, but there's a reason bringing an inside joke to an outside audience usually falls flat! Add in the goofy white dude 'dancing' of the others to it and I have to side with Josh and Hrishi here.
Poor Mandy, she hasn’t even got that edge any more.
About as many edges as a panda! Poor Mandy, indeed. Her time is almost up.