Bartlet for America is such a good episode - easily the best of S3, if not my personal favorite. The flashback eps are always so good!
Clark Gregg totally got Coulson based on this performance, didn’t he?
The minute Coulson opened his mouth in Iron Man, I was like 'hey, I know that guy!' just based on his cadence. Caspar and Coulson definitely feel like they could be alternate versions of the same man.
STOP DOING THOSE THINGS TO WOMEN, THEN.
It's that tone deafness again, isn't it? Bartlet, for all his wonderful qualities and father-of-daughters thing, is very steeped in benign sexism. I admit to loving the "you're like a 50s screwball comedy" line, though. On a related note -
I saw it a little more as Bartlet acknowledging what his decisions about the positions they’d be in with him not disclosing his MS cost Abbey, which is not to say that she didn’t choose to keep things quiet a lot of that time.
I saw that line of his as a tacit acknowledgement of the way powerful men tend to drag the women in their lives along behind them, into and through whatever muck they get into, and then so often use them as shields and scapegoats. So I definitely agree with you over the podcast! I wonder if that's a difference in male vs female perspective.
I liked the echoes of the previous Christmas episode, the allusion to the ‘friend in the hole’ story was just enough to show that Josh was trying to repay his friend back.
Josh and Leo's interactions in this one are so good! Really tugs at the old heartstrings. Leo's reading of Josh is just...so accurate and blunt, but delivered with such wry love.
Right there with you on Hoynes - I never liked him much, but it's hard not to understand his dislike of the administration after seeing that. He had to swallow everything in that moment for the good of his party - knowing they'd never win if he went public with the admission their favored candidate had been hiding that big of a secret - and that's not something a person is just going to get over.
I think Leo’s too old for her and the client/lawyer thing is squicky – great articulation of why asking her out like that was on the podcast - but they had fun banter
John Spencer was only four years older than Joanna Gleason, actually! I think that's a massive demonstration of the way men in Hollywood (and life, really) are allowed to age, but women aren't. I always assumed they're supposed to be contemporaries in age. Regardless, yes, the client/lawyer relationship means a more personal relationship is not a good idea, you two! Come on, Leo. (The banter is fun. I see why Bartlet ships it.)
Onto H. Con-173! As you said, it can't compare to the previous one, but it's fine.
Josh was ridiculous for most of the episode – going to Toby for guidance on his love life!? I mean, Toby clearly isn’t quite the bitter old curmudgeon claimed in the silly book, but…Toby!?
RIGHT? Oh, Josh. My only justification for that is he knows that if he went to Sam or CJ, they'd give him actually practical advice ("just tell her you want to go out, dummy"), and that was very much not what he wanted to hear. So instead, Toby.
He's super gross about the ballet, though it's obviously borne of jealousy and not necessarily his honest opinion. Still awful, and another point in the "ugh, Sorkin, please stop being so weird about sexism and masculinity, please" column.
I should admit that I could almost believe that Carol had hed a séance to contact Margaret’s grandmther, (sorry Carol and Margaret)
Ha! I can absolutely see Margaret doing it, no problem. Carol...maybe. Charlie's face when Sam presents that one to him is priceless.
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Clark Gregg totally got Coulson based on this performance, didn’t he?
The minute Coulson opened his mouth in Iron Man, I was like 'hey, I know that guy!' just based on his cadence. Caspar and Coulson definitely feel like they could be alternate versions of the same man.
STOP DOING THOSE THINGS TO WOMEN, THEN.
It's that tone deafness again, isn't it? Bartlet, for all his wonderful qualities and father-of-daughters thing, is very steeped in benign sexism. I admit to loving the "you're like a 50s screwball comedy" line, though. On a related note -
I saw it a little more as Bartlet acknowledging what his decisions about the positions they’d be in with him not disclosing his MS cost Abbey, which is not to say that she didn’t choose to keep things quiet a lot of that time.
I saw that line of his as a tacit acknowledgement of the way powerful men tend to drag the women in their lives along behind them, into and through whatever muck they get into, and then so often use them as shields and scapegoats. So I definitely agree with you over the podcast! I wonder if that's a difference in male vs female perspective.
I liked the echoes of the previous Christmas episode, the allusion to the ‘friend in the hole’ story was just enough to show that Josh was trying to repay his friend back.
Josh and Leo's interactions in this one are so good! Really tugs at the old heartstrings. Leo's reading of Josh is just...so accurate and blunt, but delivered with such wry love.
Right there with you on Hoynes - I never liked him much, but it's hard not to understand his dislike of the administration after seeing that. He had to swallow everything in that moment for the good of his party - knowing they'd never win if he went public with the admission their favored candidate had been hiding that big of a secret - and that's not something a person is just going to get over.
I think Leo’s too old for her and the client/lawyer thing is squicky – great articulation of why asking her out like that was on the podcast - but they had fun banter
John Spencer was only four years older than Joanna Gleason, actually! I think that's a massive demonstration of the way men in Hollywood (and life, really) are allowed to age, but women aren't. I always assumed they're supposed to be contemporaries in age. Regardless, yes, the client/lawyer relationship means a more personal relationship is not a good idea, you two! Come on, Leo. (The banter is fun. I see why Bartlet ships it.)
Onto H. Con-173! As you said, it can't compare to the previous one, but it's fine.
Josh was ridiculous for most of the episode – going to Toby for guidance on his love life!? I mean, Toby clearly isn’t quite the bitter old curmudgeon claimed in the silly book, but…Toby!?
RIGHT? Oh, Josh. My only justification for that is he knows that if he went to Sam or CJ, they'd give him actually practical advice ("just tell her you want to go out, dummy"), and that was very much not what he wanted to hear. So instead, Toby.
He's super gross about the ballet, though it's obviously borne of jealousy and not necessarily his honest opinion. Still awful, and another point in the "ugh, Sorkin, please stop being so weird about sexism and masculinity, please" column.
I should admit that I could almost believe that Carol had hed a séance to contact Margaret’s grandmther, (sorry Carol and Margaret)
Ha! I can absolutely see Margaret doing it, no problem. Carol...maybe. Charlie's face when Sam presents that one to him is priceless.