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shallownessThe West Wing
4.16 The California 47th
And so we found out what was happening with Sam, while following up on Bartlet’s decision re: Kundu and Will’s promotion. The way that everything went wrong on the visit was spectacular, leading up to the final confrontation with a drunk and obnoxious guy and, uh-oh, Charlie. Who had already been wound up by J-P. Like the podcasters, I wondered why Charlie played pool with him. Okay, so he wanted to deliver the message about thinking of Zoe’s safety over publicity, but his reward was the PDA. I guess J-P must be very different offscreen with Zoey to how he is onscreen. He seemed like the only guy who could talk to her dad like that, not being American and entitled. I tend to agree with the podcast’s analysis that Zoey was trying to rub Charlie’s nose in it and borderline being mean, although I thought Hrishi was wrong about how they broke up, even though he is nearly always a lot better about remembering what’s happened on the show than I have.
It was a nice mix of Sam’s work family wanting to do the best for him and failing miserably, sacrificing their response on the tax plan and justifying Sam’s staff’s complaint that the President wasn’t making him look good, but making valid criticisms about how Sam’s team were promoting him. And Sam’s love for them all was so evident, like how he snapped and stood up for Donna (oh that they had the internet or the wherewithal to ask Californians about this guy Josh didn’t want to meet.)
Actually the depiction of California – well, Orange County, felt a bit weird with the views of the drunk people at the hotel on Andi, and yet having some of their farmers be communists. I take the point on the podcast that the drunk couple could have been tourists, and I guess their puzzlement about where Sam’s staff were coming from as Democrat operators other than causing dramatic tension was fair.
Meanwhile Will got his orders from Toby and was too chicken to carry them out until he had to – the tentative interaction with Ginger was telling. And then, I don’t know, the podcasters argued that the condescension towards the interns came from Will the character than the writing. I know they had Elsie in their corner, but for them all to be young women? Yes, it was there for chuckles and Will would get his comeuppance and reversal in the next ep, but… eh, I didn’t chuckle.
I was also confused about when they stopped meeting Kundu’s ambassador and started talking to Ghanaian intermediaries. It soon became apparent that giving the madman in charge of Kundu and the killings there a deadline was giving him time to kill more people and show the limitations of US power in that the airport wasn’t quite as secured as they’d thought. The podcasters made fair points about our knowing it would all go wrong because the celebrations in the Sit Room came very early in the episode and that it was also a limitation of imagination from the administration and the US military about what Kundu’s president was capable of.
Bartlet felt the weight of the youth of the random marine (I was thinking, given past events on the show, ending up around the President is no more safe than on a mission) when events in Kundu overtook the need for him to be in California and indeed the tax plan, which Sam, still being Sam, had figured the administration was keeping quiet about to help him and wouldn’t let them.
4.17 Red Haven’s on Fire
Great opening as Toby and Charlie switched who was terrible at being under arrest at any given moment, and Toby (of all people) was naive about the press interest. But there was some lovely, lovely Toby-Sam stuff going on all ep.
The main thing for me about the whole First Lady’s vaccine education/chief of staff thing was that yes, Amy was very droll with the fire and showed herself to be a proper political operative, but didn’t Abbey get told off for playing at an amateur level way back when (by Sam, ironically enough?) and then she went and hired…her nephew? I couldn’t shake that memory off even as I thought Amy would be a great fit for the First Lady, would be a thorn in Josh’s side, and enjoyed his latest comeuppance over the proofreading. Abbey and Amy deserved that win. Even if Dr Bartlet is totally unelected.
The podcast then honed in on what that might mean for the Donna/Josh and Donna’s reaction, which I glossed over, rather, in the rewatch.
Elsie had to speak truth to power/her big stepbrother after he explained their tax plan to the interns (the audience). He did indeed come off as a condescending prat. But the interns delivered a sweet ending, stepping up. It took the podcast to remind me of the senior staff’s similar response to Bartlet’s foreign policy decision OF A VERY FEW EPS AGO.
Martin Sheen was particularly great in these two episodes, and I liked the discussion of the theme of powerlessness in this episode on the podcast.
Debbie was cute with the kid and all, but I admit I brought my own prejudices to all the scenes with the abducted soldiers’ family members. Nonetheless, how the show handled the revelation that 19 other families would have to go through the loss that their families had been spared because of the rescue, and 20 other families would have to deal with an injured relative sink in, without making too much of it.
So, Sam’s going to lose but he’s going to lose fighting the good fight. And thanks to the podcast, my curiosity has been satisfied that those are the last words Sorkin would write for Sam, so he probably only returns when I remembered he would.
[Edited for typos 3/2/25.]
4.16 The California 47th
And so we found out what was happening with Sam, while following up on Bartlet’s decision re: Kundu and Will’s promotion. The way that everything went wrong on the visit was spectacular, leading up to the final confrontation with a drunk and obnoxious guy and, uh-oh, Charlie. Who had already been wound up by J-P. Like the podcasters, I wondered why Charlie played pool with him. Okay, so he wanted to deliver the message about thinking of Zoe’s safety over publicity, but his reward was the PDA. I guess J-P must be very different offscreen with Zoey to how he is onscreen. He seemed like the only guy who could talk to her dad like that, not being American and entitled. I tend to agree with the podcast’s analysis that Zoey was trying to rub Charlie’s nose in it and borderline being mean, although I thought Hrishi was wrong about how they broke up, even though he is nearly always a lot better about remembering what’s happened on the show than I have.
It was a nice mix of Sam’s work family wanting to do the best for him and failing miserably, sacrificing their response on the tax plan and justifying Sam’s staff’s complaint that the President wasn’t making him look good, but making valid criticisms about how Sam’s team were promoting him. And Sam’s love for them all was so evident, like how he snapped and stood up for Donna (oh that they had the internet or the wherewithal to ask Californians about this guy Josh didn’t want to meet.)
Actually the depiction of California – well, Orange County, felt a bit weird with the views of the drunk people at the hotel on Andi, and yet having some of their farmers be communists. I take the point on the podcast that the drunk couple could have been tourists, and I guess their puzzlement about where Sam’s staff were coming from as Democrat operators other than causing dramatic tension was fair.
Meanwhile Will got his orders from Toby and was too chicken to carry them out until he had to – the tentative interaction with Ginger was telling. And then, I don’t know, the podcasters argued that the condescension towards the interns came from Will the character than the writing. I know they had Elsie in their corner, but for them all to be young women? Yes, it was there for chuckles and Will would get his comeuppance and reversal in the next ep, but… eh, I didn’t chuckle.
I was also confused about when they stopped meeting Kundu’s ambassador and started talking to Ghanaian intermediaries. It soon became apparent that giving the madman in charge of Kundu and the killings there a deadline was giving him time to kill more people and show the limitations of US power in that the airport wasn’t quite as secured as they’d thought. The podcasters made fair points about our knowing it would all go wrong because the celebrations in the Sit Room came very early in the episode and that it was also a limitation of imagination from the administration and the US military about what Kundu’s president was capable of.
Bartlet felt the weight of the youth of the random marine (I was thinking, given past events on the show, ending up around the President is no more safe than on a mission) when events in Kundu overtook the need for him to be in California and indeed the tax plan, which Sam, still being Sam, had figured the administration was keeping quiet about to help him and wouldn’t let them.
4.17 Red Haven’s on Fire
Great opening as Toby and Charlie switched who was terrible at being under arrest at any given moment, and Toby (of all people) was naive about the press interest. But there was some lovely, lovely Toby-Sam stuff going on all ep.
The main thing for me about the whole First Lady’s vaccine education/chief of staff thing was that yes, Amy was very droll with the fire and showed herself to be a proper political operative, but didn’t Abbey get told off for playing at an amateur level way back when (by Sam, ironically enough?) and then she went and hired…her nephew? I couldn’t shake that memory off even as I thought Amy would be a great fit for the First Lady, would be a thorn in Josh’s side, and enjoyed his latest comeuppance over the proofreading. Abbey and Amy deserved that win. Even if Dr Bartlet is totally unelected.
The podcast then honed in on what that might mean for the Donna/Josh and Donna’s reaction, which I glossed over, rather, in the rewatch.
Elsie had to speak truth to power/her big stepbrother after he explained their tax plan to the interns (the audience). He did indeed come off as a condescending prat. But the interns delivered a sweet ending, stepping up. It took the podcast to remind me of the senior staff’s similar response to Bartlet’s foreign policy decision OF A VERY FEW EPS AGO.
Martin Sheen was particularly great in these two episodes, and I liked the discussion of the theme of powerlessness in this episode on the podcast.
Debbie was cute with the kid and all, but I admit I brought my own prejudices to all the scenes with the abducted soldiers’ family members. Nonetheless, how the show handled the revelation that 19 other families would have to go through the loss that their families had been spared because of the rescue, and 20 other families would have to deal with an injured relative sink in, without making too much of it.
So, Sam’s going to lose but he’s going to lose fighting the good fight. And thanks to the podcast, my curiosity has been satisfied that those are the last words Sorkin would write for Sam, so he probably only returns when I remembered he would.
[Edited for typos 3/2/25.]
