TWW: Christmas lights and dead Presidents
Apr. 23rd, 2023 03:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallowness5.9 Abu El Basat
Well, it wasn’t as good as past Christmas episodes as written by Sorkin, but it was engaging, with more of the political impact on the Bartlets’ family life, a proper look at Liz and Doug, but also a politically re-energised Bartlet in how he ended up dealing with the ambitious, rebellious AG. (I’ll be honest, I was expecting that to go somewhere further, although the next episode, which I watched in the usual double-bill format was a departure, so I was disappointed to learn from the podcase that, no, there’s no more AG Dylan Baker.)
We also had Zoey, the butt of older men telling her she looked great (that’s where the sexist alarm klaxons rang for me, unlike where it sounded for the podcasters) while Charlie adorably told her she didn’t look that good, but offered her his coat when she volunteered to replace her overwhelmed and MIA nephew to switch on the Christmas lights. Yay for Zoey’s continuing improvement, and ITA with Bartlet about Zoey picking J-P over Charlie,.
On the Sudanese/hostage front, (I first watched this just after this current bout of fighting started there), as, unlike Jed and Leo, I’m not the father of daughters, for me, if these young ladies were old enough to go to an Islamic country to proselytise, they knew the risk and had to face the consequences. So, I wasn’t quite in accord with the politico speaking up for them or the administration’s protectiveness. Interesting to hear Hrishi’s complaint that it was a plot that was stretched too thin and how Josh felt it could have dug deeper. As I’m going over my initial response to the episode, having listened to the podcast dissecting it, I have to agree that it wasn’t clear what the A plot of this episode was.
Toby, who we and CJ learned had won the agenda-setting for the State of the Union, wanted to bunt the fight with the AG about assisted dying off to the VP. And so we went back to Toby’s resentment of Will for leaving, and why couldn’t things work out how he wanted? It felt a touch vindictive, his packing Will off, out of the West Wing. (And apparently it was a continuity slip-up.)
The emotional weight of CJ trying to organise her father’s Christmas by phone and as the source of her argument with Toby about how they should have the debate worked. I suppose that that made her slow to see what Toby saw, namely that if Bartlet took this issue on, the press would link assisted dying to his MS. The exchange with Abbey, and indeed, Toby as work son when Bartlet was having issues with his actual daughters, worked. But anyway, he looked willing to have that fight (probably because he was fired up over Liz’s choices.) I can’t say I read the scene as Josh did on the podcast, with Bartlet thinking that he’d stopped his recalcitrant AG by that talk. I also didn’t quite read the moment where Toby mentioned CJ’s father as harshly as they did on the podcast, but then I didn’t quite hate on the episode as much as Hrishi, nor did I agree with all of his criticisms of it.
We learned Liz was way more impressive an operator than husband Doug, and that was based on what we saw of her. We only saw Doug being slow to take Josh’s softly softly refusal, otherwise we kept being told about how the White House staff didn’t really rate him. I was left flummoxed by Liz, having decided not to be the politician she could have been great as in part because of her childhood and not wanting to inflict it on her kids, being willing to support her husband when it would put their kids through what she was trying to avoid AND knowing he’d be less good at it than her. More an issue with Liz’s position than how it was depicted.
Ellie had an effective impact first in her absence: how very DARE she want to do her job properly and not bow to her father’s unrealistic demand, and then turning up to an empty room. The image of the three sisters together was nice, although my main thought was that Liz is very tall.
Prime Josh/Donna flirting over him having bought her a Christmas gift.
Debbie had some pop, and Gus and his grandfather and the lights were very cute, even though I knew my heartstrings were being tugged.
5.10 The Stormy Present
This ep was a departure from what had just come before – it took Hrishi saying on the podcast it was the hundredth TWW ep to explain why. It was certainly an interesting look at Bartlet and the few men who had ever been in his position of President coming to mourn one of their own – a special brotherhood, although, having been in the job so briefly, Walken not so much. (WHY did he have to bring his wretched dog to Air Force One?) But he and President James Cromwell offered contrast, in politics as well as body type, to Bartlet.
Meanwhile a crisis had blown up in Saudi Arabia with a potentially democratic protest (led by some other members of the ruling royals, though), with a lot of anti-American hostility, oh and Americans in danger. The last lot were perhaps the clearest part of the situation, as the Middle East = delicate/flammable, partly because of Presidents and advisers past too.
Of course, despite all the angst about his inability to write an eulogy for a man whose politics he hated, Toby produced one that touched the widow. Between that, we had some nice Donna handling him over the phone and Charlie trying to keep him away from the booze (although Charlie had an actual job to do on the plane, not just Toby minding.) There was a total absence of Will, although come to think of it, even if he’d come by separate means, Russell should have attended the funeral.
The death meant that Leo had to cancel his ‘date’ with Mallory (she being the much younger date Jed was teasing Leo about, letting us know that he and Jordan were done.) About to leave the country, Mallory wanted to tell him in person that her mother was remarrying. Loved the acting that told us Leo was lying to his daughter when he said he knew already.
Josh and CJ had wacky subplots for…contrast? I thought Josh’s had more connection to the main events. A bit on the nose that he and Angela came from the very states wrangling over the Bill of Rights. I was totally watching the Angela and Josh scene thinking of what the actress had disclosed on the podcast about how she’d maybe sabotaged herself on the show on the podcast. Before then, Angela came into a meeting with the rest of the senior staffers in Leo’s office and he didn’t give her any orders, suggesting that the show wasn’t that bothered about giving the actress/character stuff to do.
CJ’s plotline with the experimental research guy from the DoD was even wackier, reminiscent of previous wackiness such as alien life and blocks of cheese, as noted on the podcast. I agreed with their criticism, and the fact that this stuff was on the internet and that the press would let the American public know what was going on, in contrast to Saudia Arabia, wasn’t enough of a reason to justify it being in the ep for me. But CJ not knowing Toby was in her room and him trying to hide from Bartlet and his Lincoln nerdery was fun.
Arty shots of footage of our heroes on TV abounded in both episodes, although the final shot of Bartlet and Lincoln’s statue felt self-indulgent, and I unfortunately was not in a place, vision wise, to appreciate the visual flair they were raving about on the podcast. Their criticisms about the superficiality, exposition, and mixed messaging with who Lassater was were all fair. I read Lasseter rebuilding the Oval Office much as Hrishi did, sad and weird, but I was also thinking they decided to do it because it would mean just (or is that ‘just’?) redressing their set. [Edited for typos 8/4/25.]
Well, it wasn’t as good as past Christmas episodes as written by Sorkin, but it was engaging, with more of the political impact on the Bartlets’ family life, a proper look at Liz and Doug, but also a politically re-energised Bartlet in how he ended up dealing with the ambitious, rebellious AG. (I’ll be honest, I was expecting that to go somewhere further, although the next episode, which I watched in the usual double-bill format was a departure, so I was disappointed to learn from the podcase that, no, there’s no more AG Dylan Baker.)
We also had Zoey, the butt of older men telling her she looked great (that’s where the sexist alarm klaxons rang for me, unlike where it sounded for the podcasters) while Charlie adorably told her she didn’t look that good, but offered her his coat when she volunteered to replace her overwhelmed and MIA nephew to switch on the Christmas lights. Yay for Zoey’s continuing improvement, and ITA with Bartlet about Zoey picking J-P over Charlie,.
On the Sudanese/hostage front, (I first watched this just after this current bout of fighting started there), as, unlike Jed and Leo, I’m not the father of daughters, for me, if these young ladies were old enough to go to an Islamic country to proselytise, they knew the risk and had to face the consequences. So, I wasn’t quite in accord with the politico speaking up for them or the administration’s protectiveness. Interesting to hear Hrishi’s complaint that it was a plot that was stretched too thin and how Josh felt it could have dug deeper. As I’m going over my initial response to the episode, having listened to the podcast dissecting it, I have to agree that it wasn’t clear what the A plot of this episode was.
Toby, who we and CJ learned had won the agenda-setting for the State of the Union, wanted to bunt the fight with the AG about assisted dying off to the VP. And so we went back to Toby’s resentment of Will for leaving, and why couldn’t things work out how he wanted? It felt a touch vindictive, his packing Will off, out of the West Wing. (And apparently it was a continuity slip-up.)
The emotional weight of CJ trying to organise her father’s Christmas by phone and as the source of her argument with Toby about how they should have the debate worked. I suppose that that made her slow to see what Toby saw, namely that if Bartlet took this issue on, the press would link assisted dying to his MS. The exchange with Abbey, and indeed, Toby as work son when Bartlet was having issues with his actual daughters, worked. But anyway, he looked willing to have that fight (probably because he was fired up over Liz’s choices.) I can’t say I read the scene as Josh did on the podcast, with Bartlet thinking that he’d stopped his recalcitrant AG by that talk. I also didn’t quite read the moment where Toby mentioned CJ’s father as harshly as they did on the podcast, but then I didn’t quite hate on the episode as much as Hrishi, nor did I agree with all of his criticisms of it.
We learned Liz was way more impressive an operator than husband Doug, and that was based on what we saw of her. We only saw Doug being slow to take Josh’s softly softly refusal, otherwise we kept being told about how the White House staff didn’t really rate him. I was left flummoxed by Liz, having decided not to be the politician she could have been great as in part because of her childhood and not wanting to inflict it on her kids, being willing to support her husband when it would put their kids through what she was trying to avoid AND knowing he’d be less good at it than her. More an issue with Liz’s position than how it was depicted.
Ellie had an effective impact first in her absence: how very DARE she want to do her job properly and not bow to her father’s unrealistic demand, and then turning up to an empty room. The image of the three sisters together was nice, although my main thought was that Liz is very tall.
Prime Josh/Donna flirting over him having bought her a Christmas gift.
Debbie had some pop, and Gus and his grandfather and the lights were very cute, even though I knew my heartstrings were being tugged.
5.10 The Stormy Present
This ep was a departure from what had just come before – it took Hrishi saying on the podcast it was the hundredth TWW ep to explain why. It was certainly an interesting look at Bartlet and the few men who had ever been in his position of President coming to mourn one of their own – a special brotherhood, although, having been in the job so briefly, Walken not so much. (WHY did he have to bring his wretched dog to Air Force One?) But he and President James Cromwell offered contrast, in politics as well as body type, to Bartlet.
Meanwhile a crisis had blown up in Saudi Arabia with a potentially democratic protest (led by some other members of the ruling royals, though), with a lot of anti-American hostility, oh and Americans in danger. The last lot were perhaps the clearest part of the situation, as the Middle East = delicate/flammable, partly because of Presidents and advisers past too.
Of course, despite all the angst about his inability to write an eulogy for a man whose politics he hated, Toby produced one that touched the widow. Between that, we had some nice Donna handling him over the phone and Charlie trying to keep him away from the booze (although Charlie had an actual job to do on the plane, not just Toby minding.) There was a total absence of Will, although come to think of it, even if he’d come by separate means, Russell should have attended the funeral.
The death meant that Leo had to cancel his ‘date’ with Mallory (she being the much younger date Jed was teasing Leo about, letting us know that he and Jordan were done.) About to leave the country, Mallory wanted to tell him in person that her mother was remarrying. Loved the acting that told us Leo was lying to his daughter when he said he knew already.
Josh and CJ had wacky subplots for…contrast? I thought Josh’s had more connection to the main events. A bit on the nose that he and Angela came from the very states wrangling over the Bill of Rights. I was totally watching the Angela and Josh scene thinking of what the actress had disclosed on the podcast about how she’d maybe sabotaged herself on the show on the podcast. Before then, Angela came into a meeting with the rest of the senior staffers in Leo’s office and he didn’t give her any orders, suggesting that the show wasn’t that bothered about giving the actress/character stuff to do.
CJ’s plotline with the experimental research guy from the DoD was even wackier, reminiscent of previous wackiness such as alien life and blocks of cheese, as noted on the podcast. I agreed with their criticism, and the fact that this stuff was on the internet and that the press would let the American public know what was going on, in contrast to Saudia Arabia, wasn’t enough of a reason to justify it being in the ep for me. But CJ not knowing Toby was in her room and him trying to hide from Bartlet and his Lincoln nerdery was fun.
Arty shots of footage of our heroes on TV abounded in both episodes, although the final shot of Bartlet and Lincoln’s statue felt self-indulgent, and I unfortunately was not in a place, vision wise, to appreciate the visual flair they were raving about on the podcast. Their criticisms about the superficiality, exposition, and mixed messaging with who Lassater was were all fair. I read Lasseter rebuilding the Oval Office much as Hrishi did, sad and weird, but I was also thinking they decided to do it because it would mean just (or is that ‘just’?) redressing their set. [Edited for typos 8/4/25.]
