Still watching this, just very slowly
Dec. 1st, 2023 07:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe West Wing - 6.2 The Birnam Wood
I had similar issues with this episode revolving around negotiations between fictional Israeli and Palestinian leaders at Camp David with similar names and positions being all over the news, as with the previous one. (And then it took me ages to listen to the podcast and tidy up my notes for posting.) I felt a little uncomfortable with the tensions between Bartlet and Leo being perhaps compared to, or a metaphor for, the intractable positions of the two parties. But I liked how they worked in the scenes of the staffers, either with or without Bartlet, discussing the negotiations or lack thereof while doing other stuff (even sporty stuff.) I noted that CJ got it wrong, that tea had in fact been served, but her notifications to the press worked well in the structure.
And it was a bit oversimplified, with seemingly intractable positions, and then the idea of getting the Israeli PM away from the Defence Secretary, and Kate working on the Palestinian President, and Kate (again?) getting An Idea, while up til then, everyone had been stuck.
Increasingly, from Josh’s return to the West Wing, to Abbey, to all the team at Camp David, everyone noticed the absence of Leo. And when he did join them, it was for round 3 against Bartlet.
I had totally forgotten about the firing and the heart attack, so I found that almost as shocking as I must have the first time around, and though I thought, like the whole episode, it was shot a little too bombastically, John Spencer’s performance sold it. (The podcast discussed the fact that watching it knowing the actor would die from a heart attack was even more difficult. I should admit that I was nodding off as I listened to the podcast, but I took their point that the episode title’s meaning was obscure.)
So, I had to watch the next ep…
(and I did, it's just that, again, it took me ages to listen to the podcast etc)
6.3 Third Day News Story
Our knowing what had happened to Leo while all the rest left Camp David, with the staff not even knowing he’d been fired, made the first few scenes gripping. In the main, the episode moved on to implementing this peace deal they’d struck, trying to get other countries and Congress on side, so it felt more like rewatching The West Wing before the 7th of October.
The main crux of it was the West Wing handling all of this without Leo and kinda without the President who was feeling all the guilt at having broken Leo’s heart, emotionally speaking. CJ got to cut through the machismo, prioritise and be sensible, in contrast to Toby and Josh. One day of not having someone to report to, and they’d both decided that ‘details’ didn’t apply to them. The legislative headache escalated to absurdity with the ‘let’s have a monarch/let’s abolish civil marriage’ stances. I liked that Toby was angling for it to be Josh.
(I did remember that Leo would make it, but not that CJ would get picked. I’m starting to think that a recurring theme for season 6 will be that I remember s7 better.)
Emotionally, I was all yay!CJ, but it didn’t quite track. I wouldn’t say Leo had been grooming her as a successor, even if I buy him knowing his people’s strengths. I think the podcast was fair in saying, ‘From press secretary to Chief of Staff, really?’ and in arguing that Josh ought to have been the obvious replacement, give or take mistakes he’d made even before what was going on in this episode. They also argued persuasively that we could have done with a scene or even an episode about why Leo thought it should be CJ, given the attention given to hiring Debbie.
All the stuff about Leo nearly dying and being in surgery was a little undercut for me by having Donna come back. I mean, it was great to have her back, and she was clearly pale and in her chair, but the woman had been in major surgery herself not so long ago. It just felt too soon.
Having said that, I really loved the moment where Charlie confided that the President was a better boss than Josh, having made him promise to look for another job when he graduated, hence the dithering on finishing his requirements. (So I was more in the Hrishi camp than the Josh camp.) Josh’s pen and puppy dog eyes for Donna didn’t look quite so great, reminding us of on their issues at the end of season 5.
I felt so much for Margaret in this episode, always shunted to the background – but Mallory only got to be a passing reference (was the extra in the waiting room meant to be her?) This felt a little odd, but was probably down to ye olde budgetary/actor availability issues, although the use of Abbey using her medical expertise and long knowledge of Jed and Leo to speak truth was great.
Will was…there, not really being a likely candidate for interim chief of staff. Kate was nowhere to be seen, either briefing Nancy or sleeping it off?
The running gag about Josh vs CJ vs snack food was fun, and I thought that it was somewhat Josh stress eating and refusing to think of the boss who is something of a father figure facing mortality (just after he’d gone through this with Donna!) or his own mortality.
I had similar issues with this episode revolving around negotiations between fictional Israeli and Palestinian leaders at Camp David with similar names and positions being all over the news, as with the previous one. (And then it took me ages to listen to the podcast and tidy up my notes for posting.) I felt a little uncomfortable with the tensions between Bartlet and Leo being perhaps compared to, or a metaphor for, the intractable positions of the two parties. But I liked how they worked in the scenes of the staffers, either with or without Bartlet, discussing the negotiations or lack thereof while doing other stuff (even sporty stuff.) I noted that CJ got it wrong, that tea had in fact been served, but her notifications to the press worked well in the structure.
And it was a bit oversimplified, with seemingly intractable positions, and then the idea of getting the Israeli PM away from the Defence Secretary, and Kate working on the Palestinian President, and Kate (again?) getting An Idea, while up til then, everyone had been stuck.
Increasingly, from Josh’s return to the West Wing, to Abbey, to all the team at Camp David, everyone noticed the absence of Leo. And when he did join them, it was for round 3 against Bartlet.
I had totally forgotten about the firing and the heart attack, so I found that almost as shocking as I must have the first time around, and though I thought, like the whole episode, it was shot a little too bombastically, John Spencer’s performance sold it. (The podcast discussed the fact that watching it knowing the actor would die from a heart attack was even more difficult. I should admit that I was nodding off as I listened to the podcast, but I took their point that the episode title’s meaning was obscure.)
So, I had to watch the next ep…
(and I did, it's just that, again, it took me ages to listen to the podcast etc)
6.3 Third Day News Story
Our knowing what had happened to Leo while all the rest left Camp David, with the staff not even knowing he’d been fired, made the first few scenes gripping. In the main, the episode moved on to implementing this peace deal they’d struck, trying to get other countries and Congress on side, so it felt more like rewatching The West Wing before the 7th of October.
The main crux of it was the West Wing handling all of this without Leo and kinda without the President who was feeling all the guilt at having broken Leo’s heart, emotionally speaking. CJ got to cut through the machismo, prioritise and be sensible, in contrast to Toby and Josh. One day of not having someone to report to, and they’d both decided that ‘details’ didn’t apply to them. The legislative headache escalated to absurdity with the ‘let’s have a monarch/let’s abolish civil marriage’ stances. I liked that Toby was angling for it to be Josh.
(I did remember that Leo would make it, but not that CJ would get picked. I’m starting to think that a recurring theme for season 6 will be that I remember s7 better.)
Emotionally, I was all yay!CJ, but it didn’t quite track. I wouldn’t say Leo had been grooming her as a successor, even if I buy him knowing his people’s strengths. I think the podcast was fair in saying, ‘From press secretary to Chief of Staff, really?’ and in arguing that Josh ought to have been the obvious replacement, give or take mistakes he’d made even before what was going on in this episode. They also argued persuasively that we could have done with a scene or even an episode about why Leo thought it should be CJ, given the attention given to hiring Debbie.
All the stuff about Leo nearly dying and being in surgery was a little undercut for me by having Donna come back. I mean, it was great to have her back, and she was clearly pale and in her chair, but the woman had been in major surgery herself not so long ago. It just felt too soon.
Having said that, I really loved the moment where Charlie confided that the President was a better boss than Josh, having made him promise to look for another job when he graduated, hence the dithering on finishing his requirements. (So I was more in the Hrishi camp than the Josh camp.) Josh’s pen and puppy dog eyes for Donna didn’t look quite so great, reminding us of on their issues at the end of season 5.
I felt so much for Margaret in this episode, always shunted to the background – but Mallory only got to be a passing reference (was the extra in the waiting room meant to be her?) This felt a little odd, but was probably down to ye olde budgetary/actor availability issues, although the use of Abbey using her medical expertise and long knowledge of Jed and Leo to speak truth was great.
Will was…there, not really being a likely candidate for interim chief of staff. Kate was nowhere to be seen, either briefing Nancy or sleeping it off?
The running gag about Josh vs CJ vs snack food was fun, and I thought that it was somewhat Josh stress eating and refusing to think of the boss who is something of a father figure facing mortality (just after he’d gone through this with Donna!) or his own mortality.
