That change? It's come
Feb. 3rd, 2024 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe West Wing - 6.8 In The Room
That’s an episode title that reverberates right back to Sam talking about wanting to be in the room like Josh was. Ironic that, given that the previouslies all seemed to be about Josh’s new position on the outside. (It was pointed out on the podcast and backed up by a cut that the expression had been used 10 times in the episode.)
The opening was all about Penn and Teller performing magic tricks in the White House, and although Toby and Josh’s reaction cued us (yes, even us international viewers) up for flag burning = politically tricky, I was basking in Zoey sitting next to Charlie. Turned out it was for her birthday party. She’s a very grown-up kid now.
Josh may have been in that room, but not so much to prep for the China trip. Toby was, so Annabeth was trying not to answer questions about the flag burning. Josh would get dumped with interacting with Penn and Teller (who worked better as celeb guest stars for me than the Muppets had.) Admittedly, he was busy and his ego was bruised, but he kept pushing back talking to Donna about her (her future, I guessed), which seemed important to her, though she seemed to drop it overnight.
Interestingly, we hadn’t seen Hoynes offering Josh a job, but in this ep we’d see Will offer him one, to mould Russell. Two things forced Josh to make his decision, Baker pulling out of the Democrat nominee race, and Vinick, who got a very nice intro. Just the introductory shots for Josh’s meeting with him were telling us, ‘This guy is important’, and then he had an idiosyncratic chat about boot polishing with Josh, which I don’t think has ever come up before, but can totally believe Josh wouldn’t bother with his shoes. I knew what was coming before Josh did as a rewatcher, obviously, but Vinick as played by Alan Alda was as impressive as Leo had built him up to be.
LOVED having Leo and Josh discuss the permutations for the upcoming campaign. We got to see Josh at his best in some of these scenes. Will was right to want him running the national campaign, except of course, when it comes to it, Josh wants better than Bob Russell to be his President.
Bartlet was being difficult to handle in preparation for the China trip. We had the advantage over CJ, in that we knew about his MS symptoms already , but she figured something was up when they eventually got on the plane, being observant and smart enough (as the fourth daughter) to realise he’d manoeuvred to get the Surgeon General, as doctor and family friend, on the plane with them. Sheen was great. (As were Janney, Schiff and all the regulars.)
I believed Bartlet when he pushed on wanting more than progress, on wanting to get something done because his time was running out – and this was before Baker pulled out and Vinick announced, making the start of the race to replace him more real. They made the excellent link on the podcast between Bartlet and Leo’s mortality becoming more acute issues and time running out for the Bartlet administration.
For me, the show did a good job on showing the complexity of the relationship with China, with shrimp being the key trading good this time, and a whole kerfuffle over South Korea and uranium for the regional issues, not to mention acting on North Korea being Bartlet’s goal.
6.9 Impact Winter
Neat opening, although I don’t recall them using Josh and Donna singing along together before, but that worked as foreshadowing for what would happen to them (and it’s mostly on Josh), as well as (unless if they’d jumped ahead A LOT timewise) us suspecting his slow day was about to be ruined. As it was when CJ called the White House with the news about Bartlet’s condition. Suddenly all was serious and Leo was being called back (not a twitch about the results of being called back to do something so demanding, except maybe some sympathy crossing his face for what Jed was going through?)
So, there was the news aspect (we never did get to see Annabeth do a full briefing) and handling the Veep, now that Josh had rejected the job, oh, and an impending asteroid, which Hey, It’s That Guy They Always Cast to Play a Science Geek and Margaret took the most seriously, once the Nasa Administrator had been all reassuring. The podcast was fairly dismissive of this subplot, with good reason, because there was nothing new about it, it was mainly symbolic of what was going on with the President. Still, I enjoyed having some more Leo-Margaret interaction.
And of course they had to handle what happened next on Air Force One with medical, political and international relations takes. Now, I thought the guy who would end up carrying Bartlet around was a Secret Service agent, but the podcast informed me that no, this was Cliff, the new bodyman/Charlie.
In the new, hastily rearranged meetings, important things were slipping, and the most important thing slipping the most, leaving Bartlet so frustrated - that scene in the bathroom with Abbey was extraordinary.
Back home, Donna was frustrated too, as Josh – perhaps because he’d intuited from the breakfast that he didn’t want to hear what Donna wanted to talk about or because taking her for granted is so deeply ingrained – put off their meeting some more. It just emphasised to Donna that he wasn’t giving her due priority, and with all the disillusion she’s had (not to mention a near-death experience), she finally quit. Leo used it as fodder for his argument, although I’m glad the podcast analysed this, because him calling her ‘Donna Moss’ jarred on me too, even though the ‘good for her’ bit was spot on. Josh’s eyes spoke of how much it actually meant. But he was also distracted by deadlines (nice job in suggesting they were on the verge of Christmas) and the Veep. Still, we had some more Leo-Josh, with the master telling the apprentice what he’d done to get their country a President Bartlet, very simply (although was Leo in the White House when he started on that journey?)
Bartlet found a way to get what he’d wanted, but the question by the end of the episode was: at what cost? But for him it was about doing his best as President, as he too was feeling time running out. And that attitude fed into Josh’s dilemma, and so, pushed by the absence of Donna, emphasising for him that he couldn’t keep on doing what he’d been doing, he went to Santos (as had been properly set up.) We saw Santos at home, enjoying family life, reminding us of what a persuasion job Josh might have to do. Little dialogue, effective scene.
They had a good analysis on the podcast for how seeing Bartlet so physically incapable (and having Josh and Leo discuss the potentials frankly) was narratively giving us permission to move on. I didn’t feel it as much this time because this was a rewatch. Hrishi also made the astute point that they were giving us something similar to what had come before on the show, but promising the audience they’d see a fuller version of picking the candidate, getting the nomination and then campaigning than we’d had with Bartlet. I suspect that because we got the show well after it had aired in the US, I always knew there wouldn’t be an eighth series, but it’ll be interesting to learn if that was in TPTB’s minds.
That’s an episode title that reverberates right back to Sam talking about wanting to be in the room like Josh was. Ironic that, given that the previouslies all seemed to be about Josh’s new position on the outside. (It was pointed out on the podcast and backed up by a cut that the expression had been used 10 times in the episode.)
The opening was all about Penn and Teller performing magic tricks in the White House, and although Toby and Josh’s reaction cued us (yes, even us international viewers) up for flag burning = politically tricky, I was basking in Zoey sitting next to Charlie. Turned out it was for her birthday party. She’s a very grown-up kid now.
Josh may have been in that room, but not so much to prep for the China trip. Toby was, so Annabeth was trying not to answer questions about the flag burning. Josh would get dumped with interacting with Penn and Teller (who worked better as celeb guest stars for me than the Muppets had.) Admittedly, he was busy and his ego was bruised, but he kept pushing back talking to Donna about her (her future, I guessed), which seemed important to her, though she seemed to drop it overnight.
Interestingly, we hadn’t seen Hoynes offering Josh a job, but in this ep we’d see Will offer him one, to mould Russell. Two things forced Josh to make his decision, Baker pulling out of the Democrat nominee race, and Vinick, who got a very nice intro. Just the introductory shots for Josh’s meeting with him were telling us, ‘This guy is important’, and then he had an idiosyncratic chat about boot polishing with Josh, which I don’t think has ever come up before, but can totally believe Josh wouldn’t bother with his shoes. I knew what was coming before Josh did as a rewatcher, obviously, but Vinick as played by Alan Alda was as impressive as Leo had built him up to be.
LOVED having Leo and Josh discuss the permutations for the upcoming campaign. We got to see Josh at his best in some of these scenes. Will was right to want him running the national campaign, except of course, when it comes to it, Josh wants better than Bob Russell to be his President.
Bartlet was being difficult to handle in preparation for the China trip. We had the advantage over CJ, in that we knew about his MS symptoms already , but she figured something was up when they eventually got on the plane, being observant and smart enough (as the fourth daughter) to realise he’d manoeuvred to get the Surgeon General, as doctor and family friend, on the plane with them. Sheen was great. (As were Janney, Schiff and all the regulars.)
I believed Bartlet when he pushed on wanting more than progress, on wanting to get something done because his time was running out – and this was before Baker pulled out and Vinick announced, making the start of the race to replace him more real. They made the excellent link on the podcast between Bartlet and Leo’s mortality becoming more acute issues and time running out for the Bartlet administration.
For me, the show did a good job on showing the complexity of the relationship with China, with shrimp being the key trading good this time, and a whole kerfuffle over South Korea and uranium for the regional issues, not to mention acting on North Korea being Bartlet’s goal.
6.9 Impact Winter
Neat opening, although I don’t recall them using Josh and Donna singing along together before, but that worked as foreshadowing for what would happen to them (and it’s mostly on Josh), as well as (unless if they’d jumped ahead A LOT timewise) us suspecting his slow day was about to be ruined. As it was when CJ called the White House with the news about Bartlet’s condition. Suddenly all was serious and Leo was being called back (not a twitch about the results of being called back to do something so demanding, except maybe some sympathy crossing his face for what Jed was going through?)
So, there was the news aspect (we never did get to see Annabeth do a full briefing) and handling the Veep, now that Josh had rejected the job, oh, and an impending asteroid, which Hey, It’s That Guy They Always Cast to Play a Science Geek and Margaret took the most seriously, once the Nasa Administrator had been all reassuring. The podcast was fairly dismissive of this subplot, with good reason, because there was nothing new about it, it was mainly symbolic of what was going on with the President. Still, I enjoyed having some more Leo-Margaret interaction.
And of course they had to handle what happened next on Air Force One with medical, political and international relations takes. Now, I thought the guy who would end up carrying Bartlet around was a Secret Service agent, but the podcast informed me that no, this was Cliff, the new bodyman/Charlie.
In the new, hastily rearranged meetings, important things were slipping, and the most important thing slipping the most, leaving Bartlet so frustrated - that scene in the bathroom with Abbey was extraordinary.
Back home, Donna was frustrated too, as Josh – perhaps because he’d intuited from the breakfast that he didn’t want to hear what Donna wanted to talk about or because taking her for granted is so deeply ingrained – put off their meeting some more. It just emphasised to Donna that he wasn’t giving her due priority, and with all the disillusion she’s had (not to mention a near-death experience), she finally quit. Leo used it as fodder for his argument, although I’m glad the podcast analysed this, because him calling her ‘Donna Moss’ jarred on me too, even though the ‘good for her’ bit was spot on. Josh’s eyes spoke of how much it actually meant. But he was also distracted by deadlines (nice job in suggesting they were on the verge of Christmas) and the Veep. Still, we had some more Leo-Josh, with the master telling the apprentice what he’d done to get their country a President Bartlet, very simply (although was Leo in the White House when he started on that journey?)
Bartlet found a way to get what he’d wanted, but the question by the end of the episode was: at what cost? But for him it was about doing his best as President, as he too was feeling time running out. And that attitude fed into Josh’s dilemma, and so, pushed by the absence of Donna, emphasising for him that he couldn’t keep on doing what he’d been doing, he went to Santos (as had been properly set up.) We saw Santos at home, enjoying family life, reminding us of what a persuasion job Josh might have to do. Little dialogue, effective scene.
They had a good analysis on the podcast for how seeing Bartlet so physically incapable (and having Josh and Leo discuss the potentials frankly) was narratively giving us permission to move on. I didn’t feel it as much this time because this was a rewatch. Hrishi also made the astute point that they were giving us something similar to what had come before on the show, but promising the audience they’d see a fuller version of picking the candidate, getting the nomination and then campaigning than we’d had with Bartlet. I suspect that because we got the show well after it had aired in the US, I always knew there wouldn’t be an eighth series, but it’ll be interesting to learn if that was in TPTB’s minds.
