TWW: New season, new campaign
Jun. 16th, 2024 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe West Wing
Please note, I’m rewatching these episodes, so there are vague references to things that will happen later in the series. (Although I only remember the big stuff for sure, and then random stuff, which leaves a lot that I’ve forgotten.)
7.01 The Ticket
I half-remembered the opening flashforward (painful truth: they dodged a bullet in who was in there, I suppose because of the ‘tease’ of who the new President was.) We learned that CJ and Danny would have a baby, Toby would be in Columbia, Kate would write a book and Will would be a congressman. Josh announcing to Bartlet than the President was there was a strong hint as to the identity of said President, although we only saw below the presidential knees. (There would be a line about Leo having another heart attack that made me wince though.) They really disliked this on the The West Wing Weekly podcast, arguing that we didn’t learn anything dramatic enough to whet our appetitive – the CJ/Danny was the biggest reveal, and for them it was a spoiler. I can’t say I felt as strongly, but that’s because I’d digested that it was going to happen.
New credits (good for Kristen Chenoweth!) Some days after the conference ended, Santos was the Democrat candidate and everyone was settling into the new reality. Josh was setting up an office, the now familiar faces from Santos’s primary campaign were there, while Leo and babysitter/staffer Annabeth were doing their own campaigning, with Leo having to step out from the backrooms into the glare of the TV lights and media scrutiny. They leaned into the fact that he and Santos barely knew each other and it was a big adjustment for Leo, for instance, involving letting Josh and others worry about the chief of staff stuff. And then when Leo and Josh returned to the White House and learned about what the administration was doing with Haffley taking an interest in education to stymie Santos, he was seeing it from the Santos campaign’s perspective, even trying to talk Bartlet down. But he wasn’t getting that right either.
It took the whole episode for him and Santos, increasingly worried about how Leo was performing, to exchange truths and find a way to start building their relationship.
Which was something to make Josh smile after a blistering scene where Donna interviewed with him as a deputy (and he clearly needed a deputy he could trust with all the problems the new situation was throwing at the campaign. Not least needing to ditch the party unity strategy.) But his point that she had spent the past few months attacking Santos was completely valid, however capable she’s proved she is. The admission about missing her and needing her was perfectly played. They both looked so wrecked at the end of it! Donna had obviously spent the past few days getting a new haircut (I imagine Bob Russell just went into hiding.)
Joey (and Kenny) had turned up to advise team Santos, but we had an even bigger blast from the past in the return of Oliver Babbish, mainly focusing on CJ. Partly because there was less of it, but mainly the cut and thrust of the writing suffered in comparison to how Sorkin wrote it, although they did convey his smarts and how he got CJ to see what it looked like from the outside. (The whole ‘then why were you talking so much with Brock if not to leak this’ line of questioning was coloured for us by the knowledge of future CJ/Danny in the sun. About which I’m fine, if not wildly enthused. Is it rude to say that Danny looked as if he’d been taking the brunt of the sleepless nights caused by the sprog?)
I merely noted post-partum Margaret’s irritation with Babbish, Toby’s more plot-related dislike of Babbish and the whole leak investigation. I liked CJ and Kate’s respect for each other. Babbish made the point that the old team were leaving one by one, with Leo being the latest. And you did get a sense of all that in what little we saw of Bartlet in the present. There was a time when we’d have seen the awkward conversation with the Russian president about the secret military shuttle they’d denied having.
I feel like I haven’t quite written enough about Josh, with all the ups and downs, and the reminder that he has been through some of it previously, but not as the chief of staff, and not with his interests diverging from his former work family’s, even though he’d just got a win! They made a really good catch about CJ calling team Santos ‘you people’ to show the disconnect between the Bartlet administration and the Santos campaign. Meanwhile, in contrast, Haffley was taking instructions from Vinick/Vinick’s campaign!
7.2 The Mommy Problem
O brave new world, where the main characters appearing in the ep were Josh and Santos, CJ and Toby (and as noted on the podcast, Malia, Moloney and Hill didn’t get credited.) But a good episode, though, and I even found myself liking the flashy montage of on-it campaigner Santos (the song playing over it meant nothing to me), while Josh worked on whiteboards in the background. They delved into the impact of the decision to stop the White House leak inquiry, as per Babbish’s strong recommendation, for Santos’s campaign, with Josh having decided that because he was a Democrat and thus a Mommy, never mind his personal involvement with the military, Santos could only beat Vinick by focusing on domestic policy, not security. Josh’s decisions along those lines led to problems, and as Joey pointed out, he was doing too much, not delegating enough. The fact that he'd turned Donna down echoed over this issue as, like, only one of the team didn’t run to obey his commands, really, which Josh both wanted and looked down at them for.
Meanwhile, his fury at the White House didn’t get him anywhere. CJ was hiding from Greg Brock, who refused to give up his source, as journalists do. She was stricken when it turned out he’d got to prison for it, causing childcare problems as he had a four and a half year old! As they said on the podcast, that felt more like ex-Press Secretary CJ. The show was still dancing the dance of ‘did the leak come from CJ’, who urged Brock to give up his source, but they might as well not have bothered for me.
In his meeting with Democrat media people, Josh discovered that the one person he had asked NOT to be included was there. And lo, it was Janeane Garafalo’s Lou, and frankly I was all yay, because I am of an age to have been impressed by Garofalo’s schtick and remain so. Lou was quite capable of challenging Josh, pointing out that the decision not to say anything negative or about the leak inquiry meant Santos was an enigma, and the Republicans’ descriptions of him might be filling the vacuum.
Josh kind of had asked Santos to consider Lou as their comms person, and her being blunt to the point of rudeness got her the post. Lou had also been smart enough to insist on reporting to Santos, not Josh. Heh.
Santos had to decide the whole reservist call-up situation himself, while there was negative and scurrilous coverage. Y’know, making an executive decision. They came to the point that this was again the campaign realising that they had to let Santos be Santos, but the last spoken words on the episode were a reminder that Vinick (or ‘Beltway Arnie’ as Lou would have it) was fighting hard. Lots of nitpicks on the podcast, whereas I’d gone along more with the episode’s flow.
Please note, I’m rewatching these episodes, so there are vague references to things that will happen later in the series. (Although I only remember the big stuff for sure, and then random stuff, which leaves a lot that I’ve forgotten.)
7.01 The Ticket
I half-remembered the opening flashforward (painful truth: they dodged a bullet in who was in there, I suppose because of the ‘tease’ of who the new President was.) We learned that CJ and Danny would have a baby, Toby would be in Columbia, Kate would write a book and Will would be a congressman. Josh announcing to Bartlet than the President was there was a strong hint as to the identity of said President, although we only saw below the presidential knees. (There would be a line about Leo having another heart attack that made me wince though.) They really disliked this on the The West Wing Weekly podcast, arguing that we didn’t learn anything dramatic enough to whet our appetitive – the CJ/Danny was the biggest reveal, and for them it was a spoiler. I can’t say I felt as strongly, but that’s because I’d digested that it was going to happen.
New credits (good for Kristen Chenoweth!) Some days after the conference ended, Santos was the Democrat candidate and everyone was settling into the new reality. Josh was setting up an office, the now familiar faces from Santos’s primary campaign were there, while Leo and babysitter/staffer Annabeth were doing their own campaigning, with Leo having to step out from the backrooms into the glare of the TV lights and media scrutiny. They leaned into the fact that he and Santos barely knew each other and it was a big adjustment for Leo, for instance, involving letting Josh and others worry about the chief of staff stuff. And then when Leo and Josh returned to the White House and learned about what the administration was doing with Haffley taking an interest in education to stymie Santos, he was seeing it from the Santos campaign’s perspective, even trying to talk Bartlet down. But he wasn’t getting that right either.
It took the whole episode for him and Santos, increasingly worried about how Leo was performing, to exchange truths and find a way to start building their relationship.
Which was something to make Josh smile after a blistering scene where Donna interviewed with him as a deputy (and he clearly needed a deputy he could trust with all the problems the new situation was throwing at the campaign. Not least needing to ditch the party unity strategy.) But his point that she had spent the past few months attacking Santos was completely valid, however capable she’s proved she is. The admission about missing her and needing her was perfectly played. They both looked so wrecked at the end of it! Donna had obviously spent the past few days getting a new haircut (I imagine Bob Russell just went into hiding.)
Joey (and Kenny) had turned up to advise team Santos, but we had an even bigger blast from the past in the return of Oliver Babbish, mainly focusing on CJ. Partly because there was less of it, but mainly the cut and thrust of the writing suffered in comparison to how Sorkin wrote it, although they did convey his smarts and how he got CJ to see what it looked like from the outside. (The whole ‘then why were you talking so much with Brock if not to leak this’ line of questioning was coloured for us by the knowledge of future CJ/Danny in the sun. About which I’m fine, if not wildly enthused. Is it rude to say that Danny looked as if he’d been taking the brunt of the sleepless nights caused by the sprog?)
I merely noted post-partum Margaret’s irritation with Babbish, Toby’s more plot-related dislike of Babbish and the whole leak investigation. I liked CJ and Kate’s respect for each other. Babbish made the point that the old team were leaving one by one, with Leo being the latest. And you did get a sense of all that in what little we saw of Bartlet in the present. There was a time when we’d have seen the awkward conversation with the Russian president about the secret military shuttle they’d denied having.
I feel like I haven’t quite written enough about Josh, with all the ups and downs, and the reminder that he has been through some of it previously, but not as the chief of staff, and not with his interests diverging from his former work family’s, even though he’d just got a win! They made a really good catch about CJ calling team Santos ‘you people’ to show the disconnect between the Bartlet administration and the Santos campaign. Meanwhile, in contrast, Haffley was taking instructions from Vinick/Vinick’s campaign!
7.2 The Mommy Problem
O brave new world, where the main characters appearing in the ep were Josh and Santos, CJ and Toby (and as noted on the podcast, Malia, Moloney and Hill didn’t get credited.) But a good episode, though, and I even found myself liking the flashy montage of on-it campaigner Santos (the song playing over it meant nothing to me), while Josh worked on whiteboards in the background. They delved into the impact of the decision to stop the White House leak inquiry, as per Babbish’s strong recommendation, for Santos’s campaign, with Josh having decided that because he was a Democrat and thus a Mommy, never mind his personal involvement with the military, Santos could only beat Vinick by focusing on domestic policy, not security. Josh’s decisions along those lines led to problems, and as Joey pointed out, he was doing too much, not delegating enough. The fact that he'd turned Donna down echoed over this issue as, like, only one of the team didn’t run to obey his commands, really, which Josh both wanted and looked down at them for.
Meanwhile, his fury at the White House didn’t get him anywhere. CJ was hiding from Greg Brock, who refused to give up his source, as journalists do. She was stricken when it turned out he’d got to prison for it, causing childcare problems as he had a four and a half year old! As they said on the podcast, that felt more like ex-Press Secretary CJ. The show was still dancing the dance of ‘did the leak come from CJ’, who urged Brock to give up his source, but they might as well not have bothered for me.
In his meeting with Democrat media people, Josh discovered that the one person he had asked NOT to be included was there. And lo, it was Janeane Garafalo’s Lou, and frankly I was all yay, because I am of an age to have been impressed by Garofalo’s schtick and remain so. Lou was quite capable of challenging Josh, pointing out that the decision not to say anything negative or about the leak inquiry meant Santos was an enigma, and the Republicans’ descriptions of him might be filling the vacuum.
Josh kind of had asked Santos to consider Lou as their comms person, and her being blunt to the point of rudeness got her the post. Lou had also been smart enough to insist on reporting to Santos, not Josh. Heh.
Santos had to decide the whole reservist call-up situation himself, while there was negative and scurrilous coverage. Y’know, making an executive decision. They came to the point that this was again the campaign realising that they had to let Santos be Santos, but the last spoken words on the episode were a reminder that Vinick (or ‘Beltway Arnie’ as Lou would have it) was fighting hard. Lots of nitpicks on the podcast, whereas I’d gone along more with the episode’s flow.
