The single most unrelentingly bleak episode of WEST WING, ever. Every character is receiving or dispensing misery. It's all tightly-written and acted, but...if ever we needed a little Rip Taylor, it's now. We do, however, have a little...Skeritt! Tom (M*A*S*H, ALIEN, STEEL MAGNOLIAS) drops in for a one-off as a democratic senator who switches partys. Will's defection to Russell is done, short-shrifting all the potential he had as a member of the inner circle. This move would have felt less clumsy if they'd had a scene of Leo overruling Toby's protests and allowing Will to go because Russell (the second-most important person in the land) needed much more capable handling.
3 Reviews
Smell the Chaos
Sonatine9717 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
An episode full of drama, internal conflicts, grandstanding, attitude and misunderstandings.
No big deal, you might think, but this particular episode has a much darker tone compared to previous ones; perhaps this is due to the change in writing styles after Sorkin's departure at the end of S4.
What we have here is Will and Toby going head to head over how to get back on message now that the President's approval rating has slipped to a shocking 49%, along with a fragile economy and a potential rise in unemployment.
And to compound Toby's frustration, Will informs him he has been offered a job as VP Russell's Chief Strategy Director, and in all likelihood will accept, leaving Toby on his own again.
Amy, the First Lady's Chief of Staff, takes it upon herself to get additional funding for Violence Prevention, even though neither the First Lady or the President has approved such a stance. But this is typical of Amy, a loose cannon, whom confesses to Bartlet that does not like serving at the pleasure of anyone!
And then we have Josh, who's birthday it is, and is hailed as the "101st Senator" in a newspaper profile, much to his bemusement and annoyance. But he also has to go head to head against an important Democratic Senator from Idaho, who wants to build a military rocket launcher in his state before he will approve a backlog of military promotions.
And finally, CJ and Leo get into fight over a report concerning coal as an energy source.
There is very little humour here, other than a few moments from Josh's annoying intern, Ryan. But clearly the sombre mood reflects the rather gloomy atmosphere from within the White House, still recovering from the Zoey kidnapping and the press revelations over the Quamar Defence Secretary assassination.
Despite its bleakness, this episode is a highlight from a rather uneven season 5, and the performance of Whitford's Josh is excellent as we see his fall from grace (and resident high horse) when his plan to embarrass the Idaho senator backfires badly. The very final scene of him entering a room to a birthday surprise party by all the staff, including Bartlet. is particularly ironic.
No big deal, you might think, but this particular episode has a much darker tone compared to previous ones; perhaps this is due to the change in writing styles after Sorkin's departure at the end of S4.
What we have here is Will and Toby going head to head over how to get back on message now that the President's approval rating has slipped to a shocking 49%, along with a fragile economy and a potential rise in unemployment.
And to compound Toby's frustration, Will informs him he has been offered a job as VP Russell's Chief Strategy Director, and in all likelihood will accept, leaving Toby on his own again.
Amy, the First Lady's Chief of Staff, takes it upon herself to get additional funding for Violence Prevention, even though neither the First Lady or the President has approved such a stance. But this is typical of Amy, a loose cannon, whom confesses to Bartlet that does not like serving at the pleasure of anyone!
And then we have Josh, who's birthday it is, and is hailed as the "101st Senator" in a newspaper profile, much to his bemusement and annoyance. But he also has to go head to head against an important Democratic Senator from Idaho, who wants to build a military rocket launcher in his state before he will approve a backlog of military promotions.
And finally, CJ and Leo get into fight over a report concerning coal as an energy source.
There is very little humour here, other than a few moments from Josh's annoying intern, Ryan. But clearly the sombre mood reflects the rather gloomy atmosphere from within the White House, still recovering from the Zoey kidnapping and the press revelations over the Quamar Defence Secretary assassination.
Despite its bleakness, this episode is a highlight from a rather uneven season 5, and the performance of Whitford's Josh is excellent as we see his fall from grace (and resident high horse) when his plan to embarrass the Idaho senator backfires badly. The very final scene of him entering a room to a birthday surprise party by all the staff, including Bartlet. is particularly ironic.
Overdone, trying too hard again
jeffdstockton10 February 2021
Once again, as with the other episodes in this first season after the departures of Sorkin and Schlamme, the writing, including the stories themselves but especially the dialogue, comes close to parody of what the real The West Wing is. Every line of dialogue is overwrought, as though written by committee in which they're all trying to mimic Sorkin. The problem is, of course, that Sorkin's dialogue is cohesive and authentically brilliant. This stuff in the 5th season seems to come from people who read 2 or 3 newspapers on Monday, then wrote stories and dialogue by Friday. Depth is gone, after Sorkin and Schlamme left. It's important to note that in addition to story lines becoming pedestrian - typical TV soap opera dramas - direction similarly becomes a sad combination of wannabe plus film school pretension.
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