iThe next two The West Wing eps
Those two eps being ‘Lord John Marbury’ and ‘He Shall, From Time To Time’.
Although both episodes had their own feel, and a major new development was introduced in the State of the Union ep, it’s clear that we have continuing storylines by now as Leo’s addictions were about to break publicly, CJ/Danny bubbled on and there was movement on the administration’s direction.
When I saw ‘Lord John Marbury’ was the next episode, I girded myself, remembering that he’d never struck me as a particularly believable creature (but perhaps more so now than the late 1990s? Although I do not think that even Julian Fellowes would have written his lordship thusly.) I know they lampshade how extreme his character is with Leo’s hostility and CJ’s ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’ line. Ah well, who knows what Pakistani and Indian viewers made/make of this episode?
I know I spent a lot of time grumping that the boys questioned CJ’s professionalism and the CIA’s professionalism while, if I understood it correctly, they hadn’t appointed an ambassador to Pakistan??? SRSLY. And they had to call in a non-American expert!?
Bless, the computers and satellite imagery at the top of the episode looked really of their time/dated. So, an international crisis brewed, in between Josh trying to make Donna his golf caddy/flirting (ugh, golf), he breezed off sensible advice to take a lawyer with him to the deposition until, thank goodness, the second time. Apart from being cowed by Mandy (have I forgotten why he owes her a favour?) Sam was much more on form in this and the next episode.
What irked me initially was that the boys might not have kept CJ out of the loop if she had been a male press secretary or they had not all been a bunch of guys making that call. It’s just how I’m wired, it’s there in the optics of the gender make-up, and though in the discussion with Toby it became clear that it was because they had notied her closeness with Danny (but was he even in the room?), letting that doubt cloud their judgment had weakened her professional position. There was no way she’d have said what she’d said if she’d had a clue and she laid out the consequences. Yes the 300,000 number should have checked her, but she was acting on trust, Leo had said there was nothing, she believed they’d have told her there if there were something. At least Toby saw that and apologised properly.
Meanwhile it was notable that it was all the senior staff (BAR MANDY) and Margaret standing by Leo.
Father Jed was troubled by Charlie and Zoey potentially dating (Leo laughed at him, but Jed acted a lot better over it than he did with Mallory/Sam, finding time to worry about Charlie eventually.) My main feeling, not being the father of a daughter, was that Charlie stands up whenever Zoey enters the room. He is absolutely not going to disrespect her and probably going to treat her right.
It took the podcast to point out to me the similarities between the international and two-party tensions.
‘He Will From Time to Time’ featured a teleprompter with typos as terrible as those I produce. I had forgotten the MS storyline started so early in the show’s run.
At the heart of everything was Jed and Leo’s friendship. You could see it in the latter calling out Abby on past incidents, in Abby’s interaction with Mallory, and all this while Leo was having one of his top five worst days, as Josh said, and Jed was mainly stuck in bed at the residence while he went through it. That scene where Leo talks to him after finding out the truth! And while the Sam-penned statement of support ‘floated around’, it was Jed’s overheard tribute to his BFF Chief of Staff that said it all.
The ending was lovely, but I couldn’t help worrying that the Secretary of State for Agriculture might turn into a giant snake demon and try to eat the people remaining in the White House, even though Harry Groener was clearly not playing the mayor here. And his character’s gift to the President was perfect! (And satisfying because of the photo frame gift that had got smashed.) And Bartlet giving him the advice, just in case!
Before that, Toby had his Stunning Realisation that they should stop adulterating their message. I picked up on the philistine getting Arthur Miller wrong, but not, to my shame, Rogers and Hammerstein. Interesting that Leo wasn’t in the loop for this particular decision, though he had a lot on, but Josh’s righteous line about never disagreeing with Toby when he was right swept us along. I was also momentarily distracted a couple of times when big decisions were made as to who was going to execute them. Possibly true of the previous episode also. Furthermore, the technicality of getting the invitation was never resolved.
We had romantic shenanigans, with some Jed/Abby flirting among Abby doctoring and worrying, (they just work as a couple.) I think that Leo’s involvement in Sam/Mallory is Freudianly problematic even without all the other Sam-and-women issues. Meanwhile, CJ clearly was jealous of Mandy/Danny, and Allison Janney’s performance around the kiss was a delight even though it should have been overdone - I’d generally say pick up the goldfish bowl OR walk into the door, but Janney made it all magic. And it was delightful because it was clear to Danny from her actions that this wasn’t her getting over it.
Fine acting from Martin Sheen, obvs, especially over the speech run-through delivery where it was quite clear that the President was off, while picking up on some of the errors.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/453732.html.
Although both episodes had their own feel, and a major new development was introduced in the State of the Union ep, it’s clear that we have continuing storylines by now as Leo’s addictions were about to break publicly, CJ/Danny bubbled on and there was movement on the administration’s direction.
When I saw ‘Lord John Marbury’ was the next episode, I girded myself, remembering that he’d never struck me as a particularly believable creature (but perhaps more so now than the late 1990s? Although I do not think that even Julian Fellowes would have written his lordship thusly.) I know they lampshade how extreme his character is with Leo’s hostility and CJ’s ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’ line. Ah well, who knows what Pakistani and Indian viewers made/make of this episode?
I know I spent a lot of time grumping that the boys questioned CJ’s professionalism and the CIA’s professionalism while, if I understood it correctly, they hadn’t appointed an ambassador to Pakistan??? SRSLY. And they had to call in a non-American expert!?
Bless, the computers and satellite imagery at the top of the episode looked really of their time/dated. So, an international crisis brewed, in between Josh trying to make Donna his golf caddy/flirting (ugh, golf), he breezed off sensible advice to take a lawyer with him to the deposition until, thank goodness, the second time. Apart from being cowed by Mandy (have I forgotten why he owes her a favour?) Sam was much more on form in this and the next episode.
What irked me initially was that the boys might not have kept CJ out of the loop if she had been a male press secretary or they had not all been a bunch of guys making that call. It’s just how I’m wired, it’s there in the optics of the gender make-up, and though in the discussion with Toby it became clear that it was because they had notied her closeness with Danny (but was he even in the room?), letting that doubt cloud their judgment had weakened her professional position. There was no way she’d have said what she’d said if she’d had a clue and she laid out the consequences. Yes the 300,000 number should have checked her, but she was acting on trust, Leo had said there was nothing, she believed they’d have told her there if there were something. At least Toby saw that and apologised properly.
Meanwhile it was notable that it was all the senior staff (BAR MANDY) and Margaret standing by Leo.
Father Jed was troubled by Charlie and Zoey potentially dating (Leo laughed at him, but Jed acted a lot better over it than he did with Mallory/Sam, finding time to worry about Charlie eventually.) My main feeling, not being the father of a daughter, was that Charlie stands up whenever Zoey enters the room. He is absolutely not going to disrespect her and probably going to treat her right.
It took the podcast to point out to me the similarities between the international and two-party tensions.
‘He Will From Time to Time’ featured a teleprompter with typos as terrible as those I produce. I had forgotten the MS storyline started so early in the show’s run.
At the heart of everything was Jed and Leo’s friendship. You could see it in the latter calling out Abby on past incidents, in Abby’s interaction with Mallory, and all this while Leo was having one of his top five worst days, as Josh said, and Jed was mainly stuck in bed at the residence while he went through it. That scene where Leo talks to him after finding out the truth! And while the Sam-penned statement of support ‘floated around’, it was Jed’s overheard tribute to his BFF Chief of Staff that said it all.
The ending was lovely, but I couldn’t help worrying that the Secretary of State for Agriculture might turn into a giant snake demon and try to eat the people remaining in the White House, even though Harry Groener was clearly not playing the mayor here. And his character’s gift to the President was perfect! (And satisfying because of the photo frame gift that had got smashed.) And Bartlet giving him the advice, just in case!
Before that, Toby had his Stunning Realisation that they should stop adulterating their message. I picked up on the philistine getting Arthur Miller wrong, but not, to my shame, Rogers and Hammerstein. Interesting that Leo wasn’t in the loop for this particular decision, though he had a lot on, but Josh’s righteous line about never disagreeing with Toby when he was right swept us along. I was also momentarily distracted a couple of times when big decisions were made as to who was going to execute them. Possibly true of the previous episode also. Furthermore, the technicality of getting the invitation was never resolved.
We had romantic shenanigans, with some Jed/Abby flirting among Abby doctoring and worrying, (they just work as a couple.) I think that Leo’s involvement in Sam/Mallory is Freudianly problematic even without all the other Sam-and-women issues. Meanwhile, CJ clearly was jealous of Mandy/Danny, and Allison Janney’s performance around the kiss was a delight even though it should have been overdone - I’d generally say pick up the goldfish bowl OR walk into the door, but Janney made it all magic. And it was delightful because it was clear to Danny from her actions that this wasn’t her getting over it.
Fine acting from Martin Sheen, obvs, especially over the speech run-through delivery where it was quite clear that the President was off, while picking up on some of the errors.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/453732.html.