if you know what I mean
The West Wing 3.05 War Crimes
I was very attentive to the title card telling us it was Sunday, and therefore know that the whole episode took place on that Sunday alone after the confusion over the last couple of episodes. Much good it did me. Do depositions like Donna’s take place on a Sunday?
I kept thinking of some poor staff member who, I don’t know, had chosen this Sunday to visit a sick relative more than two hours away from the White House, who hadn’t leaked what Toby said and who had just lost their job because it was on this Sunday, while the leaker kept their position. That slightly undercut Toby’s big speech for me.
Anyway, it was now clear to me too that Donna and Cliff had sex (and Josh, if not the record.) I figured she had perjured herself (if that’s technically the term in this scenario), but really loved the scene where Cliff called her out on it and she fought back, because he had crossed over into being smarmy and I loved that she was able to stall him. I rather liked that she’d lied for no reason she could give - it seems so human - I thought perhaps because she did find the whole situation intimidating although the podcast offered other plausible reasons.
I loved the final sequence with Josh, because I’d snorted in derision when he denied to Sam that Donna was right that he was angry with her, having seen and heard The Door Slam. And his reaction, specifically to finding out how and where Cliff had seen the diary she’d lied about was pure anger, as well as grasping how much trouble Donna was potentially in. But recognising how angry he was, he did find a way to fix it, probably enjoying being as threatening to Cliff as possible, but also kind to Donna in the way that she needed when she first turned to him.
Enter Will Sawyer (I can’t remember how important he turns out to be, but it feels like he’s there to fill a Danny-shaped, sharp reporter gap while the MS/re-election story brews, and I wondered if the fact that Leo was meeting with that guy would turn out to be significant. I can see why the podcast picked yp on potential history or something between Will and CJ, although it didn’t awake any memory in me.
I didn’t like that it seemed as if Leo was blackmailed into getting his former commander a meeting with the President, especially because I thought Leo was winning the argument until that point. As the podcast raised, it seemed like a misunderstanding of Leo’s character.
And this was all in the context of the latest shooting fatalities, leading to a meaty showdown between Bartlet and Hoynes. I noted in passing that Bartlet doesn’t know about Hoynes’s alcoholism; I can’t see him knowingly trying to get any alcoholic to drink. As Hrishi said in the podcast, it was another indication of how terrible their relationship is. Hoynes seemed to agree to go down to Texas and say what Bartlet required, however hard it was, to get the nomination after the second term, which must feel like a consolation prize, especially as the party isn’t sure Bartlet will get that second term.
Sam, bless, had to deal with the penny issue - or yes, his own block of cheese. After a lot of arcane trivia, he got his stupid but good reason from Toby. Meanwhile, Jed was not willing to be subject to the priest giving the homily, because he was indeed an oratorical snob. Yeah, that was my takeout, so I felt a bit facile when the podcast got into the themes of bystanders and accountability that ran throughout the episode.
The penny aside, I found the issues engaging, and the Josh/Donna involving.
4.6 Gone Quiet
Writing about this episode could end up being a list of what I found funniest, although I have to say that my baggage with ‘I’m Too Sexy’ got in the way of the giggles over CJ using it as a form of her gloating over the majority leader’s fumbling over The Question (that’s the majority leader that Felicity Huffman’s character was working for, right?) Donna doing a raspberry in response to Josh and CJ’s attempt to sculpt Bartler’s answer to The Question, plus the letter of apology over disruptive visitors suggested normal service had been resumed there.(We’ll see.)
I enjoyed Charlie and Leo sassing the president about his profound statement about democracy, the business about the height of the helicopter’s blades and all these examples of horrifying subsidised ‘art’. I’m not on the right parts of social media to know Bartlet’s literal headdesking is a GIF.
President Barlet’s shtick about not liking being scolded by men like Assistant Secretary Doom and Gloom, while panicking over a military issue is familiar territory, and I took Molina’s criticism in the podcast that it was a retrograde step for the character, but it was still entertaining.
Toby and Sam, especially the latter, had to find yet another way to manage ideals and politicking. Bruno got a very entertaining rant in, but although there wa some arguing and tension with Sam, Connie was just there, so it does seam as if the newcomers versus our guys as planned at the start of the season is not working out, Bruno aside.
Babbish’s point about wanting Abbey to tell the truth at the hearing and for the issue to be treated as a matter of law, not politics, reminded me of Donna’s er, failure to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth about her very secret diary.
I presumed Abbey’s injured ankle was something that happened to the actress and they had to use it in the story, because I doubt they’d have written it in otherwise as Abbey was sick only a few episodes ago and it was too similar to the President’s accident in the very first episode. (So, it was nice to have this confirmed in the podcast.) A lot of lightness, then, even though it’s clear Abbey really is in some serious straits (and I love that it’s for her husband, who then gave her grief over not supporting his subsequent unilateralism.) I mean, it was her choice to do wrong and I was glad she moved to the point where she seemed ready to face sanctions for it, so long as they’re just, not politically motivated, but it’s nicely complicated.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/469582.html.
I was very attentive to the title card telling us it was Sunday, and therefore know that the whole episode took place on that Sunday alone after the confusion over the last couple of episodes. Much good it did me. Do depositions like Donna’s take place on a Sunday?
I kept thinking of some poor staff member who, I don’t know, had chosen this Sunday to visit a sick relative more than two hours away from the White House, who hadn’t leaked what Toby said and who had just lost their job because it was on this Sunday, while the leaker kept their position. That slightly undercut Toby’s big speech for me.
Anyway, it was now clear to me too that Donna and Cliff had sex (and Josh, if not the record.) I figured she had perjured herself (if that’s technically the term in this scenario), but really loved the scene where Cliff called her out on it and she fought back, because he had crossed over into being smarmy and I loved that she was able to stall him. I rather liked that she’d lied for no reason she could give - it seems so human - I thought perhaps because she did find the whole situation intimidating although the podcast offered other plausible reasons.
I loved the final sequence with Josh, because I’d snorted in derision when he denied to Sam that Donna was right that he was angry with her, having seen and heard The Door Slam. And his reaction, specifically to finding out how and where Cliff had seen the diary she’d lied about was pure anger, as well as grasping how much trouble Donna was potentially in. But recognising how angry he was, he did find a way to fix it, probably enjoying being as threatening to Cliff as possible, but also kind to Donna in the way that she needed when she first turned to him.
Enter Will Sawyer (I can’t remember how important he turns out to be, but it feels like he’s there to fill a Danny-shaped, sharp reporter gap while the MS/re-election story brews, and I wondered if the fact that Leo was meeting with that guy would turn out to be significant. I can see why the podcast picked yp on potential history or something between Will and CJ, although it didn’t awake any memory in me.
I didn’t like that it seemed as if Leo was blackmailed into getting his former commander a meeting with the President, especially because I thought Leo was winning the argument until that point. As the podcast raised, it seemed like a misunderstanding of Leo’s character.
And this was all in the context of the latest shooting fatalities, leading to a meaty showdown between Bartlet and Hoynes. I noted in passing that Bartlet doesn’t know about Hoynes’s alcoholism; I can’t see him knowingly trying to get any alcoholic to drink. As Hrishi said in the podcast, it was another indication of how terrible their relationship is. Hoynes seemed to agree to go down to Texas and say what Bartlet required, however hard it was, to get the nomination after the second term, which must feel like a consolation prize, especially as the party isn’t sure Bartlet will get that second term.
Sam, bless, had to deal with the penny issue - or yes, his own block of cheese. After a lot of arcane trivia, he got his stupid but good reason from Toby. Meanwhile, Jed was not willing to be subject to the priest giving the homily, because he was indeed an oratorical snob. Yeah, that was my takeout, so I felt a bit facile when the podcast got into the themes of bystanders and accountability that ran throughout the episode.
The penny aside, I found the issues engaging, and the Josh/Donna involving.
4.6 Gone Quiet
Writing about this episode could end up being a list of what I found funniest, although I have to say that my baggage with ‘I’m Too Sexy’ got in the way of the giggles over CJ using it as a form of her gloating over the majority leader’s fumbling over The Question (that’s the majority leader that Felicity Huffman’s character was working for, right?) Donna doing a raspberry in response to Josh and CJ’s attempt to sculpt Bartler’s answer to The Question, plus the letter of apology over disruptive visitors suggested normal service had been resumed there.(We’ll see.)
I enjoyed Charlie and Leo sassing the president about his profound statement about democracy, the business about the height of the helicopter’s blades and all these examples of horrifying subsidised ‘art’. I’m not on the right parts of social media to know Bartlet’s literal headdesking is a GIF.
President Barlet’s shtick about not liking being scolded by men like Assistant Secretary Doom and Gloom, while panicking over a military issue is familiar territory, and I took Molina’s criticism in the podcast that it was a retrograde step for the character, but it was still entertaining.
Toby and Sam, especially the latter, had to find yet another way to manage ideals and politicking. Bruno got a very entertaining rant in, but although there wa some arguing and tension with Sam, Connie was just there, so it does seam as if the newcomers versus our guys as planned at the start of the season is not working out, Bruno aside.
Babbish’s point about wanting Abbey to tell the truth at the hearing and for the issue to be treated as a matter of law, not politics, reminded me of Donna’s er, failure to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth about her very secret diary.
I presumed Abbey’s injured ankle was something that happened to the actress and they had to use it in the story, because I doubt they’d have written it in otherwise as Abbey was sick only a few episodes ago and it was too similar to the President’s accident in the very first episode. (So, it was nice to have this confirmed in the podcast.) A lot of lightness, then, even though it’s clear Abbey really is in some serious straits (and I love that it’s for her husband, who then gave her grief over not supporting his subsequent unilateralism.) I mean, it was her choice to do wrong and I was glad she moved to the point where she seemed ready to face sanctions for it, so long as they’re just, not politically motivated, but it’s nicely complicated.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/469582.html.