Life on Mars

[sunclouds33]

I lurked at TWOP when I was watching Season 4 as it aired. One of the memorable things that I read on those forums was this day-after-reaction to this episode from a poster. I paraphrase: The episode started as a screwball comedy and evolved to a "Whodunit" mystery and finished as a Shakespearean drama. Yup, that's

Comments

[sunclouds33]

Fascinating comparison between Hoynes and Snape. The similarity never occurred to me, probably because their endings are so different. Snape's character is redeemed in the end; by the end of the books we know for sure that he was a good guy, but in Hoynes's case the opposite happens: he acts decent in Stirred, for example, but later, thanks to this episode and his interview with Greg Brock in Full Disclosure, most people come away with the perception of him as a nasty, backstabbing opportunist with few to no redeeming qualities. Unless you count his looking saddened by Leo's death in Requiem as a subtle redeeming moment...

Thanks.

Well, there's CJ's expression in the scene in Hoynes's office in this ep - imo, she looks like she wants to cry, and sounds like it too. It doesn't prove anything except that maybe she feels sorry for him, which in itself is surprising given the antagonism between them every time they interacted in previous episodes except in Stirred.

I think it's a very sobering thing for CJ to watch a giant political career end in disgrace no matter how much it's Hoynes's fault. Mind you, CJ has been spinning directly and indirectly for Hoynes and advocating for the Bartlet/Hoynes ticket. It's a lot of energy and emotion invested in trying to believe the best of Hoynes to sell the best of Hoynes to see his political career implode in disgrace.

Although it certainly serves the later story to call CJ's sadness indicative of left over feelings from sleeping together or some sobering realization of what happens to philanderers who are found out in politics and how that could strike at CJ's worry and guilt.

So true. Their relationship is so poignant and angsty and complex that frankly, knowing fandom, I'm surprised no one has written slash about them.

I know! I troll West Wing fanfiction and I haven't seen Jed/Hoynes slash. What the hell, fandom?