S02E01: In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part I and S02E02: In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part II

"Who's been hit, who's been hit?" How long did it seem we had to wait to find the answer to that question? Pre-credits what do we find out? PotUS: OK, though apparently injured in some way. Zoe: Throwing up but supposedly OK. CJ: Knocked on the head but looking alright. Sam: Fine. Gina: Fine. Toby: Fine. Charlie: Fine. Leo: In a car, apparently fine. Josh: Uh-oh.

As regular readers will know, Josh was my favourite character in the show, and had been from really early on. I very rarely (and by rarely I mean almost never in living memory) shout at the screen while watching TV, but this got an anguished "NOOOOOOOO!" the first time I saw the reveal of Josh's injury. You see, at the end of season one I figured that one good guy would probably end up dying as a result of the cliffhanger, but I guessed it would be someone on the periphery - Gina, Zoe, maybe Charlie. Anyone really, as long as it wasn't Josh. At that moment things weren't looking good.

Anyway, Josh's delirious state was a good way to segue into a flashback from three years earlier, when Josh is working for Hoynes' election campaign. Straight away we see the discussion that I'm guessing Hoynes was referencing earlier in the series when he spoke about being President if he'd listened to Josh. This is perfect timing for Leo to swoop in and dangle an idealistic candidate in front of Josh's nose. Turns out that Josh and Sam go way back, so he ropes him in easily.

For some reason Toby starts having flashbacks too, and as luck would have it to the exact same time period as Josh. Messy writing, but I suppose necessary considering these are events that Josh isn't a party to. It's interesting seeing that Toby is on the outs, even amongst people who we know aren't in the President's setup now. I guess Toby just likes being the unpopular kid in the room. Interestingly, if you take things back to fundamentals, Toby should take the credit for Bartlet's election. It's the answer Toby tells him to give which brings Josh on board, and it's Josh who brings Sam. Toby personally ropes in CJ. Would Jed have won without Toby, Josh, Sam and CJ? I don't think so.

At this point we leave the episode, with Josh's fate still hanging in the balance. No big deal - the next episode was shown right after (hence the double length review), but IIRC in the UK we only got the first episode, and had to wait yet another week to find out if he lived or died. That was a long week I can tell you.

After sidetracking briefly to let us known that the baseball cap wearing neo-nazi involved in the shooting has been taken into custody, we get back to our flashbacks. Josh gives Sam the face and just like that, he's in. Then CJ starts having flashbacks of her own (actually, she doesn't, they just cut from the ringing phone in her office to the ringing phone in her apartment three years ago, so they at least handle that jump in a better way than Toby's). I always found it fascinating that both Sam and CJ came from totally non-political former jobs. Yes, they'd done political stuff before, but the idea of CJ going from being Harvey Weinstein's gopher to a presidential candidate's main PR bod is delightful.

The motivations of the shooters are revealed and I'm sure it's meant to be one of those shocking moments, but to me it seemed so irrelevant. I really didn't care about their motivations - whatever they were they sucked, and whoever would do something like that isn't worthy of any deep consideration by me.

So what did I make of the episode? Well Josh survives, so that's a good start. I'm a sucker for origin stories, so this kind of show plays right into the stuff that I love. I can't say I'm as bowled over by presidential candidate Bartlet as I am by President Bartlet, but I like that there's a recognition of the fact that he's just an imperfect man doing his best. I think the scene between him and Josh at the airport is really nicely done too, if a little too fairytale for my liking.

Random observations:

The West Wing went widescreen from this episode onwards.

There's a real Godfather vibe to Jed's kiss of Leo.

Hearing Nancy mention Bin Laden in an episode that aired less than a year before 9/11 is chilling (even more chilling for UK viewers, as it was broadcast less than three months before the attacks).

Why does Donna come in to the hospital but none of the other secretaries do? It's not like she knew about Josh before she arrived. I think it indicates once more that the relationship between her and Josh is more than simply boss/assistant.

The one reporter at the briefing is Jane Lynch, from Party Down and Glee.

The who's in charge question is an interesting one. I don't think it's a massive leap of the imagination to think there could be a fair amount of infighting under these circumstances.

How does someone who handles award campaigns for a movie studio not known when Golden Globe nominations are out?

CJ's fall into the pool provides the biggest laugh of the episode (though Margaret's "I can sign the President's name" comes in a close second).

The idea that someone with the mind of Bartlet can't remember the names of his four main staffers is ludicrous, regardless of how recently he made their acquaintance.

As I pointed out in the last review, Sam doesn't save anyone - it's a secret service agent.

How does the secret service know the gunmen were down in 9.2 seconds and not 9.1 or 9.3?

Episode grade: A

So what did you all think?

Spoilers for the future follow.

The tanker deal Sam is working on will have significance further down the line when one of them goes disastrously wrong.

Season One Review

What a great freshman season The West Wing had. It certainly had more than its fair share of classic episodes, but I was particularly interested in seeing how the episodes would fare when they'd all been given my rating, and how the season as a whole would come out. Remember, I'm rating these against other episodes of The West Wing, so some have considered my marking a little harsh, but taking all the ranking into account, the season as a whole averages a B grade, rendering it an above average season, which it certainly is, even by West Wing standards.

In rating the episodes from best to worst I've strictly adhered to my original grades for the episodes. So here's my role call of best to worst of season one:

Celestial Navigation (A+)
Let Bartlet Be Bartlet (A+)
The Crackpots and These Women (A+)
Pilot (A+)
The State Dinner (A+)
What Kind of Day Has It Been? (A)
Five Votes Down (A-)
Take This Sabbath Day (B+)
The Short List (B)
20 Hours in L.A. (B)
Lord John Marbury (B)
He Shall, From Time to Time... (B-)
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (B-)
Mandatory Minimums (B-)
Six Meetings Before Lunch (C+)
A Proportional Response (C+)
In Excelsis Deo (C+)
Enemies (C)
Take Out the Trash Day (C-)
The White House Pro-Am (C-)
Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics (C-)
Mr. Willis of Ohio (D)

Of course, it's all highly subjective (in particular I imagine most fans would place In Excelsis Deo significantly higher) but I call them how I see them. Roll on season two!

S01E22: What Kind of Day Has It Been?

I like it when the pre-credits sequence poses questions, like this one does. What does the signal mean, and what did it mean before? What was it that Charlie showed PotUS? And what did Zoe's bodyguard see which spooked her so much?

Within minutes we can have a reasonable stab at the first question. There's a problem with the NASA mission Toby's brother is on, and given the phone call Sam took was for Toby, we can guess the signal meant things turn out well with that (my one nit-pick of the episode is that all the tension of things going wrong with the mission during the episode is lost because we already know it resolves successfully). Considering we also get the information that an F-117 is down in Iraq that gives us a pretty good idea what the signal was initially used for.

Truth be told I really don't care about the answer to the Charlie question, but even this early in the episode I was beginning to have a nasty feeling about the last one. When you hit the last episode of a season what you don't want is a cliffhanger, and what you really don't want is a massive cliffhanger. The pace things were going was making me think we'd get the latter.

When they cut back to the town hall meeting I remember looking at the clock and realising there was only five minutes left of the episode, and I knew my worst fears were about to be realised. The way they crank up the tension with the music and editing is brilliant, we just know it's going to end in tears. "Who's been hit, who's been hit?" are words which will be ever etched on my memory. If you caught the show for the first time years later be grateful that you didn't have the four and a half months of agonising wait to get that question answered - as well as the more important one - does anyone die?

Random observations:

What Kind of Day Has it Been was the title of the last episode of season one of Sorkin's other show that was running at this time, Sports Night. It was also the title of the last episode of season one of his show which followed this one, Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip. Anyone else here really disappointed that the last episode of season one of The Newsroom was called The Greater Fool?

Has there ever in recorded history been a cricket match between Scotland and Bermuda? My guess would be no.

The question Hoynes asks Josh about listening to him two years ago is a tantalising teaser for a future flashback episode.

Leo's dressing down of Josh is totally unexpected (or was to me at any rate) but really satisfying. I hadn't even considered how callous his comments to Hoynes were until Leo dropped the boom.

The little factoid about which way the eagle on the seal faces fascinated me - I really hope it's true. What I do know about the seal is that there's 13 of almost everything - 13 stripes, 13 clouds, 13 stars, 13 arrows, 13 leaves and 13 olives. All that pictures the original 13 states (there's also a ring of 50 stars around the edge of the seal representing the current number of states). Sad thing is, geek that I am I paused the DVD when it focussed on it and they're missing a star (one that should be just by the head of the eagle). Shame on you props department - you're normally great but you dropped the ball on this one.

Gail's bowl has a space shuttle in it, in reference to the NASA mission.

Richard Schiff's acting when he's talking with Jed in his office is magnificent, especially the way he conveys Toby's frailty.

Episode grade: A

So what did you all think?

Spoilers for the future follow.

We clearly see in this episode that it's a Secret Service agent who takes down CJ, not Sam. Bit of a continuity gaffe given the next episode.

S01E21: Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

I really don't know what to say about this episode. It's a nothing episode, where nothing of any note takes place. The fact that the Federated States of Micronesia musical chair situation is the most interesting thing that takes place is a damning incitement of the episode. Fortunately, the fact that the actors really have a feel for the roles now means that even mundane everyday activities around the White House means the time passes reasonably pleasantly. I suppose it gives us the resolution to the campaign finance issue and validates the decision to really go for it politically but other than that there's not much of substance.

Random observations:

CJ's optimistic prediction turning out to be pessimistic is a prime example of the show getting sentimentality wrong. Everyone else feeling things would get worse or hold steady makes the denoument even more of a Cinderella story, but it just doesn't ring true. What's worse, is it's totally predictable.

Why are Sam and Toby even having the discussion about Laurie, and what gives Sam the unmitigated gall to prioritise his feelings over giving the President a mini-scandal to deal with? Has he heard of FedEx?

Is the thing Rodney does the same thing the marines are doing at the beginning of A Few Good Men?

Laurie's friend is better known as Michelle Dessler from 24.

Margaret's joke is awful, and I mean really awful.

Is ployglot really a 760 SAT word? It seems a little easy.

I have a pretty dreadful opinion of the UK tabloid press, but take it from me, even if a senior staffer to the President was engaged in an illicit affair with a call girl it wouldn't make the Mirror, much less someone giving someone else a briefcase.

Gail's bowl has a telephone in it, which relates to the polling being done during the episode.

I really love the "language of Shakespeare" speech.

Episode grade: C-

So what did you all think?

Spoilers for the future follow.

How wonderful that as soon as Laurie ceases her criminal activities Sam appears to break off all contact with her. That makes sense.

S01E20: Mandatory Minimums

Well thank goodness they didn't bottle out of the Let Bartlet Be Bartlet promise. As it turns out the finance reformers do get nominated, and causes exactly the storm that's expected.

While the episode is called Mandatory Minimums (and they do get a fair crack of the whip) it should really have been called Fallout. The whole point of getting the pollsters out is to examine how the legislative nightmare scenario will play out.

Probably the most interesting character development in the episode is the revelation that Toby was married, and to someone pretty hot (well, too hot for him anyway). Even more interesting, she's a Congresswoman (further comments in the spoilers section).

Random observations:

I don't believe the guy who gets asked back instead of Danny wouldn't jump at the opportunity to do so, let alone try to get Carol to change her mind.

Is it just me, or is the lunch at the restaurant one of the most bizarre West Wing scenes ever?

I think Sam and Toby have an idealistic view of the American public whereas Al Kiefer has a realistic one.

How on earth do Toby and Josh grasp the Laurie thing immediately? This is almost clairvoyant in its genius, and considering some of the rookie mistakes they've made in the past few episodes I'm not buying it.

Does anyone else feel sad that Kenny doesn't get a White House coffee mug?

Episode grade: B-

So what did you all think?

Spoilers for the future follow.

I always thought Andy was criminally underused. She wasn't my favourite character by any stretch, but considering how influential her position was the fact that she mainly appears as a result of a kooky will-they/won't-they sub-plot seems a waste to me.