I thought that having something at the very end of this episode saying that Leo had died in his hotel room would have fit. Everyone who follows the show knows that John Spencer is gone, and even if they had reshot a new ending, it could have worked. I did think that having him leak the results of the test debates to the blogger to lower expectations was a classic Leo touch, although unexpected.
I’m looking forward to the next episode. I’ve never liked Barlet’s son-in-law (not the new one - we just met him), and I can’t wait to see CJ hand him his ass.
Wow, that’s a lot of ground to cover.
It was a big story arc at the beginning of the seaon that the VP lost in the primaries to Santos. The Democratic convention had turned into a circus by the second night, with four people running for the nomination - Santos, Bob, former Vice President Otter, and Al Bundy, the governor from Pennsylvania.
Toby is under indictment because he leaked information to the press about a top-secret military space shuttle. Barlet immediately fired him when he confessed, which he did because it looked like the Justice Department was going to target CJ as the source of the leak. (Personally, I’m still not convinced that this is all there is to this story. Toby had some pretty strong things to say against leaking info to the press in an episode early in the show’s run.)
Will is the new Press Secretary (Toby was doing it, but can’t for obvious reasons.) CJ basically pulled him out of the VP’s office when Toby left. He was in way over his head the first couple of times he did it, but is getting better as time goes by. And Annabeth (the Tiny press secretary) is the media advisor to Leo in the campaign, so she can’t do it. Oh, and she pretty much told Leo earlier this season that she was in love with him. I wonder how she’s going to handle his death.
Donna is working on the Santos campaign, over Josh’s initial objections. She applied for the job as Josh’s deputy one episode, and he showed her the door after pretty much saying he wishes she was there every single day, but couldn’t hire her because of the stuff she said about Santos to the press during the primary campaigns (in her roll as a spokeman for the VP.) Lou (Janeane G’s character hired her as a spokesman for one issue shortly after that, and she’s been there ever since with increased responsibility.)
Oh, and Barlet’s middle daughter Ellie got married. To a guy she works with. It was pretty much a shotgun wedding, but it took place in the White House.
And while this new season isn’t classic Sorkin-era stories and writing, I still think they’re doing quite a good job at it. You might want to start watching again. We’ll help you catch up if you want.
