I am surprised at the negetivity I am reading. After last year’s drifting, uneven season, I think the show is almost back to form. Sure you can tell Sorkin is gone but in some ways it seems that is a good thing. Some of the scripts last year seemed tired.
If I had one complaint, it would be that the “gag” with the speech was telegraphed from so far away, North Korea even heard it coming. Other than that, the story with the pianist and the sacrifice he makes for essentially nothing as it turns out was engrossing.
I have been very happy this season after debating whether or not to give up on the show.
*West Wing on NBC at 9pm: *
Me: “I’m going to watch West Wing; I haven’t seen it in two weeks.”
Ladybug: “Oh. OK, I’m going downstairs to watch The Bachelor.”
*West Wing on Bravo at 10pm: *
Me: “Hey, this is a good one. There’s nothing else on, we should watch it.”
Ladybug: “Oh. OK. I’m gonna color my hair and do the dishes.”
West Wing on Bravo at 11pm:
Me: “Another one? Awesome!”
Ladybug: “I’ve had enough West Wing.”
I like Gary Cole and it’s gonna be cool to see him regularly on TV again. And his character showed some street smarts I think, at the end when he told Will and Toby they were right, he was a rather ordinary fellow. But it was their problem now, not his. It was a nice zinger, showed he wasn’t quite as stupid as we supposed.
And what was the deal woth the senator voting “yes” when we thought it was going to be “no”? That scene with the intern guy and Josh, I expected the intern to tell Josh he had called his father and his father convinced the senator to change his vote. But it wasn’t really explained was it? Josh claimed credit, but that was just ego I thought.
I’m still going to watch the show, but it does seem to have lost some of the spark. The dialogue doesn’t seem to have the pop or the pace of past seasons. Until something better comes along…
I guess this was the best episode of the season, which a sad and horrifying thing to say given how badly the characters are being handled. One thing nobody’s mentioned as a consequence of the slow pace: the huge numbers of words Sorkin was able to sqeeze into an episode gave the characters far more time to express themselves and inbue personality into their speeches and conversely use the speeches to create a personality. We’re seeing that lack in a big way.
I almost threw an economics text at the screen when the Nobel laureate said take a little bit from each theory and put them together. Economic theories are mutally contradictory. You can’t mudge them into a single pot.
I liked the fact that the intern did not tell Josh what he did–it shows class, and gives a hint that this so-far useless character may have something to add to the show. All politics is trading on power and exchanging favors, so the kid didn’t do anything that Josh wouldn’t have done, if Josh had had that type of connection.
I thought the same thing. Invite him back for the Christmas concert or whatever, and act shocked and surprised when he defects.
BTW…I agree with most of you that the show is not 100% up to snuff, but cut the writers some slack…Sorkin had years to perfect his style, and the new writers seem to be catching on pretty quickly.
Basically I liked the ‘moral struggle’ of do you have this guy defect or work out a treaty. I thought it was stange that CJ was so involved but at least she had a part.
The telepromptor accident was totally lame. It was only set up to have the new VP define his character. But why do we need a VP character? We never really did before, so why add one now?
Especially add one that is NOT as smart as the rest of the crew. He seems like a nice guy and he wants to work hard but I don’t watch The West Wing to see people of average intelligence debate the issues of the day.
(heavy sigh)
One thing that bothered me (and I seem to be the only one) is the music the N. Korean pianist was permitted by his handlers to play. The point was made early on in the show that North Korea only permits music or art that serves the state, so there’s no way that the pianist’s handlers would have allowed him to end a concert with an etude of Chopin well known as the “Revolutionary.” It may well have been the choice of a potential defector, but unless he thought the his goverrnment was entirely ignorant of Western music it is unlikely that he would have telegraphed his intentions in so blatant a fashion.
I also thought this episosde was better than the first ones this season, but the show has a long way to go to reach the standard set by Aaron Sorkin. They’d better hurry up.
Same here. I even said to my wife, “That’s going to bite them in the ass later.” Pathetically obvious foreshadowing. It is a valid writer’s trick to get over a block, but still… I knew they weren’t going to let it end there. So did everyone else apparently.
I liked the way the new VP responded to it. Not only was he a good sport about it, but he turned it around on them. “I know what my image is… now it’s your problem too. Have fun fixing it.” That was pretty cool.
Not a bad episode, but predictable throughout. Unfortunate.
Not to show my ignorance, but did they give the title to the piece, or do you just know it?
I would appreciate it more if they didn’t give the title. Almost like an inside joke for the viewers who did know what the piece was.
If you’re not into classical music, whatami, you wouldn’t know the “popular” title of a piece like that. It wasn’t announced. I just happen to like Chopin especially. My point was that the North Korean government would have made it their business to know exactly what their pianist intended to play and what, if any, significance it would have for a Western audience. I appreciate the “inside joke” aspect of it, too. I’m just saying the pianists guards wouldn’t have been fooled.
That’s a good point I hadn’t considered. It’s one thing to say the President isn’t running down to the corner store to buy milk. But C.J., Josh, Leo, and Toby are all single. If they’re not buying their own groceries, who is? Do Donna and Charlie have to make weekly runs to Piggly Wiggly and go around stocking all their refridgerators?
I saw it more as they don’t know the price of milk because they’ve never had to worry about affording it. To be honest, I could tell only tell you a ballpark figure for a milk price, but when I was in grad school and on a really tight budget–I knew exactly what milk cost. That’s why Charlie, who doesn’t make what they make, and probably pays a lot more attention to his grocery budget knew exactly what it was.
OTOH, I’ll bet that a lot of single adults - and that’s the whole staff these days - never, ever buy a gallon of milk. What for? Most adults don’t drink glasses of milk and may not even use it in coffee. If they do buy milk, they would never need a gallon in the first place, because it would go bad before they could possibly finish it.
And I’m lactose intolerant, so I could tell you how much Coffee Rich goes for ($1.69 for a quart on a seemingly permanent twenty cents off sale) but I have no idea about milk of any size.
I got the point they were making - remember when something like this happened to Bush I? - but single adults anywhere in a similar situation wouldn’t know the price of a gallon of milk. This is just not a fair test.