Avalonian, I agree with you. Yeah, it was a bit of a set up to make Ritchie a bit of a boob, but then again, that’s what most politicans sound like in a debate. I kept thinking “wouldn’t it be great if someone responded the way Bartlett is doing?”
I also thought it might have been kinder if Barlett had just walked over to Ritchie and kicked him square in the nuts…
“First of all, ‘overwhelming mandate’ is two words!” Bartlett, you rule!
I did the same when his name showed up in the opening credits. I’d been wondering when Sorokin would have him on.
Leo was also great this episode.
Anyone else wonder what Andrea’s pregnancy is going to do to her next campaign? Anyone else want her & Toby back together?
I’m confused. When did she get pregnant?
She got pregnant last week. Whether or not it was in vitro or the good old fashioned way we don’t know.
I missed the first half hour. Can I get a synopsis?
I loved seeing Jeremy! Let’s see, they had Dana Whittaker, now Jeremy, the black director from Sports Night played a reporter in CJ’s press pool in one episode, and Donna had a role in Sports Night as an assistant to the wardrobe director and she told Casey off. Looks like Sorkin takes good care of his cast and crew. I like that.
She got pregnant last week. Whether or not it was in vitro or the good old fashioned way we don’t know.
I missed the first half hour. Can I get a synopsis?
I loved seeing Jeremy! Let’s see, they had Dana Whittaker, now Jeremy, the black director (name?) from Sports Night played a reporter in CJ’s press pool in one episode, and Donna had a role in Sports Night as an assistant to the wardrobe director and she told Casey off. Looks like Sorkin takes good care of his cast and crew. I like that.
I always like the recaps on Television Without Pity (formerly MightyBigTV.com). There’s always a gap of a few days or so before the full recap is available, but a decent summary (they call it a “recaplet”) of the Game On episode is available here. To get an idea of the detail in a full recap, check out the one for Debate Camp or one of the other recent episodes.
I for one am glad they didn’t make a large portion of the show the debate. I’m only interested in a debate when it’s real or at least the participants are real. It was a great episode. It reminded me of the first season.
I liked the change in camera and production quality when the debate when “live”. It was a nice touch. Everything about this episode said quality work except maybe Leo’s talk with the Ambassador from Kumar. As the seen progressed there were too many fictional names. It sounded like Star Trek dialog.
I’ve always found hand-held cameras to be a bit too jumpy for my taste.
There were quite a few baseball analogies used, but that seems to be the case in politics.
For the record, San Diego is in … San Diego County. The congressional race was in the south end of Orange County. One place identified was Newport Beach and at the end they were in Laguna Beach. Both are at the south end of OC.
And the Republicans would have to run Osama bin Laden to lose a Congressional race in that area.
And for what it’s worth, none of the scenes were shot anywhere near San Diego, Newport or Laguna Beach. Still, being a UCSD grad who lives in Newport, this whole episode was bizarrely close to home. If Sam really was running for the 47th, you can bet your butt I’d be voting for him. Still, the cartography wizard from Celestial Navigation should have known that you’re better off taking the 73 to San Diego instead of the 405. It’s the little things, I tell you.
Danica McKellar was on the radio this morning saying she’s in the next three episodes with the possibility of more
Well, I loved that. Easily my favorite since, oh, sometime back in the second season.
Funniest teaser ever, and it was perfect for setting the tone of the episode. Once in a while it’s good to see our guys just go out and win from start to finish. And it’s a smart approach for Sorkin to take in this case, too: we all know there’s not much chance Bartlet’ll lose the election, there wouldn’t be a lot of dramatic tension from that angle.
I usually don’t mention the actual politics - I watch the show for the characters and dialogue and drama, not to hear opinions I agree with. Still, in this case, I’ve got to cheer for Bartlet’s explaining why ten-word answers to complicated questions aren’t a good thing. That’s definitely something people in this country need to be reminded of around election time.
And there were all sorts of nice little touches - the whole little tie subplot, Hal Holbrook, Jeremy’s appearance, Toby’s conversation with Andrea, C.J.'s “Bring it, boss.” I didn’t think they made Ritchie’s debating too dumb, although it could’ve stood to be a little better, and I really appreciated them showing him as a gracious loser. I’ve never been wild about the Qumar plotline but even that was handled well enough to at least not bother me.
Anyone catch what Sam said after Bartlet’s “can we have it back?” Or what Josh said when he was shaking the President’s hand for luck? Sounded kind of like “nothing but strikes” (a bowling reference, I guess?) but I couldn’t really tell.
This probably ties with “Brothers in Arms” as my favorite episode yet.
Granted, I would have liked to have seen just a little more of the debate itself ('c’mon, man, hook, me up just a little more, man, please, man, just a little more, you know), but then again I am a stone junkie for well-crafted rhetoric. I’d watch a debate between two dog catcher candidates with wide eyes and the risk of salivation.
Abby chopping the tie was brilliant, and I really liked Leo’s scenes with the Qumari ambassador. On a much smaller level of potential consequence (obviously), I’ve had to have talks like that a time or two, and I wish I would have handled them with Leo’s bulldog grace.
Those who complained the debate was all Bartlett: I comforted myself by thinking of it something like this: We didn’t see the debate, we saw the highlight reel. When the news rolls on a heavyweight fight, you don’t see the whole fight, you see the best hits. It was a beautiful pummeling.
I adored how Ritchie was made into the archetype for successful politicians. None of his answers were really bad, they were just the standard fluff we have come to expect in political discourse. The fact that Bartlett’s answers and replies were beyond the pale and not the albino whitebread drek we’re used to getting really shows by contrast how far we have lowered our expectations.
I loathe just about every single stance that the WW’s have expressed politically on this show, but I adore the characters themselves and wish that in the real world the people standing on the other sides(s) of the ideological fence from me had this much grace, conviction and talent.
Hell, I wish that there were any modern American politicians, anywhere on the spectrum of ideology, that had the grace, talent, and conviction of the characters on “The West Wing.” I see them only rarely, and even then they seem to stifle their convictions in favor of bad politics. Ah well, at least we can dream, hmm?
king of spain - I though Sam said “He’s not Mr. Fluffy.” after the “Can we have it back?” comment. Or was that C.J.? And Josh did say “nothing but strikes,” which I took as a baseball reference, like what you say to a pitcher before he goes on the mound… “throw nothing but strikes.”
There was a reference earlier that if Bartlett showed up in his “Mr Fluffy” mode, ie, not sure of himself, they would be in trouble. Clearly, he wasn’t in Mr Fluffy mode.
I kept getting the impression that James Brolin was trying to do an SNL impression of Bush, especially with his facial expressions. Something about the hunched eyebrows and slightly constipated look.
When “name” guest stars show up they almost always are in a few episodes. It didn’t seem likely that Danica McKeller would show up for what was essentially a bit part, or Jeremy (what is the actor’s name?!).
I loved Toby saying “I can’t watch. Who am I kidding.” And CJs point about leaving the room, letting Bartlett’s performance stand for itself. I was interested why Bartlett said “You’ll be back” to Ritchie after he said “That’s the election”. It seemed way too gracious. He really hated Ritchie after his remarks about the Mark Harmon character’s death.
Oh, throw nothing but strikes. That makes sense, then. Thanks, Avalonian.
By the way, for anyone who cares, the actual title of the “Brothers in Arms” episode was “Two Cathedrals.”