does anyone have any idea what Josh was talking about at the beginning of the episode involving a stadium, guns, and a urinal?
Oh, this is a well-deserved pile-on, so here’s my complaint:
What’s with starting and ending each episode with unnecessary Artistic Dramatic Set-To-Music pieces? The dream sequence with Zoe riding, set to music at the beginning, and the scene of them riding away in the limo at the end while the Prez watches the fireworks set to music at the end – totally unnecessary to the show. It’s like “You should feel emotion here” or “These characters are really hurting, are you getting that?” or “Boy, this is really some High Drama, huh?” It’s not particularly artistic, it’s not necessary, and it feels like pure padding out of the hour to me, which pisses me off – West Wing should not drag! It’s as if whoever’s doing it now thinks he/she/they can rely on montages set to music and long, lingering Significant Looks and avoid writing any decent dialogue.
About halfway through I thought, with some dismay, “This isn’t holding my interest.” That dismayed me because TV generally bores me and I don’t watch a lot of it, WW has been one show I’ve really enjoyed, and I’m going to be really disappointed if it turns out to be just one more mediocre “dramedy” I can’t be bothered to watch.
I think the reason Abby is so angry with Jed is only superficially that he put his family in harm’s way. She is still smarting from the fact that Jed broke their agreement about a single term. If he had kept his word to her, the episode with Zoe wouldn’t have happened. She blames Leo as much for egging Jed on to run again as for advising the President to go after Sharif.
I, too, am really missing Aaron Sorkin. Even good writers trying to emulate his style and pace, to say nothing of his keen observation of the controlled explosion that is political wrangling, will never be the same, or as good as the master himself. Until this season I’ve been as impressed with the writing as with any other aspect of this show. The cast are all top notch actors, but that won’t save them unless the words are there. This may be the last season unless Sorkin comes back.
DesertGeezer, I was thinking the same thing after watching yesterday’s Bravo rerun (Bartlet’s Third State of the Union). Abby is mad as a wet hen the whole time, and in the end it’s about “we had an agreement”. Her belief was that the SotU address was about getting re-elected, and that he’d obviously not included her in the decision. So this is an interesting angle. The only problem I see with it is that I’m not sure that the new writing staff has that sort of sense of nuance. It’s the same group that only took two weeks (and a minimal amount of explanation) to find a kidnapped daughter.
A couple of other notes:
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Bravo is running an eleven episode West Wing marathon on this Monday (Columbus Day). So if you want some more Sorkin written episodes, there’s your source.
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Martin Sheen is on Sunday’s Inside the Actor’s Workshop (or whatever that thing is called), also on Bravo.
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As I watch more and more of the reruns I am more certain that we did, at times, capture Sorkin’s style in Ivylass’s If Aaron Sorkin wrote other shows…
Yeah, yeah, yeah. What you all said.
Is it just me, or have they “sexed up” Amy for this season compared to past?
I don’t know that they sexed her up, Dinsdale. Maybe she’s just started to turn you on like she did me a long time ago. (The foot thing has nothing to do with it.) 
So, you get turned on by pregnant women, Dinsdale?
I read my TWoP recap, and the time line was even more screwed up than we thought.
Apparently, in Commencement, the date of Zoey’s graduation was given as May 7. That’s the day the twins were born. Huck’s circumsicion was eight days later, as Jewish tradition dictates.
There is no way it is close enough to be talking about celebrating July 4th.
The timeline is all screwed up. The characters are being reduced to cardboard. The lighting is ridiculous. The pacing is slow. Man, this show is becoming such a disappointment!
I’ll give it a few more weeks, but I may end up having to give up on it. It just gets too painful watching characters I care about being reduced to being mouthpieces for execrable writing and zero chance at any more character development. Not to mention all the romance angles. The best part about romance in The West Wing up to now has been that there’s been so little of it, it’s just been hinted at! Don’t turn this into another soap opera!!!