So, what to say. First, Amy strikes me as either working or buzzed. Second, I thought that when Charlie was asked to find a new exec secretary, I was fairly certain that the answer would be: Charlie. Do they really need to add another character to this huge ensemble.
Enough numbers. This was a pretty tense episode. First time I’ve seen Bartlet jump down someone’s throat like he did with Josh. I missed the first couple of minutes, and I may be reading more into this than was there, but do you think this was displacement because he wants to be mad at Sam but Sam is his favorite (son substitute)? It was strange to COJCOS to have the spacey line. I thought Leo had written off his suggestion and was surprised when he brought the idea to the president. Wonder how Sorkin will write his way out of this one?
The “next week on West Wing” hinted at a scheme to bring down Shariff’s plane, but it’s very hard to see Bartlet making the call on that. I was half convinced that there would be a successful terror strike at the end of next week’s season finale, instead of my previously predicted Special Agent Mr. Mindy takes a bullet for his prom date prediction last week, which would show the president made a mistake in not taking out Shariff and give a 9/11-esque feel to the cliffhanger that you know has to be coming.
CJ leaned in for a kiss and my brain blasted “AND IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOOOOOOUUUUUU” at me. I was not amused.
I liked the whole Amy-inclusion thing, not only because I like her character, but also because she’s hot. My problem was with Josh. I mean, WTF?! He’s Deputy Chief of Staff! He should know he can’t go home and talk about his day, dammit! He ought to be fired for that kind of crap…
I thought POTUS was out of line with Josh, maybe due to displaced tension over the Shariff thing, but still; he stepped way further down the man’s throat than he should have.
What appalled me was the complete lack of realism on the firing range between CJ and Special Agent Summer School. First, a .357 would not topple a grown woman, particularly on of CJ’s size. Second, since when did hearing and eye protection become optional. No way Mr. By the Book would have a) fired his weapon on a range without donning the appropriate gear and b) fired his weapon on a range without requiring that his package (in this case CJ, not little Mork) don the appropriate gear.
Lastly, I LOVED the exchange between Leo and the Chairman as they were dancing around the issue.
I loathe Amy, and the actress who plays her. Just had to get that out of my way.
If you watch the coming attractions at the end, it appears that the new secretary for the POTUS will be played by Lily Tomlin. Don’t know why Charlie is so thrilled about that. Maybe she’ll play Mrs. Landingham’s sister or something.
I missed the Lily Tomlin bit. I wonder if she’ll dial people for the President and say “One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingys…”
I haven’t fired many guns, but I have fired a .357 on a range, and the kick is not even close to that bad. It made me lose all respect for CJ (until I thought: this is TV and what is TV without hyperbole?)
Did anybody else shout “CHECK SNOPES!!” at the screen when they talked about the Space Program and millions spent by USA vs Russians and pencils? Or was it just me? This is the kind of crap that gives credence to Urban Legends.
What is the real life equivalent or name of the organization that Amy is a honcho in? And what is her exact role supposed to be in that org?
Finally, sorry about starting this in IMHO last night. See what one little (okay, large) glass of red wine can do to your posting skillz?
I missed the Lily Tomlin bit. I wonder if she’ll dial people for the President and say “One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingys…”
I haven’t fired many guns, but I have fired a .357 on a range, and the kick is not even close to that bad. It made me lose all respect for CJ (until I thought: this is TV and what is TV without hyperbole?)
Did anybody else shout “CHECK SNOPES!!” at the screen when they talked about the Space Program and millions spent by USA vs Russians and pencils? Or was it just me? This is the kind of crap that gives credence to Urban Legends.
What is the real life equivalent or name of the organization that Amy is a honcho in? And what is her exact role supposed to be in that org?
Finally, sorry about starting this in IMHO last night. See what one little (okay, large) glass of red wine can do to your posting skillz?
Forgive my ignorance, but who is Yamamoto and when and why did we kill him?
I think Charlie should be Exec Asst to POTUS.
The almost kiss between Harmon and CJ was EXTREMLY unprofessional. He can’t afford to close his eyes for more than a blink around her or ignore the surroundings.
Amy is annoying as heck. I want to tell her to clear the phlegm out of her throat.
The thing about the stalker and C.J.'s hard drive: can a trojan virus enable the sender to read any recipient’s e-mail? Was Special Agent Summer School saying that the stalker was never in the mall, but knew C.J. was there only because she sent an e-mail to Hogan, or that he may have been there anyway and read her e-mail too?
As for Amy and Josh: I don’t like Amy personally, but I figure she’s just doing her job, and Josh is stupid if he thinks she won’t act on information he hands her. Killing his phones was kinda rough, though. I don’t think the President jumped on Josh, as much as he was airing his frustration over a couple of things that don’t necessarily have anything to do with Josh. I bet every president does that from time to time. George Stephanopoulos used to talk about how that was how you knew you were “in the loop” and close to the President, if he yelled at you.
I really enjoyed Leo’s remark about Sam (the “Sam-shaped hole in the wall”) and Toby’s strategy to keep him angry. And Sam really is torturing himself about this, isn’t he? He went into his office and closed the door.
I hate Amy. But I used to be married to someone just like her, so I won’t say any more about that, except that Josh deserved to be yelled at.
I thought the pistol range business showed a complete lack of knowledge about firearms. I have a .357 and they don’t kick that much, but they are a Hell of a lot louder than that. And I’ve never known anyone who could shoot a .357 that accurately that fast. I’m not saying it’s not possible, just that I’ve never seen it.
Would an agent allow CJ to shoot his gun? He might be able to do that if it makes his job easier by giving CJ a better understanding of his function (better rapport), I don’t know.
The almost kiss; very unprofessional, but predictable. This is TV after all.
The virus that the stalker sent to C.J. allowed him to take control of her computer. This would allow him to read anything stored on her system, such as her e-mail. This type of virus does exist. The agent was saying that the stalker knew that C.J. would be in the mall because of her e-mail to Hogan, and that he then went to the mall and stalked her – we know this because he saw her trying on the Vera Wang dress.
I thought that Fitz’s line to Leo about his hair sounded awfully strange for Fitz. It made me think, “now that’s an Aaron Sorkin line,” but it should have been in someone else’s mouth.
Much of the C.J./Mark Harmon interaction seemed silly, probably because it was more soap opera than primetime political drama. I was sure that the stalker was going to attack, or at least be watching for his chance, during the near-kiss. Donovan (yay, I finally remembered his name!) should assign someone else to cover C.J. if he’s going to be that distracted.
Josh is a jerk. He deserves what he got from POTUS, although I think Jed’s abruptness was more because of tension over the terrorism situation than anything else.
What are you saying is the Urban Legend? That millions were spent on the development of the Space Pen or that the Russians use pencils?
I purchased a Fisher Space Pen at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama during a visit. The little panphlet that comes with it says “Paul Fisher invensted more than $2 million dollars in perfecting these pens.”
Could be a marketing gimic but reading how the pen works makes me believe that amount of R&D went into it.
I searched the NASA website and found a reference in the December log of the Expedition One crew log that said one of them had lost their favorite mechanical pencil. So U.S. astronauts do not use Space Pens exclusively. Also, in the same pamphlet that came with my Space Pen, it said the Russians ordered a bunch and use them on all the Soyuz flights. Therefore I doubt the Russians had developed anything similar and therefore would have had to use pencils until they received their order of pens.
I hate Amy. But I used to be married to someone just like her, so I won’t say any more about that, except that Josh deserved to be yelled at.
I thought the pistol range business showed a complete lack of knowledge about firearms. I have a .357 and they don’t kick that much, but they are a Hell of a lot louder than that. And I’ve never known anyone who could shoot a .357 that accurately that fast. I’m not saying it’s not possible, just that I’ve never seen it.
Would an agent allow CJ to shoot his gun? He might be able to do that if it makes his job easier by giving CJ a better understanding of his function (better rapport), I don’t know.
The almost kiss; very unprofessional, but predictable. This is TV after all.
According to Snopes, the legend that “NASA spent millions of dollars developing an “astronaut pen” that would work in outer space; the Soviets solved the same problem by simply using pencils,” is FALSE.
[quote]
Fisher did ultimately develop a pressurized pen for use by NASA astronauts (now known as the famous “Fisher Space Pen”), but both American and Soviet space missions initially used pencils, NASA did not seek out Fisher and ask them to develop a “space pen,” Fisher did not charge NASA for the cost of developing the pen, and the Fisher pen was eventually used by both American and Soviet astronauts.
I see that Snopes has already added the West Wing sighting from last night to their page – I guess we weren’t the only ones screaming “check Snopes!”
I hate Amy. But I used to be married to someone just like her, so I won’t say any more about that, except that Josh deserved to be yelled at.
I thought the pistol range business showed a complete lack of knowledge about firearms. I have a .357 and they don’t kick that much, but they are a Hell of a lot louder than that. And I’ve never known anyone who could shoot a .357 that accurately that fast. I’m not saying it’s not possible, just that I’ve never seen it.
Would an agent allow CJ to shoot his gun? He might be able to do that if it makes his job easier by giving CJ a better understanding of his function (better rapport), I don’t know.
The almost kiss; very unprofessional, but predictable. This is TV after all.
Bean Counter, I suggest actually checking Snopes about the pen/pencil fiasco. It’s not a matter of the story being factual - the Russians did indeed use pencils while we spent millions designing a pen. The inaccuracy of the story is that it sounds like the pen was unneccessary when a pencil could do the job. Here’s the link.
Bumbazine, there are people who can shoot a .357 that quickly and that well. The three-in-one-hole was silly, but otherwise, yeah, I can see it. But letting CJ shoot was a tad ridiculous, as was not having the proper eye and ear protection. And nearly any pistol can have way too much kick if you’re not expecting it – CJ wasn’t, so it surprised her.
a35362, I thought Amy’s first phone thing (cell into stew) was cute, but cutting the cord was over the edge. The first thing was, “Ha, I’m going to get a slight advantage on you, aren’t I cute,” but the second was flat-out, “I’m going to obstruct you from doing your job, aren’t I a bitch,” especially compounded by the pay-phone thing. If I were Josh, I’d have walked out the door for the last time after that. (Of course, if I were Josh, I’d never have scored Mary-Louise Parker.)
All in all, a good ep. Can’t wait for the season finale.