I knew Sorkin was going to do something unexpected, but that was pretty rough. Just when you figured out his first name.
I may have missed something, or it may have been the style, but did they explain or only infer why Amy lost her job. And I liked her drinking scotch, at least it explains the slurred speech.
James Brolin really reminded me of what Ronald Reagan might have been like without the cameras rolling. But I thought the “crime…” comment was a little too dumbed down. I did like the vitriole on both sides, though.
I have the episode on tape, but probably won’t be able to review it for quite a while because of a long vacation coming up.
I dunno. Killing Harmon off didn’t wrench any tears from me. Sure I’m sad to see the actor go but I wasn’t sold by the whole gun store shootout death. It was too neat. Too perfect. What I mean by it is that the his death was planned from the moment Harmon walked in front of the camera. Sorkin was trying to jerk us around with our emotions and for once my mouth didn’t swallow the lure.
I really like how they’ve been building Richie’s character offstage for close to a year now. I too thought his comment on “crime” was a bit too much but the dialog between them was great. What I was curious about is how that meeting took place at all. Can anyone just walk up to the President and grab some time with him? Especially the opposition? Besides a musical to watch, I think Bartlett had a few other things more important to take care of that evening.
Charlie mentioned that she worked in the White House Office of Personel and must have hired him then. I’m guessing she got fired because of the assasination attempt on Charlie that got Bartlett shot.
Although the original line was a bit over-the-top, the best line was (paraphrasing) “For future reference, the ‘Crime…’ comment was when I decided to kick your ass.” As CJ would say, old school.
I agree with not getting emotionally attached to the Mark Harmon character. Everything about that was too cliche.
Amy lost her job because she started a big initiative to defeat a bill that eventually passed, and Josh went to her boss and got him to sign on. What they meant by saying he “bought off Amy’s boss” isn’t exactly clear, but it sounds like backroom politics that Josh was prepared to do. She had chosen the opposite side and the loosing side pays.
Of course Lily Tomlin will be back. She’ll be just what Bartlett needs, and Charlie feels guilty.
I like Mark Harmon. If they were going to hire an actor just to kill why did they have to choose Mark Harmon? Why couldn’t they choose someone I didn’t like?
Also, I can only take one, random, pointless death a season–and BTVS filled that quotient.
Other than that, I rally liked the episode. Everything about it was great (except when they killed Mark Harmon).
Amy lost her job because they (the White House/Dems) gave her boss a job as head of the Platform Committee. This in turn caused the boss to call off the dogs and suddenly support the bill–and telling all the politicians they’s told to vote against it to vote for it. Hence, Amy’s comment about having a major policy shift happen to her.
Bartlett and Richey met by accident–the pres snuck out for a smoke and Richey was probably being brought in the back way. Bartlett tacitly invited Richey to join him with a head nod. The end of the scene, when Bartlett says (more or less) “just for the record, when you said ‘crime. . .I don’t know’-- that’s when I decided to bury you” I may have woken the neibors with my arm-pumping All Right!! reaction.
I was more impressed with the Qumare(sp?) story line. I loved Bartlett’s line about the US becoming an ordinary country. Is it enough that he, in fiction, agonized over the decision, and that we, as real citizens of this most unordinary country, would expect no less from our real leaders? I like the idea that the United States tries to take the moral high ground, and I honestly believe that as a nation we do strive for that, and we fail, but even as we justify it, we know it was a failure. And not that other nations don’t do the same thing–gosh, I want to be patriotic and proud without being jingoist. Try that one on for size. Anyway, the backdrop of the War of the Roses was perfect–plays about honor, country, war, and pride.
And yes, I think Lily Tomlin will become a regular, or at least a semi-regular, popping up in enough episodes to establish a presence, probably more that Mrs. Lanahan, not as much as Abby (though she hasn’t been around much lately).
Did anyone else half-expect the aide at the end - the one who told Bartlett that the hit was successful - to bow his head and say: “It is done, my leige”?
Did anyone else think that CJ looked just like Willow from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” when she started crying on the bench? It kind of ruined the scene for me when my damn brain said, Oh great – now she’s going to try to destroy the world.
That aside, I hated the robbery. Not because I didn’t want to see Agent Dicky Cobb die, but because he was stupid in a way no law enforcement official should be. “Okay, I’ve busted a robber without patting him down or securing the scene, so I’m just going to walk around now.” Moron.
A few questions…we were helping my son study for a final and I missed a few points…
Wasn’t the death of the Qumari Minister supposed to look like an accident? If so, I think a gunshot to the chest would put paid to that…
Was there any explanation of the motive of CJ’s stalker?
Why would Mrs. Fitterer (Fiddler, whatever) have been fired for hiring Charlie? Surely the shooting of the President couldn’t have been forseen, nor Charlie’s relationship with Zoe (is that still going on? We haven’t seen her this season.)
Yes, the death of Agent Donovan was tragic but a bit too pat. I felt so bad for the grocer…he must have been terrifed, and trying to warn off Donovan…I wasn’t too impressed with the kiss Donovan and CJ shared…no passion, very tentative.
Ritchie was portrayed as a bit of a buffoon, and as a Republican I think he could have come up with a better line than, “Crime, boy, what are you gonna do” or whatever it was he said.
And what was this about a motorcade blockade? Were they trying to keep Ritchie from getting to the theater?
If Mark Harmon was protecting CJ and they didn’t know the stalker was caught until after they got to New York, why wasn’t he wearing a bullet proof vest? I mean he preached to CJ constantly about what his job was and the precautions she had to take and he wasn’t wearing a vest?
Or did I miss something? Maybe secret service don’t wear vests? Too bulky under a tux?
They sent the motorcade up to Yankee Stadium to deliberately block traffic, so that Ritchie would be late arriving at the theater, thereby allowing Sam to insult him to the press.
My husband said the same thing, that the Secret Service’s job is to throw their body in front of the Prez to protect him, and how can they do that w/o a bullet proof vest?
I knew Agent Donovan was dead as soon as they revealed that he was a Big Brother. It’s like being the soldier in a war movie who carries around a picture of his fiance back home.
I kinda liked this, but it would’ve worked a lot better if the buildup of these plotlines in the past few eps had been better. (I’m still mad, for instance, that we never saw Toby, Sam, Leo or Donna reacting to the news that C.J. was getting death threats.)
Ritchie was overplayed. I was amused that he apparently doesn’t know “elitist” and “snob” mean pretty much the same thing, though. And Bartlet’s “…I’ve decided to kick your ass”? That was old school West Wing, man.
Serious points for the use of music toward the end. I love “Hallelujah.” And the musical Shakespeare worked well too.
I didn’t see the episode, but “Hallelujah” was written by the great Leonard Cohen, and I prefer his version, although it’s been covered more than once. If the singer sounded like a Canadian who had smoked about 280,000 cigarettes, it’s Cohen.
But Ritchie’s supposed to be stupid. Remember, he was the subject of Bartlet’s ".22 caliber mind in a .44 Magnum world’ open mike gaffe (which turned out to be intentional).
And to Aaron Sorkin, he’s probably an amalgam of a couple of stupid Republicans of the last 20 years.
If they were going to hire an actor just to kill why did they have to choose Mark Harmon? Why couldn’t they choose someone I didn’t like?