In the sixteenth episode of the second season of The West Wing, Big Block of Cheese day yields a lot of humor and one HUMONGOUS punch to all our feelings. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch The West Wing.
WOW, THAT WASN’T FAIR, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME.
C.J.
Oh my god, C.J. always gets the best Big Block of Cheese Day assignments. I have no idea if the names used for the type of maps we use were real things – I suspect the new model was invented – but like C.J., I was totally intrigued by the Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality. I love that Sorkin and Paul Redford took an idea that was silly at the outset and made it REALLY INTERESTING! Sure, it mostly provided the episode with humor, but I’m still a big fan of it. Plus, I know it may seem bizarre that this sort of education is unnecessary, but a lot of children in this country internalize some downright wrong shit through simple things like maps or charts or history lessons. For example, did you know that until a decade ago, I didn’t know that the Texans lost the Battle of Alamo??? I was always told that it was such a pivotal and heroic battle that no one bothered to tell me that the Republic of Texas lost it. Whoops?
Toby
If you don’t watch the video commission that comes along with this, allow me to summarize my reaction to all of Toby’s scenes at the WTO protest:
- Rhonda Sachs RULES.
- OH MY GOD EVERY PROTESTOR IN THIS EPISODE IS FROM MY CITY MAKE IT STOP.
Y’all don’t understand: the Bay Area is often exactly what this episode portrays. Privileged white people protesting on behalf of other people whom they never even invite or talk to ever. I got into a fight on Twitter (GOD I HATE THAT I JUST TYPED THAT, I SOUND SO AWFUL) with someone I’d known for years after I blasted a bunch of black mask “anarchists” who trashed the Whole Foods down the street for me. As is the case most of the time that protestors destroy property, the people who had to clean up after the vandals were all Latino men and women. It didn’t do shit to affect Whole Foods, but people who these anarchists might claim they are supporting were the ones sweeping up glass, painting over graffiti, and essentially acting as if they were these assholes parents’. Of course, when I pointed this out on Twitter, I was then called a “NIMBY sellout,” which makes so little sense once you think about it for five seconds. I don’t give a shit about Whole Foods being damaged in and of itself. Also, I don’t have a backyard. At all. Okay, I’m being literal there, but this is such a pervasive mindset in this awful den of potluck assholes who claim to care about the third world or racism or classism and then do almost nothing to help the people actually affected by it. So I love that Toby calls these people out! It’s so direct and vicious. At the same time, I also adore that Rhonda is here to suggest that perhaps Toby is wasting an opportunity with these people. I REALLY WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN TOBY WHIP THOSE YOUNG’UNS INTO SHAPE. THAT IS A SCENE I MOST DEFINITELY NEEDED IN MY LIFE.
Sam
That being said, I’m glad that Sorkin and Redford spent the bulk of “Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going to Jail” focusing on Sam’s struggle with the possible pardoning of Daniel Gault. It’s a serious story, and it’s one that needed the respect it got here. I should have realized the importance of the cold open, too. Sam was having a difficult time accepting that his father had cheated for 28 years, and we saw how that manifested in him physical. Still, I was so certain that this was going to be a story about how the FBI, the CIA, or the NSA totally fucked up and refused to admit it for fear of embarrassment. Because that is totally based in reality! It’s not something impossible to accept as a premise because it’s an actual truth of those organizations. Sam’s meeting with Agent Coulson – er, I mean Casper – supported that, and we’re meant to think that Agent Casper is being unfair.
So when Nancy McNally drops that book of “evidence” from the NSA on Daniel Gault in front of Sam, my heart dropped. I didn’t expect this to be true. I wasn’t prepared for this to be true. But that revelation is made all the worse when Sam, in an instance of vulnerable fury in front of Donna, makes the mistake of calling Stephanie’s grandfather her “father.” It was a stunning insight into exactly why Sam was having such a hard time with this. He thought he knew his own father his whole life, and now he was forced to deal with the crushing disappointment of learning that this wasn’t true. It’s why he wanted to do the same thing to Stephanie. He wanted to crush her. He wanted her to feel as he did.
It’s Donna, then, who helps Sam come to terms with this. And my god, it must be stated that Donna is such an amazing force in this episode, and I’m just so proud of her. She helps Stephanie and Sam over the course of this story and doesn’t benefit one bit from it. I adore you, Donna Moss. I adore you.
Bartlet
I did want to address that brief instance of reluctance from Bartlet at the end of this episode. I guess I never really considered the idea that it was possible another president aside from Bartlet could be at the center of the show, but this episode put that thought in my mind. What if Bartlet does decide that he only wants one term? He has a perfect justification for it, and he seemed almost guilty that he’d broken the deal he had with his wife. Oh god, I guess it’s possible, right? WHO KNOWS? Wait, all of you do. Damn it.
The video commission for this episode is now archived on MarkDoesStuff.com for just $0.99!
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