In the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of The West Wing, Bartlet is woken early by disturbing news of possible testing of an atomic bomb. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch The West Wing.
This is a strange and sort of slow-burn-style episode, but I liked it. This isn’t the most stupendous season of the show, and I do feel like the season-long arc is rough at best. I don’t know where John Wells is going with season five, but when the show is good here, it’s really good. There are some nice moments in “The Warfare of Genghis Khan,” but there are also some shockingly bizarre bits that… well, let’s talk about them.
C.J.
Okay, that’s two episodes in a row where plots are introduced concerning C.J. and we barely scratch the surface of what’s happening, and then nothing. No resolution, no closure, and no time spent on anything other than the introduction. Previously, that was with C.J.’s admirer, Ben, and he’s brought up again in this episode. Except the story goes nowhere. I think he’s mentioned in the beginning when Carol talks about him calling more, but then… why? Why is this a thing, and why do they keep bringing up it without any resolution? This wouldn’t be so egregious if the writers hadn’t done the same thing with her possible spat with Taylor Reid. How do you bring in Jay Mohr to be this super douche-y political commentator, gear up C.J. for war, and then with one sentence, Toby ends the story? It just feels so weird. I admit that I might be expecting too much of the show at this point because I’m not used to highly serialized plots, so it’s possible that in the next few episodes, this will all be addressed. It just feels so weird, you know?
Will
JUST LIKE ALL OF WILL’S FIGHTING WITH TOBY. Can we stop this now? Am I seriously supposed to believe that Toby is holding a childish grudge against Will for this long? Because it just doesn’t seem like the Toby I know from the past episodes. ARGH, I just don’t understand why this is happening, and I don’t see any direction or hope in sight.
That being said, I really enjoyed the chance to see Will interact with Vice President Russell, and Russell’s role in “The Warfare of Genghis Khan” was ACTUALLY NECESSARY. Unfortunately, this was yet another episode where you could have taken Will out of it, and it would have been exactly the same. That’s not the case with Russell, who not only provides a key piece of information to Leo regarding the atomic activity, but takes the opportunity to put in a dig at Leo for dismissing him as useless or boring. That was great! More of that! Less of Will and Toby fighting! Everyone wins!
Josh and SPACE
I’m super biased here. I LOVE SPACE AND ASTRONOMY AND PLANETS AND THE VASTNESS OF OUR UNIVERSE AND THE DEEP EXISTENTIAL DREAD THAT IT FILLS ME WITH. Just after New Years, I went to the planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences to catch a screening of the “Cosmic Collisions” film they have running before it was over because I HAVE TO SEE THEM ALL. ALL OF THEM. Oh my god, so yeah, I was VERY INSULTED that Josh was not PERSONALLY INVESTED SPACE LIKE I AM. These are the standards that I have for all my fictional characters. Nothing about this is irrational. I was very thankful for Alex Moreau, obviously, and bothered by the fact that it took a pretty woman for Josh to even pay attention. No. Still, I loved that something as simple as seeing Mars was what inspired Josh to reconsider his own thoughts about our universe.
And since there’s no on-screen confirmation of who gave Josh the telescope, IS IT PERFECTLY FINE IF I ASSUME THAT IT WAS DONNA WHO GAVE IT TO HIM? THAT’S TOTALLY WHAT I’M GOING TO DO. Oh my god, are they ever going to just make out? It’s been nearly 100 episodes, and there is a distinct lack of Josh and Donna consummating their love for one another. STOP TEASING ME, THE WEST WING.
Bartlet and the bomb
I mentioned in the first half of the video commission for “The Warfare of Genghis Khan” that the other plots paled in comparison to everything going on in the Indian Ocean, and I still think that’s the case. This is a solid episode, but I think the fact that the writers had other subplots going on while Bartlet worried about THE NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST lent a strange juxtaposition to the script. It was very jarring to go from Bartlet’s crisis to Jay Mohr essentially calling C.J. a tool. It is! And the writers don’t exactly stray from some absolutely brutal and uncomfortable issues surrounding the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The episode openly addresses the moral weight of using said weapons; it addresses the hypocrisy of the United States requiring the cessation of all nuclear production while continuing to build bombs of their own; we get a terrifying moment where the Israeli Prime Minister starts talking about mutually assured destruction and JESUS CHRIST, IS THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENING??? I mean, this is deeply serious, but I think “The Warfare of Genghis Khan” ultimately suffers by not devoting more time and more narrative weight to something that is perhaps THE BIGGEST DEAL THE SHOW HAS EVER DEALT WITH EVER. This is season-ending material, and yet, it’s stuck right in the middle of the season and is resolved in forty-odd minutes.
It’s weird. I don’t hate it at all, and Martin Sheen really is incredible here. I love it when we see him portray Bartlet as a man of moral reservation. As I said, this is some heavy shit he’s dealing with. Hell, how great is that scene where Charlie asks him if he’d have done what Truman did? This is a haunting episode when you think about it. The U.S. came so close to BOMBING THE WRONG FUCKING COUNTRY due to their own biases in support of Israel, the very country who tested the bomb. So, my feelings essentially come down to desire: I just wanted a bit more than I got, and I was distracted by the willingness of the writers to make this episode feel so typical at times. There was the main plot concerning the bomb, and then a number of smaller stories involving the rest of the cast.
I FEEL WEIRD ABOUT THIS because like… I’m not trying to be greedy. Any chance for me to shout at Donna and Josh and urge them to make out is very welcomed. But I think this episode just could have been… better? I DON’T KNOW, I hope this makes sense. I admit I feel like I can’t quite put my finger on why “The Warfare of Genghis Khan” felt ever so slightly off, but I’d rather be honest about that. It’s a decent episode, but not my favorite.
The video commission for “The Warfare of Genghis Khan” can be downloaded right here for just $0.99.
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