In the seventh episode of the sixth season of The West Wing, THERE ARE TOO MANY THINGS HAPPENING AT ONCE AND YOU NEED TO STOP. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch The West Wing.
NOOOO, I CAN’T WRITE ABOUT THIS AFTER YOU JUST DID THAT TO ME. I JUST WANT TO YELL. I JUST WANT THIS REVIEW TO BE NOTHING BUT YELLING FOREVER.
Oh my god, this is not okay! I wasn’t ready to see Hoynes again. I wasn’t ready for adorable metaphors from Leo McGarry using toothpicks and matches and wine glasses. I wasn’t ready for all the quiet moments of devastation between these characters. AND I WAS CERTAINLY NOT EMOTIONALLY EQUIPPED FOR THE LAST 60 SECONDS.
God. GOD.
Charlie
I really hope that Charlie got a much-needed and deserved raise after he accepted C.J.’s offer for Special Deputy Assistant. Because seriously, his job is barely different than it was before. Thankfully, his plot to get the Taiwanese Independence Movement Flag back is funny and amusing, because lord, THIS EPISODE NEEDED SOMETHING THAT DIDN’T WANT TO MAKE ME CRY. And Mr. Pope/Maury Levy showed up! (Sorry, I just remembered that Michael Kostroff was on The Wire.) I don’t have anything remotely substantial to say about this, except that watching Charlie face off with Bernard was pleasing. I imagine that Bartlet isn’t going to accidentally accept another independence movement’s flag any time soon, so I unfortunately don’t think we’ll see him again.
Battle of the Nominees
Well, shit. I’m only now beginning to understand just how much foreshadowing there’s been for this very episode. I mean, I definitely picked up on the fact that the focus of the show was slightly shifting towards the upcoming primaries. But what we see here with Russell, Baker, Hoynes, Josh, and Will is the start of something huge and upsetting. It’s precisely what the title of this episode is referring to: a change is gonna come, and it’s coming fast.
Will, the perennially dismissed and insulted staff member, finally gets a leg up in his quest to keep Russell’s best interests in mind. For what it’s worth, Will is doing the best that he can, and I often feel sad for him more than anyone else. It’s so easy for everyone else to treat Russell like a political punching bag without thinking of how that makes Will’s job harder for him. It’s not even like Will has a history of constantly mucking in what Toby or Josh do; they’re just so bored with Russell that they don’t even bother to show the man a paltry amount of respect. So, what’s Will to do? He forces Russell into the National Constitution Center’s photo-op. It works, so… there’s that? Of course, then Bartlet immediately smacks Russell down like a disobedient child. LORD, IT’S SO AWKWARD.
But Russell’s actions prove he’ll be the first in a long line of people jockeying for position as the Democratic nominee for President. There’s Pennsylvania governor Eric Baker (holy shit HELLO ED O’NEIL), who Bartlet is eager to talk to before Russell barges in. And throughout this entire episode, the writers are constantly shouting at me because clearly, ex-VP Hoynes is going to run. AND I MISSED IT. IT WAS RIGHT THERE. Mostly, I was distracted by how much I don’t like him. He was on my screen, I could not care about the words coming out of his mouth, and is there anyone left who likes Hoynes?
Well, shit. The show had already foreshadowed the possible disappointment Josh felt at being passed up as Chief of Staff, but I thought that was all we were going to get. So yeah, I was surprised when C.J. tried to be delicate about the fact that she was leaving Josh behind while most of the staff went on the China summit. I mean, I wasn’t surprised that C.J. was sensitive about it; she clearly recognizes that Josh has had a lot of history and was highly qualified for the job that she eventually got. I was surprised because I didn’t really think it would ever be an issue again. However, it’s a direct set-up for the mystery of the cold open. Why did Hoynes write “Time to lead” in Josh’s book? Why is Josh meeting with Hoynes all clandestine-style, like they’re spies or some shit? Wait, is this turning into a spy show? I’d totally be into that. Anyway, I just plain forgot that Hoynes and Josh had a history together. Blame my poor memory of this fact as the reason why I didn’t figure out the obvious: Hoynes wants Josh to run his campaign. Oh my god, it’s going to happen, isn’t it? I don’t see Josh turning this down at all, and everything we’ve seen of Josh since “Third-Day Story” has been slowly building to this, hasn’t it? Christ, WHO WOULD REPLACE JOSH???? I can’t. I CAN’T DEAL WITH THIS RIGHT NOW.
The Taiwanese Independence Movement
Much like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that comprised the end of season five and beginning of this season, I admit that I’m not nearly as well-informed about Taiwanese independence as I should be. I learned about it in college nearly a decade ago, and I’ve had a few conversations about it with my boyfriend, who is Taiwanese himself. It’s a complex issue, which means there is absolutely no way I could ever, ever do it justice. I’d be reductive and foolish to even attempt it. I think the show does a decent job of making this easy to understand, from conveying why it’s a big deal that Bartlet accepted the flag to why it’s difficult for people like Senator Hunt to refuse to address the issue. Most of this episode is a display of disaster, as the conflict gets worse and worse and worse. Until Charlie successfully retrieved the flag, I honestly thought that this would spiral into something truly horrific. The Chinese were desperate to control the message being sent, and I worried about some sort of interference playing out. What if Charlie really couldn’t get the flag back? What if getting the flag back wasn’t enough? What would losing China’s support and friendship mean?
We’re clearly not done with the summit, since it hasn’t even happened yet. I think that might come in the next episode? I COULD BE WRONG. THIS COULD BE IT. It could be one of those huge international events that happens off-screen. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m leaning more towards that option, given what Bartlet reveals at the end of this episode. It’s not lost on me that at one point during the video for this episode, I commented about the quiet moments of devastation that were all over “A Change Is Gonna Come,” unaware that THE ABSOLUTE WORST ONE WAS WAITING FOR ME IN THE FINAL SCENE. There’d been all this joking/speculation that Bartlet had intentionally taken the flag so as to draw attention to the issue. It is indeed a very Bartlet thing to do. Right? How many times has he done shit like this before? I thought that Bartlet’s little grin for Leo was acknowledgment of this because I fell for it. Even when Bartlet called out to Leo as he was leaving, I thought he was going to say something about missing him or wishing he was back, and I just sat there, completely unprepared, COMPLETELY UNAWARE.
I gotta say that Martin Sheen and Stockard Channing took like 20 seconds of material and absolutely knocked it out of the park. Watching their faces as James Taylor sang was haunting, especially as the horror crept into Abbey’s features, as the weight of what Bartlet just said aloud settled into his soul. It’s happening. His MS is presenting in a very physical way. Oh my god, he never saw the flag. He fumbled with his bow tie! HE WAS GOING TO TELL LEO ABOUT IT.
I’m so done. I AM SO DONE.
The video commission for “A Change is Gonna Come” can be downloaded here for $0.99
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