{"id":3009,"date":"2013-11-14T13:00:33","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T21:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=3009"},"modified":"2013-11-14T10:50:29","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T18:50:29","slug":"mark-watches-the-west-wing-s04e16-the-california-47th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2013\/11\/mark-watches-the-west-wing-s04e16-the-california-47th\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The West Wing’: S04E16 – The California 47th"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of The West Wing<\/i>, the staff heads to California to help Sam, while Will stays behind to work on some projects Toby has left him. AND THEN EVERYTHING IS A DISASTER. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch The West Wing<\/i>.<\/p>\n

GOOD GOD, THIS EPISODE IS SO STRESSFUL. And funny! But so much stress-induced tension, too<\/i>. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s do this.<\/p>\n

\n
So, I admit that I was excited that the Bartlet administration was moving away from economic interest-based foreign policy initiatives, and then the very first use of said policy has these really, really<\/i> creepy imperialist overtones to it. I think Sorkin expected that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d feel all victorious that US forces captured the airport in Bitanga, but this doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel as much like an exercise in humanitarian action as it does as colonization, or at least the beginning<\/i> of it. Granted, I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because the deliberate parallels to the genocide in Rwanda that Sorkin has put into this story means we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re asked to fill in the details of this on our own. The plot is simplified to create two clear moral sides: the US forces and the President of Kundu, with the ambassadors playing the role of\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what? Messengers? They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have much characterization in this episode anyway.<\/li>\n
Well, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s address some other things before I get back to the Kundu problem. So, Jean-Paul! I am just so flummoxed by his inclusion in this season. It was already bewildering to have Zoey dating someone else, and now, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cast aside with absolutely no character development whatsoever aside from what Jean-Paul tells<\/i> us about her. Which is lazy writing in and of itself, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not quite the point I want to make. Jean-Paul hangs around in every episode he is in specifically so that characters in the White House can make anti-French jokes and criticize European values. I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T UNDERSTAND HOW THIS PASSES AS ACCEPTABLE EVER<\/i>. It happens every single time<\/i> Jean-Paul is on screen! Everyone complains about him being obnoxiously French! He goes to Versace fashion shows! He believes American working habits are ludicrous! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m surprised that Sorkin hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just had someone with a shitty mustache come pelt Jean-Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s body with a baguette, because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seriously the level of writing we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting for his character. What is the point of this?<\/i> I guess that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what ultimately bothers me about this. Why did you bring Zoey back if she wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to be the focus of her own return<\/i>? The story is always about Jean-Paul being French, and Charlie being hopelessly in love with her despite the fact that she clearly doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to date him. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get any of this<\/i>. I really hope there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something to this by the end of this season, because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just confused.<\/li>\n
On a more positive front, can we just talk about how endlessly adorable it is that the entire staff agrees to work against their own interest when it comes to the Democratic tax plan just to help Sam out in his nearly impossible race? <\/i>I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore this. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO NICE. Impractical, yes, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m willing to excuse it simply because FEELINGS, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. JUST SO MANY FEELINGS FOR THIS. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weird to me that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m finally<\/i> full of all these emotions for Sam, given that it took me so long to warm up to him. But oh god<\/i>, his story in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The California 47th\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is just so good<\/i>.<\/li>\n
I think that this is an excellent depiction of the negative and positive aspects of personal politics within a party. The White House supports Sam at their own expense, and Holcomb brings Sam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign down to benefit himself. (I JUST REALIZED THAT HOLCOMB WAS PLAYED BY THE GUY WHO WAS ALSO GLENN GUGLIA IN THE WEDDING SINGER<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how I knew his face!) We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen this before, but I loved the contrast of behaviors surrounding Sam.<\/li>\n
Oh my god, just watch Andy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face while Toby is being an asshole about her pregnancy. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a thing of beauty. Also, shut up, Toby<\/i>.<\/li>\n
So, I felt really<\/i> bad for Will in this episode because the joy he experienced the previous night is brought to a sobering end when he finds out that his staff that he inherited from Sam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time at the White House have all quit overnight because of Will\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s promotion. I suppose I understand that they were upset, but still. All<\/i> of them? And then I worried about how the interns were being portrayed. There are overwhelmingly more men in positions of power and on the staff in the White House, and C.J. and Nancy are pretty much the only women who command attention\/power on a regular basis. Suddenly, there are four new women characters! Who are initially portrayed as fools<\/i> who can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t write. Sigh, really<\/i>? Like, I get the idea that interns aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t totally qualified in this case, but you had to make them all women, too? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping instead that Will does something awesome like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 make them into writers? Hire them? Something better than just having them there as a punchline?<\/li>\n
(I swear, I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m complaining a lot, but I did like this episode a lot!)<\/li>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about disasters, because the White House exemplifies Murphy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Law in every sense of the adage. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a freeway mix-up, which decimates the evening commute in Los Angeles, which I know from experience is a death sentence for people in that city. (Oh god, I had already moved by the time Carmageddon happened, which was when a huge portion of the 405 was closed for construction. The 405 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like the 5 Freeway mentioned here \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is a vital thoroughfare for people traveling between Orange County, the South Bay, West LA, and the Valley, and it was seriously billed as the fucking apocalypse<\/i>. It ended up not being so bad.) People get trapped in Disneyland<\/i> because of the mix-up. (I WOULD NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS AT ALL. I WOULD LOVE IT.) And then Bartlet, in his infinite wisdom, decides to shout loudly about the French just seconds before he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about to speak in favor of Sam.<\/li>\n
Oh, and Donna talks to a Communist.<\/li>\n
I loved her realization that Communists look just like everyone else! Because what was she expecting? For them to be painted crimson red, just like the blood of the capitalists they slaughtered?<\/li>\n
Also, I kind of hate that photographer. Look, I lived in Hollywood, and so I have a very biased dislike of paparazzi and the sort of people who make a living ambushing people like this. No. No<\/i>.<\/li>\n
For the most part, this episode is actually kind of whimsical in that way where Sorkin toys with these characters and the serious nature of what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing. Of course, I should have been prepared for the abrupt tonal change that hit me just at the end of the third act, because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also<\/i> something Sorkin is known for on this show. The US intervention in Kundu becomes unbearably important once it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s revealed that the President Nzele is literally marching thousands upon thousands of the opposition to their deaths, attempting to complete his genocide before<\/i> the ultimatum deadline. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a horrifically sobering moment because the implications of what this decision has caused are suddenly very, very<\/i> real. So what the hell do they do? How do they do this while minimizing American casualties, if they can do that at all?<\/li>\n
This is followed by a deeply unsettling scene where some random guy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he literally isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t named at all \u00e2\u20ac\u201c decides that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perfectly okay to criticize Andy for having a child while not being married. And before some of y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all decide to say that this is too far-fetched, that the man and his wife are just fabrications meant to demonstrate the opposition (which is<\/i> something Sorkin has done before), let me just say that I have seen people do exactly<\/i> what these fuckheads do here. People presume they are entitled to give their opinion on a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s body, specifically one who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a uterus, and they think that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re overreacting if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t accept their entitled criticism with grace. And then we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got that woman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thinly veiled racism, because you better believe<\/i> it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not hard for me to imagine that her next comment was how Zoey was better than Charlie.<\/li>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m kind of glad I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the actual<\/i> fight, as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure I would have been a lot more upset. Plus, the sudden cut to Toby and Charlie getting booked is as funny as it is disturbing. Actually, probably more funny than not.<\/li>\n
Oh god, how is this all going to be resolved? Charlie and Toby are in jail. Sam fires Scott Holcomb after he rejects the idea that he should come out against<\/i> Bartlet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tax plan. WHICH HE HELPED WRITE. Yeah, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great<\/i> idea, Scott. Now, Toby is going to help run Sam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign. In\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 jail? Yes? And Sam just compelled Bartlet to reveal the Democratic tax plan! HOW EXCITING.<\/li>\n
EXCEPT THAT THREE MARINES HAVE BEEN TAKEN AS PRISONERS BY PRESIDENT NZELE. GODDAMN IT. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already close to completing his genocide, and his demands are so absurd that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re downright offensive. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been days<\/i> since Bartlet announced his new foreign aid policy, and this<\/i> is what happens in the very first humanitarian act in Bartlet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second term.<\/li>\n
DISASTER EVERYWHERE<\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The video commission for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The California 47th\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded right here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
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In the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of The West Wing, the staff heads to California to help Sam, while Will stays behind to work on some projects Toby has left him. AND THEN EVERYTHING IS A DISASTER. Intrigued? … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[460],"tags":[462],"class_list":["post-3009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-west-wing","tag-mark-watches-the-west-wing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}