So you’ve had a little bit of a day
Ten hours of The West Wing in a row. Not only that, ten of the greatest episodes, pretty inarguably, of The West Wing in a row. Handfuls of instances of tearing up.
Here’s what the viewers choices were, from 10-one in the order they were played yesterday. I hope you saw at least a couple of them. The links will bring you to episode guides if not. Plus some comments more-or-less off the top of my head.
This was kind of a surprise–reaction to this episode was mixed to say the least. I don’t know if I’d have put it in a list of the top ten, but I think it worked okay and holds up.
Observations: We West Wing fanatics love us some Christmas episodes (two included) and we love us our Josh Lyman–if there’s a through line to almost all the eps chosen, it’s him and/or that.
PS: Also worth noting, at least to me, is that there’s a character with a small but important part in this one named Kaytha. This, the first couple of times it was spoken, didn’t sound a million miles from Keitha. Which as some of you know is the name of one of the primary characters in my recently-completed new play. I wasn’t concious of this, but I like the idea that it might have been my subconcious working overtime.
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Well, I already talked about this one a little bit here. And then there’s this:
“If our jobs teach us anything it’s that we don’t know what the next President’s gonna face. If we choose someone with vision, someone with guts, someone with gravitas who’s connected to other people’s lives and cares about making them better, if we choose someone to inspire us, then we’ll be able to face what comes our way and achieve things we can’t imagine yet.” –Toby, “20 Hours in America.”
This is the one where I cried the most, but it wasn’t the scenes where you’d think it’d be if you’ve seen the episode and it wasn’t for the reason you might think it’d be. It wasn’t anything to do with the haunting story of Toby and the forgotten Korean War hero who dies alone on the street in his coat. Though that was certainly apt. Or the hate crime story.
But something during the scene when Sam & Josh disobey Leo’s wishes and ask Lisa to give up names that might give them leverage…I just went away for a few minutes. It wasn’t even anything in the scene particuarly, I don’t think. It was just wanting so much to have actors that good, directors that good, speak my words and tell my stories. To say nothing of wanting to be able to write words and tell stories as well as Aaron Sorkin does when he’s playing at the top of his game (hell, I’d settle for when he’s off-balance).
That’s what I want.
This one is another bit of a surprise–it’s a good episode to be sure, but I’m not sure it’s better than many others that could have made the cut.
Third (and last) surprising choice of the day–even among West Wing fans, this one is the object of some derision and cynicism. Maybe they, like me, will forgive a lot for the first (onscreen) meeting between James Brolin as the Bushlike presidental challenger, and Martin Sheen as the President.
Jed’s angry confrontation with God in the National Cathedral is the equivalent of a softball pitch, but who cares when you know he’s gonna knock it out of the park?
And you gotta be at least a little bit impressed that I went for a sports metaphor there.
And this one has Leo’s speech which, sad to say, only seems sadder and more apt with every passing year, and especially in this year (John Kerry. Big whoop).
“I’m tired of it. Year after year after year, having to choose between the lesser of who cares. Of trying to get myself excited about the candidate who can speak in complete sentences. Of setting the bar so low I can hardly stand to look at it.”
I talked about that speech here, too.
