The West Wing in Ten Episodes - Part 2

This is the second of two posts exploring the ten most representative episodes of The West Wing.  Here are the first five episodes

"In this White House" Episode 2-04
General Douglas MacArthur once said  "Duty, honor, country.  Those three hallowed words irreverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be."

The introduction of Ainsley Hayes is a landmark for the series because it provided a consistent, competent opposition voice to the liberal Bartlet administration.  Having a recurring conservative character probably made it easier for Sorkin to write her as likeable, than as the Republican Of The Week who sometimes, especially late in the series, drifted into straw man territory.  Considering her first scene is to completely smack Sam, who we know to be brilliant, up and down the Capitol Beat show they appear on, her credentials are well established.

Leo and Jed appeal to her sense of duty and public service to work for a Democratic administration.  Characters will often do things either against their political views in the interest of another, greater good or principle such as voting against a gun bill because it's not a strict enough or abstaining from a vote because of ethical concerns about being a lame duck.  It is again a "valentine to public service."  Putting politics aside for service is never more evident than when Ainsley joins the White House. 

"The Two Bartlets" Episode 3-12
Much of Season Three and Season Four focus on the re-elect and the common theme is intellectualism versus commonality.  Sorkin takes issue with intellect painted as aloofness and the implicitl argument that it's better to be folksy and accommodating.

This episode also raises a similar issue first explicitly stated "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet" where Leo challenges the staff to "raise the level of debate" though the idea is a major theme of the entire series.  Unfortunately, Season Three took a slightly more cynical tone where the practicalities of implementing such a vision are far from easy, especially when walking a tight line to re-election.  Much of the cynical tone may be a result of the show finding footing post-September 11th.  Compare the season premiere, written and produced before September 11th, and "Two Bartlets", written and produced after September 11th.

"Manchester Par II"
BARTLET
There's a new book and we're gonna write it.  You can win if you run a smart, disciplined campaign, if you studiously say nothing - nothing that causes you trouble, nothing that's a gaff, nothing that shows you might think the wrong thing, nothing that shows you think.  But it just isn't worthy of us, is it, Toby?

TOBY
No sir.

BARTLET
It isn't worthy of us, it isn't worthy of America, it isn't worthy of a great nation.  We're gonna write a new book, right here right now.  This very moment.  Today.

versus "The Two Bartlets"

BARTLET
I don't want to campaign today.

TOBY
What happened to writing a new book?

BARTLET
We will, but we don't...man we don't have to piss people off everyday...

The show explores the dynamic via Toby and Jed's conversations and Toby's point that there are "two Bartlets", each embodying folksiness or intellect.* 

Once the censure and the MS coverup was resolved, the show shifted it's storyline to re-election which included the underlying theme of the elite versus the everyman.  Other episodes would delve further into this including Jed's tete-a-tete with Richie in "Posse Commitatus" leading to one of the most epic lines of the series** and in "20 Hours in America" as Donna, Toby and Josh flounder their way through Real America.  But there are probably few episodes that set off an exploration of the life feelings of America, and liberals' disgust towards both George W. Bush, the media coverage of him and the scorn received for having any opposing opinions,*** than this one.

* It also has a bonus of Jed taking a speech that Toby was working on for him and using it, but simultaneously making it his own...a window into how the president relies on his staff but still is his own man.

** "Crime, boy, I don't know" is when I decided to kick your ass.

*** Say what you will about George W. Bush but he was the catalyst for a lot of great television, especially from the Davids Three (Chase, Milch and Simon) and even comedies like Arrested Development.  That is the topic for a post I'm currently working on.

"Twenty Five" Episode 04-23
Sorkin departed West Wing at the end of Season Four but not without symbolically taking away the leader of the free world.  John Wells took over as showrunner starting in Season Five.  He picked up the plot where Sorkin left it, where the Bartlet administration was no longer the Bartlet administration.

When Zoe is kidnapped in a scenario he foretold in Season One, Jed recuses himself from the situation so it can be dealt with effectively and impartially.  Unfortunately, that means handing over the keys to his political enemy, the Speaker of the House. The stakes of doing so show just how much respect Jed has for the office, and that he truly believes the office is bigger than the man occupying it.

Sorkin did not leave on the best terms and the show did not find its footing again for over a season and a half.  Even then it did not live up to its hey day of Season Two, albeit still a good show.  Season Five is most similar to Season Three in that it is darker and more cynical.  The sets even seem, literally, darker, as though Warner Brothers was saving money on electricity.  Not only that, but Season Five was almost completely devoid of humor.  Instead we saw infighting by the staffers as Jed retreated far into himself.  The series also for the first time introduced recurring political opponents in Speaker Haffley and Vice President Russell.

Twenty Five represented a turning point for the series, and possibly a symbolic middle finger as Sorkin walked out the door.

"King Corn" Episode 6-13
West Wing split time between the West Wing and the campaign trail beginning mid-Season Six.  On the trail they spent time mainly with three candidates, Vinick, Russell and Santos.  Vinick was a longtime senator putting the cap on a distinguished career.  Russell was an automaton who did whatever Will told him.  Santos was difficult for Josh to control as he tried to reconcile what he would have to do to become president in order to give the country the president he thought it needed.  "King Corn" split the episode into three vignettes "A Day in the Life of...." those three candidates.  It gave a peek into the grueling schedule candidates had to keep, the provincial events they had to attend and the compromises they had to make within themselves to get where they wanted to be.  It also showed the lives of the staffers and the sad Holiday Inn hotels they slogged through the snow to get to before crashing for a few hours until they had to get up with the candidate.  Details such as staffers receiving automatic wake up calls versus candidates receiving calls from actual people helped paint the picture of the different roles people filled on the trail and the direction the final season and a half went for the series.

"Tomorrow" Episode 7-22
The most one can hope for series finales is to do the show justice, and "Tomorrow" did just that.  Expectations for finales are so high they are near impossible to meet, but I would rate "Tomorrow" up there with finales like "Made in America" and "Everyone's Waiting"*. (**EDIT)

It covered a lot of ground, tied up loose ends, resolved longtime characters' threads and moved things into motion for the new administration (and sometimes did both at the same time).  The progressions felt natural and organic and in character, rather than forced.

While I think the goal of "-30-" was to show the never-ending cycle of destitution and institutional problems that inhabit American cities, and used characters as a vehicle to display that, "Tomorrow" took the other side of it, more optimistic.

It showed the idea and ideals of America are larger than one man or one administration, even a man as great as Jed Bartlet and used the naturally occurring courses of action in the supporting characters to show the idea that the country and the office continues. 
 
The show, originally conceived with the though of never showing the president, then only visiting the president periodically, clearly was about Jed Bartlet and the Bartlet administration through and through whether it be the president himself, his staff or the ideals they embraced and that the show conveyed through those characters.  The natural, and only possible, ending point for the show is the end of the Bartlet administration at noon on January 20th.

 As his final act he pardons Toby.  Then, he raps his fist once on the desk, like a judge ending court.

And in the final scene, it reminds us that for all the social studies lessons, pontification and calls to duty the show gave us, it would not be effective in the slightest if not for the strong characters and relationships Sorkin created. 

* "Everyone's Waiting" is up there not just in great finales, but in great episodes

EDIT ** Upon reflection, it is a bit of an exaggeration to put this finale in the category with those of The Sopranos and Six Feet Under.  Probably my own bias and favoritism of West Wing creeping in on that statement.

Honorable Mentions
"And it's Surely to their Credit" & "Posse Commitatus" both examine themes of duty to public service and the Office of the Presidency but those are covered in other episodes listed.

"The Supremes"
Noteworthy as the clear high point of Season Five, which is why it's not representative

"2,162 Votes" & "Election Day"
Both are frantic episodes involving counting.  "Election Day", and I am lumping Parts 1 and 2 together, represents the pinnacle of West Wing 2.0 and the viewer has sincere motiviation to root for both sides.  "2,162" represents both the end of the primary and the launching point for the final season, putting characters into place so they can fulfill their Season Seven roles, whether as candidates, or back in the West Wing, and notable for fulfilling an allusion from all the way back in Season Four's "Commencement".