8.4/10. Here's a hot take for you -- there's not enough data to say for certain, but provisionally, I think I'm enjoying the Wells seasons better than I enjoyed the Sorkin seasons. There's more of showing how the staff beats the bushes and maneuvers their way around these problems in a semi-realistic fashion to come up with solutions than there is solving the problem through sheer force of will and optimism.
And hey, you're never going to go wrong in my book by centering an episode around CJ Cregg. CJ has always been my favorite character on the show, and seeing her get a win here, while struggling in the process but getting through it, warmed the cockles of my heart. The opening scene where The President announces her taking over the Chief of Staff position and the whole press corps. applauds was great and nice little victory lap for CJ with all her good work at the podium.
But I loved her misadventures of her opening couple of days as Chief of Staff as well. It's a little bit fast, but the episode told a great story, about how CJ walked into the job with a decent amount of confidence, found herself stumbling through much of the initial going, had a big moment of self doubt and wondered if she was in over her head, but then asserted herself and found her own path. The Georgians offering enriched Uranium with the American government scrambling to figure out how to dispose of it made for a nice crisis of the week to test CJ's mettle out of the gate, and her fumbles but eventual success through not deferring and throwing the weight of her office and experience around a bit made that quiet moment at the end of the day where she symbollicaly claims Leo's desk as her own via her goldfish feel, once again, heartwarming, but also earned.
The B-plot, to the extent this show engages in such things, featured Toby and Donna trying to find a replacement Press Secretary after Toby completely messes up filling in for her. (Toby saying that CJ would go down and swat at rockets with her purse was both gasp-worthy and hilarious for how tone deaf it was.) That, combined with the runaround the DoD tried to do was a nice way of leaning into CJ's lack of direct foreign policy experience as one of the real life things that would keep her out of this job. It's a fig leaf, but it's nice for the show to at least address it.
It did address the search for her replacement though, and the various applicants were another source of great comedy, from the quiet talking guy to the boring guy. I like Kristin Chenowith, but her strolling in as the unorthodox problem solver was a little too old school West Wing cheesy for my tastes, though Toby's reaction to the proposal, especially after being complimented, was amusing.
Otherwise, there were other fun tidbits here and there. The fact that Jimmy Smits is now in the opening credits suggests we haven't seen the last of Santos, and his introduction with Josh worked well enough, though Smits doesn't seem to have the fast-talking rhythms of the series down pat just yet. (Though maybe that's intentional?) The prank where everyone pretends to resign was the right kind of fraternal joshing you'd want to see among these good friends. And the bookends with the President and Ms. Fiderer talking about whether CJ was nervous hit the right notes. Plus, we got a little bit of insight into the help Leo's secretary provides and it gave a boost to her character too.
Overall, another very good episode of the show that's been on quite a little streak here in S6.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-09-25T21:46:10Z
8.4/10. Here's a hot take for you -- there's not enough data to say for certain, but provisionally, I think I'm enjoying the Wells seasons better than I enjoyed the Sorkin seasons. There's more of showing how the staff beats the bushes and maneuvers their way around these problems in a semi-realistic fashion to come up with solutions than there is solving the problem through sheer force of will and optimism.
And hey, you're never going to go wrong in my book by centering an episode around CJ Cregg. CJ has always been my favorite character on the show, and seeing her get a win here, while struggling in the process but getting through it, warmed the cockles of my heart. The opening scene where The President announces her taking over the Chief of Staff position and the whole press corps. applauds was great and nice little victory lap for CJ with all her good work at the podium.
But I loved her misadventures of her opening couple of days as Chief of Staff as well. It's a little bit fast, but the episode told a great story, about how CJ walked into the job with a decent amount of confidence, found herself stumbling through much of the initial going, had a big moment of self doubt and wondered if she was in over her head, but then asserted herself and found her own path. The Georgians offering enriched Uranium with the American government scrambling to figure out how to dispose of it made for a nice crisis of the week to test CJ's mettle out of the gate, and her fumbles but eventual success through not deferring and throwing the weight of her office and experience around a bit made that quiet moment at the end of the day where she symbollicaly claims Leo's desk as her own via her goldfish feel, once again, heartwarming, but also earned.
The B-plot, to the extent this show engages in such things, featured Toby and Donna trying to find a replacement Press Secretary after Toby completely messes up filling in for her. (Toby saying that CJ would go down and swat at rockets with her purse was both gasp-worthy and hilarious for how tone deaf it was.) That, combined with the runaround the DoD tried to do was a nice way of leaning into CJ's lack of direct foreign policy experience as one of the real life things that would keep her out of this job. It's a fig leaf, but it's nice for the show to at least address it.
It did address the search for her replacement though, and the various applicants were another source of great comedy, from the quiet talking guy to the boring guy. I like Kristin Chenowith, but her strolling in as the unorthodox problem solver was a little too old school West Wing cheesy for my tastes, though Toby's reaction to the proposal, especially after being complimented, was amusing.
Otherwise, there were other fun tidbits here and there. The fact that Jimmy Smits is now in the opening credits suggests we haven't seen the last of Santos, and his introduction with Josh worked well enough, though Smits doesn't seem to have the fast-talking rhythms of the series down pat just yet. (Though maybe that's intentional?) The prank where everyone pretends to resign was the right kind of fraternal joshing you'd want to see among these good friends. And the bookends with the President and Ms. Fiderer talking about whether CJ was nervous hit the right notes. Plus, we got a little bit of insight into the help Leo's secretary provides and it gave a boost to her character too.
Overall, another very good episode of the show that's been on quite a little streak here in S6.