7.4/10. This was a breather episode of the show, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. There’s lots of excitement to be had from the drama of the campaign trail and the administration trying to finish strong, and Toby and Josh coming to blows, but once in a while, it’s nice to have a group of storylines that are as much about being slight but fun, sturdy but light, and easy but endearing.
The closest thing we get to fireworks in the episode is Cliff establishing his bona fides as the new Josh by working with Santos to mastermind an end-run around Speaker Halfley’s attempts to only bring the stem cell issue to a vote when all the Democratic congressmen are out stumping on the campaign trail. It creates for a nice set piece at the end of the episode and gives stakes to this lighter episode. What’s more, it leans into the gamesmanship and strategy element of the show that I tend to prefer. It even gives us a chance for some entertaining and meaningful awkwardness between Cliff and Josh, helping to underscore Josh’s estrangement from the administration (and, no doubt, add another layer to what I’m sure will be a Josh-Cliff-Donna love triangle.)
It also gives us Santos’s best moment in the series. What rubs me the wrong way about the Santos character is that he just comes off as too perfect to be real. He has such in-your-face nobility about every issue imaginable, and he speaks with such smug conviction every time he makes these grand statements about “this is what’s right” that I can’t take it.
And yet, when he’s sitting down after the rest of the Congressional sleepover has gone to bed and talking to the Arkansas congressman who needs to be sold on the stem cell bill, he comes off as real and as human as we’ve seen him. Gone are the bold monologues about the kind of campaign he wants to run and the good he wants to do, and in its place is an earnest and patient discussion with a colleague about why he believes what he believes on this topic. It’s not the grand gesture or stunt that shakes the foundation; it’s the simple act of commitment to the cause and heart of what Congress is supposed to be – a forum of ideas – that won’t make the papers. It’s the first time in this show that I’ve actually hoped he wins the nomination.
The next president, however, might have to win over the preteen set if Toby has any say over it. I initially rolled my eyes at the prospect of Toby having to deal with a cadre of moppets who want to give children the vote. Don’t get me wrong, there’s comedy potential in Toby being annoyed at...well, anyone, but it felt pretty insubstantial. Instead, the episode turned a nice moment of recognition for Toby, where he recognizes this kid is as tired of being brushed off and not getting to deal with matters of substance as he is, and allows this pint-sized kindred spirit to make his case.
Toby goes back and forth with him in the Roosevelt Room and in the process, the episode makes a surprisingly convincing argument about why children (or at least these children) should be allowed to vote. And Toby sneaking the kid into a Presidential press conference and helping him get a positive quote from the president was cheesy but heartwarming and the icing on the cake.
The president has less kind things to say when the man he split the Nobel Prize with, an old rival from grad school, comes to a Nobel Laureate party and acts as a thorn in Barlet’s side. As CJ points out, the idea that the President has any sort of professional resentment is kind of endearing, and the way his old colleague needles him about conservative vs. liberal economics and Barlet returns his velvet-tipped slights in kind makes for an enjoyable dynamic. But the result, that for all Bartlet resents his former competition, the guy convinces Bartlet that USA’s current deficit goes against Bartlet’s own principles, to where Bartlet pulls an Eisenhower and warns the next crop of Presidential candidates about succeeding where he failed, is a nice resolution to the story.
Oh, and Kate has a comedic subplot where she defuses escalating tensions between the US and Canada over a bunch of hunters from the two countries getting into a row. It’s fine for a few laughs here and there, but is easily the weakest of the four stories, even if it gives Kate a little something to do and a little more character to help make her more than a milquetoast addition to the show.
Overall, nothing that happens in this episode is especially earth-shattering. I bet you could skip over this one and aside from a stray remark here or there, not miss a beat in terms of being able to follow the season-long plot. But it’s still a wonderful bit of fun, giving its players something breezy and minor, that still makes us feel we know and like each of them a little more.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-10-01T20:48:35Z
7.4/10. This was a breather episode of the show, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. There’s lots of excitement to be had from the drama of the campaign trail and the administration trying to finish strong, and Toby and Josh coming to blows, but once in a while, it’s nice to have a group of storylines that are as much about being slight but fun, sturdy but light, and easy but endearing.
The closest thing we get to fireworks in the episode is Cliff establishing his bona fides as the new Josh by working with Santos to mastermind an end-run around Speaker Halfley’s attempts to only bring the stem cell issue to a vote when all the Democratic congressmen are out stumping on the campaign trail. It creates for a nice set piece at the end of the episode and gives stakes to this lighter episode. What’s more, it leans into the gamesmanship and strategy element of the show that I tend to prefer. It even gives us a chance for some entertaining and meaningful awkwardness between Cliff and Josh, helping to underscore Josh’s estrangement from the administration (and, no doubt, add another layer to what I’m sure will be a Josh-Cliff-Donna love triangle.)
It also gives us Santos’s best moment in the series. What rubs me the wrong way about the Santos character is that he just comes off as too perfect to be real. He has such in-your-face nobility about every issue imaginable, and he speaks with such smug conviction every time he makes these grand statements about “this is what’s right” that I can’t take it.
And yet, when he’s sitting down after the rest of the Congressional sleepover has gone to bed and talking to the Arkansas congressman who needs to be sold on the stem cell bill, he comes off as real and as human as we’ve seen him. Gone are the bold monologues about the kind of campaign he wants to run and the good he wants to do, and in its place is an earnest and patient discussion with a colleague about why he believes what he believes on this topic. It’s not the grand gesture or stunt that shakes the foundation; it’s the simple act of commitment to the cause and heart of what Congress is supposed to be – a forum of ideas – that won’t make the papers. It’s the first time in this show that I’ve actually hoped he wins the nomination.
The next president, however, might have to win over the preteen set if Toby has any say over it. I initially rolled my eyes at the prospect of Toby having to deal with a cadre of moppets who want to give children the vote. Don’t get me wrong, there’s comedy potential in Toby being annoyed at...well, anyone, but it felt pretty insubstantial. Instead, the episode turned a nice moment of recognition for Toby, where he recognizes this kid is as tired of being brushed off and not getting to deal with matters of substance as he is, and allows this pint-sized kindred spirit to make his case.
Toby goes back and forth with him in the Roosevelt Room and in the process, the episode makes a surprisingly convincing argument about why children (or at least these children) should be allowed to vote. And Toby sneaking the kid into a Presidential press conference and helping him get a positive quote from the president was cheesy but heartwarming and the icing on the cake.
The president has less kind things to say when the man he split the Nobel Prize with, an old rival from grad school, comes to a Nobel Laureate party and acts as a thorn in Barlet’s side. As CJ points out, the idea that the President has any sort of professional resentment is kind of endearing, and the way his old colleague needles him about conservative vs. liberal economics and Barlet returns his velvet-tipped slights in kind makes for an enjoyable dynamic. But the result, that for all Bartlet resents his former competition, the guy convinces Bartlet that USA’s current deficit goes against Bartlet’s own principles, to where Bartlet pulls an Eisenhower and warns the next crop of Presidential candidates about succeeding where he failed, is a nice resolution to the story.
Oh, and Kate has a comedic subplot where she defuses escalating tensions between the US and Canada over a bunch of hunters from the two countries getting into a row. It’s fine for a few laughs here and there, but is easily the weakest of the four stories, even if it gives Kate a little something to do and a little more character to help make her more than a milquetoast addition to the show.
Overall, nothing that happens in this episode is especially earth-shattering. I bet you could skip over this one and aside from a stray remark here or there, not miss a beat in terms of being able to follow the season-long plot. But it’s still a wonderful bit of fun, giving its players something breezy and minor, that still makes us feel we know and like each of them a little more.