7.2/10. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but once again, we get Santos as someone a little too perfect. Of course, he believes whole-heartedly in evolution, but also firmly believes in God, and even the possibility of intelligent design, but thinks that one belongs in the classroom and the other in the chapel. Is it that improbable? No, but it’s just such a crowd-pleasing answer, right down to his too perfect exchange with a teacher over the issue toward the end of the episode.
I will say this – it’s interesting to have the Democratic candidate talking about his belief in God while the Republican candidate is having trouble with his non-religiousness on the campaign trail. That is another way in which this election is not just business as usual, and while not necessarily super-realistic, creates another intriguing dimension to this race.
But what is realistic is the idea that in the wake of Bartlet’s Middle East Peace Plan, there would be resistance from hardliners in the region. The assassination of the Palestinian leader who compromised for peace is very sad in-universe, but it’s meaningful out of universe because it shows that there is blowback from the semi-miraculous, mostly aspirational peace deal Bartlet was able to strike at the beginning of Season 6. Sure, there was some domestic fallout from the decision with Congressional Republicans wanting concessions and press concerns about US soldiers being injured or killed protecting lives overseas, but this is the first time we’ve really heard about consequences in the region itself, and a rocky road forward makes the deal and its import feel more real.
It also gives us a chance to see a side of Bartlet we don’t often see – a guilty side. The President feels responsible for his Palestinian counterpart’s death. It was opposition to his plan that spurred these terrorists to kill Farad, and Bartlet feels like he essentially goaded Farad into accepting the plan, and thus believes he has Farad’s blood on his hands. It’s the subtext to the President’s firm commitment to attending the funeral, despite the advice of his senior staff, and going a step further to convince other foreign leaders to attend as a show of strength and solidarity and in his case, as a small way of making amends and helping the death to mean something by showing that this attack won’t stop the world’s resolve or its commitment to defending the peace Farad died for. Putting himself in harm’s way by attending the funeral is part of the way he’s gaining absolution for putting Farad in harm’s way with this deal.
For most of the episode, it looks like CJ is in harm’s way too. There’s a sense in which CJ is dancing on the edge of a razor blade here, seeing all the subpoenas flying, realizing she hasn’t gotten one, and having it slowly but surely dawn on her that it means she’s going to be the focus of the investigation. She seems almost gallows-level joyous about it, half- trying to ignore the possibility and seeming inevitability, and half trying to blithely enjoy what may be her last days in office before the Congressional investigations uses circumstantial evidence (her many calls to Brock) to pin this on her.
The show seems to point us in that direction too. It features Margaret staying resolute but stumbling a bit when being peppered with questions by the Senator. Prior episodes have shown edits and juxtaposed scenes that point to CJ leaking the story on principle. But then, in the final moments, we get the reveal. CJ was a red herring; it was Toby. And it makes sense. Toby is the ideologue and the one least willing to compromise for some utilitarian good. He’s also someone who lost a brother who was an astronaut, so rescuing astronauts has a certain symbolic resonance for him. It’s not what I would have expected, and it’s not what the show seemed to be pointing toward, but it makes a lot of sense if you step back and think about it, so I’m curious to see where the show goes with it.
There’s other events happening in the episode as well. The titular Mr. Frost is going full blown Carrie Matheson, tracking down various members of the White House staff to propound his seemingly crazy theories of terrorists plots. There’s some odd, mildly Hepburn-Tracy back-and-forth between Leo and Anna Beth of all people, and I’m not sure where it’s going for that. And in the midst of CJ burning the midnight oil to seemingly make the most of her time as Chief of Staff before the investigation boots her, there’s some amusing exchanges with Charlie about her being able to catch forty winks between emergencies.
Overall, it’s a frenetic episode, with some of the usual West Wing didactic qualities when it comes to an issue like evolution vs. intelligent design. But its strength is in exploring two of its major characters, The President and CJ, and examining how they respond to these extreme circumstances.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-10-06T04:29:42Z
7.2/10. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but once again, we get Santos as someone a little too perfect. Of course, he believes whole-heartedly in evolution, but also firmly believes in God, and even the possibility of intelligent design, but thinks that one belongs in the classroom and the other in the chapel. Is it that improbable? No, but it’s just such a crowd-pleasing answer, right down to his too perfect exchange with a teacher over the issue toward the end of the episode.
I will say this – it’s interesting to have the Democratic candidate talking about his belief in God while the Republican candidate is having trouble with his non-religiousness on the campaign trail. That is another way in which this election is not just business as usual, and while not necessarily super-realistic, creates another intriguing dimension to this race.
But what is realistic is the idea that in the wake of Bartlet’s Middle East Peace Plan, there would be resistance from hardliners in the region. The assassination of the Palestinian leader who compromised for peace is very sad in-universe, but it’s meaningful out of universe because it shows that there is blowback from the semi-miraculous, mostly aspirational peace deal Bartlet was able to strike at the beginning of Season 6. Sure, there was some domestic fallout from the decision with Congressional Republicans wanting concessions and press concerns about US soldiers being injured or killed protecting lives overseas, but this is the first time we’ve really heard about consequences in the region itself, and a rocky road forward makes the deal and its import feel more real.
It also gives us a chance to see a side of Bartlet we don’t often see – a guilty side. The President feels responsible for his Palestinian counterpart’s death. It was opposition to his plan that spurred these terrorists to kill Farad, and Bartlet feels like he essentially goaded Farad into accepting the plan, and thus believes he has Farad’s blood on his hands. It’s the subtext to the President’s firm commitment to attending the funeral, despite the advice of his senior staff, and going a step further to convince other foreign leaders to attend as a show of strength and solidarity and in his case, as a small way of making amends and helping the death to mean something by showing that this attack won’t stop the world’s resolve or its commitment to defending the peace Farad died for. Putting himself in harm’s way by attending the funeral is part of the way he’s gaining absolution for putting Farad in harm’s way with this deal.
For most of the episode, it looks like CJ is in harm’s way too. There’s a sense in which CJ is dancing on the edge of a razor blade here, seeing all the subpoenas flying, realizing she hasn’t gotten one, and having it slowly but surely dawn on her that it means she’s going to be the focus of the investigation. She seems almost gallows-level joyous about it, half- trying to ignore the possibility and seeming inevitability, and half trying to blithely enjoy what may be her last days in office before the Congressional investigations uses circumstantial evidence (her many calls to Brock) to pin this on her.
The show seems to point us in that direction too. It features Margaret staying resolute but stumbling a bit when being peppered with questions by the Senator. Prior episodes have shown edits and juxtaposed scenes that point to CJ leaking the story on principle. But then, in the final moments, we get the reveal. CJ was a red herring; it was Toby. And it makes sense. Toby is the ideologue and the one least willing to compromise for some utilitarian good. He’s also someone who lost a brother who was an astronaut, so rescuing astronauts has a certain symbolic resonance for him. It’s not what I would have expected, and it’s not what the show seemed to be pointing toward, but it makes a lot of sense if you step back and think about it, so I’m curious to see where the show goes with it.
There’s other events happening in the episode as well. The titular Mr. Frost is going full blown Carrie Matheson, tracking down various members of the White House staff to propound his seemingly crazy theories of terrorists plots. There’s some odd, mildly Hepburn-Tracy back-and-forth between Leo and Anna Beth of all people, and I’m not sure where it’s going for that. And in the midst of CJ burning the midnight oil to seemingly make the most of her time as Chief of Staff before the investigation boots her, there’s some amusing exchanges with Charlie about her being able to catch forty winks between emergencies.
Overall, it’s a frenetic episode, with some of the usual West Wing didactic qualities when it comes to an issue like evolution vs. intelligent design. But its strength is in exploring two of its major characters, The President and CJ, and examining how they respond to these extreme circumstances.