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West Wing Elimination Game

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Bastet

Bastet

I'm one who loves Edward James Olmos (although that is undoubtedly influenced by who he is as a person, rather than being exclusively based on his acting).  When I was trying to think of little things I don't like about each of the remaining episodes, I skipped right over The Short List, figuring it wouldn't matter what I don't like, because EJO is in it and thus I won't be voting for it.

He Shall, From Time to Time - CJ/Danny and Sam/Mallory

Take Out the Trash Day - More CJ/Danny, and Mandy having to tell C.J. how to do her job (It was a toss-up between this and Mandatory Minimums, and I decided to be contrary).

Melancholy

Melancholy

(edited)

@Bastet Well, I knew my Anti-EJO opinion was a minority one. Sounds like a great guy but he's a dull actor.

I don't think it's as clear as "Mandy telling CJ how to do her job." The press secretary role is complicated because it involves serving the president to put him in the best light possible but it's also a tax-payer paid position where they're supposed to be serving the people. Moreover, the Bartleteers are internally progressive on gay rights. They just pretend like they're less so because it's the late '90s and the country wasn't there yet. Mainstream politicians like Obama or the Clintons didn't "evolve" on gay rights from the 90s. Society just reached a tipping point where those views became acceptable even among the non coastal elite set. CJ understandably and even correctly believed they don't serve the country or even their own partisan beliefs by silencing a grieving father when he's actually just willing to advocate for the LGBTQ accepting world that CJ wants anyway. Based on Mandy's insistence, CJ retreats into the "safe" option of silencing the father but I'm still not convinced Mandy was right. 

Edited by Melancholy
Moose135

Moose135

3 hours ago, Bastet said:

I'm one who loves Edward James Olmos (although that is undoubtedly influenced by who he is as a person, rather than being exclusively based on his acting).  When I was trying to think of little things I don't like about each of the remaining episodes, I skipped right over The Short List, figuring it wouldn't matter what I don't like, because EJO is in it and thus I won't be voting for it.

I'm a big fan of EJO as well, I've liked him in just about everything I've seen.  I have one minor complaint I have about The Short List, which didn't come to light until much later.  As much as I liked the character of Justice Mendoza, in retrospect  I hate that they used EJO in that role.  I think he would have been perfect to play the Democratic presidential candidate who would succeed Jed Bartlet.

Bastet

Bastet

Let Bartlet Be Bartlet

Are we going to keep eliminating, to come up with a winner for season one, or just stop when we have the final four?  (I know eventually, when we have a top four for each season, we'll have the all-star round between all those top fours to pick our favorite episode of the whole series, I'm just wondering if we're ranking those final four season by season first?  That's what I'm used to, but this sounds different, so I want to be sure.)

Guest

Guest

3 hours ago, Bastet said:

Let Bartlet Be Bartlet

Are we going to keep eliminating, to come up with a winner for season one, or just stop when we have the final four?  (I know eventually, when we have a top four for each season, we'll have the all-star round between all those top fours to pick our favorite episode of the whole series, I'm just wondering if we're ranking those final four season by season first?  That's what I'm used to, but this sounds different, so I want to be sure.)

The other forum I've seen it done on we get down to the finalists and don't have a winner for the season. If you guys want though, we can keep going til we get a winner. Though at this point, it might make sense to do it through ranking instead of 3 more days of voting? Let me know. :)

Bastet

Bastet

1. Celestial Navigation - far and away, the winner

2. The State Dinner - weaves multiple storylines together wonderfully, and it's Mandy's one good episode

3. In Excelsis Deo - a terrific showpiece for Toby, and Mrs. Landingham

4. What Kind of Day Has It Been - if the others weren't so good, this would be ranked higher if for no other reason than how wonderfully it's shot, but it's really just a typically solid episode except for the ending; the really great stuff happens as season two kicks off

5. Let Bartlet Be Bartlet - great moments abound, but the Mandy's memo thing permeates and I just don't care

Zola

Zola

Celestial Navigation - perhaps the funniest episode of the entire show, especially Josh's "Secret plan to fight inflation"

In Excelsis Deo - a very close 2nd. Toby gives a passionate performance, and the ending was extremely well done.

What Kind of Day Has It Been - a well put-together episode with a surprise cliff-hanger.

Let Bartlet Be Bartlet - I enjoyed this episode because it comes off as a great big reality check for the sometimes smug senior staff, not least the memo, but the problems of getting gays accepted in the military; Danny defending his reporting against an irate CJ; but I loved Margaret's "muffin" problem too. Could have been a great episode had it not been for the rather cringe-worthy "I serve at the pleasure of the president" scene

 The State Dinner - good, but not great. Didn't really like the Indonesian state dinner storyline; the tedium of the Sam/Laurie thing is just a distraction; and then of course Mandy is still hovering around like a bad odour. The only standout story I really liked was the president talking to a sailor on a distressed ship being battered by a hurricane. 

Guest

Guest

The Season One Winner is......

Celestial Navigation!

Moving on to the finals are second place winner In Excelsis Deo, third place winner What Kind of Day, and fourth place finisher The State Dinner.  Not moving on is Let Bartlet be Bartlet.

Voting for Season 2 opens now!  Vote against 3:

1) In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Parts 1 and 2)

3) The Midterms

4) In This White House

5) And It's Surely to Their Credit

6) The Lame Duck Congress

7) The Portland Trip

8) Shibboleth

9) Galileo

10) Noel

11) The Leadership Breakfast

12) The Drop-In

13) Bartlet's Third State of the Union

14) The War At Home

15) Ellie

16) Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail

17) The Stackhouse Filibuster

18) 17 People

19) Bad Moon Rising

20) The Fall's Gonna Kill You

21) 18th and Potomac

22) Two Cathedrals

Melancholy

Melancholy

(edited)

Somebody's Going to Emergency...: I only truly like the Cartographers for Social Equality plot, Leo's Big Block of Cheese speech and the related sniping from the staffers, and Nancy McNally being awesome. That's a lot but this is S2. Now, for the stuff that sucked. Sam's plot about his dad's infidelity is weird. It's lifted directly from Sports Night so it's not original. But why did Sorkin bother self plagiarizing? It's not like the plot was so strange it was interesting like Toby's dad being a gangster or led to meaningful character development that became thematic for the character like Josh's sister dying in a fire or captured something universal like CJ's dad's altzheimers. It was just weirdly sordid. It was just a one off. UO, but I also think Rob Lowe overacted. I really resent when Donna takes a whole ep out of being an assistant to go on some personal crusade. It's not realistic that she could do it as frequently as she does and it smells bad when she tries to use the President's powers for her personal issues, even if it's meant with impulsive generosity. Toby's WTO protest was dumb. Free trade critics aren't crackpots. That ep really showed its age, given the world today. And it was beyond bizarre for Toby's crackpot/political plot to be taken over by flirting with some random cop. It's like Sorkin thought of writing a free trade story but then, he got all impressed with himself for thinking of security as a woman so he got carried away with writing flirt- scenes.

The Portland Trip: A nice little episode. But this is S2. So critiques. More of Leo's "good girl" crap but directed at Margaret. CJ and Jed were funny in the Notre Dame story but the razzing was too big a part of the ep. And it felt mean spirited when Jed asked CJ to weigh in on defying policy for energy smuggling only to use it as an entree to humiliate her more on the stupid game. That sucked some of the "good spirited teasing" vibes from the story. 

The Lane Duck Congress: Another nice little ep but it's not exciting by S2 standards.

Edited by Melancholy
Bastet

Bastet

This is hard; this is my favorite season. 

Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail - Both Donna and Sam either annoy or bore me at times in this episode, and since they're a big chunk of it, that's an issue.  Also, I share @Melancholy's criticism of the WTO protest storyline.

Ellie - I find her annoying; she wouldn't be my favorite kid, either.

The War at Home - For the simplistic, one-sided way a challenge to the president from the left is treated.

Guest

Guest

Goodbye to Ellie, as you are not our favorite either.  The Portland Trip went nowhere.  Somebody's Going to Emergency is going to this game's version of jail.

Keep voting for three!

1) In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Parts 1 and 2)

3) The Midterms

4) In This White House

5) And It's Surely to Their Credit

6) The Lame Duck Congress

8) Shibboleth

9) Galileo

10) Noel

11) The Leadership Breakfast

12) The Drop-In

13) Bartlet's Third State of the Union

14) The War At Home

17) The Stackhouse Filibuster

18) 17 People

19) Bad Moon Rising

20) The Fall's Gonna Kill You

21) 18th and Potomac

22) Two Cathedrals

Guest

Guest

Good bye to Galileo, The Lame Duck Congress, and The Drop In.

Keep voting against three!

1) In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Parts 1 and 2)

3) The Midterms

4) In This White House

5) And It's Surely to Their Credit

8) Shibboleth

10) Noel

11) The Leadership Breakfast

13) Bartlet's Third State of the Union

14) The War At Home

17) The Stackhouse Filibuster

18) 17 People

19) Bad Moon Rising

20) The Fall's Gonna Kill You

21) 18th and Potomac

22) Two Cathedrals

Bastet

Bastet

The War at Home

The Stackhouse Filibuster

The Midterms - there are so many moments in this I love, but I don't care for the Zoey/Charlie stuff (as per usual), I don't care about the little kid whose dad works in IT, and as much as I like the realism that people sometimes behave irrationally and need to be talked down, it's also a little uncomfortable watching Toby attempt to put the Constitution in the shredder.  (Also, Sam can miss me getting pissy that a guy who engages in racist jury selection is not going to have his candidacy supported.)

Melancholy

Melancholy

(edited)
28 minutes ago, Bastet said:

 

The Midterms - there are so many moments in this I love, but I don't care for the Zoey/Charlie stuff (as per usual), I don't care about the little kid whose dad works in IT, and as much as I like the realism that people sometimes behave irrationally and need to be talked down, it's also a little uncomfortable watching Toby attempt to put the Constitution in the shredder.  (Also, Sam can miss me getting pissy that a guy who engages in racist jury selection is not going to have his candidacy supported.)

Damn, these are really good points. Glad I voted for The Midterms but I forgot how I didn't care about the IT guy's kid or how ridiculous and offensive I found Sam getting pissy because he lost face about the DNC rightfully withdrawing support from a racist candidate. 

Edited by Melancholy
Guest

Guest

Goodbye to The Midterms, War at Home, and The Stackhouse Filibuster.

Drop to voting against 2!

1) In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Parts 1 and 2)

4) In This White House

5) And It's Surely to Their Credit

8) Shibboleth

10) Noel

11) The Leadership Breakfast

13) Bartlet's Third State of the Union

18) 17 People

19) Bad Moon Rising

20) The Fall's Gonna Kill You

21) 18th and Potomac

22) Two Cathedrals

Bastet

Bastet

Shibboleth - I held off on this one because of the turkeys, but I loathe with the heat of a nova the knife storyline, so it's time. ("This has been in my family for hundreds of years, but I only have daughters, so enough of that."  And instead of just giving you a gift and asking you to go find me a new knife [and tell you what damn knife I want], I'm going to send you off on some ridiculous quest while I sit back and amuse myself by watching you waste your time on my orders.)

In This White House - "Sam's getting his ass kicked by a girl."  Fuck you, Sorkin.  (Also, I don't like Ainsley, although that's not really true yet in this one.  I do think the delivery of her "I'm their lawyer" speech is bad, though.)

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