Merry Christmas

For my holiday project, I decided to watch all 6 Christmas-adjacent episodes of The West Wing. Only 6, as the 7th season had a wedding episode in the slot that a Christmas episode was normally in, and I don't remember it being at all Christmas-y. I did this because there's something wrong with me. In any event, I did it. Then I remembered I had a blog gathering dust, and realized I could commemorate this event. So, in reverse quality order, they are:

6th Place: Abu el Banat (Season 5)

I didn't hate this episode as much as I hated a lot of season 5. That's the best I can say about it. Grandkid Bartlet not being prepared to flip the Christmas tree switch was enh, the bit about assisted suicide wasn't developed in any interesting way, and the CGI Christmas tree at the end of the episode was borderline offensive in its fakeness. You had to zoom UP from Jed and Grandkid Bartlet turning the tree on and off? Really? You couldn't pull back to the whole of the White House with the tree blinking on and off? It's the only bit that the kid was vaguely charismatic at, and I liked where Jed was at, bringing him out there, and then I get all pissed off about the tree looking awful. I liked well enough the "Bartlet Family Can't Seem To Eat Together" subplot, but it wasn't anything new, and I hated-hated-hated the dumb son-in-law that wanted to run for Congress.

Oh, and apparently there was a subplot about missionaries being arrested in the Sudan or something. Clearly, that wasn't memorable. I guess I was pleased that the characters I liked were being who I recognized, more or less. Season 5 was a parade of characters saying things that kind-of-but-not-totally sounded like their usual selves. (It was, as you recall, the first season that Sorkin didn't write.) I've now wracked my brain for a few minutes, and gone back to the recap, and I can't think of anything specifically nice to say about this episode other than I didn't hate it. Oh, well, at least it's out of the way. Toby moves Will out of the West Wing because he works for VPOTUS Bob in this episode. It's very Cranky Toby v. Passive-Agressive Will, and I don't like THAT either.

5th Place: Impact Winter (Season 6)

The good news: Josh and Leo have the conversation about finding The Guy (who turns out, of course to be Jimmy Smits), and it's a delightful little exercise. Josh manages to be his post-Sorkin single-level self (frazzled to a degree that edges towards incompetent), which is always disappointing, but it's not egregious. There's a bit about an asteroid which actually involves a couple pretty funny exchanges, even if they're totally drama-free. No rational individual ever thought for a single instant that there would be any resolution other than "It missed us! The world didn't end!"for that storyline. President Bartlet visits the former location of Cleveland? The rest of the season is filmed darker, with everyone wearing parkas, as soot blocks out the sun? Daring, but unlikely.

The bad news: Donna quits, which is interesting dramatically and is character-driven, but the really obscene part is that they put a sassy temp in her position. A sassy temp who seems to have no idea how the White House works or that it's even, you know, an important place. It's super lazy and a dumb throw-in bit, and while I get that there has to be some evidence that she's left, it doesn't have to be a scene that doesn't make any sense at all. You'd think that the temp they'd hire would need stratospherically high security clearance and therefore be at least vaguely qualified to work in the West Wing and not, when requested to book the next available flight to Houston, respond, "Texas?" and then "hang on, hang on, let me get a pen..." This may be one of my top 10 least favorite moments in the show ever. The only reason this doesn't torpedo the whole episode:

The Curtis: I love Curtis and the Prez. They should have their own show. In the beginning of the episode, where the temporarily paralyzed Bartlet and Curtis "make a jailbreak" off of Air Force One is one of my top 10 most favorite moments. Maybe it's that Martin Sheen plays the weakness-and-power mixture so damn well, or that the actor playing Curtis is so damn earnest, or if it's something else, but this moves the episode into the 4th spot, if not for the bit about the temp and the drama-less asteroid drama. Meanwhile, the bit with Jed and Abby in the hotel where they both end up sitting on the bathroom floor with Jed raging about his paralysis is something I've almost taken for granted from Martin Sheen, but is really damn good, too. Still not enough to overcome the asteroid and the dumb-ass temp.

Oh, and also: the negotiations with China (the reason that Curtis had to carry Jed off of AF1) were so-so. But the end of the episode was deliciously drama-filled as the president collapsed as CJ was on the phone celebrating with Leo, and CJ and Toby get to be framed in a doorway (hallway?) as Abby shuts the office door on them. It's, again, an okay episode. I remembered that Kristin Chenoweth ducks under an open filing cabinet in this episode while avoiding briefing the press, and while the institutional terror of the press is a bit of a crutch (Afraid of The Press: Annabeth, Will, kind-of Toby. Terrible with The Press: Josh, kind-of Toby. Good with The Press: CJ... and that's it.), I like the visual gag. Congrats, episode, you just tied for 4th.

T-4th Place: Holy Night (Season 4)

Toby and Toby's Dad are good, and a reasonably charted sub-plot. Whiffenpoofs, snowed-in, Leo and Jed are troubled by the assassination of the Saudi Fauxrabian defense minister, so they make Josh do a lot of last-minute busywork. (Church of the Nativity repairs/infant mortality in the HHS budget) Oh, Dr. Stanley's back: I love Stanley, even if he's only in this episode so Jed can talk at someone and brag about his SAT score. We get good Sorkin lines like "pregnancy is a binary state," and "You said, 'no no no no, no.' Then you called me Mr. Justice." Danny's also back. As Santa Claus! Yay! And he's probably figured out about the Saudi Fauxrabian guy! Yay? In an unlikely-but-well-written-so-it's-almost-of-plausible way. But I like Timothy Busfield, so I'll allow it.

Honestly? I watched these in reverse chronological order, so I was just glad to have Sorkin's voice behind the characters again. Seasons 5-7 were always a little weird with somebody else writing the main characters. 7 was the best of the bunch because Vinick and Santos and Friends were new characters, so it was harder to say "Well, that doesn't sound like Leo/Josh/CJ/Donna/Jed/et cetera." It's tied for fourth, but there's a distinct gap between Holy Night and the third-place episode.

The top three I'll get to on Christmas proper, because I'm kind of tired.

This is the Jump.