The West Wing (TV Series) 2162 Votes (2005) User Reviews

Let's Go Win This Thing!

[Sonatine97 · 9/10 · 26 May 2020]

With the Democratic Convention only hours away, Leo is still trying to nanny the kindergarten kids, with Josh, Will still bickering over who should get the best placements, best seating, best rooms etc. And there is still the ongoing issue of selecting their respective VP nominations.

Leo, and subsequently, the president want to avoid the convention turning into a circus of farce during live TV broadcasts, as this will undermine the party as a whole when compared to the Swiss-watch precision of the Republican convention just a few days before.

For those who love their behind-the-scenes politics during these things, this episode is definitely for you (and me!) The fast-paced camerawork and editing matches the chaotic scenes in the strategy rooms of all 3 nominees (well, just Russell and Santos really, as Hoynes has no chance).

Josh, of course, is in his element with his quick-fire thinking, as he sees the votes for each state roll in, and he has to beg delegates to stick with Santos into the 2nd or 3rd ballots.

There is similar chaos in the Russell camp, with Will Bailey & Donna constantly on the phones pleading with swinging state delegates to go with Russell.

But this becomes even more tactical when Senator Baker decides not to accept the VP offer from either Russell or Santos, but decides to got it alone from the convention floor, and because of his popularity he is sweeping up states from Russell, Hoynes and Santos, thus causing more panic in both camps.

Its so fast and chaotic it will leave you breathless and probably confused, but it makes for brilliant TV drama, especially when the convention goes into a rare second day, and Leo is leaning ever more hard on Josh/Santos to back down or at least take the VP spot under Russell.

Ultimately the final result was probably never in doubt, although the choice of VP did take me aback. But again Bradley Whitford (Josh) and Joshua Malina (Will) give fantastic performances as the stressed out campaign managers, with great support from John Spencer (Leo) and Janel Maloney (Donna)

Makes you proud to be a Democrat

[freemantle_uk · 10/10 · 27 August 2009]

Here is a classic season finale for the West Wing, ending with the gruelling convention for the Democratic Nomination for the Presidency.

Congressman Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Vice President Bob Russell(Gary Cole) had a close result in the Primary process, with neither gaining the 2162 delegates they need to win the nomination. Both try to politick to win nomination, offering positions and contracts if their win and show they are the better candidate. Russell argues he can win in the Mid-West, whilst Santos could win in California and Texas. Russell even has Governor Eric Baker (Ed O'Neill) of Pennsylvania as his VP nominee. But a scanner is thrown in the works when Baker reject's Russell's offer and attempts to a last minute run for the nomination himself, getting support as a unitary candidate. Within the White House is a key subplot from the previous episode when the International Space Station is running out of oxygen and they had been a leak to the New York Times about the military Space Shuttle that could be used to save them. President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) is furious and wants the person who leaked this information to the press to be found.

This is an exciting episode for politics nuts like me and you feel the confusion and frenzy of the quick negotiations and the way events can quickly change. The frantic camera-work helps add to the affect. It is brilliantly written and nearly became real life last year during the nomination of Barack Obama. Both the director Alex Graves and writer John Wells do a great job with this episode. They is great actor, as expected from the West Wing and shows why it is one of the best televisions show ever made. I am also a sucker for grand speeches in film and TV and Matt Santos' speech is a cracker for me.

An excellent episode.

Season 6: A mixed season of strengths and odd flourishes (SPOILERS)

[bob the moo · 4 August 2013]

The previous two seasons of this show have not been great; both season 4 and 5 seemed to lack direction and focus and to a certain extent seemed to be in a rut brought on partly by the limiting factor of the location and the limits that this worlds brings with it. I didn't think this would change much in the sixth season but in a way it mostly does, even if some of the ways it tries to break out don't work. We pick up with the Middle East peace talks and the aftermath of Donna's injury and from there we have many plot threads, not all of which work.

This season has lots of large plots but the issue is similar to those in the past – it doesn't stay the course to see the consequences or the outcome. So, for example we have peace being brokered in the Middle East and we have political fallout from that, but it kinda fades away as the season goes on. We also have a dramatic moment regarding the President's MS, but beyond the addition of a walking stick to Sheen's wardrobe, it doesn't seem to do much beyond providing a dramatic episode. The show also manages to get talks with Castro into the mix as well – again leading to nothing outside of this one episode. Most of these plots work in the moment but it feels messy when they don't go anywhere and it did make me think that the writers were doing all they could to get out of the rut, even if it seemed a bit desperate and attention-grabbing.

The thread that doesn't do this is the nomination process for the Presidential nominee. This thread works very well and they bleed it into the show well, at times going episode about with the Oval office goings on. This has legs and feels fresh and engaging. Of course it has the usual sense of wish-fulfillment but I enjoyed seeing life on the campaign trail and in particular the King Corn episode which was well made and pretty clever. All the characters in this thread are engaging and I am looking forward to the final season because I assume that the Presidential race will be the vast majority of the show. The only downside here is that the episodes that don't feature the campaign are not quite as good even if they do have the bigger plots.

Some of the changes made to try to freshen things up are good. I liked the change to CJ's job – that had legs and worked pretty well but other things did not. A lot of new characters come in seemingly to try to make old ground feel new, but these characters mostly don't work particularly well. Kate Harper I'm not too keen on, although I did like McCormack; Annabeth just seemed too obvious a character for the show – full of quick words and witty dialogue, Chenoweth does it well but it is the same character we have seen before, just a new body around it. Feuerstein is the same – they try to drop him into a character mould but he doesn't work and he just seems like a lesser copy of others. It is a shame that so many of the new characters and face feel the same way. Santos isn't this way though; OK he is essentially Bartlett again, but Smits makes it work and is really engaging – he is rightly credited for breathing fresh air into the show and I hope he continues that into the final season. Alda isn't in it much but again his Vinick is engaging. The rest of the cast do their thing, although some seem less engaged by the whole thing – Hill in particular seems out of it, but Janney, Spencer, Whitford and others all remain strong.

Season 6 is not a total success but at least it breaks out of the rut of the last two seasons. It sometimes over-reaches in trying to do so, producing plots that are flash-in-the-pan dramatics, but it also produces and engaging and fluid thread on the campaign trail. I'm looking forward to the next season due to this thread – and I couldn't say that about the last season or so of West Wing, so that at least is a positive.