Anyone else disappointed in last night's West Wing ending?

[T Roosevelt]

Unless I missed something, Bartlett's speech at the end bothers me. He doesn't seem to have gotten the moral of the story, that murder cannot and should not be an instrument of foreign policy. That's how he got into the mess in the first place. So rather than show a little contrition, he went off on how he would use every weapon, blah blah blah...

[tekriter]

1. What I wanted to know...

was WHO THE KIDNAPPERS WERE!

Were they Qumaris? Did King Ralph bomb the right people? I know they had a picture of Zoey on Al-Jazeera, but did they ever finally establish who the kidnappers were?

By the way, I missed about five minutes near the end while drying my daughter's hair, so I may have missed it.

[Jokerman]

2. It sucked

That's coming from a long term fan of the show. The writing has gone way down hill.

We got two episodes of "will Zoe live" and "what will the republicans do with their new found power", then, in the last ten minutes everything is solved and back to normal.

Maybe I'm being to hard but since re-watching some of the first season episodes in syndication, the new ones look lame by comparison.

[Scottie72]

15. I fully agree

I was like huh? Just like that it's back to normal? The writting has definitely gone way down hill. I fear that I will not be watching this show by the end of the season. This has been my favourite TV show for years and now this season ...

[Faygo Kid]

22. I agree, too

That was weak, weak, weak.

[Aristus]

3. I was actually rather relieved.

This episode was well-written. The fifteen minute stretch between 9:15 and 9:30 was nearly up to Aaron Sorkin's standards. Zoe's rescue was a bit of a deus ex machina, as far as I'm concerned, but I let it go. It was just nice to have Bartlet back in power. Also, John Goodman's character revealed some interesting facets. He was a Harry Truman fan. He insisted that Truman today would be a Republican (yeah, in what known universe?), and that he himself had never desired the Presidency. Interesting. It's been said that power should be conferred upon those who desire it least. Maybe he wasn't such a bad interim President, after all. And the much-hyped pandering to the Republicans so far looks like an expose of how power-mad they all really are. Could be much worse.

[Democrats unite]

5. Your right on the money with what you said.

eom

[mistertrickster]

4. I didn't think it was realistic . . .

Practically all the cases of that kind of kidnapping result in the death of the kidnapped victim -- Richard Perle etc.

It would have been a lot more thought-provoking and realistic if Zoie had been killed, IMHO.

[sangh0]

14. Danny Pearl was kidnapped and killed

Not Richard Perle.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

17. I think that was wishful thinking

eom

[mistertrickster]

24. Of course, you're right . . . my bad totally

He was a good man too (unlike Richard).

[Evil_Dewers]

6. Rumor has it that Sorkin had already written Episode I

but not Episode II, which sucked. Expect more suckage this year.

[Evil_Dewers]

7. Sorkin would have killed Zoe off.

n/t

[underpants]

10. Actually I read that Sorkin wrote the first THREE episodes

It was in Entertainment Weekly's fall TV preview. You did read that didn't you?

That means next week's is the last Sorkin West Wing.
And his wife got dumped by Frasier last week.

[SOteric]

11. Aaron Sorkin isn't married to Felicity Huffman,

Bill Macy is.


The West Wing has been written and produced these past few years by Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme. For last night's episode, Tommy Schlamme's name still appeared in the writing and producing credites. Aaron Sorkin's did not. Regardless of the speculation of entertainment periodicals, Sorkin is not a big enough schlub to write a program and forfeit the credits for it.

[Nailzberg]

23. You are right about that.

"For last night's episode, Tommy Schlamme's name still appeared in the writing and producing credites. Aaron Sorkin's did not. Regardless of the speculation of entertainment periodicals, Sorkin is not a big enough schlub to write a program and forfeit the credits for it."

Very correct.
To begin with, Sorkin would never have completed three episodes that far in advance. From what I understand, he writes down to and sometimes past his deadline, it's his style, and it's one of the problems television has with him.
I read that John Wells had contacted Sorkin for advice on tying up the cliffhanger, but Sorkin refused to help. Schlamme was apparently phone call number two, and did offer writing advice, which explains his credit in the episode.
It's widely reported Sorkin and the network had disagreements over production concerns and control of the show. IMO, Sorkin took his ball and went home. There is no way he would bail them out after they hijacked his show from him by ghost-writing three episodes.

[realFedUp]

8. I liked the ending

real life sucks enough right now...

[meatloaf]

9. It was okay until the last 15 minutes.

It was like the writer(s) got stuck and wondered where do we go now, and oops we need to wrap this up in the next five minutes.

So many things that had started to be explored got left untested and undigested on the vine.

[sangh0]

12. The entertainment industry let us down

Instead of giving us the expected formula of problem presented, problem solved, they instead depicted a President who has to deal principles AND politics (ie public opinion), and does so in an ambigous manner.

HOW DARE THEY!!! Don't they know that they are supposed to give us the answers without any sort of ambiguity. How can we be entertained if their shows force us to think about ambiguity?

[Aristus]

13. I saw John Sacret Young's name in the credits, last week and this.

He helped make 'China Beach' a winner, as far as I'm concerned. I hope he can keep John Wells from soaping up 'Wing' like he did 'ER'.

[Avatar13]

16. Hopefully this isn't the "bipartisan viewpoints" thing they wanted more of

A neocon Bartlet would be a major turn-off. Maybe a cameo of Perle and Wolfowitz are in the works?

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[lpbk2713]

19. I see another subplot hatching.

Zoe will be catatonic for a while (PTSD) and Charlie will snap her out of it. They will become a lot closer and their bi-racial relationship will become another issue for Jeb to have to answer to his detractors for. This should be good for the rest of the season.

Edit: please excuse the dupe. Screen would not change after I clicked "Update Message". Seems like it took about a minute. This happened befeore about 2 - 3 months ago if I recall correctly.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

20. Judging from Abby Barlett's body language

I would say that's not the only family problem that Jed Bartlett will be facing this season.

[Lisa]

21. no kidding -- Jed's daughters were evidently siding with their mother ...

Abby's not going to let this one slide, judging by the comments she made in that kitchen scene.


I did think it was kind of a glib way for them to respond to that MLK quote -- sure, he wasn't President, but I don't think that was his point anyway.

p.s. once I got past the image of John Goodman doing his bit as Linda Tripp on SNL -- had to close my eyes -- I had the distinct feeling he was trying to be an "honorable" version of Dubya (if that isn't a contradiction). He had the intonation if not the accent, and his comments (e.g. that sexist aside to CJ, and the "when do I get to do the fun stuff?", are EXACTLY the type of thing that Bush would say -- coming across as rather self-centered and not appropriate for the situation, but in keeping with the way he thinks).