[The West Wing] 1.09 "The Short List"

[hermionesviolin]

Okay, I liked this espisode a lot.

[Transcript source, as per usual.]

CJ is very pretty in this episode -- in particular, the tartan in the beginning and the sleeveless black near the end. [Sam, also, v. attractive this episode.] "CJ likes goldfish" Of course my immediate thought was "She likes cheese." Eric pointed out that Josh could mean the cracker, which totally never occurred to me, so points to him for turning out to be correct. ("I'm not a hundred percent sure I'm supposed to know that.") Wow, she kisses him on the cheek. I'm still not into Danny/CJ (though yes, he is a good guy).

Josh shows up drunk at Donna's apartment?! And all he does is yell at her cats? ;)

I love the easy sexual bantering amongst them all -- e.g. CJ's "I got to tell you something, Toby. You're hot when you're like this."

I totally validate Donna's cautious optimism, and yay her getting to have smart person lines ("You know what we're finally gonna have?" / "A WASPy old man in the Supreme Court?").

Sometimes I really like Josh when he gets all bad-ass-y -- "You're Leo McGarry. You're not gonna be taken down by this... small fraction of a man. I won't permit it." (Also, wow, actual physical touching in that scene. I feel like that doesn't happen much with Leo.)

Mandy made letterhead! ::hearts her sometimes::

Listening to all the ways in which Mendoza I couldn't help thinking, "I really like the sound of that." Yeah, despite all the ways in which The Left makes me twitch, I really am radical on a lot of things.

I really liked the discussion on the "right to privacy."

SAM: The third amendment says soldiers can't be quartered in private homes. The fifth provides protection against self-incrimination, and the fourth against unreasonable searches. You deny the right to privacy lived in those passages?
HARRISON: No. I do not deny it, but the fact that the framers enumerated those specific protections is all the more reason to believe that they had no intention of making privacy a de facto right.
SAM: They just fought a revolution; they had no question of their freedom. The Bill of Rights was meant to codify the most crucial of those rights not to limit the others.

[...]

SAM: In 1787, there was a sizable block of delegates who were initially opposed to the Bill of Rights. One member of the Georgia delegation had to stay by way of opposition: 'If we list the set of rights, some fools in the future are going to claim that people are entitled only to those rights enumerated and no longer. The framers knew...'
HARRISON: Were you just calling me a fool, Mr. Seaborn?
SAM: I wasn't calling you a fool, sir, the brand new state of Georgia was.

I disliked the "freedom of expression" bit, however, 'cause that's totally not in the First Amendment. It's freedom of speech.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
-copied from wiki

***

Mary Alice says the one thing that rings false for her in this episode is Toby and Josh -- that Josh is technically Toby's boss so why/how is Toby ordering Josh to do anything? and saying to Josh "Number one: I don't report to you."

Edit: I forgot to mention that after CJ leaves the press conference and tells a staffer "Set fire to the room. Do it now," I couldn't help thinking of "Burn it down, gentlemen. Burn it down, and salt the Earth."

Comments

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

SAM: They just fought a revolution but they had no question of their freedom. The Bill of Rights wasn't meant to codify the most crucial of those rights not to limit the others.

Gah. As much as I'm grateful for www.westwingtranscripts.com, they do make a lot of mistakes. I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be "They just fought a revolution but, they had no question..." and "The Bill of Rights was meant to codify..."

Mary Alice says the one thing that rings false for her in this episode is Toby and Josh -- that Josh is technically Toby's boss so why/how is Toby ordering Josh to do anything? and saying to Josh "Number one: I don't report to you."

Fair enough, but from what I understand reading commentary about the show, the White House staff structure (in real life) gets reinvented with each new administration. In this one, Toby reports to Leo, not to Josh. Of course, it's equally true Toby shouldn't be able to "order" Josh to do anything, since Josh doesn't report to him but to Leo. Yeah, that's bothered me too. Mostly I pretend that Toby yells a lot until people do what he wants. Bastard. *pets him*

I really love this episode. It has so much to cheer about. Josh and CJ jumping around in the teaser? So CUTE, and I'm nowhere like wisdomeagle when it comes to pairing those two. Danny, likewise, is adorable. Sam is exceedingly pretty. Mendoza rocks. You'll see him again one more time.

Maybe I fell into TWW at just the right time, because I rarely find anything negative about the show or the characters. Even when they're being arrogant jackasses (eg Sam's stupid attitude about Laurie's other job), I'm so charmed by them that I appreciate that they're being written as flawed, and I'm willing to embrace the whole of their characters. (Unlike the Buffyverse, where by the end I was getting annoyed by some character flaws.)

(One thing I immediately found myself loving in this show is just how much the characters laughed and smiled. By the end of Buffyverse, laughter was a rare, rare thing. The West Wing characters make jokes, play pranks, dance around, laugh out loud, hug and smile SO MUCH. I can't help but love them!)

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I totally c&ped without reading closely. Thanks for noticing; I'll edit right now.

I primed to dislike the show because it's a left-leaning explicitly political show, but so far it's been well-done so I'm okay; and I do really like the characters. I've recently wondered if I'll ever love any show/set of characters as hardcore as I did Joss' three shows (though that always jars me 'cause "ever" is a v. long time). It's possible that I'm just in a different place as a person and am not primed to fall so hardcore for anything.

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

I primed to dislike the show because it's a left-leaning explicitly political show
Yes, you mentioned that a couple of times. Even though you haven't fallen in love, I'm glad you don't hate it. Sorkin gets preachy at times, but he usually tries to show the various sides of issues.

Not sure why I fell so hard for TWW. I never gave it a chance for years (my best friend is a huge fan), just dismissed it because it wasn't genre. But in some ways, it has the same epic quality that drew me to the Buffyverse and other sci-fi/fantasy. Buffyverse will always be my first real fandom, the one I stuck with the longest. I've had other fandoms since, though never quite to Joss levels of weekly watching and analysing.

I've loved TWW for nearly a year now, which really isn't that long. But it's the fandom that has sparked my writing muse, and that's new and different :) The LJ TWW fandom is small, most of the good writers from the early seasons have moved on, and we (the new guard) have to make the fandom, because we're all there is. It's... interesting...

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I was never a big tv watcher, so some grownup show airing late at night in the middle of the week held no appeal for me as a high school student -- and then of course when I re-encountered the idea of it after college (or after some time at college anyway) I was v. resistant to watching it.

I never identified myself as a sff fan, so it's actually strange to me to realize that most everything I'm fannish about is sff, because I totally didn't grow up with that environment/lit.

I'm a completionist, so not watching a show regularly seems to me both frustrating and almost useless. I mean, I watch stuff I'm not hardcore about, but I'm so aware of what I'm (potentially) misisng in understanding the characters etc. by not having every single episode. And not having a community to discuss with makes me sad.