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Post by Jeremy on May 12, 2018 18:20:29 GMT -8
I've lost count of how many dramatic episode endings on this show were immediately cheapened by the bouncy closing music. Of course, it's still a step up from watching the show back when it aired, when dramatic episode endings were immediately cheapened by a wacky Scrubs commercial.
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Post by otherscott on May 12, 2018 19:28:53 GMT -8
The thing is that I like the closing music. I just feel like there's certain episodes where they probably needed to go silent over the end credits, and I can't see why they wouldn't have done that.
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Post by otherscott on May 13, 2018 11:37:03 GMT -8
"Ellie"
So let me get this straight: they invented a daughter to help correct Leo and his administration on something they were going the wrong way on, and to make it "more" realistic somehow they made the person they were about to fire this previously unheard of daughter's Godmother. Then - they tried to mine character drama from Bartlet's relationship with this daughter that to this point didn't exist, even though President Bartlet clearly didn't really care enough about her to mention her once in any of the previous 36 episodes.
There had to be a better way to do that.
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Post by Jeremy on May 13, 2018 12:26:57 GMT -8
Wow. You summed up all my problems with the A-plot of "Ellie" before you'd even read my review. I guess nerdy minds think alike.
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Post by otherscott on May 14, 2018 9:28:11 GMT -8
"Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody is Going to Jail"
Whoa. A Sam based plot that is actually very good. Miracles are possible.
Honestly, I still don't like Sam Seaborn. He's not as bad in this season, and obviously he was going through a lot, but the fact he was about to march up there with determination and tell the woman that her grandfather was a Russian spy is quite questionable. That said I really did like the twist in the story and it made sense with how it connected to Sam's own struggles - even though I wish they had introduced the unfaithfulness of his father in a different episode so it felt like character continuity more than just a one off "let's have something happen to Sam and then something connect to that so we give him something to do."
The cartographers storyline was amusing and a good use of a B-plot. Toby's storyline was a waste, but those happen.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on May 14, 2018 10:13:32 GMT -8
My favorite thing about SGTESGTJ is how stylized it is. The "New York Minute" opening is so moody, and the direction is so atypical for West Wing. (The world literally being turned upside down in the B-plot reflects this)
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Post by otherscott on May 14, 2018 10:39:53 GMT -8
When you turn the world upside down, Bosc, it helps you to focus less on your own Northern Hemisphere needs and more on the needs of those in less fortunate countries and circumstances.
It's Cartography that will bring about world peace.
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Post by Jeremy on May 14, 2018 13:52:31 GMT -8
I sometimes wonder if those cartographers didn't have a point. I mean, how many times have people made jokes about Australia being the land "down under"?
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Post by otherscott on May 14, 2018 19:31:50 GMT -8
I mean I kind of agree that the maps should be replaced (not with the upside down one), but that's less because I think there's social justices involved and more because you'd think accuracy would be somewhat significant.
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Post by otherscott on May 16, 2018 5:50:59 GMT -8
"The Stackhouse Filibuster"
One thing you should know about me is that I have two pet peeves in TV shows. In media res is one, and the other is expository voiceovers. So this episode, containing both of these things, really had an uphill battle with me.
And, it didn't really climb it. I didn't think it was significant enough, and it didn't really make sense for me. We don't care about the hundreds of thousands of austistic kids in America enough to put the clause in the bill - but because Stackhouse has a grandchild with autism - now it is essential. I feel like the government has a bit of a responsibility to consider these things based on the overall need of the country, not based on personal relationships with particular senators. That said, I guess the counter to that is that one man's determination was able to raise awareness and change their mind about the issue, thus building their characters.
Either way, still not really my episode.
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Post by otherscott on May 17, 2018 5:49:45 GMT -8
"17 People"
Really good episode. Richard Schiff has been having a stellar second half of the season to this point and this episode feels like the culmination of it. You could say he's upset that so many people knew before him about Bartlet's MS, but every point he made was absolutely correct and I think that's what prompted Bartlet's anger with him more than anything. Toby was right and Bartlet knew he was right.
I would say in the previous season, of the staffers the central figure was Josh but the more emotional and significant material was going to Leo. This season feels structured in much the same way, where the central figure is CJ (though she was entirely absent from this episode for some reason), but more of the emotional and significant material is going to Toby.
Good Ainsley Hayes B story as well, I always enjoy Sam getting shown up. C story between Donna and Josh was okay, we're getting there with Donna as a character, which is encouraging.
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Post by Jeremy on May 17, 2018 6:51:27 GMT -8
I would say in the previous season, of the staffers the central figure was Josh but the more emotional and significant material was going to Leo. This season feels structured in much the same way, where the central figure is CJ (though she was entirely absent from this episode for some reason), but more of the emotional and significant material is going to Toby. And of course, the staffer who was originally supposed to be the star ends up with breadcrumbs. Such is life.
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Post by otherscott on May 17, 2018 7:24:43 GMT -8
Yeah, Sam really hasn't had the same hefty storylines. Like last season at least Toby got the big Christmas episode and this season Josh did. Leo hasn't had a big season this year, probably on the same level as Sam, but at least he had last year to flesh him out. Sam's second biggest episode this season, "The Drop-In", was far more about Toby than him. And his biggest episode, "SGTESGTJ", is mostly remembered for the cartologists, not his plot. Not great, Sam.
At least he's not relegated to the sidelines like Charlie. I haven't remembered ANY significant Charlie storyline since the president gave him his knife.
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Post by Jeremy on May 17, 2018 7:32:46 GMT -8
Well, Charlie wasn't even supposed to be in the show to begin with. He was brought in because the NAACP complained about the lack of diversity in the 1999 TV season.
He gets a couple of good B-plots here and there, but unfortunately never rises to the level of prominence as most of the other characters.
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Post by otherscott on May 17, 2018 7:48:02 GMT -8
I'm so glad The West Wing responded to these complaints by putting a fully formed and significant African American character in without resorting to tokenism in the slightest.
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