The West Wing "2162 Votes" Season Finale Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

The season finale of The West Wing is on right now. With the Republican Convention over, the Democrats must sort out which man will be their Presidential nominee to face Senator Vinick, Vice President Bob Russell or Texas Congressman Matt Santos...


http://www.nbc.com/photos/Primetime/The_West_Wing/1WESao02.jpg
WHO WILL BE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE? - It's the Democratic National Convention and the race to become the Democratic Presidential candidate has narrowed to three candidates: Russell (Gary Cole), Baker (Ed O'Neill) and Santos (Jimmy Smits). Also, Bartlet (Martin Sheen) must wrestle with the decision to launch the super-secret defense shuttle to rescue the astronauts trapped at the space station and risk national security or let them die. Also starring Ed O'Neill, Allison Janney, Brad Whitford, Josh Malina, Kristin Chenoweth, Mary McCormack, Josh Malina, Richard Schiff, Stockard Channing, Teri Polo and Janel Moloney. TV-PG

(...And the producers of The West Wing must hope that the "Alan Alda vs. Jimmy Smits" commercials that have been running all season have people still interested in the convention outcome. :rolleyes: )

[Temple Fugate]

(Thank you for this talkback, Penguin. :D)

Even without the "Alda v Smitts" commecials, it was pretty much obvious who was going to be the ultimate Democratic candidate considering most of this season's campaign focus was on Santos and building him up to be, ideally similar to Bartlet. Plus, Josh is the one who convinced him to start running. I never bought John Wells' claims that he was undecided who would become president just because we've barely seen Vinick, Hoynes, or Russell do half the things that Santos has done in terms of characterization and development. Next season, maybe we'll get equal coverage of both Vinick and Santos, but right now it seems they're seriously building Santos up as the definite successor to Bartlet.

I'm so glad they brought back Sorkin's plot thread from late season 4. Josh's consideration of McGarry was first ignored when Zoe got kidnapped and then completely dropped when the Republicans forced them to appoint Russell. I wonder, though, with his heart condition if the American people will really see Leo as a good idea for a "backup" president. Sure, there was no way he can ever run for President even before the heard attack, but if Santos gets killed or otherwise prevented from fulfilling the obligations of his office, we'd be relying on someone who might keel over from all the pressure. No offense to Leo, I love him and was happy to see he was staying on the series even if he quit his position, but I question his integrity to be a VP if such a crisis occurs. (But this DOES mean we get random appearances from John Spencer for the next few years.)

The handheld camerawork, while almost invisible on 24, worked terribly in 3/4 of the scenes in this episode. It was just not neccessary most of the time. I would have only used them during the scenes where Josh et al. were on the phone desperately grasping for votes. Things like the pointless fast-zoom on Will while he was talking to Donna in the office were distracting.

I'm glad with the decision to make it undecided all the way to the end, if not just as a vehicle to keep tension throughout the campaign, but to point out that the convention was ORIGINALLY INTENDED to have multiple candidates at the beginning. These days they're so boring because we already know going into it who the candidate is going to be. This incident continues the tradition West Wing always carried: To highlight the beauty of democracy and how our system of government was supposed to be like in the mind of our founding fathers.

I talk WAY too much about this show when I get going. :anime:
The West Wing 6x22: "2162 Votes" - ***1/2

VOTE Santos - McGarry 2005

[The Penguin]

To gear up for the season premiere next week (remember the Sunday move), the Emmy-nominated season finale of The West Wing airs again tonight at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Arnold Vinick has given his speech and the Republican Convention over. Now the Democrats must chose between Vice President Bob Russell and Texas Congressman Matt Santos...


http://www.nbc.com/photos/Primetime/The_West_Wing/2WESagN04.jpg
WHO WILL BE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE? - It's the Democratic National Convention and the race to become the Democratic Presidential candidate has narrowed to three candidates: Russell (Gary Cole), Baker (Ed O'Neill) and Santos (Jimmy Smits). Also, Bartlet (Martin Sheen) must wrestle with the decision to launch the super-secret defense shuttle to rescue the astronauts trapped at the space station and risk national security or let them die. Also starring Ed O'Neill, Allison Janney, Brad Whitford, Josh Malina, Kristin Chenoweth, Mary McCormack, Josh Malina, Richard Schiff, Stockard Channing, Teri Polo and Janel Moloney. TV-PG

I left Temple all alone last time, but I hope to stop by. (Probably taping it to watch later).

[The Penguin]

I hate to just bump this thread again, but this episode airs at 12 midnight tonight and 7 p.m. tomorrow on Bravo. As part of "West Wing Marathon Monday" Bravo is airing the last six episodes of season six. It all stars with "A Good Day" at 7 p.m. ET and goes up to "2162 Votes" at midnight.

[Temple Fugate]

A semi-related story...last week, I moved into the dorm here at my new college and the RA and I got to talking about the movies we liked and I was showing him my DVD library. He saw my West Wing box sets and said "West Wing? You are my new best friend." When we went back to his room, a few of his friends were playing NES Zelda, and he introduced me, saying "You should see his DVDs. He's even got West Wing." The others simply stared at us quizically. One of them let out a "Huh?"

I said to the RA, "Yeah, West Wing fans are pretty scarse, aren't we?"