Monday, June 14, 2010

GAGE WHITNEY: The AV Club's Steve Heisler is doing a summer-long viewing of season two of The West Wing (having tackled season one last summer), beginning with "In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen, Parts I and II":
The stories are all flashbacks, and maybe it's because Lost just ended, but I immediately paralleled those segments to the flash-sideways of season six.... All this season, we watched the characters on Lost exist in this other world as they always have, but something was missing. They might not have known it at first; it's more of a nagging feeling that they couldn't quite qualify. Then suddenly, the catalyst occurs, and their eyes are open. They track down their friends, marvel in the beauty of having a shared purpose, and it's see you in another life, brutha. And in this case, Leo is the Desmond.
His recaps for the next two episodes are online as well: "I enjoyed these two episodes of The West Wing because they gave our characters a chance to work out their inner demons surrounding the shooting. The first two episodes this season demonstrated what they're doing consciously, now it was time to watch them tackle the subconscious effects."

9 comments:

  1. Jenn.1:06 AM

    Interesting.  This also reminds me that Alan is doing a rerun recap of Firefly on his blog. 

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  2. Joseph J. Finn11:09 AM

    By complete coincidence, Christina and I have been watching WW straight through and are just past Two Gunmen.  I had forgotten just how devastating, how awful that first shot of Josh is when Toby comes upon him.

    (Also, it's fun to watch a faulty memory at work; Joey Lucas shows up much earlier than I remember.)

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  3. Christy in Philly11:24 AM

    My partner Michelle and I are watching the WW again on dvd as well. We're about 6 eps in to Season 2. Amazing!

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  4. Those episodes get me every single time.  Every time, I tear up when Toby finds Josh on the ground, and when Charlie realizes he was the target, and when Donna says "hit with what?"  And every time I laugh when Toby tells CJ "You uh, fell in the pool there," and when Sam calls the ships "boats" and Josh points at his bad poker face.  Just beautiful episodes, excellent storytelling.

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  5. Joseph J. Finn12:12 PM

    <span>That's funny, Christy, since we just watched episode 6 last night ("The Lame Duck Congress").</span>

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  6. Genevieve2:49 PM

    I've been watching WW Season 1 -- I watch Veronica Mars from Netflix while I'm on the bike, and when I send a disc back and am waiting for the next one, I watch WW -- am up to episode 13 or 14, I think.  Had forgotten how amazing the Toby/Christmas/homeless vet episode was. 
    I'll catch up with y'all eventually, and it'll be nice to have this recap then. 

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  7. Every single time Sorkin does a Christmas episode, it's awesome--"Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee" (so much awesome), "The Reunion" (if just for Dana dealing with her brother), "In Excelsis Deo," "Noel," "Bartlet for America," "Holy Night" (the weakest of the bunch, but still pretty damn good), and even Studio 60's "Christmas Show" (if just for the really effective Tiptinas band sequence).

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  8. Genevieve5:18 PM

    Trombone Shorty!

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  9. Marsha11:30 AM

    Just rewatched "Noel" last night. Really amazing storytelling - it's so beautifully constructed, and the dialogue between Arkin and Whitford positively crackles. It's one of the places where Sorkin's tic of having characters repeat the same lines absolutely works. And the look on Josh's face at the end when he and Donna are listening to the carolers sing and play "Carol of the Bells" (a song I actually find very ominous-sounding) is just heartbreaking.

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