« The West Wing is among WGA winners | Main | Poll: Santos leads Vinick to succeed President Bartlet »
February 23, 2005
'The West Wing's' character issue
Odd twists for old standbys
by David BianculliNew York Daily News
On "The West Wing" this season, all roads lead not to Rome, but to the White House.
Getting there has been more than half the fun - but I'm unconvinced, watching this year's episodes on NBC, that the destination will be as worthwhile as the journey.
As the show, which presents its newest episode tonight at 9, charts the events that will lead to a successor to Martin Sheen's President Bartlet, the plots have been truer to the process than to the characters.
It's been intriguing watching the various presidential wanna-bes, including Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) and Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), both new this season, jockey for position in the Iowa caucus and press the flesh for the New Hampshire primary. Location scenes have captured the frostiness of both the environment and the populace, and the crowded political field makes for lots of drama.
In addition to Republican front runner Vinick and Democratic dark horse Santos, there are two familiar faces who worked directly under Bartlet: Gary Cole's Vice President Bob Russell and his disgraced predecessor John Hoynes, played by Tim Matheson.
In last week's episode, Bradley Whitfield's Josh Lyman, who left the White House after persuading Santos to run, pulled every trick in the book to open a New Hampshire debate between Hoynes and Russell into one for all seven Democratic candidates.
In the end, though, Santos who, rejecting all those tricks and speaking directly to viewers in one live commercial minute of TV time, turned the tide and saved his candidacy.
It was a good dramatic moment, however improbable.
The idea that "The West Wing" has become, for the moment, not the story of one side fighting for right, but of several sides fighting for position, has made it less predictable but not always more satisfying. Russell is a political lightweight, yet he has not only Joshua Malina's Will Bailey in his corner, but also Janel Maloney's beloved Donna Moss. Shouldn't Donna see what Josh sees, even if she's no longer working for Josh?
Story lines this season have shaken up the staff as well as divided it. John Spencer's Leo McGarry had a heart attack and resigned. Allison Janney's C.J. Cregg took his job, and now scolds the President about taking too harsh a tone with her.
For two seasons now, President Bartlet seems to have gotten dumber, while all those around him have increased their IQs and attitudes. Watch the show's first two seasons, still the undisputed high points under series creator Aaron Sorkin's rule, to compare and contrast.
Promos for tonight's show have Josh and Toby getting so angry at one another, they get into a physical fight. That isn't the Josh and Toby I know, no matter how heated the argument - but more and more, this isn't the "West Wing" I know, either. A meteor heading toward Earth as a presidential crisis? Please. That's the dumbest thing associated with this show since Rob Lowe's decision to leave it.
There have been some good things this season, in addition to the primary (literally) story line. The worsening of Bartlet's multiple sclerosis has been an unusual subplot; Mary-Louise Parker's return last week as Amy Gardner was both welcome and charming, and Alda and Smits have added a lot of dramatic fire.
It's easy to predict that when the dust clears, it'll be Alda's Vinick and Smits' Santos in a race for the White House - and not much harder to predict that, at the end, Alda and the Republicans will win.
But by then, how many of the long-term "West Wing" characters will even remotely resemble the ones we met when the series began?
Originally published on February 23, 2005
Posted by Jo at February 23, 2005 08:07 AM