« ‘West Wing’ must deal with Spencer’s loss | Main | THE WEST WING »
April 01, 2006
Left Wing? It's the right time to tune in
Selling the seven must-sees of series' finish
By MIKE MCDANIEL
Houston Chronicle
Unless you're a West Wing junkie, you probably didn't realize the show has returned to NBC's lineup after a seven-week Olympics interruptus.
That's a shame, because while Wing's ratings are broken — it has slipped to less than 8 million weekly viewers and is No. 83 in the household rankings — its ambitious and scary-real election story line has been one of the most compelling of the 2005-2006 television season.
Even those who have only loosely followed the series since its 1999 debut might want to tune in now as the four-time Emmy winner for best drama series airs its final seven episodes. Sunday's is the first of a two-parter titled Election Day, an episode that will climax with the discovery that vice-presidential candidate Leo McGarry (the late John Spencer) is dead.
We know there are Wing nuts out there who may have missed an episode or two. So here's a post-Olympics catch-up followed by a peek at what will happen in the show's remaining episodes.
•March 12: The Cold, deals with the fallout of January's nuclear incident in California. The Santos camp, led by former Houston Mayor Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), catches up with the campaign forged by pro-nuke California Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda). Donna (Janel Moloney) and Josh (Bradley Whitfield) celebrate the results with a kiss. Sheila (Patricia Richardson), Vinick's campaign manager, voluntarily resigns. Meanwhile, Bartlet (Martin Sheen) orders soldiers into Kazakhstan as Russians and Chinese approach.
•March 19: Two Weeks Out. Both campaigns go into overdrive, often running into each other. Jane (Melinda McGraw) is the new Sheila in the Vinick camp, an aggressive woman Bruno (Ron Silver) distrusts. She argues they should hit the South next, but Vinick wants to go to California and, after much cajoling, that's what happens. Santos goes to California, too, but he forgets his briefcase in Philly. Bruno finds it and discovers Santos is paying child support. At the site of the nuclear incident, Vinick takes all questions, hogging the cable-news feeds, shutting up the reporters. The Santos camp is alarmed how Vinick is stealing the momentum. Vinick meets Santos, advises him to come clean about the checks. Santos says he's covering for his brother's mistakes.
•March 26: Welcome to Wherever You Are. The Santos campaign is operating virtually without sleep. The candidate's wife, Helen (Teri Polo), is sent to Miami to appease a Latina organization but makes what Santos fears is a gaffe. As they photo-op their kids for Halloween, they bicker. Josh steps in and gives Santos a buckle-up speech.
Meanwhile, a special prosecutor threatens to throw the election by indicting Toby (Richard Schiff) for obstruction of justice for not revealing his source in the military-shuttle leak. Toby calls his bluff but the outcome is unknown.
•Sunday: the campaigns go through Election Day rituals. They vote, wave, wait, sweat and seethe. Or, if they're Donna and Josh, they hit the sheets. At episode's end, Annabeth (Kristin Chenoweth) discovers Leo is dead.
•April 9: In Part 2 of Election Day, the word of Leo's death spreads and the election takes on a different tone. If the Santos campaign wins, what happens? Is the election somehow void because the running mate died?
Earlier this year, West Wing executive producer John Wells outlined the plot point. The death of a running mate on election day is unprecedented in U.S. history, he noted, and the experts he talked to said a candidate would face two choices: either indicate his choice for replacement or go silent on the issue.
"If elected, it makes the most sense to wait until the inaugural and then try to get a candidate nominated and through Congress under the 25th Amendment," Wells said. "It's actually a very interesting kind of gray area, and certainly we wouldn't have gotten into this area without John's death."
•April 16: Requiem. The nation mourns Leo's death. The handling of the election becomes a Constitutional issue to be settled by the Congress.
•On the next three episodes — Transition, The Last Hurrah and Institutional Memory — a new government comes in and and old one exits. Andy (Kathleen York) seeks a presidential pardon for Toby. C.J. (Allison Janney) and Danny (Timothy Busfield) consider a future together. The Bartlet staff considers post-White House options. Bartlet reflects on his presidency.
•May 14: The series concludes with an Inauguration Day episode titled Tomorrow.
Posted by Jo at April 1, 2006 04:43 PM