Red Dog

Now that was some good West Wing. Best one of the season, BY FAR. Even though they've done the SCt vacancy issue before, they did a great encore here.

Great banter. Great legal discussion re: DOMA (and why a true textualist would strike it down), plain text, Lopez, etc. It is like Ginsburg and Scalia - total opposites but best of friends. Judge Mulreedy - sounds like my dream justice. Excellent guest appearances by Glenn Close and William Fichtner.

Josh getting wasted with Senator Pierce. Josh and Toby arguing outside the Oval Office. The voice of Bartlett screaming at the top of his lungs when given THE name. A story about 2 cats leading to an ephiphany for Josh. "Skippy, the evil twin."

Sadly, this episode demonstrates why we will only see O'Connors, Breyers, and Kennedys on the Supreme Court in the future. Lousy wishy-washy centrists is what we be stuck with. I certainly disagree with Justice Ginsburg most of the time, but at least she is consistent and strong in her convictions unlike the other female on sits on the SCt.

mikehunt

I have a question? how would a new appointee be the chief justice? Doesn't that go to the one with the most SC experience?
and while glenn close was the big name guest star, naming the lesser known ones in the previews would have done more to get me to watch. Robert Picardo and the other nominee, who sadly I recognize but don't know his name

Red Dog

Nope. When the Chief Justice slot is vacant, the President can nominate anyone to that slot just as he would for a vacant Associate Justice slot. Now of course the President has the option to elevate an Associate Justice to Chief (which is what Reagan did with Rehnquist).

The conservative nominee was played by William Fichtner.

Bandoman

That was a really good episode, almost Sorkin-esque.

After it was over my wife looked at me and said "that was good, but there was too much law".

Red Dog

The one problem that I did have with the episode was they ignored Justice Mendoza (appointed in S1). They said that there were 6 centrists, 2 conservatives (including the 1 who just died), and 1 liberal (the retiring Chief). Therefore, one can only assume that Mendoza became a centrist on the court (maybe a left-leaning centrist).

Meatpants

CJ was back to being funny CJ, and I liked Josh getting hit with the water bottle.

The tone was back on track, but the plots are getting more and more preposterous. When did it become Alias?

JasonF

I agree with Meatpants -- the tone was right, but the plots are getting more outlandish. Last week we got "this is how to save social security, if only the real lawmakers would listen." This week, it's "this is how to break the judicial nomination logjam, if only the real lawmaers would listen."

It used to be that the West Wing gave us a realistic view of politics. Now they're giving us pie-in-the-sky unrealistic plots. Perhaps next week we'll see Jed Bartlett's secret plan to smash al Qaeda and win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world, simultaneously creating a Palestinian state that's acceptable to the Arabs while ensuring the continued security of Israel.

I guess I should just be grateful that Josh got to think of the silver bullet all on his own this week; usually, they have Ryan do it. Speaking of Wesley Crusher Ryan, they never explained what was up with him last episode. Last episode, he was missing, and when Donna called his roommate to find out what was going on, the roommate disappeared. This week, no mention of it.

Meatpants

I think he used his wristwatch to stop time, or something.

BTW, what is the point of his character, not to mention Toby's assistant? When are they going to hire Oliver to clean the toilets?

bboisvert

I can answer the 2nd question:

(.) (.)

WarriorPrincess

I couldn't agree more with your opinion of the show - this episode was what The West Wing is all about, and I loved it. The banter and intelligent dialogue were inspired. The timing was impeccable. Reminded me why I stick with my shows even when they've been underperforming.

The only thing I disagree with is your last paragraph - I believe there is a need for both polar opposites who stand strong in their convictions and moderate centrists on the supreme court. But the problem is as demonstrated by this episode - how to get the polar opposites as balancing forces on the bench in the first place. Honestly I do not believe the court could function if they were all Scalia/Ginsburg-types.

Venusian

i was gonna ask the same thing

dcprules

That was a good episode, one of the better ones of the seasons (odd for a March episode). Hopefully we'll get more from Glenn Close into the future. My only qualm... where was Will Bailey????

bboisvert

I've been VERY critical of the show this season, so I suppose I should (in full disclosure) acknowledge that this was the best one so far. Nearly (but not quite) up to the previous level of writing. I sure hope they can maintain this... but yes, they should also tone down the plots a bit. Not every episode has to be about World Changing Events (tm).