kevin75

only 50 minutes left!

will they find zoe?

will AS's last episode be great?

most importantly, will charlie lay the smack down on idiot french boy?

one can only hope the answer to all of the above is yes.

wildcatlh

This is quite a cliffhanger to be leaving the end of the season on, especially with Sorkin leaving.

Orbi-Wan Techno

Wow! What an episode! What a way to end the season!

kevin75

best. episode. ever.

for years, i have always thought that the pinnacle of this show was the 3 hour window of the 1st season cliffhanger/2nd season opening. this topped it. from the absolutely brilliant opening scene before the credits to the end it was amazingly fantastic. this show had just about everything.

-charlie wanted to beat the crap outta jean paul (unfortunately he couldn't )

--probably the most human we have ever seen toby so far. with the birth of molly and huck (they come with hats!), we can only hope that we see an entirely new side next season to his character. plus i loved his line about "i've only known mine for 45 minutes and i would napalm anything..."or whatever it was.

--the utter frustration of abby bartlett. while i can't stand the new haircut (irrelavant, i know), stockard channing did a great job with the limited screen time this week.

--will's comment about bartlett at the end. "a fairly stunning act of patriotism, and an ordinary act of fatherhood." wow.

i could go on and on, but i am just in too much shock at this hour of television.

even though bartlett mentioned it halfway in, did anyone else notice that the scenario tonight was the exact thing that was in the first few episodes? quite a bookend for AS in his show.

also good to see clark gregg again. quo vadimas!!

Chopper

I didn't start watching until the very end of the first season... What are you referring to?

kevin75

about two or three episodes in, bartlett called zoe in to tell her that he was increasing the number of SS agents in her detail because of her starting college. she protested and he went into detail about what could happen. one of his scenarios was where she got kidnapped and held for ransom by some terrorists, presumably just like this.

huzefa

It's like they're borrowing plotlines from 24. First a daughter is kidnapped, then the president is removed from office.... pattern?

OldDude

Note that here, the President removed himself, using the 25th amendment, he was not removed.

Sdallnct

Very good show.

Personally I liked better the cliff hanger a year or two ago when there was doubt if he would run again (he was going to anounce he was not running). What pushed that one ahead of the pack for me was the Dire Straits music. They played just about the entire song "Brother In Arms", with a lot of long continuous walking shots. Incredible.

Tonights was right up there with tention and all. But actually thought it was a tad TO much. Of course I like the President's part. And Toby part was an incredible contract. But the closing of port and the small plane that might have been shot down, was a little much. For me anyway...

adamblast

I can't believe Sorkin left the show in the hands of other writers and a Republican President!

I thought it was wonderful. Richard Schiff is my hero right now-- he's been doing extraordinary work as Toby for the past couple weeks... The thing about him being "too sad" last week, and the baby monolog this week-- both were just heartbreakingly good... Damn I love this show...

I wish it could continue as good next year... I care too much about the characters to give it up, but it'll be mighty sad if next year, under a new creative team, they wither away into cardboard imitations of themselves...

das Monkey

Yeah, Schiff wants a trophy for his mantle. His performance tonight was extraordinary. While I'm a huge Sorkin fan, and the writing dialogue is easily the best on television, I'm still completely awestruck with the acting on this show. From top to bottom, the cast is absolutely brilliant.

das

P.S. I have to take a moment and laugh at the ignorant fools who refuse to watch this show because it's about a Democratic Presidency. Suckers.

kevin75

yeah, but if people can't get past that to see what this really is, A TV SHOW!!!!, they deserve to miss out. i am a die hard conservative, but this is my 2nd favorite show on tv, after ed of course.

lisadoris

This was one of the best WW eps I've seen in awhile. Sorkin really went out with a bang on this one. The acting was on. I wonder if TV writers are trying to tell us something with not one but two pres vacating office for a variety of reasons (voluntarily or involuntarily as the case may be).

Will's line about extraordinary patriotism and ordinary fatherhood was great as was Toby's line "they come with hats." I was still hoping for Charlie to beat Jean-Paul down but there's always next season.

Red Dog

Great stuff. About 5 minutes into the episode, I realized what the '25' in the episode title referred to, so I pulled out my copy of the Constitution which sits prominently on my bookshelf.

One thing that the 25th does not make clear is what happens when the Prez is unable to discharge his powers (and transfers his powers) when there is no VP. The Presidential line of succession is statutory law, so I was wondering if this was going to become an issue. Interesting that the Speaker had to resign his chair in Congress - I never really thought about that issue.

Either way, this show is great way to learn to the basics of the Constitutional workings of the US gov't.

Everybody is giving kudos to Richard Schiff, but I'll give kudos to Dule Hill - I thought he was great last night.

Too bad we had to wait the whole season to get to the 3 best episodes of the season.

Meatpants

As always, the episode itself was extremely well done. My problem is some of the episodes really shouldn't be written, even if it's done at a high level. In the span of a few weeks, the VP resigned, the P's daughter was kidnapped, and now he's invoked the 25th? All they need now is a pool in the lobby to turn the show into Melrose Place.

Bandoman

Wow. Fantastic television. Just - wow.

This episode should be required reading for the writers of 24 - AS handles the 25th Amendment issue correctly, while the 24 writers completely f*#$ed it up.

"They come with hats!"

I can't wait for next season to see: (a) how they get Zoey back; (b) the consequences to the French brat; (c) how Bartlet gets his power back (you know Goodman isn't going down without a fight); and (d) how the West Wing staff is going to deal with a Republican President and vice-versa. Things are going to be very tense.

I can only hope that AS left enough of an outline/notes for the new writers to finish this properly.

Jeeden

-Your right baout TOby, he was great!!

-I can't stand Mrs. B's haircolor OR haircut...just doesn't look right

-Better that Charlie couldn't beat the snot outta jean paul, he was so out of it that he wouldn't remember any of it. If your going to get in trouble for beating him up you should probably make sure to get the satisfaction of his remembering the pain

-Love the casting of John Goodman for the speaker. Did everyone else know that he was going to be on?

-Hehe...the chief of the armed forces is ready to make all sorts of places glow in the dark eh??

Static Cling

Did anyone else think President Goodman was a dick at the end when he curtly told Bartlett that he was relieved? I understand the need ffor a strong leadership presence, but damn, he wasn't even sworn in yet, and he's already bitching out Bartlett. At least take thirty seconds of time and advice from outgoing leadership and his staff.

das Monkey

I liked that move. Everyone in the Oval Office was slowly losing confidence. Quick decision making was about to turn into a debate, and he had to seize control before they lost any more time. He was a dick, but I think it was necessary and needed to happen sooner than later so his staff could get it straight in their heads immediately: he's in control, stop wondering "what would Bartlett do?"

das

Bandoman

Static - No, I think Goodman was following the cue from Josh and Leo about first making sure the people in that room knew who was in control. He has to establish a strong presence immediately and make sure that EVERYONE - especially "his" staff - knows who is giving the orders.

Bandoman

...and once again das beats everyone to the punch by a couple of seconds...

das Monkey

Pretty impressive when you consider my oversized monkey fingers make it difficult to press these tiny keys.

das

Red Dog

No way. That kind of move had to be made.

JasonF

I'll echo the "outstanding episode" comments and add one more scene that blew me away -- the scene in which Leo informs Bartlett that Zoe's been taken. Most shows would have filled that up with dialogue, or lingered on reaction shots of Bartlett or Abbey. The way the director chose to show us this moment was far more powerful than any traditional choice would have been.

huzefa

Goodman was a dick. He's yelling at the president, even before he had been sworn in and worst of all, Bartlett hadn't even signed his removal paper!