The West Wing, season 2

FOUR-STAR EPISODES: 7
AVERAGE EPISODE RATING: 3.2
-In the Shadow of Two Gunmen ***
Your table is waiting with the series regulars, Ms. Moloney. You mark the occasion by giving the most beautiful, touching performance of your seven seasons, in the hospital as you find out the President's bullet wound is minor, but Josh's is critical. Charlie learns the shooting was racially motivated, and that he was the target. A fantastic limo scene with Ron Butterfield and Jed, before the President's wound is discovered. The debut of Anna Deveare Smith (THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT) as acerbic civilian defense consultant Nancy McNally. A little Jane Lynch (BEST IN SHOW, GLEE) in the briefing room. Josh's life hangs by a thread. Who was in charge while Bartlet was anesthetized? Flashbacks show how the Bartlet campaign came together (an airport scene between Jed and Josh on the night his father died, is the most poignant...C.J.'s last day as a Hollywood publicist, the most comedic).
-The Midterms ****
The White House staff deals with the psychological effects of the assassination attempt. Toby goes on a First-amendment bashing crusade against the racial hate groups who triggered the attack. Bartlet goes ballistic when an old foe becomes front-runner in a school board election...then mercilessly skewers a fundamentalist talk show host (Claire Yarlett). Charlie gets the most poignant scene, in an after-hours moment with a wayward child and his computer technician father (Alfonso Freeman), who tells him that if people are shooting at you, you're doing something right.
-In This White House ***
Ainsley! The debut of one of the show's most beloved characters. Emily Proctor would do twelve episodes as the spunky, conservative White House lawyer. How can a character this great be born of an episode this ham-handed?? Caricaturish republicans spouting amateurish dialogue...a plot line with Ainsley and C.J. that is embarrassingly contrived...here but for the grace of a story thread featuring Zakes Mokae (A DRY WHITE SEASON) as the leader of an AIDS-ravaged African country, would be the first sub-good episode in show history. After Josh and Toby figure out a way to get HIV medications to Africa more cheaply, President Nimbala learns that he has been ousted in a coup. He returns home, and is shot getting off the plane. Ted McGinley (HAPPY DAYS, MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, REVENGE OF THE NERDS) plays the suave, genial host of "Capitol Beat", on which Ainsley skewers Sam.
-And It's Surely to Their Credit ****
The Gilbert & Sullivan episode. Ainsley's second episode is startlingly sharp, compared to her debut. Two junior staffers greet her enthusiastic efficiency with disdain and outright harassment. Irrepressible White House Counsel Lionel Tribby (John Laroquette, in the first of two wonderfully outsized episodes) goes ballistic when told of her hiring, but is firing her tormentors by the end. Bartlet gets medical clearance to have sex again...but carelessly dismisses the life of Nellie Bly in the presence of the First Lady, putting the kaibosh on his hopes. Brandishing a cricket bat, Tribby interrupts an Oval radio address. At the end, the senior staff throw a Pinafore party for Ainsley, in her steam pipe trunk distribution office.
-The Lame Duck Congress ***
The staff mulls calling a lame duck session, to get a nuclear test ban treaty passed. The plan is scuttled when an ousted democratic senator (Mike Starr - GOODFELLAS, RADIO DAYS) decides to follow the wishes of his constituency, and not his conscience. A drunken ukrainian politician arrives at the White House, demanding to meet with the President. The C.J./Danny romance (what little we got to see of it) fades with a whimper.
-The Portland Trip ****
Jed makes C.J. wear a Notre Dame cap and lead the press in their fight song, on a cross-country Air Force One trip. Sam tries to make an education speech more uplifting, prompting debate on how to make the reality worthy of the rhetoric. Josh has a meeting with a gay congressman who supports an anti-gay marriage bill. It's a fantastic interchange, and the big payoff for actor Charley Lang, after two minor appearances. Josh makes Donna abbreviate a date. She wears a red dress, in her most stunningly beautiful costuming of the series. He delivers a line to her that i wish i could carry with me on a mini-soundboard to play for many women: "Actually, you have no sense about these things. You have no vibe, you have terrible taste in men, and your desire to be coupled up will always and forever drown out any small sense of self or self-worth that you may have." Throw in some prime Ainsley and Danny...
-Shibboleth ***
The most embarrassingly-written moment in show history...a moment so masturbatory, a barf bag should come with the season 2 dvd extras. Religious refugees from China are given a test of faith by Bartlet, and the way they pass is so contrived...well, to make an in-reference, even high school girls don't write this badly. A damn shame too, because the episode also features a run of dialogue that is perhaps the most multi-scene, non-stop funny in the history of the show, as C.J. tries to get the president to pardon a turkey (hm, make your own parallels...). Sorkin's worst beside his best. Jed has Charlie running around in the search for the "perfect" carving knife...then, in one of the show's most poignant scenes, reveals the reason: he's giving his family knife (a present from Paul Revere) to Charlie.
-Galileo ***
Another drop-in from Mallory, with the interplay between she and Sam as irresistible as ever. An ominous fire rages in a russian missile silo, but their government maintains that it's an oil refinery. Charlie gets in trouble for saying the President doesn't like string beans. Jed is set up for a live interview as the unmanned Galileo V prepares to land on Mars...then telemetry is lost. Jed and Sam and C.J. wax idealistically poetic, and have some sweetly beautiful moments. At the Kennedy Center, they hear a modern classical performance by the Reykjavik Symphony Orchestra. Bartlet presumptively pooh-poohs it, but is immensely moved.
-Noel ****
The most perfect instance of episodic television ever? A few entries from M*A*S*H and STAR TREK would be in that discussion, and of course LUCY's chocolate episode...but this one is beyond exquisite, and certainly no episode of any show equaled its all-around dramatic/comedic brilliance. If you think back on WEST WING's funniest moments and most breathtakingly dramatic moments, you may not even realize that two of them occurred side by side: Josh's face-off with trauma therapist Stanley Keyworth (Adam Arkin - CHICAGO HOPE), and C.J.'s jousting with White House protocol officer Bernard Thatch (Paxton Whitehead). Paxton's snobbery is off-the-charts delicious, and the interplay between Arkin and Whitford is everything drama aspires to be, as Josh is forced to face the post-traumatic stress disorder that followed his being shot. Rarely do episodes devote so much time to one storyline, yet never has one been more deserving. Throw in some equally exquisite Yo-Yo Ma, and a perfectly-played dose of distraction from Stanley's assistant (Purva Bedi). A Holocaust survivor (Etyl Leder) reunited with a painting that was stolen from her family, and Leo's friendship epilogue with Josh, are also pitch-perfect.
-The Leadership Breakfast ***
The first and only guest appearance on WEST WING by a star of Sorkin's previous show, SPORTS NIGHT (Josh Malina would be a regular, while Timothy Davis-Reed and Jeff Mooring played recurring support characters). In what can be no surprise to anyone, Felicity Huffman (MAGNOLIA, TRANSAMERICA) nails it, as a republican chief of staff who gets the best of Toby. Sam misidentifies Kyrgyzstan, and Donna loses her underwear. Throw in a little Corbin Bernsen (MAJOR LEAGUE, L.A. LAW) for good measure.
-The Drop In ***
Marbury!! Roger Rees drops in, to become Britain's ambassador to the U.S. His dialogue is as snappy (and snappily-delivered) as always, as the Sorkin comedic touch is in fine fettle. Leo tries to get Jed to support an expensive missile shield that doesn't work. C.J. has to ask a favor of a comedian (Rocky Carroll - CHICAGO HOPE, ROC, NCIS) the administration shafted. The second and final appearance of David Graf (POLICE ACADEMY 1-7) as Colonel Chase.
-Bartlet's Third State of the Union ***
Post-address, C.J. deals with a last-minute, hero-cop guest (Richard Riehle, THE FUGITIVE) who has an undiscovered charge of racism on his record. Ainsley goes into a tizzy at the prospect of meeting the President. Is she blaming it on the Bossa Nova? Tony Plana (AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, UGLY BETTY), in the first of two appearances as consultant Micky Troop, advises Leo and Jed on a hostage situation. Jed and Abbey build to a beautifully-constructed argument about his decision to seek a second term, reneging on an agreement they'd made.
-The War at Home ***
Leo gives one of the most compelling, concise breakdowns of the lunacy of the war on drugs you'll ever hear. The Abbey/Jed argument comes to a powerful head. Is Ainsley peeing in the closet?
-Ellie ***
Mary Kay! The talented and delightful Ms. Place (THE BIG CHILL, CAPTAIN RON, BIG LOVE) drops in as Surgeon General Millicent Griffith, who has the audacity to answer a radio question about marijuana honestly, causing a political uproar which get compounded when Bartlet's middle daughter, Ellie (Nina Siezmasko - WILD ORCHID II) tells a reporter her dad would never fire Milly. She is summoned to the White House, and we learn that she feels her father never loved her as much as her sisters.
-Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail ****
On "Big Block of Cheese" Day, Sam gets convinced to pursue a pardon for an accused, deceased spy from the 50s, whose granddaughter (Jolie Jenkins) is a friend of Donna's. He gets emotionally involved, and in his only Situation Room appearance, Nancy coldly sets him straight. Toby shares some lovely spark with an officer (Roma Maffia - NIP/TUCK) assigned to protect him as he talks to ineffectual, misguided protestors. The debut of the understatedly spot-on Clark Gregg (THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, THE AVENGERS) as Special Agent Michael Casper. The show has the season-2 success money for Don Henley's "New York Minute", and the song's atmospheric darkness lends great poignancy. And ringing the bells most loudly, is C.J.'s meeting with the Association of Cartographers Against Social Inequality. She learns that current maps have been teaching a false, racist view of the world for centuries. The lead cartographer is wonderfully played by John Billingsley (ENTERPRISE). Somebody get me a Peters projection, please.
-The Stackhouse Filibuster ***
A plucky, can-do barrel of smart fun. George Coe (KRAMER VS. KRAMER, MAX HEADROOM, and a founding cast member of SNL...for three episodes) gives a crusty, seamless performance as an aging, non-influential senator who unexpectedly filibusters a can't-miss health care bill. Donna finally figures out why. A young intern (Cara DeLizia) takes Sam to task for sweepingly cutting costly government reports. Hoynes starts making moves that only a man with his eye on the Presidency would make, triggering Toby's suspicion. C.J. breaks an ancient cat statue.
-17 People ***
Richard Schiff's finest episode? Toby obsesses over Hoynes' behavior, and he realizes that John believes Jed won't run for a second term. Leo and Jed are forced to tell him about the M.S., and he reacts with no small outrage. Josh and Donna bicker over how long she's worked for him, finally having a nakedly unveiled moment where they almost reveal how much they care for each other. The only episode in show history with just one guest star...how perfect is it that it's Ainsley? She and Sam get into a hissy kerfuffle over the E.R.A. In a nod to how even-handed the writing is, you might be convinced by her anti-E.R.A. stance.
-Bad Moon Rising ****
It's hard to overstate how much Snuffy Walden's music enhanced and defined this show. In this dark episode, the music subtly invokes the "New York Minute" motif from three shows prior. Jed and Leo begin the process of going public with the M.S., by meeting with White House Counsel Oliver Babish (the unrelentingly stellar Oliver Platt - THE IMPOSTERS, THE ICE HARVEST). Platt replaces John Laroquette. On the one hand, this feels wrong, as John was delightful. But there's no denying that Oliver rises to the decidedly-darker nuances in his eight-episode arc, nailing them more perfectly than anyone you could imagine. Jacqueline Kim (STAR TREK: GENERATIONS) shares some lovely, too-brief chemistry with Sam. In one of the most touching scenes between two wonderful performers, Jed admonishes Charlie to never, ever lie about what he knows.
-The Fall's Gonna Kill Ya ***
Oliver interviews C.J. and Abbey, as they both try to come to grips with what's happening. He's never in his life found anything charming. Joey Lucas drops in, plus a 'lil Rosalind Chao (THE JOY LUCK CLUB, STAR TREK TNG & DS9).
-18th and Potomac ***
Staff tensions flare, as the press conference announcing Bartlet's M.S. approaches, with no word on whether he'll seek re-election. Then a car crash brings the death of the wonderful Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten), Jed's personal secretary of the past few decades. I'm sure that in the history of television, no minor character death ever felt so major. Kathryn only had a few lines per episode, if that, but she was always...perfect. On the one hand, you're mad at the creators, for killing her needlessly, and yet...it's hard to argue with how the impact of this brilliantly-unforeshadowed death on the overall arc of the series was probably perfect. The end of the episode, when Charlie reveals the news, is searing. The final image, showing Jed reacting through figured glass panes, is throat-lumpingly rendered.
-Two Cathedrals ****
When you've spent a lot of money for a well-known song, it makes sense to use it liberally throughout an episode, like they did with "New York Minute". In this brilliant, searing season finale, they hold off using Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" until close to the end...and the episode is all the more brilliant for it. Will Jed end his career at one term? How deeply has Dolores' death affected him? The stresses of the present send him back in time in his mind, to when they met while he was a student. The pressures from his father are revealed, and his brilliance and naivete are perfectly rendered by actor Jason Widener. When i first saw the episode, i thought they missed the boat by not casting Emilio Estevez, but that probably would have felt too obvious. Kirsten Nelson (PSYCH) is also perfect as the young Dolores, and series producer Lawrence O'Donnell's acting debut as the abusive senior Bartlet is seamless. In a dark and stormy episode, Kathryn returns to have a conversation with Jed, inside his mind. All of that is brilliant, yet pales in comparison to the scene inside the National Cathedral after the funeral, when Jed has the building sealed off, to talk to god. He denounces the Almighty (in untranslated Latin, naturally). Sheen's most searing moment in show history.