The Great West Wing Rewatch: 1.12 "He Shall, From Time to Time..."

Joel: This is the first episode where we learn that the President has Multiple Sclerosis, but what’s worth point out is how small of a deal it really is in this episode. Not that Multiple Sclerosis isn’t a big deal, but in this case, Bartlett is never in any real danger, and he’s moving around fine again by the next episode. It’s a small thing but I want to go ahead and commend the show for putting that information into this episode. The issue will come out in a big way in season two, but if we the show had waited until then before informing the audience, it would have seemed to come out of left field. This way, we get the information we need, the current issues are wrapped up in a single episode, but we still get to know that this is likely to come out at some point in the future. In fact the illness takes a back seat in this episode to The State of the Union and Leo’s storyline, we know that Bartlett is sick, but it’s not something where we need to concern ourselves with it just yet. But just wait about a year and we will.

Chris: So here we are, the first mention of President Bartlett's MS. And yes, trust me, it becomes a huge deal as the show continues. Just when you forget about it, something happens that causes the issue to come roaring back, bringing everything else to a halt. I suppose it's a nice card for the writers to pull out and use once in a while. Essentially, everything you saw about Bartlett's MS in this episode was setting up a series of ticking time bomb that are waiting to go off periodically as the show continues. And seriously, it's impossible not to smile when CJ and Danny are on the screen together. It's so infectiously adorable that it physically hurts and that angers me.

A good president hides a life-altering diagnosis from his best friend for seven years.