The Great West Wing Rewatch: 2.3 "The Midterms"

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Joel: After two episodes to kick of the season that focus on the shooting, It’s a bit jarring to go into the next episode with the “just another day at the White House” feel that was the starting point of so many filler episodes from the last season. Yes there is mention of the shooting having recently happened. Josh is clearly still recovering, and Toby wants to use the jump in approval numbers to take a hard stance on gun control. Charlie is also working through the events of the season opener, but really what this episode does is remind us that just because the president gets shot, everything doesn’t just shut down. There’s still a country to run, issues to be discussed and citizens to provide for. This episode serves to get us back to the status quo of The West Wing, to get us back to that feel of what a day is like in the lives of these people. There’s always some new issue to discuss with it’s own obstacles to overcome. We even get a verbal beatdown from President Bartlet that is very similar to the one from the pilot episode. While the two parter season premiere is about the fallout from season one, and the finale, this episode is all about making sure you know that The West Wing is back and ready to take on season two.

Chris: The one thing that struck me as odd at the beginning of this episode is that how normal everyone was acting since this was the first episode after the shooting and it’s aftermath episodes but then as the episode unravelled, you find out exactly how no okay everyone is because of it. Not saying they weren’t addressing it because they would cut to Josh trying to help while he’s home recovering, Toby is on the warpath to gain ground against guns while the president’s approval ratings are so high and clearly Charlie is going through some inner struggle. All of that while the president is overly consumed with an old foe’s election, clearly using it to distract himself from something. And, as it usually does, everything snaps back by the end of the episode as the president once again whips out his intelligence and slaps a radio host across the face with it.

A good president makes sure everyone is standing.

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