The Great West Wing Rewatch: 2.16 "Sombody's Going to Emergency, Sombody's Going to Jail

Joel: This was a heavy episode. From the very first opening shot, we know that things are going to be tough, just the way that this episode is setting up the day that these people are about to have. All of the heavy themes here are centered around Sam, who had just found out that his father has been having a twenty year long affair. I’m actually surprised how little the episode goes into that. We don’t see Sam learning about the affair. We learn about it three days after it’s happened. Sam only talks about it in the introduction, and hardly makes mention of it again till the end of the episode. We watch Sam process this instead by focusing on the equally heavy episode where he learns that someone’s grandfather was in fact a spy. There’s just no good news for Sam in this episode.

Honestly it’s a good thing this storyline was paired with Big Block of Cheese Day so that we can have something lighthearted to cut through Sam’s storyline. I love the idea of Sorkin finding tiny strange causes throughout the year and tucking them away for when he gets to talk about them in a Big Block of Cheese episode. I wish there had been more episodes to feature Big Block of Cheese day throughout the rest of the series, as it’s led to some of the more memorable moments on the show.

Chris: First of all, let me take this opportunity to share a theory I’ve had for a little while the first time I realized that Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson from every Marvel movie you’ve ever seen) was not only in West Wing but he plays FBI Special Agent Casper. Now, one doesn’t just start out as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, right? So I’m thinking Agent Casper had a long and decorated career (as you’ll see in later seasons of West Wing) but then was forced to change his name to join the semi-secret S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Sounds plausible right?

Beyond that, we have a Big Block of Cheese Day but with issues that are taken a little bit more seriousness, the main one being Sam looking into the pardon of an assumed Soviet Spy all while Sam is dealing with his own personal family issues. And of course, there’s Toby speaking with a group of protesters that seem like a Big Block of Cheese on-location meeting.

Hey, I know those people: Clark Gregg from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Roma Maffia from Nip/Tuck

A good president is a plaid flannel-wearing, cheese-eating, yahoo of a milkman Governor signed that idiot bill into state law