The Great West Wing Rewatch: 2.17 "The Stackhouse Filibuster"

Joel: This is the first episode of The West Wing where I have a clear memory of watching it on television during it’s original airing. I remember trying to grasp exactly what a filibuster was, why one might be useful and how exactly they “won” at the end of the show. Looking at it now, the episode actually does a pretty good job of explaining what a filibuster was and answering all of the questions I was having back in the spring of 2001, but at the time I just wasn’t quite able to grasp it. I do however remember that this was the time where my mother (who I was watching the show with) made a rule that I could only ask questions during the commercials because everybody on the show talked too fast and if I asked a question while the show was on, we would be missing something important.

Rewatching this episode now, it’s one of my personal favorites. Not only because it was my initial introduction to the show all those years ago, but because it shows these characters being smart, taking action, and accomplishing something good because it’s the right thing to do. Yes, making the press deadline is a nice thing to accomplish but Bartlet casts that goal aside the second a more important goal becomes clear. They see a problem, work it out, and solve it. This is the team that I love, and getting to see them get a true victory is a fairly rare thing on this show, so it’s nice to see sometimes that noble efforts are rewarded.

I also want to briefly mention the incredible acting talent of George Coe who played Senator Stackhouse in this episode. Coe, who is probably best known for his work as the voice of Woodhouse on Archer, has a moment at the end of this episode, when he’s asked if he will yield for a question. It’s subtle and all of the acting is in his face, but it’s the face of a man who has been standing and talking non-stop for nine hours. A man who is tired and worn down, and who will be there for another nine hours without a moment's hesitation if that’s what it’s going to take. All that can be seen on his face as it dawns on him that his point has been heard, and he has won. That moment is some powerful acting from a seriously underrated actor.

Chris: Sadly, I will say that when we I was going through the show several times in the past, I skipped over this episode simply because I originally thought that voice-over device of staffers writing emails to their parents was a bit cheesy and that decision was my own stupidity and I apologize for it because giving the episode an honest watch this time around, I was greatly mistaken. And Joel is right, in order for this episode to get to the really good stuff, they have to set up and explain what exactly was happening and why. Also as inorganic as it might seem that CJ is emailing her father for the first time we’ve seen to explain all this, what else would she be doing while waiting for this elderly senator to finish reading the rules of card games for hours and hours?

Now, the cynic in me wants to point out that nobody was willing to help Senator Stackhouse until they found he had a personal attachment to furthering the care and treatment for children with autism but sometimes it takes measures like this for people to see the error in what they’ve done and show their true character if reverse course and do something positive to make up for it.

A good president has 98 enemies in the Senate.