The Great West Wing Rewatch: 3.01 "Manchester Pt.1"

Joel: This episode picks up immediately following the season two finale, even reusing some of the same footage from that previous episode. Right off the bat, all of our main characters are pumped. A press conference that they thought was going to end their time in the White House, instead resulted in the President boldly declaring that he would not only be seeking a second term but that he would be winning the election as well. The episode bounced back and forth between the immediate fallout of the press conference and four weeks later on the eve of President Bartlet officially launching his re-election campaign. This helps to show how in just a month of dealing with everything, how beaten down everyone has gotten. Everyone who was so pumped up following the press conference is now worn out and tired of going over the same things a hundred times. We are introduced to three new characters who we don’t know much about yet, but they seem to be trying to work on the re-election campaign. We can tell that whatever is being discussed, has already been discussed a hundred times before. 

I really like this back and forth device, as it allows us to experience the fallout of that pivotal moment from the previous season, (something people had to wait a whole summer for when they were watching the show live) but at the same time it gets right into the meat of this season, wasting no time. Season three is gonna be a full one guys, so strap in.

Chris: After Bartlet announcing his re-election campaign in dramatic fashion, we’re immediately transported in the middle of preparation for the president’s launch of the campaign with the addition of extra staff that are there just to handle the campaign in conjecture with the president’s staff that we already know and love and it’s clear the two aren’t mixing well at all. We get to meet Bruno, who I wish we saw more often rather than just whenever there’s an election (that’s right, we’ll see him throughout the final season as well). Bruno only likes two things, winning elections and getting laid but he’s careful not to mix the two which is why you’ll see Bruno on the prowl immediately when there’s nothing more for him to do at the end of the campaign. We also get brief flashbacks to the moments following Bartlet exclaiming that he’s running again to give the audience a good temperature of how everybody reacted, which is mostly excitement except for the First Lady. I know it’s easy for me, a single guy in his 20's that holds no position of authority, to sit back and get annoyed with the First Lady for getting so worked up over Bartlet running again because, ultimately, it feels like small potatoes and she should’ve known he wouldn’t have been able to resist running again while there was blood running through his veins. But at the same time, her husband lied to her and is going against their deal which is predicated on his very serious illness which can be brought on by stress. But at the same time, not everybody gets to be president at all let alone get 2 terms out of it. So still I say that Mrs. Bartlet needs to lighten up.

A good president is just a simple guy that sits out on his farm sipping coffee out of a metal cup because AMERICA!