The Great West Wing Rewatch: 3.18 "Enemies Foreign and Domestic"

Joel: I love that Charlie has something to do in this episode. Not that I think Charlie sits around and does nothing all day. Clearly, Charlie is one of the busiest people in the White House, frequently having to be prepared for anything at a moment’s notice. We see Charlie busy all the time, delivering messages, finding information for the President, or any number of additional things. What I love about this episode, is that Charlie gets to make something right. We get a lot of these little mysteries, a woman crying at a painting on a White House tour, or a dead person found wearing Toby’s coat. We get one main character having to track down the information and solve the mystery, usually ending with a wrong being set right, or as right as the circumstances allow. This time the mystery comes in the form of a letter addressed to the President that should have been theoretically impossible. But Charlie, throughout the episode, tracks down the answer to his mystery and finally sets right an issue that had been lost in the sands of time. There’s something powerful about Charlie being the character to do this. Unlike every other character we weren’t introduced to Charlie after he had been working in the White House for a year. No, we got to witness his job interview, his first day, and watch him grow from there. Seeing him be able to use his position in the White House for good, to make something possible for someone that wouldn’t have happened any other way, it’s a big moment for Charlie’s character.

Chris: Global politics is weird to say the very least because the president finds himself in another war games situation, this time with Russia possibly aiding with Iran making nuclear weapons while Sam is interpreting a weird back-channel message from the Russian president who is against nuclear proliferation but doesn't want to voice this support to surrounding officers since they are from the proverbial old regime. Continuing with the summit is a risky move with the recent developments and a ton of faith is being shown in Sam in believing in his abilities to notice the language in the message. But all of this does bring up an interesting topic of discussion with nuclear weaponry. The United States is always quick to discourage and condemn smaller countries (usually ones that aren't necessarily friendly to us) from having or developing nuclear weapons when we are the ones with the highest number of developed weapons and are the only country to have used them in combat. It's hypocritical doctrine of world policing that is staggeringly arrogant to suggest that it's our responsibility to keep everyone else held at bay.

Oh hey, I know that person! - Ian McShane and Mark Harmon

A good president takes pictures with really old kids that send him letters.