The Great West Wing Rewatch: 3.21 "Posse Comitatus"

Joel: I haven't yet mentioned the operation to kill Shareef storyline. While the actual operation takes place in this episode, discussion and debate about the idea have been in the past several episodes, and much of next season will be dedicated to the fallout that comes from what happened in this episode. This is probably the most complicated situation the President has faced so far in the series. The situation is nowhere close to being black and white, and there is no real right answer. No matter what decision is made, Bartlet is going to feel a tremendous amount of guilt over his decision. I can’t in this handful of paragraphs say if the call he made was the right one or the wrong one. It’s a decision I’m honestly thankful that I’ll never have to make.

I do want to say that I’m glad that the show took several episodes to lead up to this point. This is not the kind of story to tell in a single, sixty minute episode. The gravity of what is being discussed here, and the potential ramifications, both politically and morally, is something that needs to be laid out. And I love the final scene between Leo and Bartlet before the call is finally made. Bartlet never seems 100% on board with this plan, and is almost alway the one voicing the strongest resignations. Leo seems to think that the answer is clear and it’s Bartlet’s duty as the President to make the call. The show has touched on the difference between doing something because you personally think it’s right, and doing something because it’s what the office does a few times now, but this story is the one that really drives that home.

Bartlet is not being overly concerned when he wonders what the fallout of these actions will be, and we’ll be seeing a lot more of that next season.

Alexa: After falling woefully behind on season three because of a host of personal obligations, I’ve finally managed to catch up just in time for the finale to punch me right in the feels. It’s difficult to be more emotionally impactful than the fallout from Mrs. Landingham’s death in “Two Cathedrals,” but this episode comes pretty close. True, Mark Harmon’s Simon Donovan is no Danny Concannon, but he’s a likable and memorable character in his own right. The West Wing has a habit of making its viewers develop an emotional attachment to even relatively minor characters, and Donovan is no exception. To see him ripped away from C.J. so violently and so suddenly, particularly in the giddy aftermath of their first kiss, is absolutely devastating. Add the ultra-melancholy “Hallelujah” to the scene when Ron tells C.J the news and you have a recipe for a season-ending emotional beating. The musical selection is equally affecting at the episode’s conclusion, when “The Patriotic Song” swells over the assassination of Shareef. It’s an uncomfortable juxtaposition that mirrors President Bartlet’s own moral dilemma about whether to give the order. And as we’ll soon learn, the ripple effects from that critical decision will extend significantly into season four.

Chris: To say being president is a difficult job is about as massive of a understatement as it possibly gets. The campaigning is a group of people trying to get a job that they don't understand the full severity the position entails. I don't envy Bartlet at all because if he doesn't react, Shareef would caused the deaths of thousands but at the same time, he would call for the assassination of a world leader. Also, Ritchie at the end displayed why Bartlet is the far better choice in the election especially seeing as how he essentially shrugged off the death of Simon Donovan, imagine how he would've handled Shareef? The likely thing he would've done would put his head in the sand and assume somebody else would do something about Shareef before anything too bad happened. Also, it's a bold showrunner to go through a campaign that lasts the entire season and don't include the election itself in the season at all but instead waits for the next year. Also, Leo's dialogue with the president at the end when he's about to make the call about Shareef is probably my favorite lines in the entire show.

A good president threatens his opponent to a fight after assassinating a foreign leader while at a theater performance.