Irrelevant But Awesome

Joel:  This episode sticks out from the rest of the show. For the first time we get an episode without any scenes with The President at all. In fact only three of the main cast members appear in this episode. The bulk of the episode takes place far away from Washington, and except for the few phone calls between CJ and Toby, there’s no real discussion about world events, politics or any of the things you would expect in a show about The West Wing. It’s also an episode that wasn’t written by Sorkin, but instead by a guest writer. I’ll admit, that usually when I’m going through The West Wing again, this will be one of the episodes I skip. It’s not that relevant to the parts of the show that I love, and it’s not exactly an easy episode to sit through. But it’s still an important episode. While not as high numbers as the third season, the West Wing was still reaching easily over ten million views per episode, and it took advantage of being able to reach an audience of that siz...

Joel:  Now that all of the election story has passed, it feels like we’re finally getting back to the process of making deals and compromises in an effort to get one or two votes in the senate to go one way instead of the other. We even get the part where Josh is about to push for something crazy, and The President has to talk him down by saying they’re not going to win this one, but that’s ok. It’s like season one all over again. Really though, what strikes me the most in this episode is Donna talking to Ellen, the Chief of Staff for Senator Hardin about working for Josh. It’s one of the most effective “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.” speeches I’ve ever seen, but it also shows a little bit into the lives of the people who work under the famous faces. Yes, I know that’s more or less what the entire show is about, but it’s a reminder that for everyone working in the White House, this isn’t just a job where you do what your boss tells you to do simply because they’re your...

Joel:  Most of Sorkin’s characters tend to have issues with their fathers. In each of his shows, at least one person seems to be estranged from their father, had issues as a child, or something that will cause a problem when their father shows up. In The West Wing we already have Bartlet’s father issues that we’ve explored in great detail, and Sam’s issue with his father which took up an episode in an earlier season. Charlie’s father abandoned his family. Now, Toby’s father is showing up, and what do you know? There is a strained relationship between the two and Toby wants nothing to do with his father. Not that Toby’s issues with his father aren’t valid, but you have to notice the recurring theme of sons disappointed in their fathers that seems to ring true through this whole show. In other news, Danny’s back! I’m honestly quite thrilled to have Danny back, but we only get fun Danny for maybe one scene before it’s all business, and Danny is going to uncover the secret eve...

Joel:  It can be tricky having a character on a show who has “good writer” as one of the main characteristics. Sure you can have other characters go around saying how good of a writer they are and what great things have happened because people have been moved by their writing, but when you actually present their writing, it has to be good. It’s similar to “funny” characters in shows or movies. Just because you cut to a laughing crowd when they tell a joke, if the audience watching the show at home doesn’t find the joke funny, then the character’s going to ring false. Fortunately for Sorkin, he happens to be a good writer himself, so usually when Toby or Sam need to present their writing, it’s usually something good. But there’s an interesting moment where Will and Toby tear apart each other’s writing style. I wonder if Sorkin is intentionally trying to have different writing styles for different characters, or if these are criticisms that other people have said about his writ...

Welcome to Kue's List! This is a weekly collection of fresh and fantastic tunes curated by yours truly, Jonah Kue. So, without further adieu, here's this week's Kue's List, followed by Apple Music and Spotify links to it: Still Parade - "Chamber" Kali Uchis - "Only Girl (feat. Steve Lacy & Vince Staples)" Jordan Fisher - "All About Us" Post Malone - "Go Flex" Jonah Kue - "Ready to Go" Hotel Garuda - "Smoke Signals" Tei Shi - "Bassically" Innanet James - "Summer" Fetty Wap - "Wake Up" Fruit Bats - "Humbug Mountain Song" HANA - "Underwater" Click for Apple Music link Click for Spotify link

Joel:  The Hoynes storyline in this episode is upsetting. Not for the character himself, but because it shows a reality of Washington. The Presidential election cycle just ended. It’s going to be four years before another election is held. We are literally as far away from a Presidential election as we can get, and yet for Hoynes (and I’m sure several other people in Washington) it’s time to start campaigning all over again. Sure it’s not the “Vote for me,” on the road type of campaigning we see during the actual year of an election, but make no mistake, it’s still campaigning. I remember being a kid and thinking that four years was forever (mind you, I was six at the time so it was two thirds of my lifetime) and surely we needed to hold elections at least every year. But now, it seems like half of the first four years is focused on getting the second four years. And even then, some of the second four years is focused on the making sure the next guy is from the same party. A...

Joel:  There’s a lot that’s going on in the show right now, what with the election happening, Sam getting ready to leave the show, a new character being introduced, and the thing that really sticks out for me in this episode is the $400 dollar ashtray. A stat like that sounds like something that would come up during an election. A creative way to look at an opponent’s budget so that their ideas will look silly to the voters. You the kind of ad that says something like “Candidate X’s proposed budget is so ludicrous, that it allows $400 to be spent on every ashtray in the pentagon.” even though we all not that some fancy math was done to make the numbers come out that way. Then to see that a supporter of said candidate not only doesn’t refute the idea of a $400 dollar ashtray but in fact defends the idea, seems straight out of left field. With a hundred guesses I never would have come up with a reason why an army ashtray should cost so much, yet the second it’s presented I, l...

Welcome to Kue's List! This is a weekly collection of fresh and fantastic tunes curated by yours truly, Jonah Kue. So, without further adieu, here's this week's Kue's List, followed by Apple Music and Spotify links to it: Young the Giant - "Amerika" Koi Child - "Touch 'Em" Morly - "Plucky" The Boxer Rebellion - "Weapon" r00ms - "Bittersweet Company" Michael Kiwanuka - "Black Man in a White World" A$AP Ferg - "Strive (feat. Missy Elliot)" Step Rockets - "Kisser" Snakehips - "Money on Me (feat. Anderson .Paak)" Oyinda - "Never Enough" Fki 1st - "For What It's Worth" Jorja Smith - "A Prince" Click for Apple Music link Click for Spotify link

This week, the IBA Studios YouTube account has been busy with the continuation of Chris painstakingly trudging through Pokemon while Joel and Neil continue to be pricks about the whole thing. Also, the crew began a new series with Canadian heartthrob, Blair, joins us in our attempt to create the perfect presidential candidate to bring down the evil Donald Trump. While you're enjoying those videos, be sure to subscribe to IBA Studios on YouTube to be sure to not miss next week's action.

Joel: I t’s interesting that by this point in the story, there’s not really a question as to who is going to win the election. We know going into the episode that it is all but certain that Bartlet will have a second term. There is even some talk about not bothering to write a concession speech, he is that far ahead in the polls. It’s not that an election with that wide of a margin for victory isn’t possible, or even very likely, I know that it’s happened plenty of times in the past, but this is a TV show after all. This episode was written well after the 2000 election as well, so the idea of an entire presidential election coming down to a handful of votes in a single state, is a very real possibility. But instead, a TV show, where we would expect a dramatic, down to the wire election, instead portrays it as little more than a routine thing that just has to be gotten out of the way. Fortunately, we have the other election to bring drama to the episode. I’ll have more to say a...

Joel:   I remember that I was in the sixth grade when I watched my first presidential debate. I was so excited for it. Here we go, the two candidates for the president standing in the same room together. They would be able to go back and forth, compare their plans and policies to their opponents, there would be retorts and rebuttals, I couldn’t wait. I thought that for sure, the presidential debate would be the biggest moment in the campaign, after all both candidates would have to hold up to intense scrutiny, not only from their opponent, but from a thought moderator as well. Imagine my disappointment when I actually started watching the debate. This was no debate. This was just two guys politely taking turns while they made the same campaign speeches I had already heard. And everybody was nodding along like we had all agreed to pretend that this was an actual debate. From the moment Bartlet began, I knew that this is what I wanted out of a debate. People here to debate, ...

Joel:  For the most part season one of The West Wing shows everybody getting kicked around, and the Bartlet Administration in general not able to make any progress in their goals. However, the first season of the show covers the second year of Bartlet’s presidency, so when anybody mentions their rough first year they aren’t even talking about anything that we’ve seen yet. The flashbacks here are about the very beginning of the presidency, and we learn that things were going bad right from the very beginning. Leo mentions that in the first week, their approval rating went from a 61% to 49%. What we really get to see here is how much of a difference the four years has made in these characters. The contrast between the new, fresh faces, in the flashbacks and the more experienced characters in the debate camp is undeniable. These are people who have learned how to do their jobs and do them well. Yet, in a way it doesn’t matter. The thing that is tying the present to the past is ...

Welcome to Kue's List! This is a weekly collection of fresh and fantastic tunes curated by yours truly, Jonah Kue. So, without further adieu, here's this week's Kue's List, followed by Apple Music and Spotify links to it: Halsey - "Castle (The Huntsman: Winter's War Version)" TWENTY88 - "On the Way" Netsky - "Work It Out (feat. Digital Farm Animals)" Drake - "One Dance (feat. Wiz Kid and Kyla)" Schoolboy Q - "Groovy Tony" Shiftee - "Dope Girls (feat. TT the Artist)" Oh Pep! - "Doctor Doctor" Maxwell - "Lake by the Ocean" Slotface- "Sponge State" Paul Simon - "Wristband" Kanye West - "Wolves (feat. Sia and Vic Mensa)" Bob Dylan - "Melancholy Mood" Click for Apple Music link Click for Spotify link

According to Joel, Chris' childhood was severely lacking due to the fact that Chris never played Pokemon, a problem Joel and Neil took upon themselves by making Chris finally play it. Here is part one of Chris' weekly journey through Pokemon. Clearly, Chris is not enjoy his time through Pokemon so he decided he would respond in kind by having Neil play his way through the indie game called Plug & Play. Be sure to subscribe to Irrelevant But Awesome on YouTube so you won't miss out on next week's Pokemon episode as well as starting a new game featuring a new guest.

Joel:  Ah the dreaded third candidate. We could go on and on about the problems of a two party system, but one of the problems comes, at least for the candidates, when someone decided to run as a third party and gets just enough traction to muck up the either or feeling of the election. It usually happens, like it did in this episode, when someone knows they have no hope of winning still wants an issue to be addressed in the election cycle. As long as their loud enough about said issue, the other candidates will have to address it and the real goal is met. And this isn’t something that could only happen in the convoluted reality of a TV show. I remember an article that came out during the year 2000 election that interviewed several Florida voters who has all voted for Ralph Nader to make a point. Pretty much universally they said that they wished they had voted for one of the two big candidates now knowing how big of a deal their state would be in the election. Looking at th...

Joel:  I was in the eighth grade with this episode first aired. During this rewatch I couldn’t help but keep coming back to that. If something like this had happened in real life in October of 2002 and not just on a TV show, I would be living a very different life today. Maybe not radically different, but there is no question that my student loans have an impact on me today, an impact that will likely continue for the next several years. I know that The West Wing does this several times throughout the series. It takes an idea, offers a radical solution that nobody has ever thought of and then have a character say "That will never make it through." and another character replies "But we still have to try." This is just the first time where the issue being addressed is one that has such a direct impact on my person day to day life. I wonder if there are other episodes that cause similar emotions in other people. Where you can't help but realize that this sho...

Joel:  Really, the 20 Hours in America episodes serve as a big reminder and perhaps a warning about how the Washington DC culture can affect even the best of people. This election is eating up everyone’s time. And like I said in the previous review, that isn’t going to automatically be a terrible thing. Things like debates and campaigning is an important part of our system, and it can make for some fantastic television. And the election storyline which took up a large part of last season is going to continue to be a main storyline for the first several episodes of this one. But all  that constant focus on a single vote that takes place on a single day can skew your view on things. At the start of this episode the President makes a man reschedule his picture because he is afraid of a jinx. Yes it’s a scene that’s played for laughs, but it still shows that right now, at this point in his presidency, Bartlet is more concerned with how good of a president he appears to be i...

Welcome to a special edition of Kue's List! From time to time, I'll be posting curated playlists that are theme-based specials outside of the weekly ones. This time, our list involves the incomparable Michael Jackson at his most melodically revolutionary. Although MJ is known as the rhythmic king of pop, he's definitely voiced his political and social opinions over the decades (many heavily directed against the status quo and the system that maintains it). So, without further adieu, here's "Mike Jack Gets You Woke AF", with playlist links for Apple Music and Spotify. Jam Scream (Duet with Janet Jackson) Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' They Don't Care About Us Another Part of Me Black or White Superfly Sister Man in the Mirror Keep the Faith Click for Apple Music link Click for Spotify link

Joel:  In most cases on The West Wing when a two hour special episode is split into two hour long episodes for rerun purposes, there is a clear line in the story where one episode is supposed to end and the next is supposed to begin. Maybe a B or C level storyline that only exists in one half of the episode, or two separate lessons are learned by a character, one in the first part and one in the second. In this case however we have what is clearly a two hour long episode that has no clear split between Parts I and II. What I really like about this two parter is that it does take time ( A good bit of time. Two episodes worth of time.) to go outside The White House and the setting of Washington. Josh and Toby are fixated on winning. It’s so much their number one goal, that it has become their only goal. And for people running a national campaign for the presidency, that’s understandable, but there are multiple occasions where someone, an average american, is trying to discus...

Welcome to Kue's List! This is a weekly collection of fresh and fantastic tunes curated by yours truly, Jonah Kue. So, without further adieu, here's this week's Kue's List, followed by Apple Music and Spotify links to it: A.K. Paul - "Landcruisin'" PARTYNEXTDOOR - "Come and See Me (feat. Drake)" Soft Lit - "U Up" Kiiara - "Say Anymore" Liss - "Sorry" Jonah Kue, Jupiter Gray, and Bexon - "BLVD" Griefjoy - "Lights On" Johanan - "All at Once" Dua Lipa - "Last Dance" Elzhi - "February" Sizzy Mars - "Recognize (feat. JoJo)" Kygo - "Raging (feat. Kodaline)" Click for Apple Music link Click for Spotify link