The Great West Wing Rewatch: 4.10 "Arctic Radar"

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 writing. Maybe even criticisms that he has for his own writing.

Chris: The episode of awkward exchanges. You’ve got Toby who is obviously not fine with Sam leaving, Toby and Will dancing around each other over whether or not they want to work together to write the inauguration while Josh is trying (and failing) to talk Donna up so that Christian Slater will ask her out as well as being confronted by a self-righteous Star Trek fan. It’s one of those things where even if this is your first time watching through the series, we all know Will is going to join the staff, they’ve been promoting how skillful he is almost every episode this season to let us know he can hang but this is the episode where we find out if he’s good enough for Toby. Also, this Star Trek fan does not represent the rest of us in nerd culture because most of us understand that movie accessories aren’t a good idea to display in a professional environment, least of all a job at the freaking White House. And even beyond that, she has the nerve to be self-righteous about and calls out her boss over the issue? There’s a difference between being proud of your fandom and being and unprofessional prick. I’ll let you decide which one applies to her.

A good president doesn’t care who a fighter pilot sleeps with.