The Great West Wing Rewatch: 4.15 "Inauguration Pt 2"

Joel: I have to say, I’m very thankful for this “Charlie can’t find a Bible” storyline that’s been going on in this episode and the last one. The show has been dealing with an incredibly heavy storyline and sometimes I need just a few minutes of Charlie and the President arguing over Bible size and location before we jump back into the really heavy material.

There’s a few big points in a presidential career like the Inauguration or The State of the Union, that we know there will be an episode about. But where we get a State of the Union speech every year, there are only two Inaugurations at best and we missed the first one because the show started a year into Bartlett’s presidency. So this is the one time we’re going to get to see our cast of characters prepare for an inauguration and this is almost the B story of the Inauguration two parter because of the mass killings storyline and the things that Donna is dealing with. Though I do want to mention the scene with Danny being just as upset about his story being changed without his knowledge. To be that upset, and still have the wherewithal to not give the researcher's name or the unnamed source in the White House is just another example of Danny being the best ever.

Chris: I love Donna, I really do, but there's no way in the world I would've taken the fall for a significant other like that. Especially considering they started seeing each other after the election, so November, and this goes down around the Inauguration, January. It's generous to say that they've been seeing each other for 2 months and she's willing to through her career for a boyfriend being dumb and saying something he shouldn't have because he's mad he's leaving. And yes, Donna's boyfriend was dumb for saying that but Donna taking the heat and saying she's the source is almost equally as dumb if not more so.

A good president hires Will Bailey