The Great West Wing Rewatch: 5.1 "7A WF 83429"

Joel: This is just non-stop stress for the entire episode. The story of the abduction of Zoey Bartlet takes place over four different episodes (the last two of season four and the first two of this season) and now that we’re in the third episode we’re really hitting the ground running here. We really need to take a moment and praise John Goodman’s work here. Most of the “good” republicans that we’ve seen on the show so far were pretty liberally leaning republicans that were quick to say that, while they still identified as republicans, there was a lot about their party that they didn’t agree with.

Now Goodman shows up here, and is playing a very conservative, pro gun rights republican. But man, I just love every scene that this guy’s in. He has a commanding presence and has no problem taking charge of a situation. This man is suddenly given command of the military and has no hesitation to use it. He very quickly got comfortable with the fact that he’s in charge now. There are instant clashes as you’d expect there to be, but you can tell, regardless of whether or not you agree with his decisions, that this guy is genuinely trying to be a good president and do what he thinks is best for the country. He has no ego, and isn’t trying to take advantage of the situation, but he is trying to get things done, because there are attacks the world over, and a president’s daughter is missing and things need to get done.

Chris: We're trekking into uncharted territory here. As stated in the previous episode, Aaron Sorkin is gone as well as Thomas Schlamme and John Wells is the new showrunner as well as the writer of this particular episode. Wells had been an executive producer for the previous four seasons of West Wing so it's not like the show is alien to him or he has no idea of where the show was heading. The challenge in all of this were all the balls that were left in the air the previous season and Wells basically wanted to catch them all in the season five premiere. You've got the ongoing search for Zoey which brings on a multitude of other scenarios and situations that has to be addressed, one of which is the assassination of Shareef and how this is a possible retaliation. In relation to that, you've got a new temporary president that belongs to a different party, has a different group of people that he trusts and is faced with the challenge of being the assertive voice in the room when everybody in said room wants the former voice back in that room. All while the Bartlet is pretty much in a helpless state with his family in the residence. This episode was chaos and honestly, John Goodman is the frank, assertive person the country needs him to be even when it might rub the staff the wrong way. It's a weird situation in many different ways and this episode is a good first step to try to sort through the chaos.

A good president is John Goodman