The Great West Wing Rewatch: 5.2 "The Dogs of War"

Joel: For four episodes worth of buildup, the actual finding and rescuing of Zoey almost seems like an afterthought to this whole thing. We don’t see it happen at all. Nobody finds a clue or makes a discovery that leads to her rescue. There’s just a phone call to the FBI, and then we’re on our way to pick up Zoey because the whole thing’s over now. Agent Carter has a little bit of an explanation about how the rescue was accomplished but even that gets lost when your watching because it’s at the same time as when they’re on a very loud helicopter that all but drowns him out. Because Sorkin left halfway through this storyline, I have to wonder if he had a idea in mind as to how Zoey was going to be found and rescued that he took with him when he left. The whole ending just feels off, like it was a story that was half done that somebody else had to try and tie together. And it’s possible that’s almost exactly what happened.

I know I’ve been pretty much gushing nonstop about John Goodman for the past several recaps, but I won’t get many more chances to do so here, so please bear with me as I have to mention the scene where Walken is having to call the families of soldiers who have been killed. He asks Debbie “When do I get to the fun part of being President?” which really drives home what the man is being asked to do. We get the story from Bartlet’s perspective, but looking at it from the other side, Walken has been asked to take on the hardest job in the world at the most stressful possible time. He is being called because it is extremely likely that an impossible choice will have to be made in the near future, and he’s being asked to be the one to make that choice. And when it’s all said and done, he doesn’t even get to say. He has to step aside and let the other guy slide right back in. He doesn’t even get to go back to his old job because he had to resign in order to do this. And yet he does it without hesitation. Because he has been asked to serve his country. (I really want an alternate universe West Wing show about this guy).

Chris: And just like that, Zoey is back and we only have one president as Bartlet returns to office and all with little buildup or fanfare. There was no real discussion about the lead that broke things open on Zoey's location and very few mentions about the operation that led to her recovery. I agree with Joel that it is a bit jarring and felt like it was just thrown into the end of the episode. I understand that West Wing is a show of very little action but I felt like it would've benefited from a few scenes designating in showing the process of recovery rather than just showing her being reunited with her parents in a generic field somewhere with a bunch of vehicles. As good as it was to see a lot of things get resolved, it did feel like they were just going through the motions whereas I think they could've taken at least one full episode devoted to the progress of finding Zoey.

A good president thanks John Goodman for keeping his seat warm.