The Great West Wing Rewatch: 5.8 "Shutdown"

Joel: If every government thing that could possibly go wrong is going to go wrong at one point or another during the Bartlet presidency, the shutdown of the government was one more thing that had to be checked off of that list. And I did like where the show would take time to point out what all a government shutdown could have an impact on. Things that easily slip through the cracks like the social security checks, or how a trip to Washington DC that someone’s been planning for the past year is now completely destroyed. But what really gets me about this episode is how dramatic the passing of time is. This episode loves to dramatically count the passing hours as if even it can’t believe that the government it being shut down for this long. In total it just adds up to a handful of days. Ten years after this, in 2013, the government would shut down for over two weeks, so it’s interesting to watch this episode now after having lived through the real life equivalent.

Chris: Remember when government shutdowns over the budget were a big deal? This episode shows the political climate and how it's changed since the time this episode airs because now government shutdowns seem to happen every other year after a couple continuing resolutions. Honestly at this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if ten years from now, the governmental is running through constant continuing resolutions. Shutdown signals the end of Josh being in the doghouse and as it was pointed out in the previous episode how the White House might have been in better shape had Josh been more involved in the budget discussions as well as the disaster relief trip. Now we see how the situation moves back into the president's favor almost immediately after Josh is brought back into the fold.

A good president will sit on a bench if they absolutely have to.