The Great West Wing Rewatch: 6.4 "Liftoff"

Joel: This episode opens up with CJ’s apartment being overrun with people who are in charge of her security. There are members of the secret service, there are people with plans in case of an attack on the White House, and all of this makes you wonder, if there is supposed to be this much security for the Chief of Staff, then doesn’t that make Leo getting lost in the woods for so long even less believable?

It’s nice to get a “in over their head” episode again. Back at the beginning of the show, there was so much emphasis placed on how busy everyone was all the time at the White House. It’s one of the recurring themes of the show, often shown through the walk and talk scenes. But as the show had progressed over the years, we’ve gotten used to the fast pace, and it doesn’t seem as out of control as it once did. But now we have CJ in a new position and is serves as a good reminder as to just how busy these people are, all the time.

We also meet Matthew Santos for the first time in this episode, and though the character doesn’t really get his first chance to shine until a few episodes later, you can already see the glimmer of what this character (and his relationship with Josh) is going to be.

Chris: Joel beat me to making the point on how the intro to this episode setting up all of CJ's new security measures made it that much more unlikely that Leo really spent that much time unconscious in the woods before he was found by anyone.

This episode felt like the true beginning of the season with our old favorites in new positions they have to now deal with and the introduction of new characters. The major addition for the long-term is Congressman Matt Santos and whereas his appearance in this episode doesn't amount to a whole lot other than the assumption he's screwing the party by not seeking re-election, it's more of Josh's reaction to the meeting that's the most substantial. There's apparently really only 3 times Josh will ever have that dumbfounded reaction: listening to Bartlet for the first time, concern for Donna and now, reacting to a meeting with Matt Santos. And it's a safe assumption that Josh isn't trying to start a romantic relationship with Santos so one can surmise where this might lead and, honestly, my first time through the entire show, I really should've picked up on it more than I did.

A good president gets spanked by his Chief of Staff.