The Great West Wing Rewatch: 6.6 "The Dover Test"

Joel: Though he showed up for the first time two episodes ago, this is the first real introduction to Santos, and it’s masterful. We know that Santos is leaving it’s been well established both in the earlier episodes that he appeared, and again at the beginning of this episode. But so far we’ve been told that Santos is a great senator without any real proof presented in the show other than the word of the characters. Now, this is the first time we get to see his political skill in action. Throughout the whole episode, his actions don’t seem to line up with his words, and we’re on the trial with Josh the whole episode long trying to figure out what’s going on. This storyline almost plays like a murder mystery, it gives us all the clues as to what the true motivations of Santos are, and then in the final scene spells out the reasoning for us when we couldn’t figure it out on our own. At the end of the episode Josh tells Santos “You’re too good at this. You can’t just walk away.” He has a look on his face that’s reminiscent of the first time he saw Bartlet speak in the flashback episode. It’s a small but profound thing. It lets us know that a worthy successor to this President has been found. Now we just have to convince him of that. (And get him elected.)

Chris: Though Josh fell in love with Santos a couple episodes ago, this is the episode where the audience falls in love with the guy even though most of the episode is spent burying the guy for crossing party lines to support a republican bill. It's very clear that Josh (as well as many others in the show) are not content with Vice President being the presumptive nominee and this is the episode where Josh gets the seed of the idea that he's found the next person. And it's amazing how spectacular the concept of a politician working to create a bill they believe in and not worried about crossing party lines for a common good. Of course, Santos can work this magic with the knowledge he's on his way out of Congress but still, he whips votes in a way we've only seen Josh be able to do in the past.

A good president visits with injured troops with or without the press.