The Great West Wing Rewatch: 7.12 "Duck and Cover"

Joel: We’ve been pretty much focused non stop on the campaign storyline for the bulk of this season. It’s kind of felt like the show’s been reluctant to do anything related to the cast members that remain in the West Wing, and any storyline that takes place there is only out of obligation since the show is technically still about the day to day operations of the White House. And while it’s a really good idea to focus so much on both campaigns to compare and contrast the candidates and their strategies, the downfall is that spending that much time with two campaigns leads to even less time available for West Wing storylines. So this episode feels like a big grand return to that earlier type of episode. Bartlet, who has been largely absent for the bulk of this season is suddenly front and center once again to deal with the crisis here. The episode plays like a greatest hits album for the “Bartlet takes charge of things” storyline. We get the situation room. We get somebody having to break down the situation in layman’s so Bartlet (and the viewing audience) can understand. We have the impossible decision of whether or not to do something. We have the scene where someone tells Bartlet it was still the right call when things go bad because of a call he made. We have the Bartlet nod that means “I know what you’re saying but I still feel guilty about it.” This feels like a tried and true West Wing storyline. And what’s more we still get some story progression from the campaign trail, but it fits so nicely into the narrative of the A storyline. Here we get the moment where, even though lives are in danger, we still have to consider the political ramifications of what everyone is about to do. I’m glad that even though we’ve spent so much time focusing on who will be the next president, we still get one strong reminder that Bartlet is the best at being President.

Chris: Not only is this the worst possible thing that could've happened to the Vinick campaign and then it's matched with the worst possible misstep Vinick could've taken. Arnie really would've been better off sticking to the prepared statement and not take any questions because I can't think what the correct alternative could've possibly been. The nuclear incident is essentially the tipping point of the election because the closest the polls had Santos is, I believe, around 4 points but now they're essentially locked in a tie. Looking like a flip-flop to the press is one thing but refusing to modify his position at all in front of the president during a national nuclear crisis takes some serious courage and, some would say, a bit of delusion. This is just one of those episodes where Vinick is in a hole and was wrong about something and the only thing he can really do about it is stand in that hole and be wrong.

A good president gets two call sheets.