The Great West Wing Rewatch: 7.20 "The Last Hurrah"

Chris: This put a happy little bow on Vinick's West Wing character arc and is a testament to how well he is respected by Santos and I'm fully on-board with Santos obsessively pursuing him for Secretary of State, especially since they see eye-to-eye on foreign policy. I enjoyed this episode because it's an ending that Vinick deserved that I wouldn't expect for us to get. There's been so many characters that were once vital to the show but simply cease to show up once their purpose has passed and by the time you realize they're gone, they've been gone for at least 3 or 4 episodes. So the fact that we get a brief look into Vinick's life now that the campaign is over and how much of a contrast it is from campaign life is interesting and I'm glad the show afforded us that luxury rather than just never seeing Vinick again.

Joel: I wonder, way back when the creative staff of The West Wing was first talking about the election storyline for the final seasons, did they already know what they were planning to do with Vinick? Did they already know that they were going to spend as much time on the Republican campaign as they were the Democratic one? That they were going to make the opponent of the main candidate a kind, smart, capable man? After all, when Bartlet was running in season 3, his opponent was only seen on screen a handful of times including the debate. And seemed to be everything that Bartlet wasn’t. It has a classic “hero defeats bad guy” feel when Bartlet won, but here, we have the joy of Santos winning mixed with the tragedy that Vinick didn’t.

I’m glad we got one more episode that really delved into Vinick’s story and he didn’t just fade into the background as soon as he lost the race. It’s something we don’t know a lot about, what happens when you lose a major national election.  Everywhere you look there are reminders that you didn’t succeed in the thing you’ve been building up to your entire life. I like the little touches here and there in this episode like the fact that Vinick’s coffee is in a “Vinick for President” coffee cup. You’re a famous face, but you’re now best known as the loser. I can see why Vinick would think about running again.

It was made clear to us that Vinick was the real deal. And even though he wasn’t Matt Santos, in a different race, he would have been the candidate we were cheering for. And I want to make note of the final little gathering between Vinick and his campaign staff. Patricia Richardson deserved more credit for what she brought to the show as Sheila. And this is a good little moment for her where she basically has to tell Vinick that some people don’t get to be President, but Vinick still has time to shape how history will remember him. And a few minutes later we get to see that in action, when Vinick comes to basically turn Santos down, but can’t help but give his opinion and guidance on the state of military affairs. We get to close out the episode seeing both Vinick and Santos do what they do best, figuring out how to best run the country.