The Great West Wing Rewatch: 3.17 "Stirred"
Joel: Up until this point, the Vice-President was more or less an antagonist of the show. Not a main one, there are plenty of other characters to fill that role. And I’m not saying that he didn’t have his standout moments, helping Leo by introducing him to the meeting is a big example. But for the most part, Hoynes has been at odds with our set of main characters. Several times he is asked/forced to do something that’s against his political beliefs. He more or less is a fault for kicking off the MS scandal last season. It’s no secret that he doesn’t see eye to eye with the president on a great many things and rarely gets along with The West Wing staff. But his actions in this episode are truly those of a good person. We finally get to see Hoynes fighting for something, not because taking that stance would be good politically, but because it’s a good thing for the American people. We get to see him be passionate about something other than just getting to be President one day...