Irrelevant But Awesome

Joel:  Watching this episode it’s a little stressful to watch people not trying to get somebody back in the office of the Vice President as fast as possible. I know that it’s important for the next few episodes that there be no Vice President, but still it feels like the search for a new VP would be the main storyline of the very next episode. Instead it’s all about Zoey’s graduation, with the VP search being the B, or maybe even C storyline of the episode when everyone feeling alarmingly nonchalant about the pace they're going at to get the second most powerful position in the country staffed again. It’s also interesting to note that the events that happen at the end of the episode mirror The President’s “nightmare scenario” bit from season one almost exactly, from the loud club, to the kidnapping happening in the bathroom, to the getting whisked out the backdoor, to the dead Secret Service member. You have to wonder if this storyline was already in Sorkin’s mind when he ...

Joel:  This is the second episode for Matthew Perry, but really the first one where he gets a lot of story time, so it’s a better episode to discuss the introduction of this character. I think that the previous episode was the first time someone on the show acknowledged that Ainsley has left the show. I mean, there hasn’t been any mention of her for a while now, so it’s not exactly a big shocker, but still, it’s just another example of The West Wing’s inability to give a character a graceful exit. Matthew Perry is brought in as Joe Quency to replace Ainsley, and like her, he just happens to be a republican as well. (Also, interesting note, way back in the first season, when everyone goes to LA, Donna tries to have a conversation with Matthew Perry. Now all these years later, in finally gets to happen.) They start Joe off with a really big story, with is uncovering the Vice President Scandal. I’m usually not a big fan of episodes where the big shocker happens right at the b...