The Great West Wing Rewatch: 1.4 Five Votes Down
Joel: The West Wing should be a very boring show. It’s about the most boring aspect of politics. It’s just about the talking. And somehow it’s not. This episode is the first, real prime example of that. There’s a vote taking place about gun control and our heroes learn they they are five votes short of what they thought they had. This should lead to some very boring scenes but instead it leads to scenes of people sitting around a table that are more tense than most action thrillers. The West Wing does this time and time again. John Spencer also needs to be specifically mentioned when talking about this episode (Spencer was actually nominated for an Emmy for this episode.) Most of the show takes place in the West Wing itself, so very little of the show spends time on the families of the people who work there. The moment where Leo gets home to find his wife is leaving him is one of the most heart wrenching scenes to date and Spencer does the scene masterfully. Leo, in the scen...