On Writing and the West Wing

It's traditional to slam the West Wing since Aaron Sorkin left it. In all fairness, the show had a gimmicky premise saved by excellent writing and an incredible cast. It was always going to be harder and harder to keep the story going. But that doesn't excuse the rookie mistakes the writers have been making lately.

Oh and if you haven't seen the first two episodes of this season or the last two of last season and don't want to be spoiled, read no further.

The current storyline involves Americans in Palestine being hit by a terrorist attack (specifically they bomb one of the cars) which kills two senators and recurring character Admiral Fitzwallace. President Bartlet and his Chief of Staff Leo McGarry are at odds over how to respond. Leo wants a swift military reaction, President Bartlett doesn't, and in fact moves the White House to organize a summit between Israel and Palestine. Throughout all of this Leo and the President butt heads over how this response is foolishly tilting at windmills. It climaxes when Leo McGarry threatens to resign, and the President accepts his resignation. Then McGarry goes into the woods to have a heart attack.

The problem is that there is no context for these scenes unless you have been watching the show since at least the last four or five episodes of Season 3. As it stands, we are seeing the President express one point of view unconvincingly, and Leo express the other unconvincingly. It would be stronger if they referenced earlier episodes to show the human concerns involved.

At the end of Season Three, Leo recommended and practically forced the President to assassinate a terrorist leader named Shareef. That assassination was eventually revealed to the American people, and was a source of some embarrassment to the Administration. It may also have lead to the kidnapping of Zoe Bartlett the Presidents Daughter. The President naturally trusts Leo's advice a little less than he did before. But other than one scene with the First Lady and Leo (which was quickly forgotten about) and Leo suggesting that he's gunshy because of his daughter. Anyway I'm just saying, these episodes would be better if they reminded us of the human element, instead of just having Leo and the President act seemingly irrationally.

Of course since the arguments are over the Israel-Palestine conflict, it's not like anybody is going to notice a few irrational arguments. I do think it interesting that they choose to portray the entire rest of the White House as 100% on the Israeli side of the equation. The President, The First Lady and a State Department Aid (recently introduced) on one side, and everybody else on the other. Not very balanced. Still the Palestinians aren't portrayed as leering monsters so I guess that's one step up.