or do I feel the same? I'm not sure what to make of this week's West Wing . Amy is back--and she and Josh are apparently "rekindling" their romance next week. I know there are Mary-Louise Parker fans out there, and I have to say, she looked better tonight than at any point in last season. But she's an extra piece of baggage on a show that's getting heavier by the minute--characters get two lines an episode and hardly any screen time as it is. Now they've added a snotty Harvard intern, Angela (the pollster in the parking garage, in a scene right out of All The President's Men ), and a whole slew of First Family characters. Let's face up to an inevitable truth: this show has three seasons left at best. Bartlet's presidency will end, and the show will end as well. Character arcs have to be resolved, and piling on more and more people isn't the solution.
Fitz is leaving, however, and it appears that Secretary of State Berryhill (William Devane) will be nominated as VP and fail (which we can guess will happen because Gary Cole--yes, the boss from Office Space --is slated to take over the VP role). They're clearing some of the decks. I just don't see how Will Bailey, Toby, Josh, Donna, Amy, Leo, Jed, Abbey, Charlie, Zoey, CJ, Margaret, Carol, Danny (where the hell is Danny?), Nancy (and where was she tonight?) and the other members of the cast of thousands can get enough screen time to warrant retaining them all if Wells insists on adding more people.
Also, didn't it feel like some of the dialogue in this episode was forced? The exchange where Fitz asks Leo if they've found a replacement felt shoehorned into the action, and Walken walking out of the Oval Office was a moment that felt botched.
Nevertheless, I think this episode was more tolerable than the last one, barely. They should slip Sorkin a bag of 'shrooms and remind him that he made this show great, and beg him to polish their dialogue before they film. That and some clunky camera angle choices are making for mediocrity.
Oddly enough, Bravo's episode tonight was the one where Bartlet gives Charlie the family knife made by Paul Revere--and by implication makes him one of the family. Didn't he seem like a family member tonight, and wasn't his speechless performance the best one of the episode? I hope the whole kidnapping, however pathetically handled by the show's new masters, means that Charlie and Zoey will stick together from now on.
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