Spoilers For West Wing Finale
At 10:33 PM 5/16/01 -0700 Jeffrey Miller wrote:
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>Apparently we did... its -still- in the air (although I'm pretty certain
>I know where it's going to go..)
AAAAAaaaaaarrrrrgh!!!!!!!! I can't believe they did that. *THAT* has to
rate as one of the all-time worst endings in television. I mean, I
understand that season finales are supposed to be "cliffhangers", so as to
ensure that we come back and watch in the Fall after our vacations, but
this has to be the absolutely worst-produced cliff-hanger ever.
First off, though, this would otherwise have been a great episode, were it
not for the ending. I loved the flashbacks with the young Mrs. Laningham.
(Any idea who the actress was, anybody? I taped it, and she didn't even
make the closing credits!
So, all week, we are treated to promos for the episode that promise a
resolution to the question of whether President Bartlett is running again.
In particular, we hear Leo saying "Listen to This." Then, we get to the
end of the episode, Leo says "Listen to This", and instead we get 30
seconds of President Bartlett staring blankly into the audience before the
season ends.
Let's face it, we have all known all along that President Bartlett was
going to run again. If we didn't know, then then opening scene of this
week's episode confirmed it. Leo implied to Toby that if Barltett doesn't
run again, they are all out of a job. Given that this is a
character-driven show, and a show sitting atop the weekly ratings, nobody
was about to conduct a complete cast overhaul. This show is obviously
going to be continued next season, and that means that Bartlett is running
again.
What's more, is that by the end of this episode, the decision was obvious.
This whole episode was about Bartlett facing up to the challenge of
running again, and in so doing, atoning for the fact that he did not face
up to his father when he was in school. If Bartlett weren't going to
change his mind, then this whole episode didn't have a point.
So, known that the writers have made abundantly clear what the decision is,
and why the decision is, all that is left to hear is how the decision made
- which makes the season-ending non-cliffhanger all the more ridiculous.
JDG
P.S. I did discover, however, that I was right. Many scenes from the most
recent episodes were filmed "on location" in Washington, DC.
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"The point of living in a Republic after all, is that we do not live by
majority rule. We live by laws and a variety of institutions designed
to check each other." -Andrew Sullivan 01/29/01
