"The West Wing," Years One and Two

Minor spoilers ahead.

I'm forty-odd episodes into "The West Wing," and it's time I took a pause to evaluate where the series is and my own reactions to it so far.

First things first. Oh good grief, I listed Mandy in my original "West Wing" post as one of the show's better female characters, didn't I? Well, I still think that she had the potential to be a much better character than she was, but Aaron Sorkin clearly didn't have any idea of what to do with her, Ditto lawyer Ainsley Hayes (Emily Procter), who was brought in during the second season to be a Republican counterpoint to the Democratic West Wing regulars, and serve as a way for Sorkin to address some criticisms of the show. I really liked her, and I thought her character was handled beautifully. Alas, Sorkin couldn't figure out how to keep her in the picture. I mean, strategist Joey Lucas (Marlee Matlin) is fine as Josh's love interest, but she's not remotely as interesting as Ainsley. First Lady Abbey Bartlett (Stockard Channing), at least, has gotten more screen time as the series has gone on.

CJ remains my favorite character in the show, and I love it every time the press room erupts with the reporters shouting her name. Donna Moss (Janel Maloney) is kind of growing on me, but she's such a nonentity - really just there to be a Girl Friday sparring partner for Josh. And let's not kid ourselves here. 90% of the time, the focus of "The West Wing" is on the men - on Josh, Toby, Leo, Sam, and more and more on President Bartlett. The entire back half of the second season is about Bartlett grappling with the legal, political, and moral implications of hiding his health problems. Sorkin is very good at showing how the situation keeps snowballing, week after week. One of the most famous episodes of "The West Wing" is the second season finale, "Two Cathedrals," which features a showstopper of a monologue for Martin Sheen.

My favorite installments, however, are the more lighthearted ones. "Celestial Navigation" is a standout for being one of the most purely comedic, with Sam and Toby getting lost in Connecticut, CJ's dental mishap, and Josh accidentally creating the President's secret plan to fight inflation. Or there are the Christmas episodes, where the White House decor gets all tinseled up, and the regulars get a little mushy. The big stunt ending of the first season was fun, but also a good reminder that "The West Wing" was a '90s network television series, and very beholden to all of the usual conventions and limitations that came with the territory. The seasons always had to end with some big, sensational cliffhanger, and what could be more sensational than an assassination attempt? And it was fun to see the show become a political thriller for two episodes, but I was very relieved when everyone quickly got back to business as usual.

And business as usual is one of the chief joys of "The West Wing." It's the banter and the sentimentality that the show falls back on again and again, and the willingness of the core cast of characters to fight for one another and be a little cheesy about it. The show may be glum and dispiriting at times, but it avoids being cynical about politics. Sure, the pendulum sometimes swings too far in the other direction, making our heroes seem naively optimistic, but that kind of optimism is nice to see again, post 2016. Even though the focus of the series has quietly shifted toward political fights as the show's re-election storyline has ramped up, everyone still behaves, and nobody is infallible.

Some of the show's charms still elude me. I have no idea why the curmudgeonly Toby is so beloved, or what's going on in the minds of the shippers who want to pair up Josh and Donna. Mrs. Landingham's departure was very traumatic for some fans, and is one of few plot points I recall from when the show was originally airing. The event left me unmoved. However, I think it's safe to call myself a fan at this point. "The West Wing" isn't a show that I'm going out of my way to watch, now that I've gotten through the most famous seasons, but I still find myself putting on an episode when I have a little time. It's proven consistently strong and dependably entertaining in a way that few shows of its kind are.

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