On "Big Block of Cheese" Day, Sam gets convinced to pursue a pardon for an accused, deceased spy from the 50s, whose granddaughter (Jolie Jenkins) is a friend of Donna's. He gets emotionally involved, and in his only Situation Room appearance, Nancy coldly sets him straight. Toby shares some lovely spark with an officer (Roma Maffia - NIP/TUCK) assigned to protect him as he talks to ineffectual, misguided protesters. The debut of the understatedly spot-on Clark Gregg (THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, THE AVENGERS) as Special Agent Michael Casper. The show has the season-2 success to spend money on Don Henley's "New York Minute", and the atmospheric darkness of the song lends great poignancy. And ringing the bells most loudly, is C.J.'s meeting with the Association of Cartographers Against Social Inequality. She learns that current maps have been teaching a false, racist view of the world for centuries. The lead cartographer is wonderfully played by John Billingsley (ENTERPRISE). Somebody get me a Peters map, please.
The West Wing (TV Series)
Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail (2001)
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Woefully Weak West Wing
gizmomogwai20 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
It's Big Block of Cheese Day again at the West Wing- time for the White House staff to meet with interest groups usually ignored. The first such episode, season 1's The Crackpots and These Women, was a classic; it made us think about fringe issues, provided some humour in the process, and made one feel good about government. This sequel episode pales in comparison. Thankfully, it's rare at this point of the series to have a weak West Wing episode.
One of my major gripes about this episode is where Donna explains the purpose of this day to a visiting woman, who replies that it sounds amazing. Donna agrees. This is much too self-congratulatory. Please let others decide for themselves when the show is amazing. This unnecessary exchange is the equivalent of banging one's fist on the table and yelling "Give us our Emmy now, damn it!" And it looks worse considering that Cheese Day this time around is a let down. What was Josh's assignment, exactly? Josh just sits in on CJ's, which admittedly was interesting. It's about the inaccuracy of the flat map, which I learnt about in grade 11. Meanwhile, Toby tries to address the anti-globalization movement, but nothing productive comes out of it. They won't listen- they're portrayed as an unreasonable crowd- and he puts down the movement. No one gets to refute Toby's insults. Not exactly a balanced representation.
The rest of the episode deals with Sam in a bad place, and he tries to get a pardon for an accused spy from the Cold War. A song is played, trying to make us feel emotion for Sam, not quite successfully. A lyric from that song gives us the title for the episode, a title which doesn't actually describe anything in the plot. It is interesting this person turned out to be a spy. But usually one should expect more from The West Wing than this.
One of my major gripes about this episode is where Donna explains the purpose of this day to a visiting woman, who replies that it sounds amazing. Donna agrees. This is much too self-congratulatory. Please let others decide for themselves when the show is amazing. This unnecessary exchange is the equivalent of banging one's fist on the table and yelling "Give us our Emmy now, damn it!" And it looks worse considering that Cheese Day this time around is a let down. What was Josh's assignment, exactly? Josh just sits in on CJ's, which admittedly was interesting. It's about the inaccuracy of the flat map, which I learnt about in grade 11. Meanwhile, Toby tries to address the anti-globalization movement, but nothing productive comes out of it. They won't listen- they're portrayed as an unreasonable crowd- and he puts down the movement. No one gets to refute Toby's insults. Not exactly a balanced representation.
The rest of the episode deals with Sam in a bad place, and he tries to get a pardon for an accused spy from the Cold War. A song is played, trying to make us feel emotion for Sam, not quite successfully. A lyric from that song gives us the title for the episode, a title which doesn't actually describe anything in the plot. It is interesting this person turned out to be a spy. But usually one should expect more from The West Wing than this.
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