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The West Wing, Season Seven

A fond farewell to a great show - even if what happens after a US presidential election can be... not great.

Abbey (Stockard Channing) and Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) at the funeral for their old friend, Leo McGarry (played by John Spencer) - from The West Wing, Season Seven
 

So... this is a little late - illness, having to go into the office for my actual job and trying to buy a flat for the first time have proven a little more distracting and time-consuming than I would've liked.

 

Reminder for reviews: I'm only really going to talk about what stood out to me, so anything I don't bring up is most likely just fine.


If an issue isn't bad enough to detract from the experience, then that's a good thing - just like something not standing out as being noteworthy doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing.


It's perfectly fine for a thing to serve its purpose and nothing more.

 

MOVIES

- No new movies watched recently, although I have re-watched John Carpenter's The Thing again recently and have only just realised I haven't written about it.


- I may do that in the future, but the next movie I write about will most likely be Deadpool & Wolverine.


GAMES

- No new games started yet thanks to how busy actually serious adult stuff has proven to be.


- That said, I got my latest Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough to the start of Act 3 and promptly deleted it.


- In its place, I've started yet another playthrough instead, although I won't finish this one either; I just want to see what it's like going fully evil in the first act.


TV

- Season summary: The seventh and final season principally follows Santos and Vinick on the campaign trail, while also addressing the aftermath of the space shuttle leak investigation. The Bartlet administration's last year in office is featured, but not prominently. (Wikipedia)


- And so the long journey back through The West Wing has reached its end with the final, seventh season.


- I'd like to say that the show went out with a bang, but that wouldn't strictly be too, thanks to some odd pacing.


- For most of the season, episodes feel like they're bursting at the seams and trying to fit in more than they should as the show tries to cover as much as it can.


- It's strange then that the last few episodes feel somewhat... empty.


- It may have something to do with the death of John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry, and episodes having to be re-written to account for his sadly unplanned absence.


- I tell you, watching the scenes with Leo's funeral is really damn hard when you know it's most likely that the cast weren't acting at all when it comes to their reactions.


- I do also get that the audience (including myself) would want to spend some last amount of time with the other characters we've gotten to know, but I would've liked things to have been a little more purposeful.


- Narratively, it does make sense as the US government transitions from the Bartlet administration to that of the new President, but it felt a little anticlimactic from a dramatic perspective.


- It's not as if the show ends badly though, as the built-up emotion and sentiment are more than enough to carry it over the line, but I just wish the show could've gone out in a real blaze of glory.


- It was also a little weird seeing Rob Lowe and Emily Procter return as Sam Seaborn and Ainsley Hayes respectively, having not only left the show but barely been mentioned, if at all, since their departures.


- Contrasting their re-appearances with Richard Schiff barely being featured as Toby, and the season does feel a little like it's struggling with what it wants to be and do as the end approaches.


- It is a solid season overall, and the election race between Alan Alda's Vinick and Jimmy Smit's Santos is fantastic viewing, so there's plenty to keep the audience entertained.


- The West Wing's seventh season isn't its best, or even close to it, but is still a pretty good send-off for what was a wonderful TV show. [8/10]

 

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