Review of He Shall, From Time to Time...

Written by Toniann

review written in Feb. 2002

  • They have a pretty neat closed-circuit television thing going on in the West Wing.

  • You know, all joking aside, that teleprompter needs some serious help. They're almost as bad as the closed captioning on my TV. Not that I really mean to knock closed captioning. Sometimes, especially while viewing something live, I'm just impressed they get any of the words down at all.

  • So the president collapses in the Oval Office, and the Secret Service is there within seconds ("Liberty is down!"). I'm writing this in 2002, and I'm wondering why when George W. Bush choked on a pretzel and knocked himself out, he had to actually go and find help.

  • You know, not to be high-schoolish, but CJ was right, actually -- Mandy was flirting with Danny. I would have had the same reaction.

  • I love how Leo's drug and alcohol history is "on the Internet right now". Where? Ain't It Cool News?

  • This was a good episode for showcasing relationships, I thought. Abbey and the president, certainly. CJ and Danny. Sam and Mallory. Even Donna and Josh had more banter than usual. Do I sense a theme?

  • So this is the episode where we learned about MS; I had forgotten. Little did we know how it would end up dominating the show for quite some time, huh?

  • The scene where Abbey sweeps into the room, goes over the president's charts, then gives him a shot and urges him to let it work and go to sleep -- right after that there's a shot of her sitting slumped in a chair next to the bed, looking forlorn. Very powerful moment.

  • I don't blame Sam and the rest of the staff for wanting to back Leo up, and though I know what Leo's saying about "going down alone", I think they were doing the right thing. His going down, in my opinion, would sink the Bartlet ship, no matter what.

  • I'm dying to know what soap opera Charlie and the president were watching. I couldn't tell, though I'm guessing it was an NBC show. There really isn't anything else on in the afternoons.

  • This episode, like so many others, lets us see Idealistic Toby, which I always enjoy. I think there's something wonderful about a character, a man, who has seen so much of the seedy underbelly of politics, who knows so well how it all works, and yet he remains in the fight for good. Sometimes I think he's the most noble character on the show.

  • It's too bad that Mallory and Sam never went anywhere as a couple, you know? I liked her, and the whole dynamic of Sam dating the boss' daughter was funny.

  • But at least Mallory's spontaneous gesture gave CJ the idea for the "grabbing and kissing" thing with Danny. That was fun, if bittersweet now.

  • Lastly, this episode ends with one of my very favorites from the entire series: Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribby being put in the Oval Office while the rest of the line of succession is attending the State of the Union. I loved Bartlet's advice to him, and Leo overhearing the kind words about his "best friend". And I just really enjoyed that last shot of Secretary Tribby standing alone in the Oval Office, thinking of the president's departing words about what phenomenal heights we can all achieve. Indeed.

    "Be careful of the fish."

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