Review of The Short List
Written by Toniann
review written in Feb. 2002
What I like best about this episode, overall, is just that it tells a great story: from the retirement of Justice Crouch to the choosing of Harrison to the discovery that he isn't the one they want, and then the selection of Mendoza: it's just interesting, bottom line.
There was something fun about the celebration going on at the beginning, doomed though it was. "We the men" and all that. And it's always amusing to see Josh and Sam act like a couple of guys in the chess club, celebrating winning a big tournament. I say that because there is, oddly enough, an element of geekdom to those two. An endearing element, but it is there.
I cannot deny that Josh is right: Peyton Cabot Harrison III just sounds like a guy who was born to be on the Supreme Court. Then again, as Donna points out rather accurately, are we really celebrating the fact that we're putting a waspy old man on the bench?
But as an aside, Donna fears Josh getting disappointed because he'll end up showing up at her apartment drunk and yell at her roommate's cat? First of all, Donna has a roommate? Since when? And has Josh done this often enough to warrant mention? Hack, even once is kind of... funky, for your boss to do, don't you think? I'm just saying.
Consistency, thou art a jewel. From where I write in mid third season, this whole issue of Bartlet moving to the middle in order to garner votes and approval is a big one. And here, back in season one, he's perilously close to doing just that, and a retiring justice, Joseph Crouch, calls him on it. "I wanted a Democrat, but instead I got you." Strong words, but the man had a point.
Talk about a neat little trap that was, that Lillienfield set about one in three staffers using drugs. There was really no way out of it; the press was bound to ask CJ about it, and she couldn't just say they were ignoring it, so they had to say they were looking into it... and then they really had to look into it. Actually, this makes me wonder if there wasn't some way they could just ignore it. Take a small hit for that instead of what turned out to be a very big hit once Josh had investigated, however informally.
So Sam gets an anonymous tip that Harrison was the author of that "Unsigned Note". Who? I mean, who on earth would've tipped Sam on that? An embittered old law school buddy or something?
Just a weird thing: when the president asked when Harrison was going to be getting in, Leo answered "late tonight". But the closed-captioning said "tomorrow morning".
That was a nice scene where Josh went to Danny for advice. But like Danny said, I think Josh tricked him into getting CJ a live fish instead of crackers. But in the end, we're all fond of Gail, after all.
I think it's kind of funny that Mandy had to make up fake letterhead for the President's Commission on Hispanic Opportunities, in order to have an excuse to bring Mendoza to the White House.
On the other hand, I thought her bitching to Josh about how Mendoza would make a great judge but a lousy nominee (much worse than Harrison) was pathetic. Afraid of your job not being easy, Mandy?
Speaking of Mendoza, I thought he was a terrific character, especially in the later episode, "Celestial Navigation", one of my all-time favorites. And furthermore, the final scene where the president offers him the nomination and he accepts was downright moving. A fitting end to a good and compelling story.
"Are we done with Masterpiece Theatre?"
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