Review of Ellie
Written by Toniann
To start off with something completely random: I can't honestly even
say that "Deep Impact" was one of my favorite movies, but every time
they said "Ellie" I kept thinking of the whole "E.L.E" homonym thing.
Head's up for new viewers: if you want to know what the infamous Danny
Concannon (sp?) looks like, I hope you caught the "Previously..."
scenes. Talk about phoning in a performance.
Okay, I snickered when Josh said something to Donna about being "out
of here by nine PM on a Wednesday". I'm easily amused, obviously. I
mean, I also chuckled at that ad for... come to think of it, I don't
know what the ad was for, but right before the end of the show, the
thing with the "Shred-A-Salad" thingees firing away.
If a plane carrying the President leaves Tokyo at midnight going
however many thousand miles per hour, and another plane carrying the
Queen of Sheba leaves Timbuktu at the same time... Now that was a great
bit there-- I agree with Josh, the president traveling back in time is
kind of cool.
Speaking of great bits, Sam coming around the corner to find Toby
wearing that hat and bouncing that rubber ball thing... that was a nice
moment. I love that they have this little communication code, where Sam
knows Toby wants to say something to him when a rubber ball careens
against the wall repeatedly. It's also fun to see Wired!Toby. (to borrow
an X-Files name thing)
Don't you just love Mary Kay Place? Every time she turns up guest
starring somewhere or other, I always think, why don't we see more of
this woman, on a regular basis? Remember when she was on "My So-Called
Life"? That is, if you remember "My So-Called Life" at all. You should,
it was a great show.
"The Prince of New York", huh? All I kept thinking was, "I hope this
doesn't get made into a big deal that's all Charlie's fault." Which it
wasn't, really.
That subplot played out rather well, I thought. But before I forget,
one thing puzzled me: Sam confronting Morgan Ross and telling him to
never call the president a coward again, or he wouldn't just have to
deal with CJ, he'd have Sam to deal with. Sam is scarier than CJ? I
might be willing to debate that. I mean, she's the Enforcer. Not to
mention the Jackal.
Cause frankly, I thought CJ was Cool As A Cucumber this episode. I
love her when she's all sure of herself and tough, she was definitely
the bomb this week. Then again, I love her when she's unsure and all
over the place and insecure, too. Basically I just want to be her when I
grow up, you know?
- So now we can name the three Bartlet daughters, in order: Elizabeth
(Liz) is the oldest and the one with kids, then Ellie (who is in med
school at John Hopkins), then Zoey. Notice how everyone kept jumping to
the conclusion that it was Zoey who'd talked to the press? And so, what,
Ellie and Charlie have never met before, though he's dating her sister
and for quite awhile now? That seems odd.
Sorry, I can't resist: around here it's fairly common to see some
folks complain about Donna being just another ditzy blonde. Well,
tonight she made a very good point about how in a free society you don't
have to come up with a reason to make something legal, you need a reason
to make it illegal. Yay, Donna! Yay, free society! Yay, marijua-- never
mind.
And speaking of Donna: I've decided to test-run a weekly Josh-Donna
'Ship-O-Meter. Love it, hate it, it's actually completely immaterial to
me, I'm doing it anyhow . Anyhow, as you all know, I'm firmly on the
fence as to whether this pairing is such a good idea or not.
Nevertheless, imho as of last week's episode it's out there as a
possibility, just begging to be commented on. So, on a scale of one to
ten on the 'Ship-O-Meter (1 being "were they even in this ep?" and 10
being "didn't you just love Donna's wedding dress?"), I give this
episode a mere 3. There was banter between them but nothing out of the
ordinary, and the only scene I personally could read anything into was
the bit where they're whispering to each other at the movie-- though
what they're whispering about is lacking even a hint of romance. On the
other hand, though, what are they doing at the movie together, anyhow?
While we're keeping track of things... first it was Dodge Durango
owners, then it was North Dakota. Now Toby callously abandons whitefish.
The cad.
But, you know, it was nice to see Andy again. What great scenes
between her and Toby, it opens up this whole other facet to his
personality that is... pretty much like the rest of his personality. I
liked when he ordered her to put the danish down. And she brought him
pie!
And finally... well, knock me over with a feather, I didn't see the
whole thing about Millicent Griffith being Ellie's godmother coming. I
*had* guessed that in the end Bartlet wouldn't fire her or force her to
resign, but the penultimate scene where he asks her if she put her
goddaughter up to calling the press genuinely took me by surprise.
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