Review of 18th and Potomac


Written by Toniann

  • As you all know, I'm easily amused: for some reason, the choice of "Sagittarius" as the Official MS Codeword struck me funny. It just seemed so... zodiacal.

  • Kenny's back! While we're on the subject, though, I thought it was somewhat ludicrous for the president to be questioning whether it's okay to talk about these matters in front of Kenny. Mr. President, the cat is pretty nearly out of the bag in any case, isn't it? But I liked how Joey stood up for him.

  • CJ: "We just lost Florida". Well, that's an oft-heard line these days.

  • OT comment of the week: that commercial with the "Hudson Riverdance" cracks me up. As always, I can't remember what it's a commercial for, of course. The museum I work in has a Scottish Festival every August, and our highland games feature a host of brawny types who look pretty much like those guys.

  • So, what's the deal with Fitzwallace? Somebody's going to brief him later? Where the heck is the guy? I miss John Amos, he was great in that part. Either get him back or unfortunately replace him; it doesn't make sense for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to be absent so often.

  • Speaking of military matters, though, I confess I got a little confused as to what exactly happened with Haiti, especially during the scenes in the Situation Room with the National Security Advisor (great to see Anna Devere Smith again, though). I'm not completely unintelligent; I was just focusing more on the MS storyline and busy taking notes, and lost track. Anyone care to explain it in layman's terms?

  • Did you notice that in the last press conference, CJ said that the USS Enterprise had been dispatched? Okay, I've always known that there's an actual real ship named that, but... like I said, easily amused. Klingons on the starboard bow, indeed.

  • That was a cutesy little bit about not scheduling the conference on Thursday because it's May sweeps, and Thursday is their bread and butter... nothing doing, guys, but NBC at least isn't doing so bad on Wednesdays either.

  • Is it just me, or do CJ and Sam seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum on handling this issue? Two scenes in a row they were pretty much diametrically opposed as to how to proceed.

  • Another thing I noticed in this episode is how often Bartlet turns to Leo for advice, and how he almost always takes it. In fact, that's pretty much generally the case, isn't it? Can anyone think of an instance when Bartlet hasn't followed Leo's advice?

  • I'm sure someone out there will find something to criticize Donna for in this episode, but I'm with Toby: she took it great. She was incredibly professional, calm, and set aside her personal reaction (aside from asking about the president's health) in order to get back to work. However, I am still curious as to why Donna was the first on the assistant level to be told. Maybe Toby was doing it for Josh's sake, because he knew Josh needed support but was dreading having to tell her? I'd like to think so. That's my Toby. (okay, Amy, it's just a figure of speech!)

  • Though it seems trivial considering everything else that happened in this episode, I was in fact touched by the Josh/Donna interaction in this episode. I'm not J/D shipper, but even I was moved by the way he asked her if she was alright. His cornering Toby on why he took it upon himself to tell Donna struck me as well-- I didn't expect him to make a big deal out of it, though considering how important Donna is to him (in one way or another), it doesn't entirely surprise me. So, as for the 'Ship-O-Meter, I'm giving them a 5 for this week, because whatever it was, I liked how they handled it.

  • Stockard Channing's scene with Oliver Pratt basically blew me away. I liked what she said about going from Dr. Bartlet to Mrs. Bartlet so much, I wish she'd said even more. And addressing the prescription issue, that was just another instance showing how great this show is when it comes to continuity and tying up loose ends.

  • Some of us learned that Mrs. Landingham was going to die in a car accident in this episode a few weeks ago. Knowing that made all of her scenes tonight with Charlie and with Bartlet bittersweet. She was a great character (I think we heard her first name, Delores, for the first time tonight) and I, for one, am going to miss her.

  • Scenes for next week: well, the finale certainly looks exciting. The title of next week's episode is "Two Cathedrals", which I'm guessing refers to Mrs. Landingham's funeral and the other, a more political cathedral-- possibly the press, or the White House itself. It doesn't have quite the impact of "Who's been hit?", but I for one am definitely looking forward to it.


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