Review of The Women of Qumar
Written by Toniann
Did anyone else watch the lighting of the tree in Rockefeller Center before the show started? I am flooded with holiday spirit now. Seriously, I didn't care much for the program as a whole, but the actual tree-lighting was nice.
So all of the "Previously on The West Wing" scenes were Donna and Josh oriented. I thought for sure that we were going to see Joey Lucas again, finally. Instead we got Amy Gardner, who calls him "J" and dropped a water balloon on his head. Sigh. She was smart, she was witty, she has a cool job I can get behind, and she certainly had Josh's number. So why didn't I like her?
Actually, maybe that's it. Donna gets a boyfriend this year and it's a smarmy lawyer for the other side who threatened to use his ill-gotten knowledge of her diary against her, then disappeared. Josh gets a potential girlfriend who's hip and intelligent. Not fair.
See, this is what I'm talking about. When someone rattled off the details of the Qumar deal and that laundry list of weapons we're selling them, he asked if someone could send a memo. That's what I need, a copy of that memo. I can't remember all those details either, and I just don't write that fast.
Okay, is it just me, or did anyone else have a little deja vu over the whole legalizing prostitution conversation that happened several times in this episode? Did we not just have a spirited debate on this very subject right here on the ng? Okay, who's the spy?
I do want to point out, Amy Gardner aside, that Josh and Donna had some great banter in this episode. That should put the residual tension over Diary Boy to rest. I mean, Donna was downright witty -- "I'll be back on my street corner." Snicker.
I never knew there was such rivalry between the Rotarians and the Elks. Somebody better cool those guys off.
Once again, I have to comment on the terrific scenes with Charlie and Bartlet. These two just get better and better, playing off of each other. And more and more I feel like Bartlet truly does look on Charlie as his son, pushing and prodding and supporting him -- much unlike his own father did for him. It's quite a relationship those two characters are developing, and a pleasure to watch.
Saving the best for last (or nearly): this was one of those powerhouse CJ episodes I'm always glad to see because it gives Allison Janney the opportunity to really show her stuff. I was proud of CJ for sticking to her guns, making her argument for giving the public some information on the possible Mad Cow problem so eloquently, standing up to Toby, not being afraid to make her point regarding the women of Qumar even when her arguments were less than pretty. Agree or disagree, she had conviction, and integrity, and that's something I, for one, always like to see.
And then finally, this was an interesting episode for CJ and Toby, I thought. It's so rare that we see them at odds, and so angry... I still sensed their closeness (which is something that's been handled very subtly, and very nicely, by the writers and the actors), but there was no doubt, standing in the Oval Office, that they were furious with each other. And yet at the end, CJ did what had to be done and Toby stood there in the briefing room for her... I think he put his hands over his heart (I'll have to watch again) in some sort of gesture... in any case, the rift mended. It was, when all is said and done, a wonderful portrayal of real friendship, and real teamwork.
"You know nothing about the Visigoths!"
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