Review of The California 47th

Written by Toniann

Tell me something: is it spelled Khundu or Kundu? The closed captioning says the latter, but everyone here is using Khundu. I don't trust closed captioning, so I suspect you all are right.

Ah, Fitz, you old polecat. I was glad to see him back for this episode; he belonged there. Often times I feel I have to suspend disbelief regarding a character's absence because the actor is not available, and it gets to be a little annoying. I was thinking that Fitz would absolutely be in this episode, considering what was going on, and there John Amos was. Good.

Speaking of characters popping up again, I was pleased to see Mrs. Hottentot -- I mean, Debbie Fiderer again. And I heartily concur with her description of the president's "Noel Cowardesque wit".

I concur with Toby: French bashing aside (and really, we've been making fun of the French for decades, not just in recent events), I don't like that Jean Paul kid. I also think his taunting of Charlie led to our boy not exactly keeping his temper later on -- "She doesn't maind having her picture taken with me"? The more I thought about that, the lower a blow that was. That, and Zoey feeling the need to make out with her current boyfriend right in front of him. Not for nothing, but come on. Methinks Zoey is pushing the envelope there a little bit too. Perhaps for effect?

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, that the Rice Krispie treats were not more effective. I have to concur that I thought the entire speechwriting staff quitting to protest the hiring of Will Bailey stretched the imagination a little. I mean, sure, I see their point -- and I think their resentment is realistic. But to give up their jobs at the White House for it? Well, that's shooting yourself in the foot and cutting off your nose to spite your face all rolled into one. As Leo said, it was rather small of them. However, I thought it was incredibly small of Leo to then, essentially, blame Will for Khundu. Come on. Even if he is the one who convinced the president to send troops in (and I think Laurel & Hardy actually get the official credit for that one), what, Leo really thinks they shouldn't have done it? Satellite photos of 20,000 people to be massacred don't speak for themselves?

Obviously Scott Holcomb, Sam's campaign manager, was going to be a jerk -- he was the awful fiancé from "The Wedding Singer".

Come to think of it, this was the episode to touch on any number of secondary characters -- like Andy. I don't know what Toby's thinking when he refers to her as a minivan, but the guy has charm, what can I say? And in other news, well, right or wrong, nobody deserves to get cornered and talked to the way she was. And lest we had any thoughts that Mr. Drunk Judgmental Guy had a point, then his wife (?) made the little snide comment about Charlie, so we just knew they were bad people. Well, it was a tough situation. I guess the only way they could have gotten out of it was just to ignore the guy in the first place.

After all these years I have to admit that, like the president, I still can't keep Ed and Larry straight either.

I wish I could remember what Josh got extra credit for, for being funny and right at the same time. I think people should get extra credit for that, actually, in general. It's not easy to do.

Thank goodness Will has that crack team of professionals working for him for the next week or so! Actually, I thought the London School of Ballet one (well, not really) showed some promise. She's got a sense of humor, at least.

As soon as Donna sat down with Ivan Perez (and promptly had her picture taken, which I thought she was a little naive about), I knew something was going to be wrong. Sam was right to fire that guy, then; I mean, even aside from the fact that the whole thing had been orchestrated by Perez (and that Communists look just like non- Communists), she was just there following Josh's orders.

Rather ironic of Bartlet to tell Josh and Sam to keep their voices down offstage -- this from the guy who just shouted about "poncy little hairdressers" to the world. And what does "poncy" mean, anyhow?

"Uh uh. I saw him first, girls."

Back to episode info