West Wing: Season Five

When I watch two or three seasons of a television series, I need to keep watching until the bitter end. I was one of those people who watched the X-Files limp over the finish line and managed to make it through the final moments of That 70’s Show. Both of these shows lost their lead character (Mulder and Eric) but the network kept trucking without them with less-than satisfying results. Watching West Wing’s fifth season, I felt the same thing happening; their lead character was MIA in season five. No, not President Bartlett, but Aaron Sorkin’s writing. You can really see Sorkin’s absence as the fifth season stumbles along. It seemed like show-runner John Wells was trying to make West Wing more like his floundering ER.

What I hated most about season five was all the yelling. Wells decided to make things more ‘dramatic’ by having all the relationships fall apart. The biggest travesty was the ‘promotion’ of Will Bailey out of the West Wing office. And while I sometimes enjoyed Toby’s bitterness, I missed seeing his passionate sparring with Josh Malina’s Will. While I didn’t mind seeing Josh in the doghouse, he was getting a little too pathetic as the season wore on. When it came to the Christmas episode, it was abundantly clear that Sorkin writes great Christmas episodes (First Season's Toby at the funeral, Second Season's Josh therapy session, last week’s fantastic Studio 60 Xmas show) and Wells does not. Who cares about Jed and the lighting of the Christmas tree or the son-in-law wanting to run for office? Boring. And finally, the war stuff kept me confused like I thought it would when I first starting watching the series. I’m hoping the last two seasons lighten up a bit.

Okay, so there were a couple great episodes found in season five, so not all was bad. I enjoyed the kidnapped Zoey storyline with John Goodman as the temporary prez, but that should be credited to Aaron Sorkin who started the story in season four. I liked the token all-CJ episode with its documentary-style format. Probably my favourite moment in season five was the redemption of Josh by convincing Bartlett to walk down the road to the capital building to meet with the slimy Speaker of the House, played brilliantly by Steven Culp. It reminded me again of the ‘Let Bartlett Be Bartlett’ motto that got me hooked on the show in the first place.

So now it’s onto season six with the arrival of Alda and Smits. I heard some good things about season seven , so I’ll continue to trudge through these bleak seasons and hope for a light at the end of the tunnel. It ain’t over till it’s over.