fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3047 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3047 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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03.

[Suzanne from Orange is the New Black]

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04.

[Soul Caliber V]

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05.

(Rick and Morty)

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06.

[Love The Way You Lie - Eminem feat. Rihanna]

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07.

[Bones]

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09.

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10.

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11. [SPOILERS for Grimm]
[WARNING for rape]

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12. [WARNING for rape]

[Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby]

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13. [WARNING for incest/underage]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #435.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

can i ask why?

Really, it's not Two Cathedrals, so much as Mrs Landingham's death and the way it was handled specifically. And the problem is that at the end of season 2, the show was in this incredibly interesting but also dangerous territory in that the President was in the wrong, and more, he was consistently acting like a giant dick. He had done something that was legitimately, unambiguously wrong, and he was refusing to acknowledge that it was wrong or apologize for it even to his closest associates. And that's fantastic dramatic territory, and it was rife with potential, both for Bartlett and for all the senior staff. And that's especially true in the context of TWW as a show, which is positive about its characters and their basic righteousness to the point that it is, I think, one of the major flaws of the show.

What the death of Mrs Landingham did is that it immediately moved Bartlett out of the position of the sinner, and into the position of the victim. Without any contrition or apology or real resolution of the plot. He was, once again, the righteous warrior unjustly punished. While the scene where he rants at God is a fantastic dramatic scene, it's also a sign of the show running in terror away from a fascinating storyline back to the same tone and structure that would dominate the rest of the show basically unchanged. Where Jed and the rest of the White House staff are always right even when they fuck up.

It's a cheat, an almost complete refusal to actually resolve the plotline in a meaningful sense. Because the plot wasn't "should Bartlett run again for President", it was "Jesus Christ, Bartlett actually fucked up, what are we going to do about that". And the response was just an immediate reversion to "Nope, Bartlett is awesome." It's a great episode in terms of the monologues and the acting. But it was awful for the show as a whole.

AYRT: valid criticism of my favorite episode of my favorite show. Food for thought for sure.

nayrt

Uh...But all that WAS resolved later in season 3. He accepted the fact that he was wrong and told everyone to stop fighting the censure, because he deserved it.

I think that's a resolution of the storyline, but not of the actual tension. And I think you can tell because the staff is righteously fighting the censure, but he stops them on account of being magnanimous and great-souled.

The place where the tension is dealt with is in the drama around the aides and his wife, not with Bartlett, and even there, I think it's underplayed and they move on from it far too fast (although I'm getting foggy about the way that it's played in episodes 1 and 2 in season 3, in terms of how much of the staff drama is precisely about feeling betrayal about Bartlett). But in terms of dealing with it on Bartlett's part, I don't think it's ever really done satisfactorily.

IDK, I think the bit where CJ loses it and yells at him in Manchester was pretty much part of that same tension at the end of season 2.

agreed 100% that's when the show jumped the shark for me too

That's actually really interesting! I was always a bit bothered by the sort of meandering wishy-washy resolution of his wrongness in season 3 too.

I don't think this is a case of fans really misunderstanding things when it comes to TC though. Your criticism makes perfect sense, but...the fact is, for me, the interestingness of that tension you describe is completely outweighed by the power of the finale. My ability to care about that lost tension is zero. Like, if I had to choose between having either a more focused resolution of the "Bartlet was wrong" tension, or having "Two Cathedrals"...I'd pick "Two Cathedrals" by a mile every time. For me, it's a miniscule, practically infinitesimal, price to pay for an episode like that.

(This reminds me though, of how headachy Sorkin's writing can be sometimes, since it's literally a long string of "Omg look at the shiny! Shiny idea! I wants it!" And a lot of time in The West Wing the shiny idea was so great I didn't give a shit how he got to it, but seriously the dude needed some damn self-control.)

[ SECRET POST #3047 ]

Re: Pick one favorite episode from each of your favorite shows

Re: Pick one favorite episode from each of your favorite shows

Re: Pick one favorite episode from each of your favorite shows

Re: Pick one favorite episode from each of your favorite shows

Re: Pick one favorite episode from each of your favorite shows

Re: Pick one favorite episode from each of your favorite shows

Re: Pick one favorite episode from each of your favorite shows

Re: Pick one favorite episode from each of your favorite shows