r/thewestwing

Doing my first rewatch in about 4 years and I noticed something for the first time that is def going to be an unpopular opinion.

Everyone loves the Sorkin seasons and the general consensus is that the post Sorkin seasons are not as good.

This is the first time I’ve really been disappointed in season 4.

I know why Rob Lowe wanted to leave. He was expecting to be the lead (look at his placement in the opening credits, he’s the only one not listed alphabetically). But with the ensemble Sorkin put together Rob Lowe ended up being the weakest most immature of the staff. Sending him off to lose an election and then not explaining why he didn’t come back is very much a missed opportunity.

I absolutely hate the Zoe storyline for this season. It adds nothing of depth to the series as a whole.

Season 5 has my favourite episode of the whole series the Supremes. Will Bailey is actually a better character than Sam was. There are lots of things to like about season 5,6 and 7. So my unpopular opinion is season 4 is the worst season of the series. This is the first time I’ve really felt this way. But there it is.

What are yours

I'm just starting season 5 in my re-watch, and it feels like Leo is being portrayed as a much bigger a*hole this season. Is it just my imagination or does anyone else feel like there is a notable "hardening" of this character?

During the basketball game in The Crackpots and These Women, when Toby tries to shoot and Juwan Howard blocks the ball into Virginia, someone says "OH!" like it was the first time they'd ever seen a blocked shot before, and for some reason, this makes me giggle every time. What are some other small moments that make you laugh? Not a big scene, but just a moment that yanks a giggle out of you?

We are a group in our mid 35s and the bride loves west wing.

Any ideas for west wing inspired bachelorette games/activities?

Possibly off topic, but Ainslie is one my of my favourite characters, and I just recently got to 17 People in my current series re-watch, so she’s been on my mind I guess.

I was looking up her IMDb profile and her most recent credit there is for narrating the Hartsfield’s Landing production they made during covid… in 2020. Literally nothing since then. Made me a lil sad.

Her Wikipedia page says “Years active: 1988–present”. Hopefully she just went down to the mess in search of a peach and will reappear sometime soon.

Put any random quote from the show in a top level comment.

Respond to any other quote, but, you can't use the actual next line from the show. Find some other random quote from the show to respond with.

I normally am able to follow the debates on the West Wing well-enough. Even when I don't agree with the points being made, I'm able to understand them and the thought process that went into them being brought up.

However, the debate that Ainsley and Sam has about guns really confuses me. In the episode, Ainsley chastises the Barlett admin for not being supportive enough of the second amendment. Sam points out how Josh (who is in the room) barely survived being shot by someone who bought a gun legally and would not have been flagged from background checks. Now, I would think that Ainsley would shift her argument to acknowledge Josh's trauma but instead she talks about how sad it is that the Bartlett admin doesn't like people who like guns and how sad that is. Mind you Josh is in the room while this is happening. The argument kind of just ends at that points and Ainsley's final point kind of just hangs there.

What I'm confused about is how Ainsley's rebuttal makes any sense to what was said before. She basically tells someone who is a survivor of gun violence that its messed up he and his friends don't like people who are really interested in guns. The argument then justs ends without any further discussion. If someone could explain her point to me or how it at all counters Sam's point, I would appreciate it.