The West Wing - Season Finale

Wow.

If you saw The West Wing this week (I watched the tape last night after being out of town on Wednesday), you know what I mean.

Seriously, did anyone know that politics could be so exciting?

Of course, I realize it's all fictional and specifically designed to draw us in, so that we make personal and ideological connections with certain characters and not others, and the filming, editing, and musical score all contribute to building the drama. Speechwriters have more freedom to be purely idealistic when they do not actually have to win the hearts of people on both sides of every issue. I know this. But still...

Wow.

I had been a faithful fan the first few seasons, but lost interest after the big crisis of Zoe's abduction and the Republican Speaker of the House taking over as President in Season 4. With the loss of Rob Lowe and the resolution of the major personal crises, the show seemed to lose steam, where one political tension after another began to be less exciting a storyline. But the past year's arc of the presidential campaign (WW-world is a year behind real-world) has brought back some of the energy and passion that made disaffected Democrats and left-leaning independents fall in love with the show in the first place. It hasn't hurt to have the very attractive Jimmy Smits as the idealistic Democratic underdog-but-gotta-win-because-Josh-picked-him heir-apparent to the outgoing Bartlet administration.

I have to say too that the timing of the WW-world campaign, and the improbable win after improbable win of the Matt Santos run, seems more strategic than a happy coincidence, bolstering Democratic belief in the party after the lamentable results of last year's real-world election. It's enough to give a person hope to get through the next 3 1/2 years.

SPOILER ALERT

DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU DID NOT SEE THE WEST WING THIS WEEK AND WANT TO FULLY ENJOY THE SUSPENSE OF THE APRIL 6 EPISODE.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

The turning-point speeches delivered by Santos, especially that final address to the DNC, are not only politically inspiring, but ethically and theologically sound. "We are all broken" - a profound statement and fundamental to Christian belief. Perhaps an indication that Santos also has the religious convictions that have brought moral depth to the Bartlet administration.

(Yes, I know I'm analyzing fiction as though it were reality. I was an English major. That's what we do.)

The problem is that I am seriously concerned that Arnie Vinnick, played by Alan Alda, the Republican candidate for the general election campaign we'll see played out in the fall, is obviously a much stronger national candidate than the Santos-McGarry ticket. To bring a Democratic win out of this will have to stretch the credulity of even devoted WW-watchers and yellow-dog Democrats. But to go with the "realistic" option, a Republican win, I think will make thousands of loyal viewers switch off their sets - or begin watching Alias instead (see entry below for the Wednesday-night quandary). Even if Vinnick is portrayed as the best-possible Republican, there are fundamental differences in the beliefs of Dems and Reps, and it will be a sad day in donkey-town if we no longer have fantasy liberal-run world to escape to.



But hasn't it been a glorious ride?