Revisiting the West Wing
It's been a long week. We had an election Tuesday, and finally today, Saturday, a winner was declared. In between has been plenty of stress and ugliness. It's the ending of a long and bitter political season for our country. And as we've been plowing through this as a nation, it's been an interesting dichotomy to be going through "The West Wing" with my wife.
I remember when I first watched the series, which debuted in 1999. We've made it through the first two seasons in the last couple weeks, including those first introductions, the emotional first Christmas episode, the assassination attempt that closes the first season, the revelation of President Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) medical condition, and perhaps the series best episode, "Two Cathedrals," which closes season two.
It's been fun revisiting these characters and stories. But it's also been striking to see how some of the frequent issues that still come up have been a part of those episodes, which are more than 20 years old. But it's also been tough watching a depiction of government handling these issues with a spirit of cooperation and care for people.
"The West Wing" was always an idealized vision of what government could be, or maybe you could even argue what it should be. But I can't help think watching it all these years later that it feels further from reality than it's ever been, which is disheartening.
Despite all that, it's been fun to visit this incredible series and its powerful depictions. I can't wait to complete this re-watch.
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