Thursday
Weekly West Wing Writing
Comments on West Wing 6-13: King Corn
One interesting thing about this episode is that I think it would be unwatchable if you weren't a longtime fan of the show. The opening and closing were both focused on the Josh - Donna dynamic, and in fact people who don't care at all about whether or not those two characters are going to get together would have very little reason that I can think of to watch this episode at all. Also, it seems like this season is going to feature a dynamic of half episodes on the campaign trail and half episodes in the White House. I don't think this change is a problem by itself, the issue is that the majority of the characters in the campaign trail sections are not nearly as developed as the White House characters. This could change if more is done to flesh out the campaign staffs, but there hasn't been much work in that area so far. The episode was really oddly lit. I suppose this was done to indicate "It's winter in Iowa." I actually think the different lighting was fine, since it did establish setting. What was annoying was the overuse of handheld cameras. As far as those go, restraint must be your watchword. I'm also happy that so far Vinick being made out as a more appealing candidate than Santos, that's an interesting and fairly novel element, since the audiences natural reaction is to go with the candidate that Josh chose. The episode felt sort of dragged out, a good bit of the stuff on screen seemed like filler, would have been better spent developing personalities for the newer characters or, if they couldn't do that, show a little bit of what's happening at the White House.
Grade: B
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One interesting thing about this episode is that I think it would be unwatchable if you weren't a longtime fan of the show. The opening and closing were both focused on the Josh - Donna dynamic, and in fact people who don't care at all about whether or not those two characters are going to get together would have very little reason that I can think of to watch this episode at all. Also, it seems like this season is going to feature a dynamic of half episodes on the campaign trail and half episodes in the White House. I don't think this change is a problem by itself, the issue is that the majority of the characters in the campaign trail sections are not nearly as developed as the White House characters. This could change if more is done to flesh out the campaign staffs, but there hasn't been much work in that area so far. The episode was really oddly lit. I suppose this was done to indicate "It's winter in Iowa." I actually think the different lighting was fine, since it did establish setting. What was annoying was the overuse of handheld cameras. As far as those go, restraint must be your watchword. I'm also happy that so far Vinick being made out as a more appealing candidate than Santos, that's an interesting and fairly novel element, since the audiences natural reaction is to go with the candidate that Josh chose. The episode felt sort of dragged out, a good bit of the stuff on screen seemed like filler, would have been better spent developing personalities for the newer characters or, if they couldn't do that, show a little bit of what's happening at the White House.
Grade: B
