Twenty Five

After a very sappy and self-satisfied first season I was happy to see this show settle down somewhat and not be quite so obvious and pleased with itself. The fourth season sees us heading into an election with the President carrying a morally dubious (and illegal) decision with him and I was looking forward to this pressing on the White House while the battle of an election year unfolds. It is strange then that, with these threads on the table going into the season, it actually seems a bit uncertain about what it is doing. The assassination remains in the background of the season and more could have been done with it just in terms of the characters but the bigger surprise for me was the election. Instead of being an impacting event it is pretty much done within a handful of episodes – compare this to the grueling reality of the campaign trail and the constant gameplay we see on the news. I was surprised and disappointed that it was over with so little fuss and so little consequence and I'm not sure why this was the case.

Outside of this we get some nice character-specific episode which are decent despite the show not really being one for strong character development – but at least it gives the cast something else to do apart from hitting their marks as the cameras move around the hallways. The result though is that the season feels fragmented because it doesn't seem to have a consistent stride to it – and at times it sinks back into sappy smugness. Plots and characters don't go anywhere and some characters just seem to not be around anymore with too much real reason – I understand with a big cast that trimming is needed and people may drop out, but the way it is mostly done is rather annoying and made me feel like I was supposed to be fine with it and that the writers took the easy options when they could. The final few episodes are almost hilariously over the top as we get an obvious plot twist towards a season finale – it is all very dramatic and worthy but it feels like a whole new show is happening out of nowhere.

The cast continue to be good but in many ways the writing lets them down this season. The character moments throws some good "out of office" moments to them but mostly they are at work and the lack of a consistent tone and thread limits them by throwing them around a bit. Sheen, Janney, Spencer, Whitford and others remain good but some new cast members struggle to make their mark, with Malina being given too much too soon while Parker tries to do crisply droll but doesn't quite pull it off and never feels like a real person. The parade of guest stars are a distraction rather than a bonus – Slater, Perry and others don't bring much to the show other than their names and faces. Goodman makes a dramatic showing towards the end of the season, hopefully season 5 will make good use of him and not just see him out the door with minimal fuss.

It isn't that the fourth season is bad (it isn't), it is just that it seems inconsequential. The plot threads aren't really made the most use of and it doesn't ever feel like it is going anywhere. This feeling is made all the more obvious by how nuts the final few episodes go as it seeks out a dramatic finish to bring people back for the next season. It will still please those looking for the show to do what it has always done, but it is disappointing that it seems to step backwards here rather than becoming stronger.

I think it's fair to say that this season has been the must inconsistent of the bunch so far. In the beginning, it seems like they halted the progression of any character development to bring us a mellow election-themed arc, which then led into some of the nicer emotional points that his season would have. These last few episodes went in a direction that I did not think it would, and therefore, it took me a little to get into the things they were doing. However, this finale, I think, managed to bring a muddled and inconsistent season to a rather satisfying and emotional end.

With the abduction of Zoey Bartlet in the previous episode, I was ready for a big action episode with this finale. However, I got an episode that continued to focus on the inner workings of the White House during a stressful time. That's something that large portions of this season has been lacking, so it could seem like these last two episodes were a way of getting back to how it all was once. And I'm happier for it, because it provided the necessary drama and tension that was needed for a finale to a season like this. In general, I liked how this episode put the focus on the next generation and highlighted the fact that the people coming after us are vulnerable and will need people to protect them. What this is going to do to Zoey and Jed's relationship is still up in the air, but it can't be all good for Zoey's privacy. At the same time, we got some awesome moments with Toby and him having to now deal with fatherhood and his own insecurities that he's going to end up like his father did. It also blead into the performances which were really good this episode, again with Martin Sheen and Richard Schiff proving that they're some of the best in their field. It's not a perfect episode and it flaunters in comparison to other season finales, but in comparison to the season overall, this episode did bring it back to the basics and felt like "The West Wing."

"Twenty Five" is a powerful episode that deals with the inner workings of the White House during a crisis, like the show at its best. However, it still doesn't manage to bring all the sparks back and signals that the best days of this show may have been left behind with an uncertain future ahead.