West Wing

I’ve never been much of a TV watcher/streamer - I like reading better in part because I have control over how fast things happen, I don’t have to worry about the sound quality and mumbling of the actors, I can re-read things from a couple of pages or chapters ago as an idea strikes me or I forget who a character is. Plus, I’m more about words than visuals.

I completely missed West Wing when it first ran in the 90’s. I heard about it but it didn’t sound particularly interesting and I was busy. Also, books. But it was streaming during the Trump administration and I was so calmed by politics without the trauma that I watched all the episodes. I think I maybe watched all the episodes again at some point, or at least most of them.

I’ve started watching it again recently - it doesn’t take much thought, especially since I’ve already seen it all. But there are things I have forgotten - there were 7 seasons, after all. Last night I watched one of the episodes in which the White House group is fired upon…maybe by skinheads? And I remembered most of the storyline - I knew that both the president and Josh were shot and they both live. I remembered that some time elapsed before Josh was discovered behind a wall, clutching his bloody torso. What I didn’t remember was the whole group sitting in a private waiting room for word of the fate of the two characters.

In Aaron Sorkin’s misogynistic world, women need to be connected to a man or they are sad spinsters - don’t get me started on CJ Cregg. So the Donna character, Josh’s assistant, is maybe in love with him (because that’s what assistants are for) and he pays very little attention to her.

And here’s the part I forgot: Donna comes into the waiting room because she saw on TV that the president had been shot - she doesn’t know about Josh. Someone tries to tell her, but can’t quite do it so Toby (the lovable curmudgeon) Says “Josh was hit.” And Donna, blank faced says, “Hit with what?” And Toby says, “He was shot. In the chest.” And she says, “I don’t understand.”

I’ve seen that scene maybe three times before, but this time I started to cry - because that’s the way it is. You get the worst news ever and a part of you can’t even take it in. Can’t think, can’t feel. It’s just shock and there’s nothing you can do except wait for it to pass.