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The West Wing, Season 5, Episode 5 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-07-15 22:46:24
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2026-06
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Content

Constituency of One

Comments

Pam Nail

Welcome to my least favorite episode of the entire series! It has nothing to do with the quality of the writing or acting or anything in the execution. There are definitely worse episodes in that regard. But this is the exact point where I can feel that Sorkin has left the building. Again, nothing to do with quality. It's the attitude and tone. It just feels mean and ugly, and for no good reason. I had already kind of drifted away in real time by this episode, but this episode would make it really hard for me to want to keep watching the show if the rest of the episodes didn't exist yet. Having said that, I do think that what happens with Josh is a collision course he's been on for a while now and it's fairly well done. Just maybe it wasn't necessary to make it his birthday so it's a game of Kick the Puppy. Naq gura arkg rcvfbqr ur lryyf ng n ohvyqvat. Also, I realize the thing with Will mirrors writer Eli Attie's own experience in the White House. But the way it's done is another thing that feels mean. Especially the way Leo is like "you can have him." And yeah, it makes Will look like an asshole because he JUST started like six months ago and now he's moving on to other pastures?!?! Fun note: The thing with the fish in a paper is something Rahm Emanuel actually did.

Michelle Taylor

Tim Matheson's two best movies are "Yours, Mine and Ours" (1968) with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda, and "Animal House.

Adam Crandall

Now we know why Malina's Bio says that he "ruined" The West Wing. This decision right here is the writers introducing how they are going to handle the show from now on, now that Sorkin is gone. You are correct. He is the Rob Lowe of the post-Sorkin era.

Adam Crandall
>>143741981

Stupid question. How do you view the spoilers. Seasoned vet here By having the entire series on DVD that I've burned out. So how you do that? lol

dys

Tom Skerritt is so great at playing slimy characters (though he's a bit more sincere here than say his role in Contact).

The Inedible Mattman!

Don't get me wrong, I love this show ... Sorkin or not. But this episode definitely feels less Sorkiny than perhaps it should. One of the things I've noticed in this season, up until now, has been how different Leo is with the staff. He seems more Authoritarian in these 5 episodes and less lovable. But, this definitely feels like part of the journey for Josh. We even began the entire series with him having screwed up massively, and the whole episode was a question of whether or not he'd be fired. Sadly, his ego and arrogance led him to this moment, and he's in big trouble again.

Youtalkingtome
>>143747959

For sure, this feels like less of a Sorkin episode than any of the others so far this season. The tragedy of the article that clearly went to Josh's head really just being a bit of a birthday setup from Amy makes it so much worse.

Martin Nicholls

I really like this episode - they're setting tone. There's been a time jump, things aren't going well and literally everybody is incredibly frustrated. It's easy to not like it because our heroes in the show are to a man having problems, but this is a thing that undoubtedly always happens. On the Will thing I don't not like it - in fact I totally get his position, with the frustrations otherwise in the episode, it must look like a great opportunity and he's not one of the people who got Bartlet elected so he isn't morally tied to the administration like some of the other members of the cast. In fact early in his appearances he called himself a good pinch hitter - he's never really been attached in the same way since the very start of his role. I really like the conversation he has with Toby when he tells he got the offer and Toby shouts at him - it's a really great scene. The Josh thing I like because it's somewhat a callback to the very first episode of the whole series. It's frustrating, but the characters are frustrated so it's almost like it is intended to almost evoke the same feeling in the audience with it all being loaded up in the episode in that way.

Jeff

I always struggled with this episode for the reasons that others have mentioned, but I actually appreciated it more this time watching it along with you guys. I recently listened to the West Wing Weekly podcast (which you should not listen to yet because of spoilers), and one of the writers explained that these episodes are about the "destabilization of the American presidency." That helped me to better understand and appreciate what they were trying to do here, but it's still a tough watch.

JVTrickypants

Amy did nothing wrong in this episode. She did exactly what Mrs. Bartlet told her to do a couple of episodes - she needed to run things for awhile after the Zoey incident, that she trusted her, and that's why she hired her. She just happened to be caught in the middle of the domestic dispute, and thankfully the president sort of apologized. Also yes, it was a terrible decision to have Josh go to Russell (as writers), or at least this early. He had barely gotten his feet wet in his job, and was doing well, but not the right time. He doesn't leave the show or anything, but felt he could have been a more powerful character inside the the administration.

Weird Magic

Evidently I liked this episode more than most - thought it did a great job of letting the audience in and feel the "frustration" each character was having as part of this (I can assume) very frustrating job most days. Every single main character was frustrated with someone or something: Jed with Abby Josh with Amy Josh with Pierce Josh with Carrick Toby with Will Will with the stagnant policies C.J. with Leo Leo with C.J. Amy with her constituency of one Margaret with her non-ergonomic chair :) Originally airing on October 29, 2003, 'Constituency of One' is Episode 5 of Season 5 of The West Wing. It is the 94th episode overall and has an IMDB rating of 7.5, placing it as the #19 ranked episode of this season and #91 out of all the episodes shown so far.

Youtalkingtome
>>143741981

I can see how someone wouldn't like this episode, it certainly was different. I am curious to see where this leads and it felt like a great set up of what's to come

Youtalkingtome
>>143758102

I wanna see the dynamics of this then. He's not off the show but he's way more on the back burner? I really love his character and he certainly has some of my favorite episodes. Glad he's not leaving but I'm curious to see what's next.

Youtalkingtome
>>143764350

I thought it was intentional as well. Portraying frustration usually makes the audience, well, frustrated! It was not my favorite episode but I don't think it's bad at all. I loved all the storylines, I just don't think it's super rewatchable

Cristy
>>143758102

I completely agree with your comment about Amy, Abby did tell her to look after things while she was gone and the reason Bartlett bit her head off was because of their domestic issues. I did like that scene between them at the end though.

Cristy

What a tense episode, I was so stressed out lol. Margaret asking Leo for an ergonomic chair relaxed me but only briefly haha. Amy is one of my fave characters on The WW and I love that she stands up for what she believes in. I never honestly understood why she worked for the First Lady in the first place because I think she's much better suited as a lobbyist to Government not part of the Government. Also, all I could think about was Tom Skerrit in his aviators as Viper in Top Gun lol.

Weird Magic
>>143764350

Well said - audiences also don't like it or have a funny taste in their mouth if their characters "lose" whatever they are trying to accomplish. A lot of that in this episode too...I think that's why this is lower rated more than execution or plot/writing.

Barb

Getting excited. I love Season 5, episode 17. Won't give the title, since it makes the theme a bit obvious. I can't wait!

James Gassor

I love this show so much, in fact I tend to rewatch it every year (I have the DVD collection but tend to watch it via streaming platforms these days), and now I get to watch along with you both! While the show sometimes shows its age (CRT computer monitors, pagers, flip phones etc.) I still find its very much on point and often the same political battles used in the stories are often still happening even today, almost like we never learn as a society.

Roland Cooke

It doesn't quite count as a "Don't Do It Again" moment, since he got permission from Leo first, but the sheer scale of the downside maybe qualifies it anyway, no?

D Gyre

my only real issue with this episode is I think Leo is out of character. he's hard when he needs to be sure, but he's been more understanding/supportive and a better manager in the past. especially with CJ

Youtalkingtome
>>144693154

You know, I didn't really notice that at first but as I was thinking about this episode, you're right. Obviously stakes are high but he's usually really good about that

Katie
>>143830860

I also can't wait for this episode, it might be my favorite out of the series as a whole, but it's really hard to pick. I personally LOVE season 5 episode 10 too which you'll get to soon. I think you two will really like that one.

Baeziii

This episode is where the new writers kinda lost me for a while. Going from WH Deputy Coms Director to basically CoS for the VP is a promotion on paper, but a MASSIVE step back in your career, especially with this VP. On the other hand, "losing" a senator who doesn't vote with you when push comes to shove doesn't really matter, and is completely blown out of proportion