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The West Wing, Season 6, Episode 20 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-31 21:53:27
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

In God We Trust

Files

Previews only

WW6.20

Comments

Pam Nail

- I felt so bad for guys expecting this to be a Cuba two-parter. I suppose the main reason I don't like "Ninety Miles Away" is how it pretends to be building to something and just ... never does anything with it. So long, Cuba plot. Say hi to Mandy for us. - I love that this episode gives Vinick some layers, showing us he's not perfect and isn't always principled. He is definitely starting to ask Butler the question before Butler stops him. He's been a politician a long time and he knows that sometimes you have to get the win first. This isn't like Iowa -- that was about just his own political future. He's the Republican nominee now, and his decisions affect the entire party. - Fun fact: That ice cream scene was shot the day after the Oscars in 2005, when Alan Alda was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Aviator. He'd been out all night at the parties and hadn't been to sleep. Then he and Sheen gave us the best scene of the episode.

Mithroch

Don Davis has been tons of things... but probably his best known for General George Hammond on Stargate SG:1. Now I'm not saying you guys should start down the Stargate rabbit hole (unless you want to... and love us). I'm honestly not sure I'd live long enough for you to complete everything (I will have a fiber line run to my grave). It's just the movie... ten seasons of SG:1, five seasons of Atlantis (some of which overlap SG:1), a few more movies, and two seasons of Universe (vastly underrated IMO)... somewhere around 354 episodes and a few movies. So... when are you starting?

Joy M

I think that if the 90 Miles/Cuba episode had been closer to the 365 Days/legacy episode with Leo, it would have made more sense. As for Kate, for years I thought Kate was working for the CIA and doing “her job”to make sure Leo wasn’t at the Cuba talks (in the flashbacks). But now I think she was looking out for him as Sec of Labor, that he wouldn’t make a fool of himself getting a DUI or being found passed out in his car. Maybe she thought that was a strategic move to keep Leo’s career in tact for some other reason? Maybe she thought someone else could blackmail him if they found Leo in that state? Or worse, hurt him when he was defenseless? This was also the event that got Leo to go to rehab. So it’s a bit of a full circle moment on Leo’s story. I think the director and editor ran out of time to really tell this story properly and that’s why it falls flat.

Youtalkingtome
>>169538542

I definitely agree. By dropping the Cuba thing completely, it really made for a weird one-off episode. Not a fan at all. The Sheen / Alda scene was terrific, and I was so happy that we got one.

Taylor

This episode was always on a list of my favorites. Now in the last 10 years, it’s become one of the episodes that makes me exhaustingly sad. Even when it aired it was far fetched to have a candidate who spoke and acted this way, but this kind of candidate has never felt more alien that it does currently.

Cristy

"I'd love if it was Toby." That would be wild if he ran Vinick's campaign. I love having Bruno back his character, love him or hate him, is so entertaining. Imagine him and Josh going head to head if Santos manages to win the nomination. I love a Vinick centred episode and this one doesn't disappoint.

Taylor

When it comes to Will, I’ve always taken his behavior in this episode as him truly reacting in fear for the campaign. Less arrogance and more a panicked plea to not let the guy who is gaining on him get any sort of a win.

Youtalkingtome
>>169544593

I agree. I don't think he's meaning to be a pill. I think he is earnest; he thinks Russell is the only chance the Democrats have to win. But he is definitely coming on strong.

Youtalkingtome
>>169544442

Me too! Vinick is such a compelling character. He wasn't willing to bend on corn (or his stance on abortion), but he was absolutely about to offer up the VP slot to the Reverend.

Youtalkingtome
>>169540924

"Unless you want to...and love us." Touche! I would love to watch SG:1. I had friends who loved it when it aired (that's the one with McGyver, right?)

Martin Nicholls

Something being a major issue for a short time then just disappearing into the ether is _classic_ politics, happens all the time, in some ways that makes perfect sense - they tried a thing, the thing failed, some people reminisce and decry it being completely borked (as it still is), and it moves on and is never talked about again. This episode, the scene near the end is really clever - they show the audience that they're kind on an intellectually equal footing but also they show that Bartlet is impressed with him, even if he wouldn't say it publically. I was going to ask you a while back - because they've been bringing throw away characters back, if you'd have any character that's not main cast but either single episode or occasionally reusable who would you have at the top of your wishlist, then I realised there's a good chance you'd say Ron Silver.. I'll ask it now though - canonically possible I guess though, i.e. no deceased characters. The one I'd say, because I like the actor, is probably Ron Butterfield (the Secret Service guy) - we haven't seen him in a long time and that's a shame.

Martin Nicholls
>>169544442

You could potentially see that happen in some ways, but in other ways canonically Toby is _very_ left wing (well, he's far-right now, but back then..) and it wouldn't be all that plausible.

Youtalkingtome
>>169547409

So many! Bruno is a great one to bring back, but Ron Butterfield and Danny Concannon would be high on the list. And it would just be funny to have Mandy join one of the campaigns at this point.

Christopher Runyon

This episode brings me back to when I first watched this show when I was in my 20s. Vinick was the first representation I’d seen on tv of someone who had political beliefs similar to my own. Specifically being a pro choice, agnostic Republican. It was rare then and nearly nonexistent now.

Heather

Stephen Root never did forgive Gary Cole for taking his red stapler!

Jeff

One thing I love about the ice cream scene with Bartlet and Vinick -- besides it being so well-written and well-acted -- is the fact that Martin Sheen and Alan Alda were both very liberal, socially active stage and television actors in the 60s and 70s. I assume they've known each other for years, but I think this may have been their first experience acting together. Just watching their faces and hearing their voices in that one scene alone is like a master class in acting.

dys
>>169540924

Came here to say, he'll always be General Hammond for me. And yes SG-1 is the show with McGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) in the lead, though if you ever do go down that rabbit hole you should start with the Roland Emmerich movie (I know you can't stand his stuff but this is one of the few good ones) with Kurt Russell in the role RDA took over for the show. Mithroch, I also loved Stargate Universe, there are dozens of us!

Yannick, from Montréal
>>169540924

"In" on the General Hammond bandwagon... LOOOOVE SG-1, and wholeheartedly agree that the movie with Kurt Russel playing Col. Jack O'Neill (2 Ls... an inside for the Stargate fans ;-) ) should be the stepping stone into this. 365 episodes means a bit more than 7 years at 1 per week... hehehe. You've got some patreons for the ride I'm certain!

Weird Magic

I need some help with a plotline fellow WW'ers... Vinick is at the White House because he's supposed to get the minimum wage rider off the bill because it puts the debt ceiling vote in jeopardy. Before the meeting - pass the debt ceiling bill with the min wage rider After the meeting - pass the debt ceiling bill, then pass the min wage bill. Isn't that the exact same result? Why did the rider have to come off??? Tell me what I'm missing.

Weird Magic

Only 2 episodes left this season! Originally airing on March 23, 2005, 'In God We Trust' is Episode 20 of Season 6 of The West Wing. It is the 131st episode overall and has an IMDB rating of 8.2, placing it as the #7 ranked episode of this season and #52 out of all the episodes shown so far. And for those counting - at this pace J&K will finish the Series on 9/15/25

Heather
>>169563052

Same result, but possibly a different roll call. There might be members who support raising the debt ceiling, but don’t want to be on the record supporting a minimum wage hike (and vice versa). So there is enough support for each measure individually, but not together, especially if linking the two is seen as political posturing (which it is). Plus, I think it’s implied that there might be more Republican support for the min wage than the Dems anticipate.

Youtalkingtome
>>169553533

It is always great to see actors from that generation share the screen. Whether it's Nicholson, Pacino, Hackman, DeNiro, or in this case Sheen and Alda. Just absolute pros

Aude M

I'm not american, so maybe I'm wrong but...Vinick is great. Yes. We agree on...most of the things, I am more on board with Democrats ideas, generally. But the problem is, Vinick is still a Republican. And a Republican President (combined with a Republican Congress and/or Republican Senate) will still be inclined to defend things that I morally reprehend. Some Republicans would still want and try to cut abortion rights, being discriminatory against LGBTQA+ rights, etc., even more so with a Pro-life VP. I'd assume they would hurt a lot of non-white-cisgender-non-straight people. I would want Vinick to win but not the Republican Party. Is there logic in my thoughts?...

Youtalkingtome
>>169585365

Your thoughts are logical, for sure. They even addressed how Vinick is kind of on his own in the GOP on social issues like abortion and environmental protection. He definitely would either really have to fight with, or cave to, Republicans in congress.

D Gyre
>>169585365

It's a tug of war between "moderate candidates will get pulled to the further left/right by their party/base" and "showing moderates win elections pull the party further to the middle" so you have to look at the candidate and the party and the general situation and think, will this person lead the party to reform, or will the party reform my moderate candidate. I have changed my vote from my dream candidate at times specifically because of this consideration. We focus a lot on the president when we should be a little more concerned about who we are sending to congress. Give a Vinnick a supportive moderate republican congress and things are very different than a conservative republican one.

D Gyre
>>169563052

This is a lot of it. Vinnick assures them he'll get them the votes, so that makes up for any lost on the democrats side. We are already seeing elements of "well as long as it looks like a win for our side we can spin it" here too, so it matters who announces/agrees to it, which gets them more republican votes. For different reasons, you can have people on both sides of the aisle who might not want to vote for parts of a combined bill. A vote on record, at least the idea at this time was, going to be held up and scrutinized come election time. Depending on what your district looks like, you might not want to have to defend a vote even if you were voting for something else. Look at different reactions over Dems voting against the shutdown recently. Some of them voted for cloture in the senate to get the vote to the floor, but then still voted against the bill even though it would pass. They wanted to be on record as not shutting down the gov, but then also on record as against the parts of the budget bill they opposed. We'll see how that message plays out effectively or not, but they did it. You also don't necessarily want to vote for something tied to a budget bill to discourage people from adding more things to it, or using that tactic in the future. Make it be clean, and then vote on the issue on its own with negotiations, and even if it doesn't go how you want and you end up voting for the same thing, you still showed the other side that you won't just go along with anything they attached to a budget bill.

Heather
>>169563052

Interesting to think about how this is a win-win for both sides. Vinick wants to be seen as a statesman, and Bartlet wants some concrete policy wins to cement his legacy.

dys
>>169585365

I am American and I'm right there with you, Aude. With the choices we have in this country today I would vote for someone like Vinick in a heartbeat. But unfortunately the kind of Republican-held Congress and Senate that exists in season 6 of The West Wing, where you have some partisan hacks like Speaker Haffley but you also have a great man like Arnold Vinick who has real influence, unfortunately can't exist today when the entire Republican party is captive to Donald Trump.

Youtalkingtome
>>169585365

The current GOP is completely subservient to Trump. There is no was his cabinet picks would have been approved if we had a remotely reasonable GOP-controlled legislature.

Jordan Scott

"Christopher Plummer did silly things at the end of his career" - He also won an Oscar at 82, but yeah, I think we'll continue to see a trend of aging actors taking on regular tv roles to close out their careers. Gary Oldman has said he's likely retiring after his show finishes and he's certainly earned it.

Cosmic Slice

So happy to be catching up on West Wing episodes after a whole week without power - we had a giant ice storm. Awful week. Did I ever miss watching the reaction last Monday! And as a note, I think a lot of people know Don Davis best as the general in Stargate.