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The West Wing, Season 3, Epidose 20 (Patreon)

Published:
2023-12-13 21:03:04
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Enemies Foreign and Domestic

Files

Previews only

The West Wing, Season 3, Epidose 20

Enemies Foreign and Domestic

Comments

Weird Magic

So much packed into this one - Ian McShane, Mark Harmon and Peter Scolari (RIP-2021). Great start to the 4-episode Season Finale arc - the dress is next! Originally airing on May 1, 2002, 'Enemies, Foreign and Domestic' is Episode 19 of Season 3 of The West Wing. It is the 63rd episode overall and has an IMDB rating of 8.4, placing it as the #4 ranked episode of this season and #27 out of all the episodes shown so far.

Pam Nail

I kind of hate the cold open. It *seems* a great girlboss moment for CJ, and obviously it's setting up something else plot wise, but she's going off like one-eighth-cocked, with not much information. Television Without Pity went to town on this back when it aired because it's based on a real story. In the real story, the vast majority of Saudi citizens were as outraged as everyone in the West because there is literally no religious reason for anyone to have prevented the girls from escaping. According to Islamic law (at least as TwoP explained it), you are allowed to break a law to save your own life -- in fact, in such a situation, the thing that is "haram" (forbidden) BECOMES "halal" (permitted). There was an investigation of the real situation and it turned out that the girls hadn't been prevented from leaving -- they had been trapped and subsequently crushed in the crowd before they could reach the door. Love seeing Mark Harmon show up here, though. And yes, this role was what led to him being cast in NCIS. Also, it's a small thing, but maybe my favorite moment in the episode is when CJ sees the photos and reflexively buttons her jacket. It's also kind of mind-blowing to see Josh be the one suggesting patience and getting more information on the Russia situation.

Balazs Foldes

See, a computer screwed not only Pres. Bartlet, but almost this episode of you guy, watching, too! You can never start one of those contraptions. Love these busy, so-many-things-happening episodes. The Saudis, CJ's threats, Russia, the failing IT company, trash journalism, plutonium... real fun. Chigorin is clearly some kind of in-show version of Putin. He became President in 99, so only a couple of years ago. He was actually seen as a reformer, more western typed politician in Russia at that time. During this episode, you can even hear Toby mention, 'a reformer - 30 years with KGB', or something like that. But the story of this episode really shows the optimistic expectations many people had about Putin. Well, things turn out interesting eventually. Again, we got some top-quality, sorkin emotional heartstring-plucking writing - first, the highscool girls burning alive, and then the story of Mr. Tatum and Charlie. Feels like perfect, apothecary-level measurements of adding a bit of emotional uplift to your stories. Oh, and the hopeful turn with the behind-the-lines diplomacy through Sam... well done.

D Gyre

just when you thought the election was about to become center stage.... so many great episodes and arcs in this show

Martin Nicholls

Swear you guys are trying to confuse us on purpose with the episode numbers, good job you keep the episode names lol. Didn't see last week's but I wanted to say something the week before about Bartlet's rant about Bond - the man is a spy, on the job, maybe it's possible that he doesn't want to get utterly wasted whilst working? :p Also there's no amount of ice that can make a Martini weak ;) Also yep great episode, lots high tier actors floating around this one, and half the cast of certain seasons of 24 lol. Sooo many things are active stories right now - the Russians building Iran a weapons reactor as payment for something, literally right now.

Jack

A really interesting thing about the Russia storylines are that everything has been flipped on its head now. There's the obvious allusion to President Putin (who had just been elected at this point, and who is described almost exactly by everything they say about this fictional Russian President) - the West had high hopes that he would be a reformer and usher Russia into the free world, and we all know how that turned out. But more interestingly the Novaya Gazeta storyline has also been totally reversed now: it's a genuine newspaper in Russia, not even renamed for this script; I believe the portrayal in this episode is quite accurate for the time, but now it is one of the most radically liberal investigative publications there. Its editor-in-chief was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, and it has been actively repressed for years: seven of its journalists have been murdered since 2000 because of their investigations. It was forced to stop publishing in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, but it set up shop in Latvia instead and still publishes from there. So in this episode we had Putin lauded as a reformer and democrat trying to bring freedom to his country and curb international escalation, while the Novaya Gazeta was irresponsible trash - how the tables have turned.

D Gyre

So open military action, like bombing a facility on their soil, would still be a concerning escalation with Iran, a big step the US is not going to want to take. Even the Soleimani assassination you mentioned happened in Iraq, not inside of Iran, which might seem like a small distinction but it matters. but that aside...it's actually not that easy or simple to just go bomb it even if we wanted to. part of what makes Iran different than say attacking Iraq is the terrain/altitude of parts of the country. We don't know exactly where this is in the show, but its a real life problem that Iranian facilities suspected of working on nuclear weapons are in locations we can't actually bomb effectively, either because of altitude or depth or both. There's actually a lot of ways that Iran is actually a difficult target for military responses by the US.

Kat Deuchars

This episode is another example of wish fulfilment - what CEO would forego 2 years of salary just to preserve jobs these days?

Paul T Hewes

this has always been one of my favorite episodes. Fitzwallace had been absent since season 1. Ian McShane, pre Deadwood. The menacing music cue when Ron and the President showed CJ the photos, a theme for the stalker. Sam acting as a world peace broker. Toby and the tabloid lady. This role was what showed TV execs that Mark Harmon wasnt just a goofus from the early 1990s and probably got him the cushy NCIS gig. Also, Alison in the ending outfit showed off her guns.

Aaron

The rest of this season is just fantastic writing. CJ is one of my favorite tv characters of all time. Even though she's just a character, she's absolutely the kind of human I aspire to be.

Devon Cooper

This is the beginning of a great arc. So glad we are to this point👍🏻👍🏻

Taylor

Mark Harmon is one of my top favorite guest stars of the entire series. He’s so amazing in this role. It’s not as highly regarded as the end of season 2, but I’m such a fan of these last four episodes of season 3. I’m excited to see what you think of them!

JVTrickypants

Just because it means I can make a Deadwood suggestion again - Ian McShane also plays one of the co-leads in Deadwood (based in the 1880s when when women could sometimes be seen to dress "frumpy" lol).

JVTrickypants

Seen this so many times and forgot how many massive storylines are in this episode. Enteris (sp?) chips alone would have been huge, Russia, reactor, CJ, and Toby scuba diving as well? Wow!!

Jeff

Joe, the moment with Charlie and the guests in the oval office makes me cry every time, and watching you get teary made me cry even more! Sorkin is so good at catching us off-guard with those scenes. Also, "Adventures in the Screen Trade" is a must-read for anyone interested in film; it's not only educational and interesting, but entertaining and funny. I think you'll love it.

JVTrickypants

This is why Sorkin got so burnt out. People like Dee Dee Meyers and Lawrence O'Donnell would give him issue papers about topics that most shows would stretch over a season and he'd jam five or six of them into one episode and basically constantly be like "what else ya got?"

MrRuss50

Ian McShane's as Al Swearengen on Deadwood is on the Mount Rushmore of tv acting performances. No exaggeration. David Milch's best work as well. Only The Wire and The West Wing beat it out on my all time list and its because those shows werent criminally cut short like Deadwood was. Its a must watch for everyone even if Western's are not your thing(me) its just insanely good.

Mithroch

According to Martin Sheen... the Charlie storyline in this episode was based a true story from the Carter administration.

Roland

Svetlana Efremova played the Russian tabloid journalist. She has a small but important role in some future (for you guys) episodes of The Americans, and she's currently in the (awesome) season 4 of For All Mankind on Apple+. Oh, and she was apparently also in a couple of episodes of NCIS. :D

Youtalkingtome
>>124467879

So is that what the situation is going to be revealed to be? It's interesting if that's the case because it had us fired up. The Mark Harmon stuff was great. Ready to see more of him on here.

Youtalkingtome
>>124469095

Those darn computers. It really is funny that of all the episodes this is the one that messed up. I was thinking that Chigorin was a Putin stand in. No way they were gunna use real Putin. Sorkin knows how to get us man, I tear up every time he gets sappy.

Youtalkingtome
>>124469787

Yeah so we are just going in order on Max. If you google this episode it says it's 18. But they don't count the season premiere or the special episode.

Youtalkingtome
>>124470266

So, I thought that was the case. I didn't bring it up because I wasn't sure when he went into office. It's crazy how it's literally the opposite of what is going on today.

Youtalkingtome
>>124470670

Gotcha. We're here to learn! Hopefully they continue forward with this so we can talk about it in the next episode!

Roland

I thought it was an odd choice to call out Saudi Arabia by name rather than utilize Qumar, especially, as @Pam Nail identifies above, it may not be an accurate description of what actually happened.

Sardonica61
>>124511039

It seems like an odd thing not to fact check this incident. But there are a lot of digs at Saudi Arabia throughout the series, usually voiced by CJ. Can't help but wonder if it's related to 15 of the 9/11 hijackers being Saudi nationals, which was never talked about in the news at that time. And then ... the US continued its relationship with Saudi but attacked Iraq and Afghanistan. Our values are very different. A friend was deployed twice to a US base in Saudi. Both times she was confined to base for her whole deployment because they were concerned about what might happen if a woman in a US military uniform was seen off base.

Zachary Loeser

In case you didn't know: Yes, this arc is *exactly* why Mark Harmon was cast on NCIS. The producers originally dismissed him as a "too pretty" for the role. Then they saw him in this and thought, "oh wait, I guess he can play a cop."

Luca Siracusa (Bob)

Well, well. I cried for two episode straights. After Donna's call with Mrs. Morello, I cried seeing the old guy taking pictures with Bartlet and Charlie The whole episode is packed with acting and rush and Sorkin really said "Hey, you remember how I can make you all anxious in a matter of seconds? Let's do this again" You're in for a treat and Season 3 is a good one They're using words to convey secret messages, music to make you feel the emotions and shots to feel pressure. This is peak television and nothing less than that

Youtalkingtome

You're right. I love the run they have been on. S3 might be a personal favorite for me. However, you can't deny S2.