i'm a candlemaker but you don't hear me bragging
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I'm Emma. My name poses a dilemma. 'Cause not much else rhymes with Emma. Maybe the actor Richard Crenna (he played the commanding officer in Rambo).

30 Days of The West Wing:  Day 5 -Your favourite minor character(s)

So I may have a cheated a little bit (and believe it or not, this is a revised list) but there are too many wonderful characters to choose between. 

Ellie Bartlet was always my favourite Bartlet sister and my second favourite of the whole First Family. Kind, grounded, subtly intelligent and the most like Jed, she was the Bartlet I related to the most from the beginning, despite her lack of screen time. Plus, the scene in the cinema between Jed and Ellie is one of the loveliest in the entire series. 

Ron Butterfield. How do I begin to explain Ron Butterfield. Ron Butterfield is flawless. I hear his moustache is insured for $10,000. You get the idea… There’s a spin-off with his name on it; just saying. 

Ainsley Hayes was the first Republican I loved on the show because, in a rare move by Sorkin, she proved that politics do not always have to be divisive. Her dynamic with Sam was thoroughly enjoyable and its lack of closure is one of the many reasons I wish that Ainsley could have stayed at least one more season. 

Joey Lucas. WHY WAS THIS GIRL NOT A REGULAR INSTEAD OF MANDY?! Her wit, feistiness and ability to get under Josh’s skin made sure that every guest appearance was a delight. Perhaps one of the reasons I love her so much is that she’s essentially the female Josh Lyman, and had Donna never existed, I would have wanted Joey and Josh together for sure. 

Margaret Hooper was one of those characters where you know that every time she’s on screen, she’ll make you laugh. Whether it be her cheesy jokes (like the one above) or the deadpan delivery of all her lines, I always considered her as an honorary member of the main cast. 

Percy Fitzwallace was a BAMF, let’s face it. I adored his no nonsense attitude, almost always agreed with him on the moral issues and although we didn’t get to see it much, he was definitely a guy with a massive heart. His death during the Gaza arc was all the more heartbreaking, because here was a guy who’d served 38 years in the military, but he was killed during a diplomatic mission.  

30 Days of The West Wing: Day 4 - Your least favourite episode

No Exit

Now, this was hard. There were a couple episodes in Seasons 4 and 6, and the gimmicky episodes like Access and The Debate, that I didn’t really enjoy because this show does set an impossibly high standard for itself. But in the end I went with the episode that annoyed me the most. I found No Exit’s storyline terribly contrived, the characters were caricatures of themselves and the whole thing was just a bit ridiculous. Whilst I was really beginning to love Will in Season 4 and early Season 5, I found him kind of unbearably arrogant during this episode and instead of being shown that Will is a great speechwriter and tactician, we are merely told. The Jed/Charlie/Fiderer segments were mildly amusing and there was an appearance from my favourite character in all the land, Ron Butterfield, but there were more plot holes than you can shake a stick at (i.e. why were they trawling through Debbie’s car when they already determined the source of infection?! anyway…). More than anything else, it was the scenes between C.J. and Donna that annoyed me the most. They’re my two favourite characters so naturally I didn’t want any sort of conflict between them, but it was as though the script writers had promptly forgotten who these characters were. Donna was reduced to a character whose life revolves completely around Josh and C.J. was written as being uncharacteristically callous. Her comments about Donna outgrowing her job were on the nose but there’s no way she would have been so insensitive about Donna’s relationship with Josh, when she must know how much she’s in love with him. And then there was Donna’s bitchy line about C.J. going home to reruns of Letterman - Donna has always been brilliantly sassy but never, ever bitchy. Ugh it was all wrong. Maybe I was overly sensitive when I watched this episode because I’ve only ever seen it once, but I always remember how mad it made me.

30 Days of The West Wing: Day 3 - Your favourite episode

Two Cathedrals

TV doesn’t get much better than this. Scratch that, TV doesn’t get any better than this. This episode isn’t just about the death of a much-beloved colleague and whether or not President Bartlet will run for a second term; it is the fall and rebirth of a man. The flashbacks to Jed’s school days are intricately woven into the storyline through parallels and cinematography to die for and the casting of young Jed and Mrs Landingham is flawless (their dynamic is just begging for a spin-off). We see his mistreatment at the hands of his father and we realise that by rejecting God, Jed is finally speaking the words he never could to his father. There is a universalisability about that brilliant scene in the church (I haven’t the foggiest idea why Martin Sheen never won an Emmy for this) because who hasn’t had their faith tested or experienced that moment of doubt; not just with religion but in all areas of life?

The eponymous ‘Two Cathedrals’ represent the two most defining aspects of Jed and how connected they are. When he loses faith in God, he also loses faith in his presidency, but Mrs Landingham is there to put some much needed sense in him, like always. Because you never had a big sister and you need one. Visited by an angel, baptised in the rain of a tropical storm, disciples - SO MANY JESUS METAPHORS YOU GUYS. So when we reach the final scene I am already a wreck, but Sorkin and Schlamme go ahead and decide to create the best sequence of television I’ve ever seen. (Not even exaggerating. Just watch this: x ) I’ve seen it fifty times, I know exactly what is going to happen, and yet the magic is still there. In summary: the best episode ever of the best show ever, and y’all should watch it. Stat. 

30 Days of The West Wing: Day 2- Your least favourite main character

Leo McGarry

I was going to choose Mandy because lol it’s mandy, but considering she was only in one season, I feel largely apathetic towards her now. So I went with Leo instead. This is probably an unpopular opinion, so I’d like to say that I never actively disliked him! but he was the only character out of the core nine (Josh, Toby, C.J., Jed, Sam, Donna, Charlie, Abbey) who was never my favourite at one point or another. A lot of it has to do with his separation from the rest of the group; whilst the rest of the main cast interacted freely with one another, Leo lost his place as the show progressed. His slight mistreatment of women on the show (C.J., Margaret etc) highlighted his viewing of the White House as a ‘boys only’ playground, and this ideology caused the biggest disconnect for me. I loved what he meant to the characters - especially Jed because by god, their friendship is flawless - but I never really loved him. That being said, I still balled my eyes out when he died (simultaneously crying for John Spencer :((() 

30 Days of The West Wing: Day 1 - Your favourite character

C.J. Cregg

(Source: jon-snowing)

.: 30 days of the west wing

zingandpep:

  • Day 01 - Your favourite character:  
  • Day 02 - Your least favourite character:  
  • Day 03 - Your favourite episode: 
  • Day 04 - Your least favourite episode: 
  • Day 05 - Your favourite minor character: 
  • Day 06 - Your least favourite minor character: 
  • Day 07 - The character you relate to most: 
  • Day 08 - Your favourite Sorkin episode: 
  • Day 09 - Your favourite post-Sorkin episode
  • Day 10 - An episode you’ve seen more than five times:
  • Day 11 - Your favourite Christmas episode: 
  • Day 12 - Your favourite scene: 
  • Day 13 - A scene that makes you laugh:
  • Day 14 - A scene that makes you cry
  • Day 15 - A scene that makes you angry
  • Day 16 - A scene that makes you happy
  • Day 17 - Your favourite ship: 
  • Day 18 - Your favourite kiss: 
  • Day 19 - Your favourite friendship
  • Day 20 - A pairing you can’t stand: 
  • Day 21 - Something you wish had never happened: 
  • Day 22 - Your favourite quote: 
  • Day 23 - Your favourite cast member: 
  • Day 24 - Your favourite guest-star: 
  • Day 25 - Your favourite cast picture
  • Day 26 - Your favourite fic
  • Day 27 - Your favourite season: 
  • Day 28 - Your favourite screencap
  • Day 29 - An unpopular opinion
  • Day 30 - Anything that takes your fancy