The previous two seasons of this show have not been great; both season 4 and 5 seemed to lack direction and focus and to a certain extent seemed to be in a rut brought on partly by the limiting factor of the location and the limits that this worlds brings with it. I didn't think this would change much in the sixth season but in a way it mostly does, even if some of the ways it tries to break out don't work. We pick up with the Middle East peace talks and the aftermath of Donna's injury and from there we have many plot threads, not all of which work.
This season has lots of large plots but the issue is similar to those in the past – it doesn't stay the course to see the consequences or the outcome. So, for example we have peace being brokered in the Middle East and we have political fallout from that, but it kinda fades away as the season goes on. We also have a dramatic moment regarding the President's MS, but beyond the addition of a walking stick to Sheen's wardrobe, it doesn't seem to do much beyond providing a dramatic episode. The show also manages to get talks with Castro into the mix as well – again leading to nothing outside of this one episode. Most of these plots work in the moment but it feels messy when they don't go anywhere and it did make me think that the writers were doing all they could to get out of the rut, even if it seemed a bit desperate and attention-grabbing.
The thread that doesn't do this is the nomination process for the Presidential nominee. This thread works very well and they bleed it into the show well, at times going episode about with the Oval office goings on. This has legs and feels fresh and engaging. Of course it has the usual sense of wish-fulfillment but I enjoyed seeing life on the campaign trail and in particular the King Corn episode which was well made and pretty clever. All the characters in this thread are engaging and I am looking forward to the final season because I assume that the Presidential race will be the vast majority of the show. The only downside here is that the episodes that don't feature the campaign are not quite as good even if they do have the bigger plots.
Some of the changes made to try to freshen things up are good. I liked the change to CJ's job – that had legs and worked pretty well but other things did not. A lot of new characters come in seemingly to try to make old ground feel new, but these characters mostly don't work particularly well. Kate Harper I'm not too keen on, although I did like McCormack; Annabeth just seemed too obvious a character for the show – full of quick words and witty dialogue, Chenoweth does it well but it is the same character we have seen before, just a new body around it. Feuerstein is the same – they try to drop him into a character mould but he doesn't work and he just seems like a lesser copy of others. It is a shame that so many of the new characters and face feel the same way. Santos isn't this way though; OK he is essentially Bartlett again, but Smits makes it work and is really engaging – he is rightly credited for breathing fresh air into the show and I hope he continues that into the final season. Alda isn't in it much but again his Vinick is engaging. The rest of the cast do their thing, although some seem less engaged by the whole thing – Hill in particular seems out of it, but Janney, Spencer, Whitford and others all remain strong.
Season 6 is not a total success but at least it breaks out of the rut of the last two seasons. It sometimes over-reaches in trying to do so, producing plots that are flash-in-the-pan dramatics, but it also produces and engaging and fluid thread on the campaign trail. I'm looking forward to the next season due to this thread – and I couldn't say that about the last season or so of West Wing, so that at least is a positive.
This season has lots of large plots but the issue is similar to those in the past – it doesn't stay the course to see the consequences or the outcome. So, for example we have peace being brokered in the Middle East and we have political fallout from that, but it kinda fades away as the season goes on. We also have a dramatic moment regarding the President's MS, but beyond the addition of a walking stick to Sheen's wardrobe, it doesn't seem to do much beyond providing a dramatic episode. The show also manages to get talks with Castro into the mix as well – again leading to nothing outside of this one episode. Most of these plots work in the moment but it feels messy when they don't go anywhere and it did make me think that the writers were doing all they could to get out of the rut, even if it seemed a bit desperate and attention-grabbing.
The thread that doesn't do this is the nomination process for the Presidential nominee. This thread works very well and they bleed it into the show well, at times going episode about with the Oval office goings on. This has legs and feels fresh and engaging. Of course it has the usual sense of wish-fulfillment but I enjoyed seeing life on the campaign trail and in particular the King Corn episode which was well made and pretty clever. All the characters in this thread are engaging and I am looking forward to the final season because I assume that the Presidential race will be the vast majority of the show. The only downside here is that the episodes that don't feature the campaign are not quite as good even if they do have the bigger plots.
Some of the changes made to try to freshen things up are good. I liked the change to CJ's job – that had legs and worked pretty well but other things did not. A lot of new characters come in seemingly to try to make old ground feel new, but these characters mostly don't work particularly well. Kate Harper I'm not too keen on, although I did like McCormack; Annabeth just seemed too obvious a character for the show – full of quick words and witty dialogue, Chenoweth does it well but it is the same character we have seen before, just a new body around it. Feuerstein is the same – they try to drop him into a character mould but he doesn't work and he just seems like a lesser copy of others. It is a shame that so many of the new characters and face feel the same way. Santos isn't this way though; OK he is essentially Bartlett again, but Smits makes it work and is really engaging – he is rightly credited for breathing fresh air into the show and I hope he continues that into the final season. Alda isn't in it much but again his Vinick is engaging. The rest of the cast do their thing, although some seem less engaged by the whole thing – Hill in particular seems out of it, but Janney, Spencer, Whitford and others all remain strong.
Season 6 is not a total success but at least it breaks out of the rut of the last two seasons. It sometimes over-reaches in trying to do so, producing plots that are flash-in-the-pan dramatics, but it also produces and engaging and fluid thread on the campaign trail. I'm looking forward to the next season due to this thread – and I couldn't say that about the last season or so of West Wing, so that at least is a positive.