Brothers In Arms

I delved into another world of Aaron Sorkin’s not too long ago:  The West Wing.  Had it not been by him—and you know the fondness for his works I have—I would have been much more skeptical about the show.  Political drama, blah blah blah… But because of Sports Night, I gave it a shot.  In a word: wow.  In two words: fantastic show.  The excellent writing is still there… it’s got excellent dialogue on the reg, you might say, and held back just a bit from SN’s chitterychattery backandforthness, which is just fine.  It’s intelligent, captivating, surprisingly interesting.

It’s nice, in a way, that its plot really never in any way resembles what’s actually going on in the world, IRL.  It keeps a great sense of reality, but it’s not so much a commentary on current events or anything like that—a nice escape.

More importantly, the characters… from episode one, just as the characters in SN reliably did, they suck you in, involve you, make you feel.  Great casting, great acting.  I’m amused by the casting crossover from SN to The West Wing… mainly minor characters recur significantly in TWW, and major characters from SN sparingly have minor roles in TWW.  But there’s certainly a good number of them.  So far, up to season 2’s end, no Dan or Casey though.  More on crossover in a moment, but two notes… One, I’ve never much cared for Rob Lowe.  Not much at all.  Always seemed kinda skeezy.  In The West Wing, he plays Sam Seaborn, the deputy communications director for the white house, and is a very smart but somehow boyishly innocent and friendly person… I don’t know how better to describe him.  But… it suits him so well, and he is probably my favorite character.  Very impressed.  Secondly, there’s Bradley Whitford, who in any other role you’ve seen him in has been weaselly and sniveling, and in this he plays Josh Lyman… witty, argumentative, very smart,  forthright, incredibly respectable, and an easy second favorite.  I was very skeptical when I saw him in the first episode… thought I was going to hate him.  Turns out, in the first episode of season 2, I was far, far more concerned about him than I was about President Bartlett.

One small disappointment in the show is simply that, while they’re great ideas, I’m seeing a good bit of ideas crossing from Sports Night into TWW.  Plotlines occasionally ranging from very similar to outright carbon copies.  For example, in SN, Jeremy goes through a bit of a breakdown caused by his parents getting divorced when it comes out that his father has been cheating on his mother for over twenty years with some woman.  In TWW, Sam goes through a bit of a breakdown caused by his parents getting divorced when it comes out that his father has been cheating on his mother for over twenty years with some woman.  Huh.  Anyway, at least such occurrences are not terribly common, and it’s funny to every once in a while even hear a line that once came straight from Dan Rydell’s mouth coming out again from the mouth of Josh Lyman.  Again, at least that stuff is good stuff.

My final reflections are these:  I watched season one shortly before actually taking my first real, interested trip to Washington DC, and season two concurrently.  It was really, really cool, simply put.  Seeing the sights, thinking about the characters, and relating it to what’s really going on in those austere buildings and such… wicked cool.  (Though, it’s odd seeing all those aerial shots of the white house in the show without all the tourists that would be there.)  And… regarding the title of this entry… The last episode I’ve seen is the end of season 2, and I’m in the process of acquiring season 3, and I can’t wait to start it.  But, that last episode… incredible.  The final scene is calm, but gripping, intense and subtle, an ultimate climax and cliffhanger, and what makes it tenfold as much as it would otherwise be is the use of music.  The song playing during the scene (slightly sped up, I noticed,) is Dire Straights “Brothers In Arms,” and… just wow.  I would have never thought that song could be put to such a use (though it is, of course, a great song,) and… wow.  Best song imaginable to use in that scene, and best possible use of that song, ever.  Because of that scene the song has been in my head for over a week now, and I’ll always think of it differently.  I really, really can’t wait to start season 3.