West Wing 7.16: "Election Day: Part I"

Written by John Wells
Directed by Alex Graves

In which the campaign ends and the voting begins, leaving both sides scrambling to interpret the exit polls and make a last ditch effort, while relationships flourish amid the tension…


Well, the time has finally come. The final leg of the final season has begun, and already there is a palpable tone of finality to it all. The writers did a nice job of making it seem like the end of a long struggle, tying the end of the series to the end of the election and its inevitable aftermath. As the characters try to figure out where things go from here, now that the dance is over, the audience feels the same decompression coming on.

There was little doubt that the election itself wouldn’t be resolved until the second part of the episode, and anyone who thought that Leo’s death would be handled before the very end of the episode wasn’t paying much attention. The writers did the only thing they could to keep the election plot viable: wait until after the election is essentially over for his death to be discovered. I’m sure that the effect will factor into the West Coast, since the plot demands that California be the deciding factor in the election, but in essence, Leo’s death shouldn’t change the outcome.

I’m more convinced than ever that Santos will win the election, sparking a final plot arc to find someone to step into Leo’s place as Vice President-Elect. And I’m still quite convinced that Sam Seaborn will be the one to step up to the plate. It would pay off a long-dangling plot thread from the Sorkin days, and it would be the kind of plot element necessary to intrigue Rob Lowe into coming back. Besides, Sam as VP and Josh as CoS? Wouldn’t that be the logical end for both characters, looking back at the very beginning of the series?

Speaking of logical ends for characters, I have to say this regarding Josh and Donna: it’s about freakin’ time! I said it before, I’m not a shipper by any means, but this is one of those instances where it just felt right. And I like the fact that it happened when Josh needed it the most, whether his clueless self understood that or not. Throughout the episode, she was the only one able to cut through the noise.

Of course, there are those who will complain that this episode was dominated by sex and relationships. That’s true, but I saw it more as pent-up and repressed emotions finally coming out, now that all the energy really has no place to go. The question is whether or not that outlet is positive or negative, and in that regard, there was a nice bit of variation.

One thing that springs to mind is the comparison of Josh and Bruno. The two have been locking heads as the campaign managers since early in the game, and both of them were left crunching numbers after the exit polls. Josh wound up relieving some of the stress with Donna, which was the culmination of their relationship to date. There’s the promise of a new future for both, regardless of the election outcome. Bruno, on the other hand, chose what appears to be a more transitory solution. It feels like another way to show that Josh is the better man, and thus the one worthy of winning the struggle.

Although the episode had a slower pace, I wasn’t left bored or distracted, because I love elections and the tension of waiting for the returns to come in. In this particular case, if these were real-world candidates, I’d be hard pressed to choose, so I’ll be happy either way. I still think Santos will win, if only because the entire season is designed for that outcome. But something tells me that the election outcome will hardly be the most important aspect of the next episode.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10