DVD Review: The West Wing - The Complete Sixth Season

By Patrick Luce May 9, 2006, 22:07 GMT

During Season Six, the presidential race is on, with Senator Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) as the Republican frontrunner and a Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits) vying for the hotly contested Democratic presidential nomination. ...more

The politics and tension crank up in the sixth season of The West Wing, and the series still has the ability to suck you in with the very first episode and leave you wanting more when you hit that final disc.

The sixth season (which aired in 2004) is now available in a nice six disc set that collects all 22 episodes. The series stars Martin Sheen, Stockyard Channing, Dule Hill, Allison Janney, Joshua Malina, Mary McCormack, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, the late John Spencer, Bradley Whitford. The season also featured appearances from Jimmy Smits, Alan Alda, Ed O’Neill, Gary Cole and Tim Matheson.

The season follows President Bartlet (Sheen) and his administration as he enters his last year in the Oval Office; battles with his MS; strives to make his last year mean something; and sees the Democratic party start to come apart at the seams as the primary races begin and the candidates line up to replace him.

Now I will say at the start of this review that I have never watched The West Wing before this set arrives at my door. To be honest, I had little interest in reviewing it, and was thinking it would be a chore. I was hooked in the opening minutes of the first episode of the first disc. This is a series that features great face paced plots and tremendous acting from a solid cast.

Bartlet wants his last year to mean something

Disc One starts off in the middle of a crisis with the first and second episodes seeing the Bartlet administration dealing with the aftermath of a terrorist attack on a U.S. delegation in Gaza, and trying to make progress brokering a Mideast peace plan. Episodes three and four don’t let up on the tension as the Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (Spencer) is rushed to the hospital for heart surgery and C. J. Cregg (Janney) is promoted to replace him. This whole storyline was a bit disturbing to me considering that Spencer died from a heart attack in 2005.

Disc Two adds a little more humor to the continuing storylines with episodes five and six seeing Josh Lyman (Whitford) causing bad publicity for Bartlet after he crashes a mega-SUV into a Prius on the same day that the administration gets slammed for its environmental policies; and Toby Ziegler having to adapt to being the temp spokesman to the press core. Episodes seven and eight continue with a bit of the humor as Bartlet unwittingly accepts a Taiwan Independence Movement flag setting off problems for the upcoming China summit; and Penn & Teller do a guest appearance where only controversy can follow. Episode eight also kicks off a major storyline for the rest of the season as Bartlet begins to experience MS-related paralysis while traveling to China.

Disc Three sees the beginning the primary races and continues the storylines started in the earlier in the season. Episode nine finds Bartlet trying to cope with his MS while Josh and Leo (who has returned to work at the White House “part time”) deal with a huge asteroid that might hit the Earth (Hmm, I think I saw that in a movie once). Episodes 10 and 11 sees Josh and Congressman Matthew Santos (Smits) teaming up to get Santos elected for the Democratic nominee while Donna Moss quits Josh to go work for Vice President Bob Russell (Cole). Also, Senator Arnold Vinick (Alda) launches his own campaign for the Republican nomination.

Smits goes for the White House

Disc Four kicks off with episode 12 finding the administration basking in the glory of the State of the Union address, but Leo lights a fire to let their last year actually mean something to the country. The rest of the disc (episodes 13, 14, and 15) focus primarily on the campaign trail with the stories of all the candidates weaving around the events taking place at the White House.

Disc Five continues this blending of events, but the writers are careful to never let one part of the story overtake the other. Episode 16 features a showdown between Josh and Toby which is told through flashbacks. Episode 17 features funny confrontations between Bartlet and an old rival, and Toby and a pack of politically minded middle-schoolers. Episode 18 returns us back to the campaign trail with Santos trying to win California. Episode 19 takes us back to the White House as secret talks are held with Cuba and we learn a little bit more about Kate Harper’s (McCormack) past.

Disc Six finally brings us the elections where candidates are almost willing to sell their souls and any favor they can to win that needed vote. Episode 20 sees Vinick facing the crucial religious question and getting some advice from Bartlet. Episode 21 and 22 see the Democratic Convention turn to chaos as candidates refuse to budge an inch (even over silly items like who gets the bigger dressing room) and a last minute candidate is added to the ticket.

The DVD is a little light on special features with commentary on a few episodes and a pretty good profile on the Cregg character. Fans of the show will enjoy the profile, and that is who the whole set is aimed at anyway.

Penn and Teller in the White House is never a good idea

Overall, I really enjoyed The West Wing – The Complete Sixth Season. The stories are a good mix of political tension and some humor. The characters are entertaining, and well developed. I would recommend it to any fan of the show. It probably isn’t the best starting off place to new fans (like myself), but it is easy to find your footing once the season gets underway.

The West Wing – The Complete Sixth Season is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.