Take This Sabbath Day

I especially liked when the president just appears behind Joey, and also everything with Joey and the interpreter in it, and also when Joey is talking to the president in the oval office.

The writing just flows so well. Esp in the oval office scene with Joey.

The heavy weight of the office rests on Sheen's shoulders in this strong segment, reflecting Sorkin's ability to make his point without preachiness. And that even with very powerful performances by Sheen's boyhood priest (Karl Malden, a terrifically effective guest star) and Toby's rabbi (David Proval, cast against type and, for me, delivering a career highlight).

The subject is capital punishment, and while there is no question about Sorkin's liberal position on the subject (which I steadfastly share), he puts the president on the opposite side. That's a bit surprising, but works wonders dramatically to show how ambivalence, second thoughts, and as Janney demonstrates, not really caring can be fatal when it comes to making the right decision.

Marlee Matlin is funny and forceful in her West Wing debut, setting her up as a semi-regular for the series' future.

What a spectacular piece of dramatic art - from the screenplay to the performances; from the brilliant direction to the moving piece of music that accompanied the fade out at the end. The West Wing in its first few years was some of the greatest television of all time, and this episode sits at the top of its storied and remarkable run.

Hands down this is the finest episode of any television show ever. Doesn't matter if you are Democrat or Republican, this episode shows the struggles every President and his advisors must go through when considering to stay an execution. It illustrates the human side to being President and staff during the debate. Do you follow your heart, mind, and religion and stay the execution? Or do you follow what the American People want? And allow it? Do you follow the Commandment that says "thou shall not murder?" And while Simon Cruz (the killer in this episode) is a murderer, does that then allow the President the right to murder him for his crimes?

I give this 4 stars because the B storyline involving the deaf chief of staff for the problematic Democratic Congressional seat was interesting. But I found the main storyline about the death penalty to be awful. Not because it's about the death penalty, but because of all of the emphasis in the perspective of religious leaders and the little emphasis on the perspective of evidence of wrongful death penalty convictions of the past. The scene between Charlie and the President was interesting and good. But the stuff with the President's childhood religious leader was so stupid and annoying. Not only was the hypothetical story awful and useless, but the President didn't address the faults in the story. The main one being that it's a made-up-story that pre-supposes an afterlife science that we have no good evidence is possible. And no one addresses the flaw in using such baseless hypotheticals to try to address an actual real circumstance in the real world. Really dumb. I also wished the ending was a bit more resolved. Whether they chose to intervene or not, it could have been more clear what they decided. I also would have liked if someone had address that the Bill of rights is about protecting the rights of people even if certain circumstances make those rights unpopular for people to support protecting. If that's the issue, the course of action should be to remove the protecting, not ignore the rights instilled in the constitution.

FYI: I generally have liked the show so far. And this is largely why I was so upset by this episodes. If the B story had been bad as well or didn't exist It might have gotten a 1 or 2 star review from me.