Had a funny thought watching this: Sam must be a TERRIBLE chess player to somehow miss a one move checkmate LOL

One of the few times that Donna was out of order.

Are they so deluded they think they lit the world for the entire 19th century? When they were even fighting amonst themselves? When many other nations led the way in engineering, industry, even abolished slavery long before the US. But they lit the world?

Alison janneys best scene outside of private parts

There was an arc for Sam but Rob Lowe has recently talked about how working on the west wing was like an abusive relationship that he needed to get out of

I feel these two would produce the most beautiful children to ever grace the face of the earth

I've looked so hard for this clip. I was beginning to think I'd imagined it. Thanks

You can see heartbreak all over Sams face. Brilliant scene.

This writing… it’s so many things.. precious.. comes to mind.

“The chaos of the Oval Office “ a comment that speaks to the reasons why President Biden was eventually convicted not to seek reelection. It’s the most demanding job in the world and imho it requires a much younger person. One even younger than DTrump.

I like it more to think when Sam says "father" he's not projecting. That he's saying the woman's dying father, not long deceased grandfather, was the spy. Of course, the storyline is about Sam finding out a very dark secret about his own father so his projection makes sense. But I like my version better.

Someone always seems to be cutting onions when I’m watching this scene. 😢

It always should have been Malory and Sam !!!

Subject: I odd fractal American Women Voters Anagram: Inverted commas Declaration of War Number of letters: 34 43 47 74 😊

I am still wishing one day we will have West Wing 2.0 with Sam as sitting president, working with staff consists of old gang members and new blood from younger generation.

Like her mother, she has a beautiful neck.

Alan Sorkin, the show runner didn't like Rob Lowe and basically wrote him out of the show. What they should have done was to spin his character off, with a different show runner, while Sam/Rob ran for Congress. Then they could have shown the behind the scenes insanity on Capitol Hill, which is 10 times worse than anything going on in the White House.

I need someone to have a revival of West Wing with President Seaborn. Now please.

Wouldn't the translator be considered a traitor to her country?

Janel Maloney is such a good actor.

Lowe really sells how upset Sam is here, he really seems to be fighting rage and the urge to burst into tears at the same time.

This scene illustrates one of the biggest problems with the Bartlett administration as well as other administrations: complete cluelessness on the part of senior staff (except the COS and the president) when it comes to foreign affairs and the military

A reboot with Sam as president would be fantastic.

Everyone wants a reboot, me included, but lets face it obama, trump and biden have ruined politics and thrown this country into such a tailspin that it could NEVER be made without being too polarized and just pissing off half the fan base. IT's a share, really, but it just can't be done this way anymore.

I would love to see a reboot with Sam as president.

I didn't know about the behind the scenes politics. I do know that after the first few seasons it lost the funny and was all serious. Was that the fault of those four actors, the change in writers, a combination of those or something else?

I'm going to be a girl for a minute and say that I've always wanted for Sam and Mallory end up together. Maybe not a slow-burn will-they-won't-they, but something please! Great opportunity missed.

My favorite part of this episode is when Nancy shows him the NSA file... when she opens it and is telling him that she's blacked out code word information his eyes never leave her face; it's a little detail but it always stands out to me.

Imagine what the 45 version of this would be like. Swamp meets treatment pond.

Ironic a democrat being patriotic & talking about the country as an idea & treason particularly these days where democrats aren't patriotic & openly work against the foundations & idea of the country that has been a beacon to the world for nearly 250 years especially all because they fear one person. Sam's speech to Donna heading back to the friend or whatever is pretty much the opposite of everything democrats stand for today. Democrats couldnt even be bothered by 13 Americans killed in the biden retreat of Afghanistan nor during obama's reign & the 4 American's killed in terrorist attacks in Libya.

Why was everyone on the show so naive & take everything so personal. I never get why sam was so worked up to the point of throwing sugar packets & avoiding the issue of telling the friend or whatever either the truth he was a spy or saying simply that he couldn't find anything. I forget how many times they all got so worked up over nonsense especially things like this that happened 50+ years ago before any of them were born. he gets upset with Donna & then throws a tantrum walking up to tell the "friend" all over something 50 years earlier that had nothing to do with the administration or whatever let alone nothing personal to Sam. He acts like someone beat up his kid or killed his pet fish. BTW you know the US would try to get an advantage over Stalin just as they would today over putin & putin would try over the USA. Its basic diplomacy & common sense. So what's the big deal people spy all the time for & against us. Hate them sure but hold it against their family let alone 50 years later & after they die. Unless the family helped some how.

Sam would have been a great VP under Santos if the series continued

My favorite part about this scene was how Sam was SO far away from running for president at this time. He wasn't even close to running for Congress yet, just a mere speechwriter with zero national profile in politics. Bartlet was seeing the whole board in more ways than one here. Great scene.

Its been long enough. I need to see the West Wing return with Sam running for President like Jed said. And I'm not talking about an HBO special but a real return. Talk about foreshadowing and an awesome way to conclude all of our favorite characters.

Such a shame we never got to see Sam Seaborn run for president in a follow-up series!

Yet another example of why, at its best, The West Wing is some of the finest art ever put on television anywhere ever.

Donna was one of my fave characters ......what she did here? was horrible .....preying on Sams vanity and making that who he was at one of the worst times of his life when he desperately needed some encouragement .....it was ugly, wrong and abusive......she used her friend.....it showed her humanity and imperfection and it was ugly - and she knew it in the end .....it is easy to justify doing wrong for supposedly "right" reasons....until you see the pain they cause .......which hopefully? was a lesson to others to avoid the same "justification"

This is the kind of scene that LOOKS like other TV dramas from that time but the acting and the writing is just such a cut above.

Making Matt Santos the next POTUS was brilliant, but after him? Would love for them to come back with Sam taking over.

Which season and episode?

This show is irrelevant now that we know its all corrupt

That's "see the whole board."

Tge problem is, he can't tell her. He couldn't even tell Donna, unless Donna has Top Secret Classification. Nancy McNally may have removed the ""Code Word" sections of the Top Secret document, so Sam could read it, but the document is still classified Top Secret. Sam could go to jail just for asking the lady if she knew who Shabba Densky was, as his only knowledge of her death was from the Top Secret document. Later this woman could start reaching this person, leading to the knowledge that the US knew her grandfather was a spy, letting the Russian know we broke the code Top Secret means you can talk about it at all, unless you have reason to and everyone listening has clearance.

Rob Lowe's finest moment onscreen.

That performance was a dramatic demonstration of what true patriotism means… legitimately, and in-spite of the human complications… This show really did have a good measure on how it means to be truly-- and sincerely, without arrogance, and with all genuine, honest grace- an American-- but also, what’s it means to be an American, in the context of being a human being first. 😮

We see Sam untying his Black Tie. Can we have a vision of him tying it! Tying a bow tie is an art!

This show had great characters, had great scenes, and had great actors. It also depicts how far left the liberals of today have gone. This one scene displays how the liberals were against communism in the late 90's and early 2000's. In 2023, the far left liberals are openly embracing communism. If a far leftist of 2023 just watched this TV show for the first time and didn't know that these characters were democrats, this hypothetical leftist would think they were republicans.

These two should have shipped!

I wonder what bartlet’s elo is :)

All the talk about Sam's character and Rob Lowe being written out of the show... it seems like they were setting up a Sam and Mallory arc here and then totally abandoned it.