In The West Wing, the Iowa episode βKing Cornβ directly concerns the growing sexual tension between Josh Lyman and Donna Moss. The episode finds the two coming ever closer to answering the will-they-or-wonβt-they question in the affirmativeβrealizing that their hotel rooms in Cedar Rapids are directly across the hall from each other. It emphasizes their parallel mornings. It emphasizes their parallel days. It ends with Josh, aaaalmost deciding to knock on Donnaβs door when the day is done, and then deciding against it. And yet, the episode does the work that will be necessary for Donna and Josh to become a couple: It insists on their equality. All those parallelsβrooms and daysβsuggest how far Donna has come from being, simply, Joshβs assistant. They suggest that Donna and Josh becoming a couple would not be a boss-and-secretary affair, but rather a marriageβor, you know, a committed relationshipβof equals.
