#carol fitzpatrick

THE WEST WING S02E15: ELLIE written by Aaron Sorkin // Directed by Michael Engler

C.J.: I loved C.J. as press secretary and the rapport she had with everyone in the office, but didn’t like when she was moved to chief of staff. I still liked her character, but she lost a lot of spark, and I don’t think putting her in that position was a good move.

For her ending, I really appreciated her desire to leave politics behind and move to something that will give her a more normal life. But I do wish she hadn’t ended up with Danny. He is too forceful for me and I feel like he wanted to be with her more than she did with him. I don’t think she really owed him anything in her future job choices. My preference for her love life would have been for her to meet someone new or even spend time with her own company for a while.

Josh: I am not sure if he’ll last more than a year or two as Santos’ COS unless he can pull himself together and stop being so impulsive and chaotic. I can see him eventually teaching! I have envisioned him as a teacher in some AUs and think high school or college students would love him.

Toby: The leak storyline broke my heart. I would have loved him and CJ to go friends to lovers if not for that. He definitely did not read the room with Andy in Season 4. 🤣 But it was nice to see that he was pardoned. I do kind of believe the fan theory that he was covering for someone else in the leak.

Donna: I loved Donna for most of the series, but she soured on me in late Season 5 and early Season 6 when she blamed Josh for feeling stagnant in her career. I never thought it was fair that she blamed him (and that he’s largely blamed by some parts of the fandom) that she didn’t have the career she wanted when she also wasn’t doing anything to pursue other opportunities. She got better when she stopped being so bitter toward him. I’m not entirely sure she is qualified for a chief of staff role, but I will say the scenes with her getting her office and being offered the job were a nice emotional hit.

Jed and Abbey: I love their marriage forever and ever. Even when they fight they realize how much they love each other and come back to each other. Abbey’s line “I would vote for you” in Season 3 says everything. I wish we had seen them get back to the farm and see the girls again. Jed has earned his retirement.

Sam: Since he has been gone since Season 4 and was only onscreen for about 10 minutes of the last season I don’t have an opinion here. But Will Bailey was an inadequate replacement, IMO.

Leo: The show was not the same without him, and the void of his death was felt. In an alternate universe where he lives, he retires from politics and is married to Jordon, and he has a new “career” as a househusband. And he gets to travel with her and cook dinner and have a normal life after working so hard for the last eight years.

I do hope good things for Carol and Margaret, my favorite assistants. And Debbie! I guess she resurfaces 10+ years later sharing a beach house with a woman named Grace after their husbands fall in love with each other. (I am watching Grace and Frankie mostly because I wanted to see Lily and Martin onscreen together again.)

So, here's what class I think each West Wing character will be (at least the ones I could fit into those boxes)

Bartlet - Exec, this seems kind of obvious. He is also the "client" for the rest of them

Leo – Exec, but used to be a fixer, in this version, I'm debating that he and Bartlett are partners, but am undecided. One of the only members of this group who can fight well and use a variety of weapons

Josh – Fixer. Slightly an obvious choice, yes, but if it fits, it fits. No further notes

CJ – Rockerboy, specifically Orator. I understand as the Press Secretary it might make sense she would be a Media, but seeing as shes in charge of distributing the message not finding it, Rockerboy made more sense

Sam – Media, this is specifically based off of his habit of knowing random info, and his slightly obsessive need to heavily research every issue regardless of its relevance (ie the penny)

Toby – Rockerboy, but Politico this time. He's aware of his acerbic personality does not make him a lot of friends, so he relies on CJ for the more in person message. He does write most of the official speeches though.

Amy – Rival Fixer to Josh, okay so I dont like her character and I think she was poorly written, so Im working on expanding that

Vinick – Rival Exec to Bartlett. Yes I am aware they never campaigned against each other. But fitting the Santos administration into this was getting so complicated, which greatly saddens me bc I fucking love Matthew Santos. But anyways, Arnie Vinick was the only Republican candidate that actually posed a challenge.

Characters I want to include that I struggled to fit in to the boxes:

Donna

Charlie

Carol

Ainsley