You're in for a treat this week as we are joined by our very first guest star, a woman who I count as fully half of the inspiration for undertaking this quixotic revisitation of this dumb show in the first place.
The Women of Qumar is an obvious attempt at expiation and atonement by Aaron Sorkin for his consistently gross and patronizing portrayal of women in his show's canon. Because he's an inveterate Xoomer, this attempt falls flat on its face and is infuriating in two respects. One, in that it clearly fails to vest ANY extant female character with agency and capacity to pursue an agenda independent of the administration's line. Two, in that the nominally "powerful" character being introduced is CLEARLY a vector to allow for additional throwaway plot lines centered around Josh Lyman Love Interests that are not Donna Moss.
Amy Gardner is, frankly, a great character, and probably the character other than Seth Gillette who cleaves most closely to our personal politics in the show. She was an inspiration at the time for badass women to participate in our disgusting excuse for a democracy. Not the least of whom is my wife Emma, and she joins us today for a fresh look at the show from a die-hard fan.
The article I mention in our wrap-up can be found at:
https://nplusonemag.com/issue-35/essays/cashconsent/
And it's truly spectacular, please give it a read.
Music today from Propagandhi, The Distillers, and Dragonette.
