The best episodes and the worst episodes

Over a run of 156 episodes, this show has been education, entertainment, therapy, and more.

The Best Episodes

rank - title season.episode

10 - Tomorrow 7.22 The series finale is thoroughly satisfying. Sometimes things work out well.

9 - Constituency of One 5.5 So, confession time. While Josh was my favorite character growing up, on subsequent rewatches he’s one of the most problematic characters, and in no universe deserved Amy Gardner. This episode is enjoyable because it’s always fun to see someone get knocked down a few well deserved pegs, plus it sets up the shutdown arc (props to Angela Blake!).

8 - And It’s Surely to Their Credit 2.5 Ainsely Hayes is the best character to not end up a series regular, although Angela Blake gives her a run for the money. And this is an outstanding showcase of Ainsley. But just as importantly, it’s the definitive episode about the ethos of the Sorkin years: The Team. Who is on the team, and what we do for our team.

7 - Life on Mars 4.21 Maybe I just have a thing for how Sorkin writes a particular brand of Republican (the kind that seem extinct). Still, this is a great episode. How Joe Quincy gets from a science reporter’s question to the eventual resignation of the Vice President is as good as it gets.

6 - King Corn 6.13 This is maybe my favorite episode because it is so tonally different than every other episode. Using Rashomon structure, it takes the day from three prespectives and brings it together.

5 - Noel 2.10 Christmas and Jews make the best combination. And this episode, guest starring Adam Arkin as the trauma counselor Stanley Keyworth, is outstanding. “A man falls in a hole, you see,…”

4 - In Excelsis Deo 1.10 Again, Christmas and Jews. Toby was always best - and most annoying- when he’s the moral agitant on the show, and Toby’s basic humanity to bury a homeless veteran with mourners present is deeply Jewish, deeply American, and deeply of the season.

3 - Bartlet For America 3.9 The West Wing was, among many things, a love story between Leo and Jed. Leo’s performance in this episode never fails to reduce me to a weeping heep, and is emblematic of that central relationship.

2 - Seventeen People 2.18 I’ll let this guy explain.

1 - Two Cathedrals 2.22 What happens when a devout man is tested? “ But if you don’t run because you think it’s gonna be too hard or you think you’re gonna lose, well, God, Jed, I don’t even want to know you.”

Honorable Mentions:

Other great episodes that are worth watching on their own.

Celestial Navigation 1.15 - cause of Edward James Olmos,

What Kind of Day Has it Been 1.22 - “Decisions are made by those who show up”,

In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Pts 1 and 2 (2.1, 2.2) - the team is assembled, the team wins,

Shibboleth 2.8 He gave him the knife!,

Somebody’s Going to Emergency 2.16 - best Sam episode,

The Stackhouse Fillibuster 2.17 - because it uses the epistolary technique to tell a good story,

The Two Bartlets 3.12 - no more uncle fluffy,

Dead Irish Writers 3.15 - drunk CJ,

We Killed Yamamoto 3.20 - the sequence from which the title is drawn in the Sit Room,

20 hours in America 4.1 and 4.2 - if it weren’t for Donna they would have to buy a house there,

The California 47th 4.16 - poor Sam,

Privateers 4.18 Drunk CJ, Drunk First Lady Drunk Donna, Drunk Amy,

Twenty Five 4.23 three words: Glen Allen Walken,

The Stormy Present 5.10 Glen Allen Walken, again,

A Change is Gonna Come 6.7 - introduction to Matt Santos,

In God We Trust 6.20 - “You can try coffee, but prayer works for me”,

The Debate 7.7 - it’s still a good debate and better than anything we’ve been treated to,

Institutional Memory 7.21 - easily the best CJ episode, cause they always screwed them up.

The Worst Episodes

10 - Mr. Willis of Ohio 1.6 - obvious problem here, Mr. Willis would not be there if his wife was a House member. Oddly this episode is cited a lot in the “Weekly Civics Lesson”.

9 - The Mommy Problem 7.2 - oh jeez. other than introducing Lou, this episode is a mess. Actually, even the way they bring Lou in is a mess.

8 - The Indians in the Lobby 3.7 - really insulting to Native Americans and First Peoples.

7 - Ninety Miles Away 3.19 - oh god, oh god, oh god.

6 - Access 5.18 this should have been so much better (and also needed to be retconned).

5 - The Drop In 2.12 Not a good Lord John Marbury.

4 - Swiss Diplomacy 4.9 - yea, convenient nuclear scare with the Iranians. ok.

3 - The Hubbert Peak 6.5 - Toby briefing is fun, but everything Josh touches is hot garbage in this episode.

2 - The Supremes 5.17 - I would totally watch a show about this Supreme Court, but this episode and the one below are the height of the problems with this show. The idea that 7 people run the government through cute tricks to effect grand gestures isn’t the ethos of the show, but it is the most parodiable.

1 - Slow News Day 5.12 In which Toby destroys Social Security, singlehandedly, in one episode. yea…

after almost 20 years from the pilot - and over a dozen from the finale - there’s a lot about the show that feels dated. But the relationships, the writing, the team, the ethos of duty - there’s something lasting about this show.