As a follow-up to one of the most hard-hitting episodes in show history, this double-length season-opener is perhaps the funniest ever. Relaxed and smooth funny...like the smooth of a fifty year-old whiskey (i'm imagining). Josh, Toby, and Donna get accidentally left behind by the motorcade after an event in Indiana. A comedy of errors (running out of gas, a time zone change, a wrong-way train, mean girls on bikes...) follows. Amy Adams (CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, THE MUPPETS) plays a modern farmer's daughter. Ernestine Jackson and Tommy Lafitte play diner proprietors who possibly offer the most funny-per-second in show history (get the dry rub). Sam is forced to spend the day staffing the President, making him realize how much dumber he is than Josh. C.J. struggles with resentment from Simon's "little brother", until Charlie schools him. Debbie finally earns the personal secretary position, and Ms. Tomlin is a delight. Qumar reopens the investigation into Shareef's death, leading to some tense (but still funny) scenes between Jed, Fitz, and Nancy. Just when you thought you'd never see her again, Mallory appears. She takes a tired Sam home...let your imagination go where it will, because we won't see her again for two years. In the midst of all this lightness, domestic terrorists set off pipe bombs at a college swim meet. Jed's remarks in the aftermath may put a lump in your throat. Fantastic.
4 Reviews
Honestly I loved Donna, Josh and Toby just walking around and doing stuff
SpookyUser28 April 2021
Besides the rest of the stuff that is going on in these two episodes, I really enjoyed the Richard Linklater esque plot of navigating through the countryside with nothing in particular to do. Also kind of reminded me of Harry Potter 7: Part 1. Really Enjoyed :)
20 Hours in America Part One
lassegalsgaard12 July 2022
After the incredibly tense finale for the third season, I expected this show to take a more downbeat path for the fourth season opening. It's clear that they're building up to this being the election season and that things may not go as planned. Given that there are still more seasons to come of this show, though, I imagine that things aren't going to go as terribly as I might think. This episode did show a bit of laziness on the Bartlet administration staff, though. As an opening, this episode did its job, but there are obviously a lot of things yet to be seen.
There are a lot of things that we were not shown as this episode has jumped a bit in time. The DNC has obviously happened, and Bartlet is now campaigning as the official candidate. What the episode did very well was showing the friction that seems to be occurring in the campaign as much of the episode was dedicated to Josh and Toby trying to see eye-to-eye with their different approaches. There's a bump that they need to get over and it seems like we could be going into some of the darker days of these characters and their relationship. It also goes to show why Toby is one of the smartest characters in this show. He always sees the things for what they are, and not how they are being portrayed. That was the biggest takeaway from this episode and the best part, with the other half of the episode being focused on the President and his doings during this time, and I felt like that part was a little less accessible. I'm sorry, but I don't find his quest to find a new secretary interesting. It seems like a fun joke that went on for a little too long. I also know that this was the season where Rob Lowe decided to leave, and it seems to me like they're setting up something for Sam. This episode didn't have the Sam Seaborn that we were introduced to in the first season and why that is, I assume that we'll know very soon.
"20 Hours in America Part One" was a nice opening to the season, but it obviously miss something that we'll hopefully get in Part Two. Josh and Toby's journey throughout the episode was both heartfelt and hilarious and I'm sure that we'll get more of their dilemma coming up, setting the tone for the rest of the season.
There are a lot of things that we were not shown as this episode has jumped a bit in time. The DNC has obviously happened, and Bartlet is now campaigning as the official candidate. What the episode did very well was showing the friction that seems to be occurring in the campaign as much of the episode was dedicated to Josh and Toby trying to see eye-to-eye with their different approaches. There's a bump that they need to get over and it seems like we could be going into some of the darker days of these characters and their relationship. It also goes to show why Toby is one of the smartest characters in this show. He always sees the things for what they are, and not how they are being portrayed. That was the biggest takeaway from this episode and the best part, with the other half of the episode being focused on the President and his doings during this time, and I felt like that part was a little less accessible. I'm sorry, but I don't find his quest to find a new secretary interesting. It seems like a fun joke that went on for a little too long. I also know that this was the season where Rob Lowe decided to leave, and it seems to me like they're setting up something for Sam. This episode didn't have the Sam Seaborn that we were introduced to in the first season and why that is, I assume that we'll know very soon.
"20 Hours in America Part One" was a nice opening to the season, but it obviously miss something that we'll hopefully get in Part Two. Josh and Toby's journey throughout the episode was both heartfelt and hilarious and I'm sure that we'll get more of their dilemma coming up, setting the tone for the rest of the season.
Yuengling?
bmissimer13 October 2020
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