[SPN] When Something Wicked This Way Comes

TV Programme: Sports Night
Season: 2
Episode: 2
Date I watched this episode: 01/08/2009
Time since I last watched this programme: 1 day.

It's no coincidence that Sports Night brings in a ratings expert the same time as the rating of the real life programme are faltering. Aaron Sorkin wrote the show this way deliberately. This episode then served the single purpose of introducing the ratings expert, played by Felicity Huffman's real-life husband William H Macy.

The way this was done built up a lot of mystery and tension, especially between Isaac and Dana, prior to actually seeing Macy's character Sam Donovan at the end of the episode. At the rumour stage, Dana clearly didn't believe there was even a remote possibility that it could be true. Well Isaac is not very popular with the crew now. I can see why he did it - he has to look like he is trying to do his job to keep the network away, even if the ratings didn't need pushing up. The key question posed by Dana though is "Who do I answer to, you or him?" Isaac kind of dodged this question, and I'm sure that this will be a dilemma which will appear again in this show. Sam Donovan himself was only seen briefly, but is completely impolite and abrasive. He's certainly going to cause rifts. Maybe that's why he's so successful though.

The other big story was with Dana's "epiphany". I can imagine Casey's problem - Dana is so passionate that he doesn't quite know how to deal with her. There is no real logical comeback here - her logic does make sense but she has just taken all the emotion out of the situation. I think Dan's idea is good though - just do what she tells you and then see whether she likes it in the cold light of day. (But then it might all turn sour, like Lucas and Brooke in [OTH] "A Multitude Of Casualties").

The smallest story in this ep was Dan and Hillary Clinton. Well this wasn't all that great but it was necessary because it gave Casey and Dan some witty banter. It's one of those little stories which reminds me of a lot of the episodes early on in season one. Natalie and Jeremy, having hogged the screentime in the last episode, hardly appeared at all in this one.

Overall this was a well-constructed episode, funny in the right places, lots of character stories, and opened up a whole new can of worms to be explored in the rest of the season.