Word: joshing
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...write an episode that was literally didactic - that is, teacherly - by setting it in what was for all intents and purposes a classroom. The set-up: in response to a reported security breach, the White House "crashes" - no one is allowed to enter or leave - just as aide Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) is speaking to a class of honor students...
...class decamps to the basement; the nervous kids only want to ask Josh questions about terrorism. And from here on out, for the bulk of the episode, class is in session for Professor Sorkin, who doesn't need to bother even with the scanty dramatic figleaves he usually knits together in order to deliver himself of soliloquys through his characters. Here, the kids just serve up one setup question after another - "Why are they trying to kill us?" "What do we do now?" - that allows for a series of well-meaning, well-expressed, but by now well-worn disquisitions...
...will it be through the kind of uplifting wrap-ups that "The West Wing" specializes in, which rang a little more hollow than usual last night. At the end of the episode, after the White House is declared safe, Josh Lyman tells the students to go back, live their lives, pursue their dreams and be kids, without letting fear of terrorism dominate their existence...
...Josh could say that. In the fictional world of this playlet, everyone got a good scare, but no one got hurt, lost parents, saw dozens of office workers jump a thousand feet rather than burn to death. It was a lot easier for the fictional class on the screen to take his advice than for the figurative one at home. But that's one problem, with drama and with life, that even I can't blame Aaron Sorkin...
...Crimson managed not to lose a step despite the absence of three key players due to injury. Senior tailback Josh Staph, sophomore linebacker Dante Balestracci, and senior defensive end Phil Scherrer were all major factors in Harvard’s win over Brown but sat out this weekend’s game...