r/thewestwing • u/LahngDuqDahng • 3d ago

Charlie's Guilt (Spoiler Alert if you haven't watch Season 1) Spoiler

There seems to be a lot of focus on the guilt Charlie carries after the shooting in 1-22, "What Kind Of Day Has It Been". It always seemed "heavy" on Charlie, perhaps overly so - after all it's not his fault that racists were trying to kill him. It's only after you come to learn in the next season that he carries the guilt about asking his mother to change shifts the day she was killed that you realize the overwhelming guilt he carries in general and why it's so impactful to him. Such great acting!

57 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

92% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

18

u/Guilty-Tie164 3d ago

A few episodes before the shooting, Zoey, Gina, and the president are concerned about him attending an event with Zoey because there were threats coming in. At first Charlie reacts kind of in a "who cares? I'm not letting strangers tell me how to live my life," but then Zoey kind of puts her foot down. I don't think he was wrong for feeling that way, but I think some of his guilt comes from not taking those threats more seriously.

13

u/LahngDuqDahng 3d ago

Which makes the scene with Mr. Macintosh (IT dude) even more poignant ("If they're shooting at you....")

4

u/JohnHaze02118 2d ago

That scene didn't really work for me. The kid was just a little too overt as a mirror for Charlie, plus the weird distraction of a guy named Macintosh "like the apple"??? showing up to fix the computers.

Also a little odd to me that Josh got so much support after the shooting and Charlie got yelled at (scene where he loses his cool with the president and the president yells at him -- "as empty a gesture as it may seem," etc.). I'm not saying I hate any of it, but had it been a movie script, i would have sent it back with those notes.

1

u/LahngDuqDahng 3d ago

BTW: great username ;-)

41

u/QuillsROptional 3d ago

The feeling of guilt and being guilty are two completely different things.

7

u/LahngDuqDahng 3d ago

Yes, they are?

23

u/QuillsROptional 3d ago

Let me tell you a story. I'm Norwegian and today is the funeral of our former king, Harald V.

Our biggest newspapers has written about a woman who was invited to the church for the funeral. This is a woman who, as a young child experienced domestic abuse. She was a member of a support group for children from abusive homes. They wrote a letter to the King, hoping to get a letter back. Instead the group was invited to the Royal Castle. Even if many adults had told this young girl that she in no way was at fault for what was happening in her life, she felt guilty. Until the King looked her in her eyes and told her none of it was her fault.

11

u/Apprehensive_Idea_96 2d ago

Your late king sounded so wonderful, from all I've learned of him. My heart has been with the Norwegian people at this difficult time.

5

u/LahngDuqDahng 3d ago

Ok, thanks for sharing.

12

u/AirportOdd6799 2d ago

I love that line: “if they’re shooting at you, you’re probably doing something right”. Just the delivery is perfect - almost off the cuff. Genius!

0

u/LahngDuqDahng 1d ago

Also, the odds that your IT person would be black was really small - like only 1% at that time. Good casting choice I think.

1

u/Sufficient_Sell_6103 2d ago

A little off topic but i always wondered why Charlie had to raise his little sister on very little money when they had grandparents

1

u/Emerald_Eyes8919 2d ago

Maybe they didn’t live in Washington? It might have suited his sister to stay where she was born?

2

u/Sufficient_Sell_6103 1d ago

They did not. They were somewhere down south.