Keep in mind that Bartlet neither saw, nor thought he saw, a ghost, that scene was just a way of dramatising the internal conflict going on in his mind. What really happened was that Bartlet walked into the Oval Office, sat down, collected the thoughts that had been spinning around in his head for the past few days, stood up and walked out into the storm, then marched silently to the press conference with renewed confidence. But that literal version of the scene wouldn't have made sense, we had to get inside Bartlet's mind to reach the same conclusion that he did; that he was using his friend's death as an excuse and that the real reason for his fear was the doubt that his father had instilled in him. Don't worry, there are no ghosts or visions in The West Wing... although CJ does manage to stand an egg on its end during the equinox, which is preposterous.I can see what they were doing, and I don't think it was badly written, acted or directed. Pretty damned good, in fact. It was just... a bit out of leftfield; the season had built up a good head of steam and I guess I was looking forward to a darker, grittier finale. This made me fear they might do down the Roslin-visions route - but hopefully it's a one off?
As for dark season finales, the endings of seasons 3 and 4 will have you covered there.
But seriously, I kind of half expect these kind of shows to build up to those kinds of finale so it's good to know they're worth waiting for. That's also why I'm intrigued to watch Twin Peaks when I get a chance, to see how (or if?) Lynch does it, and if original. And the CJ thing sounds fascinating. I'm trying to avoid googling series so I can hit it all fresh, but I hope Ainsley the ditzy republican and Oliver Platt's counsel stick around longer. It's also been weird post-Trek seeing all those familiar faces in civvies: so far had Q, Phlox, Keiko and a few others recognise from odd guest roles.
