A few episodes before this one, the 'wonks' were important to the plot. These so-called wonks were the computer geeks who, in the mid-1980s, were truly unique, as practically no one understood computers at that time. It was NOT the universal tool that it's become today. I thought that including OTHER departments within the university was a nice touch, but I also thought calling them wonks and having all of them be Urkel clones was ridiculous and showed bad writing. Well, here in "War of the Wonks", once more these walking stereotypes are back but the episode is even worse--being very badly written in just about every way--dialog, pacing, plot...you name it.
When this HIGHLY contrived and stupid episode begins, there is suddenly a rivalry between the law school and engineering school (back in the day, most computer science departments were part of engineering) stemming from computer time. This sort of animosity comes from out of nowhere but needs some explaining. Back in 1984 when this show was made, universities did NOT generally use microcomputers like we do today. Instead, mainframes with terminals were the rule and time on the system was difficult to allocate and sometimes depended on sharing and cooperation. Regardless, soon there is a battle between the Law Review and computer wonks about who or what can write better legal briefs-- a law student or some new computer program*. When the Law Review students fail, Kingsfield decides to do battle with the machine in a ridiculous finale.
Other than the fact that the writing was crap and embarrassing, this episode seems to contribute nothing to the series. A dumb episode in just about every way.
*No one ever talked about WHO programmed the computer (it would have to be someone who is a lawyer or extremely versed in the law). Also, when data involving complex problems is input into the computer, it takes only 3-5 seconds of typing in the show. This is ridiculous and would need a much longer and complicated bit of data input. In fact, the entire episode seems to have been written by someone with only a cursory knowledge of computers.