The State Dinner - TWW S1E7

Original airdate: November 10, 1999

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (7) and Paul Redford (1)

Directed by: Thomas Schlamme (3)

Synopsis

• We'll let CJ take this, from the end of the cold open: "So, let me see if I have this. A hurricane's picked up speed and power and is heading for Georgia. Management and labor are coming here to work out a settlement to avoid a crippling strike that'll begin at midnight tonight. And the government's planning a siege on 18 to 40 of its citizens, all the while we host a state dinner for the President of Indonesia."

"You know, one of the things that happens when I stay away too long is that you forget that you don't have the power to fix everything. You have a big brain, and a good heart, and an ego the size of Montana. You do, Jed! You don't have the power to fix everything. But I do like watching you try."

Frustration. Futility. Powerlessness. Boy, oh boy, are these the themes we see hammered at us throughout The State Dinner. Some of the failures are self-inflicted, particularly Toby's. Others, like the hurricane changing course to threaten the carrier battle group, are completely out of human control.

While thinking about this episode, I had to wonder whether this was an attempt by Aaron Sorkin to illustrate thematically what he's said in words throughout the beginnings of this series - that the Bartlet administration is somehow directionless and adrift. In Pilot we hear that the President's unfavorables are up to 48 percent, and his bike accident adds to a list of misfires and missteps making the administration look weak. President Bartlet ends that episode telling the staff, "Break's over." In "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" we find out the Ryder Cup team called off their White House visit over Jed's joke, the campaign lost Texas in both the primary and the general (even with a Texan on the ticket!), and the Joint Chiefs are leery of President Bartlet's military leadership. We also hear more about how unfavorable the administration is seen in general. In A Proportional Response we learn a congressman in Bartlet's party blusteringly threatened the President with "not getting out (of his district) alive." In Five Votes Down even more congressional representatives from Bartlet's own party defect from an important gun bill, some hoping to get relatively unimportant yet somewhat humiliating concessions from the White House. In Mr. Willis Of Ohio we see Congress spending the budget surplus on a host of pork barrel projects with no compunctions about being called out by the administration. Sorkin seems to be trying to make it sound as if the Bartlet administration, some eleven months into its term, is a floundering mess.

But Sorkin couldn't help himself and gave the President several wins, as well. The gun bill passed in Five Votes Down, even with Josh and Leo getting into some hot water with their tactics and giving Hoynes most of the credit - yet it was stressed this would be seen as a major victory for the administration. The budget bill passed in Mr. Willis Of Ohio, with the White House managing to convince the Commerce Committee to delay their census-sampling amendment, another big Bartlet win. The retaliatory strike on Syria from A Proportional Response had to give the President a boost in the polls (although that aspect was never mentioned, not even by Mandy). There's plenty of progress so far during this administration, with some major legislative wins - this seems in stark contrast to the weak, directionless White House Sorkin seems to want us to believe in as he sets up his dramatic arc for a turn in Let Bartlet Be Bartlet. Of course, in comparison to our current reality, even a hampered, weakened Bartlet administration is going show more accomplishments than the Trump administration. But let's not kid ourselves -- the William Henry Harrison administration has more accomplishments to show for it than Trump. (Ba dum tiss!)

Anyway - I just think this episode is mostly a chance for Sorkin to show, and not tell, how much frustration President Bartlet is feeling at this point. And he does that with a single day full of sucker punches from fate and Mother Nature, including a hurricane bearing down on the Southeast, a trucking strike looming at midnight with no consensus in sight, anti-government militia holding hostages (including children) in a cabin in Idaho, and a state dinner with the leader of an country whose record on human rights is less than exemplary.

And we get Stockard Channing! Yes, the first appearance of the First Lady, Abbey Bartlet, as she joins Jed for the state dinner with President and Mrs. Siguto of Indonesia.

Now seriously, does this look like a woman who would ever get involved with a Ouija board (as mentioned in The Crackpots And These Women)? Yeah, I don't think so. The wonderful Ms. Channing became a recurring player on The West Wing, getting her picture in the credits starting next season, and winning a Supporting Actress Emmy in Season 3 (she was nominated in this season, in part for this episode). She gets a juicy role here, as a supportive wife (that's her quote up above, enjoying watching Jed try to fix everything), a knowledgeable First Lady (keeping tabs on the trucking strike talks), and comic foil (trying to fix up CJ and a cardiologist, dropping in on Sam and Laurie at the exact right moment).

Let's start with the militia storyline. A group of anti-government types in Idaho were caught in a sting, buying illegal weapons from undercover government agents. When the FBI and local law enforcement moved in, the militia holed up in their cabin with anywhere from 18 to 40 occupants, including women and children. Mandy, anxious to broaden her position as a political consultant and get a foot in the door with making policy, manages to wrangle the job as the communication focal point between the White House and the FBI. When the FBI recommends going in with tear gas to end the siege, Mandy suggests sending in a negotiator first, to show the government's goodwill (and prevent the PR nightmare of pictures of women and children being tear-gassed by the FBI). Josh isn't sure going that against the FBI's recommendation is the smart play, but Mandy takes it personally and thinks that's just sour grapes from her old boyfriend:

Josh: "This isn't abstract, Mandy, this isn't a theoretical problem. The FBI says, 'Come out with your hands up,' you come out with your hands up - at which point you are free to avail yourself of the entire justice system."

Mandy: "Do you really believe that or are you just pissed off because I got in the game?"

Leo (entering): "Mandy, the President's going to go with your plan. Chaffee's going to send in a negotiator."

Mandy: "Good."

Josh: "Well, you're in the game now."  

The militia members end up shooting the negotiator and being taken custody by the FBI anyway - an outcome that brings Mandy up short and makes her physically ill as she realizes the high stakes involved in the big leagues of White House policy making.

On to the trucking strike - not a very important part of the busy day's plot, but it serves as the one area where President Bartlet feels he can do something, anything, to have some sort of effect on the events of the day. The Teamsters' union and the trucking industry are at odds over a two-tier hiring system, which permits newer hires to be considered "temporary" workers and not subject to certain benefit and pay requirements. With the Taft-Hartley cooldown period expiring at midnight, the union can go on strike at 12:01 am unless some kind of agreement is reached.

The President, stymied at every turn by events outside his control (the FBI negotiator's shooting, the hurricane threatening Navy ships, the Indonesian president's rudeness or dullness, he can't tell which), storms into the room where the union and management are having talks and essentially orders some kind of agreement. If that doesn't happen within the hour, he's ready for the government to take over the trucking industry (something President Truman did in 1952 with steel mills, although Jed erroneously refers to "coal miners" in that case) and to call Congress for a special session to give him authority to draft striking truck drivers into the military (also a move Truman attempted with railroad workers in 1946). His determination to do something in the face of other events far out of his control is obvious to his wife:

Abbey: "I'm sorry to interrupt you, actually I was looking for the President."

Sam: "He had to step out to the West Wing."

Abbey: "Oh."

Sam: "I'm not sure why, but I could go --"

Abbey: "To pistol-whip the trucking industry."

Sam: "Uh, why would he --?"

Abbey: "Because he can't save a gunshot victim and he can't stop a hurricane."

Let's move on to Toby's maneuvers with the Indonesian government. He's ready to write the formal dinner toast to President Siguto by himself until Leo directs Sam to join him, because these things are sensitive diplomatic procedures. Toby takes on Sam only to direct him to "toughen up" the language of the toast - Toby, as we have seen, is sort of the moral compass of the Bartlet White House, and he has no time to coddle what he sees as the dictatorial, repressive, human-rights violating Siguto government.

Sam: "Toby -- do you really think it's a good idea to invite people to dinner and then tell them exactly what they're doing wrong with their lives?"

Toby: "Absolutely, otherwise it's just a waste of food."

Meanwhile, Toby and Josh are making plans for an out-of-the-dining-room meeting with one of President Siguto's staffers. This plot is played for laughs - "we gotta see a guy about a thing," the way Josh and Donna lovingly pronounce the name "Rahmadi Sumahidjo Bambang," and of course the entire translation debacle. Donna is tasked with finding a translator from the State Department so Toby and Josh can talk to Mr. Bambang. She locates Mr. Minaldi, a translator who speaks Batak - but then it is later discovered Bambang does not speak Batak, but Javanese, a language Minaldi does not. Admittedly, Donna comes up with a creative, yet workable solution:

Donna: "Well, Mr. Minaldi speaks Portuguese."

Toby: "Where does that get us?"

Donna: "Well, there's a guy who works in the kitchen who can translate Mr. Bombang's ..."

Minaldi: "Bambang."

Donna: "Bambang's Batak into Portuguese. Then Mr. Minaldi will translate it into English."

Toby: "Wait a minute. Uh, why can't the kitchen guy translate Batak into English?"

Donna: "The kitchen guy doesn't speak English."

Toby: "You're kidding me."

Donna: "Well, no, he speaks Batak and Portuguese so I wouldn't look down your nose."

 The humor continues once the meeting begins in the kitchen and the four-way translation gets started ("He's answering a question from like a half an hour ago"), and then - Bambang, out of the blue, says, "Why don't we just speak in English?" which results in this reaction from Toby and Josh:

And then Donna's response of "You should keep in mind all the things I do right."

This is where the plotline isn't so funny anymore. It turns out Toby has a friend, a French professor who helps teach students how to protest, who is being held in an Indonesian jail for leading anti-government demonstrations. Toby wanted to use the occasion of this state visit to ask Bambang for the favor of releasing his friend. Unfortunately, the tough wording in the toast he wrote has backfired on Toby, and Bambang literally tells him he can take his favor and go to hell:

Bambang: "You humiliated my President tonight, and for no other reason but to show off. And now you want me to do you a favor? Go to hell."

Failure and frustration, but totally self-inflicted in this case. Toby's moral high ground, requiring him to chastise the very government he needed to ask a favor of, blows up right in his face.

Just a quick mention of Sam and Laurie before the storm hits - there's some interesting developments in this relationship. The two are having lunch in a diner, where Sam sweetly declares he has no qualms about being seen with Laurie in public, and Laurie tells Sam she has a somewhat regular client that evening who never tells her ahead of time where they are going. So, naturally, it turns out the client is a big Democratic fundraiser, and he's taking Laurie (or "Brittany") to the White House dinner. Sam, of course, is thunderstruck by having Laurie's night call-girl job right there in front of his face, and he thereby not-so-sweetly offers her $10,000 if she doesn't go home with the client at the end of the night. Couple this with Sam taking Laurie's chicken salad sandwich at lunch, and he's really not doing a very good job of "reforming" or "saving" her from her tawdry night job. He's kind of an ass.

Also, reporter Danny Concannon is back. Played by Timothy Busfield (Revenge Of The Nerds, thirtysomething, Field Of Dreams), Danny is going to be another recurring character, and here we discover he's got a thing for CJ. He flirts, asks about her outfit for the dinner, kind of plays a prank on her with the whole vermeil protest thing, and actually asks her out for dinner. CJ, of course, as White House press secretary can do no such thing with a reporter, but you can tell she is intrigued by the idea. The CJ-Danny interplay is going to be a key part of The West Wing for quite a while to come. They do make a cute pair.

And the storm. Yet another of the complications affecting the White House plans for the day, Hurricane Sarah has grown to a Class 4 storm and is taking aim at Georgia and the Carolinas. The Navy winds up sending the Kennedy carrier battle group out to sea from the Norfolk, Virginia, naval base, as big ships are generally better able to ride out a storm at sea some distance from it rather than moored at their docks. The major complication we see by mid-episode is the whereabouts of Charlie's grandparents, who were evacuated from their coastal Georgia home but now can't be located, much to Charlie's dismay. Josh is ready to help ("Donna, call FEMA, use my name. When that doesn't work, use Leo's name.").

Turns out the grandparents in danger is just a Sorkin head-fake. They are located safe and sound, but the hurricane has changed direction and is now heading straight at the carrier fleet in the Atlantic. The ships and crew are in dire danger with 120 mph winds and heavy seas bearing down on them with no escape, and it's one more thing President Bartlet has absolutely no control over. This naturally leads us to one of the most memorable scenes in early West Wing history.

The Navy has set up a phone/radio link to the carrier group, with the intention of having the President speak with the commander. Since the storm has knocked out communications with most of the ships, the only connection they can make is with the repair/maintenance ship USS Hickory - and that ship's captain can't be reached either. So President Bartlet ends up speaking with a young, scared, injured Signalman Third Class Harold Lewis. It's a gripping moment - as Lewis describes the terrible situation the Hickory finds itself in, swamped by heavy seas, its running lights out and in danger of being run over by the aircraft carrier - Jed's face expresses the anguish and concern of a leader who can't do anything to help those under his command.

He tries to crack a joke and keep it light ("I don't know, man. Think I'd ask for my money back"), but his face shows no lightness. His final words come after the screen fades to black:

"Harold? I'm going to stay right here as long as the radio works, okay? (fade to black) Hang on."

Just a couple of other things about that memorable last scene - it begins with the wide shot shown above, then slowly zooms in on the President, the rest of the cast standing and listening, with his face eventually taking up the entire screen. Given the stakes of the moment and the emotionally taut conversation with Signalman Lewis, it's an incredibly well-done shot. You'll just have to forgive the idea of having the President, the First Lady, the Chief of Staff, the Deputy Chief of Staff, the Communications Director and the Deputy Communications Director all leaving the state dinner at once for this. At least CJ must still be doing some work somewhere ...

Notice also in the wide shot above - Josh takes Mandy in his arms. This seems, I don't know, kind of weird. While they were previously lovers, there's really not that kind of connection between them now. Josh did see how upset and sick Mandy was about the FBI negotiator, and I think that's what's behind this gesture, but boy - it sticks out like a sore thumb, kinda.

What's really interesting about this episode is that most of these plotlines aren't really wrapped up by the end of the show. This all takes place in one day, the day of the state dinner - we don't find out if the Teamsters and the trucking industry come to terms (we figure they must, considering Bartlet's threats), we don't find out the fate of the FBI negotiator (he's still in surgery), and we don't find out what happens to the Kennedy battle group in its encounter with Hurricane Sarah. That's a lot more like real life than a typical television episode that wraps everything up at the end of 30 or 60 minutes, and that makes The State Dinner some pretty good TV.


Things to think about:

- We noticed CJ had a Gateway laptop in A Proportional Response. Now we see she's been upgraded to a desktop computer! (It actually can be seen in the background during Mr. Willis Of Ohio, but she gets to use it here). However, it's almost daintily squeezed into the corner of her office, in a rather ladylike design concept. Why wouldn't it be on her, you know, desk?

- Speaking of laptops, the White House must have upgraded laptops, as Sam has a Mac. If you'll notice, the late 1990s Macbooks had the Apple logo appear right-side-up when the case was closed, hence upside-down when the laptop was being used. Apple would eventually flip the logo.

Quotes    

CJ: "Mirabella needed to know what wine was being served with the fish course, so, it's a good thing I went to school for 22 years."

Josh: "What wine are we --"

CJ: "It's wine, you'll drink it." 

-----

Bartlet: "We're having salmon tonight."

Siguto: "Yes."

(long pause) 

Bartlet: "They told you that?"

Siguto: "Yes."

(long pause)

 Bartlet: "Yo Yo Ma is going to play. Some Bach concertos, I believe. (long pause) Do you like salmon?"

Siguto: "No."

Bartlet: "Well. Our mistake."

Siguto: "Yes."

----- 

Sam: "Hey, I'm finishing up this speech. Can you think of some sort of personal connection between President Siguto and the US? You know, something from his past?"

Josh: "He was once almost pushed out of an airplane by a CIA-trained operative."

Sam: "I should probably leave that out."

Josh: "Yeah, I would."

----- 

Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)

• Even though we don't learn the fate of the USS Hickory in this episode, that is a key part of a dramatic Bartlet speech in Season Two's Two Cathedrals.
• It's certainly not a direct line from one to the other, but Mandy's handling of the militia standoff and the shooting of the negotiator can't be a good sign for keeping her job. Not to be too harsh, but her basic uselessness to the West Wing staff will continue to grow throughout the rest of the season. Pandas will play a part in her career future. Yes, I said pandas.
• Laurie's client, Carl Everett, is played by David Rasche, who is a well-known TV actor (Sledge Hammer!).

• The Teamsters head is played by William Lucking (Sons of Anarchy, Erin Brockovich, The A Team).

• Meanwhile, the trucking industry honcho is played by John Kapelos (the janitor in The Breakfast Club, also Roxanne, Weird Science).

DC location shots    

• There are no DC location shots in this episode. In fact, except for the short scene with Sam and Laurie at the diner, the entire episode takes place inside the White House.

References to real people    

• A bunch of fashion designers are mentioned as CJ talks about the First Lady's outfit: Carmen Marc Valvo, Manolo Blahnik, Gabrielle Sanchez, and Cristina Bomba.
• President Bartlet mentions the famed cellist Yo Yo Ma will play at the dinner. Yo Yo Ma himself will appear on the show next season. It's also said he will play Bach concertos, so Johann Sebastian Bach must exist in this universe.
• After Danny leads CJ on the vermeil goose chase, she mentions Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot, who worked in vermeil in the 1700-1800s.
• The aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy is part of the battle group caught in Hurricane Sarah. While that doesn't necessarily mean Kennedy was ever President in The West Wing timeline, we already know Lyndon Johnson was, so JFK most likely was as well.
• We get a solid mention of President Truman and his 1952 move to nationalize the steel industry (not coal mines, as President Bartlet misstates). Bartlet also threatens to draft striking truck drivers into the army, a move Truman called for during a 1946 railroad strike.

End credits freeze frame: Leo and the President discussing the FBI agent's condition.