Original airdate: January 12, 2000
Written by: Aaron Sorkin (11)
Directed by: Arlene Sanford (1)
Synopsis
- Two days before the State of the Union address, President Bartlet collapses after coming down with the flu - but as Abbey reveals to Leo, Jed's medical problems are far more serious than just the flu. Leo has to publicly face the press over his past substance abuse and time in rehab. As the threat of a nuclear exchange grows, Lord John Marbury works to come up with a solution to the India-Pakistan crisis. Toby deals with congressional critics of the direction the administration wants to take with the SOTU address. And there's kissing.
"You got a best friend?"
"Yes, sir."
"Is he smarter than you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Would you trust him with your life?"
"Yes, sir."
"That's your Chief of Staff."
Let's get right to the point. Josiah Bartlet decided to run for President, put together a campaign, won the election, and took office - all while suffering from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. He kept this information from all but a very few people; not even his closest, most trusted friend, Leo, was made aware. Nor were the White House doctors (Morris Tolliver, anyone? Or Admiral Hackett in this episode) let in on the secret. Since the First Lady is a medical doctor (and this is the first we've heard of that little fact), President Bartlet is able to get constant care for his disease, but ethically ... we're pretty deep in the weeds here.
Think of the problems:
- The President was elected to the highest office in the land while keeping a huge medical secret from the American public. Should this fact ever come to light - and if we've learned anything from history, secrets always come to light - President Bartlet's reelection prospects, political influence, and legacy could be left in tatters.
- Having a spouse serve as your private physician, prescribing medications and treating disorders, certainly seems to be an ethical violation for Abbey. Not to mention, the First Lady is deeply involved in what can only be described as a cover-up of the President's condition.
- The senior staff in the White House trusts President Bartlet implicitly. They believe in what he's trying to do as President and in the direction he wants to take the country, but they also are on board because of the kind of person Jed Bartlet is. What kind of effect will it have on these staffers when they discover he's withheld this information, not only from them, but from the American people?
Needless to say, Aaron Sorkin has thought of these problems, too, because I've just described key points of the dramatic arc The West Wing is going to take over the next three years, at least. It becomes a fascinating story, and since we've invested 11 good episodes in getting to know these people and how they interact and how they feel about one another, we're in for the ride as well.
Okay, on to the episode. As the White House is gearing up for the State of the Union speech, just a couple of days away, the President collapses in the Oval Office. When he's diagnosed with the flu, including a high fever, the First Lady cancels her travel plans and rushes back to the White House. We discover Abbey is a doctor - she has a little black bag and everything! - and she starts prescribing things and going through the Naval doctor's report and generally taking over treatment.
President: "You're very sexy when you're in doctor mode, you know that? Get me an IV, saline solution, and 100 milligrams of Flumadine, stat. I could jump you right now."
Abbey: "I could kill you right now."
President: "My thing's more fun."As I mentioned above, the fact that Abbey Bartlet, MD, is giving her husband (the President, for gosh sakes) prescriptions and shots and treatments seems a little dicey ... but nobody else is aware of this fact. Leo, though, does figure out that there's something being kept from him. The First Lady wouldn't normally cancel her travel plans just because the President came down with a fever. He presses Abbey and she eventually cracks, telling Leo (and the viewers) about Jed's MS, a fact hardly anyone outside the Bartlet family was aware of.
Leo and Jed then have a rather emotional scene together - the President can barely forgive himself for not sharing this information with his trusted friend, and he wears his emotions on his sleeve, his voice nearly choked with guilt.
Leo: "Why didn't you tell me?"
President (choking up): "Because I wanted to be the President."Of course Leo (who calls the President "Jed" for the first time since the election) assures Bartlet he would have still been there and done the work, even knowing about his condition. Leo, meanwhile, has his own fish to fry. Josh (and we viewers) first learned about his earlier issues with alcohol and Valium abuse and his stay in rehab as a result of Lillienfield's accusations of rampant White House staff drug use in The Short List. As Congressional Republicans continue to dig for damaging dirt on the issue, Mandy tells CJ the story is going to break tomorrow. How does she know it's going to break?
Mandy: "It's on the Internet."Oh, those heady days of the early 21st century, when "on the internet" meant it wasn't actually news yet, but still had to be broken by real, actual, reputable news outlets. Anyway, Leo holds a press conference the next morning to personally address the story and put his issues on the table. Meanwhile, Sam and Josh are doing their best to back up Leo, with Sam writing a statement of support from the President. Leo is furious when he finds out - he wants the staff to focus on supporting the President, not anything else, and if he goes down, he's not taking anyone else with him.
There's an interesting parallel between the President and Leo here. Both were keeping secrets; both had those secrets come out, in one way or another; and both had to deal with the repercussions, the private ones for President Bartlet and the public ones for Leo. Heck, even the time frames are almost identical - Leo announces he went into rehab in June, 1993, while the President tells him he was diagnosed with MS "seven years ago," which would have been - 1993. All Sam and Josh (and the President too, we find out) want to do is show Leo the same support he's giving the President, but he has a tough time accepting it. It's true, though, his job is focused on one thing - making Bartlet the best, most effective President he can be, and nothing else can matter to him.
And of course, there's the final scene of the episode. Josh has settled on Roger Tribby, the Secretary of Agriculture, to stay in the White House during the State of the Union speech, so that someone in the Presidential line of succession would survive in the event of disaster striking the Capitol building during the joint session of Congress (referred to rather humorously in a conversation between Josh and Donna):
Donna: "So if the Capitol building blows up, the man my country will be looking to is the Secretary of Agriculture."
Josh: "It's my country too."
Donna: "Yeah, but you'll be dead."
Josh: "Which is why I really don't care that much. Donna, I really don't anticipate the Capitol building exploding."
Donna: "What percentage of things exploding have been anticipated?"
Josh: "Now you're bringing me down."(This issue of a "designated survivor" has been treated more seriously, although not very believably, in a TV series of the same name which premiered in 2016.)
The President has a nice conversation with Tribby, looking over the gift Tribby has brought of a Latin translation of the Constitution, and then he asks if Tribby has thought about what he'd do should he suddenly find himself thrust into the Presidency. With an unseen Leo getting his coat in his office next door, Jed tells Tribby if he's got a best friend who's smarter than him and whom he'd trust with his life, that's who he should choose for his Chief of Staff. It's a terrific way to show how much Leo means to Bartlet, and to have Leo overhear from the next room - just great stuff.
Meanwhile, the conflict between India and Pakistan that erupted in Lord John Marbury is escalating. Pakistan has actually given command and control for some tactical nuclear weapons to commanders in the field, meaning they could be fired without an express order from the Prime Minister, drastically increasing the chances of their use. Marbury is called upon again, and his solution is to "buy them off" - give India financial incentives to improve their infrastructure in order to develop their computing industry, in return for their withdrawal from Kashmir. Marbury mentions this was the British approach during their colonial days, to make troublesome Indians into maharajahs, give them an annual tribute, and in return they'd remain loyal to the crown. This approach actually works, with evidence of the troop withdrawal coming just before the President's SOTU speech.
Let's talk about that speech. We've already seen that Toby holds firm as the moral touchstone of the Bartlet White House, and as a stalwart liberal "government as an instrument of good" progressive. So when Josh and the President say they want lines like "the era of big government is over" (stolen from President Clinton's 1996 SOTU, although in this universe, President Clinton never existed) and making the American dream a reality to all "who work for it," because they tested well with focus groups, well, that goes against everything Toby believes. He even has to deal with a parade of Democratic congresspersons hoping to pare down the administration's vision even more, attacking things like funding for the arts. Eventually Toby has had enough, and his recall of FDR's Works Progress Administration spurs him to make his case to the President himself: "Government can be a place where people come together, and where no one gets left behind. No one." Not all that surprisingly, President Bartlet agrees, and Toby and Sam rewrite the speech in the course of a few hours.
Finally, the kissing. Mallory has been hanging around this episode, supporting her dad and swooning over the language in the President's statement of support for Leo. Once she finds out Sam actually wrote it, well ...
This causes Sam, who had just been wondering about how Mallory actual feels about him, to say, "Well, now I'm even more confused. Though I gotta say, I'm enjoying being a writer."
CJ, meanwhile, earlier appeared a tad miffed, or curt, or might we even say jealous, when she saw Mandy flirting with Danny in her office. She takes in the Sam/Mallory kiss above, and decides to try to sort out her feelings about Danny. It's a pretty funny moment, as she first asks Carol to have Danny wait for her in her office. After which, she knocks on the door:
Danny: "Yes?"
CJ: "It's CJ."
Danny: (pause) "Okay."
CJ: "Can I come in?"
Danny: (pause) "CJ, this is your office."
CJ: "Right."Then, once she enters, she lets Danny know what she's decided to do:
CJ: "I thought what I'd do is kiss you, you know, on the mouth, and then I'd just, get past it. I'd just get past it, and then I'd be able to ... give my work the kind of concentration it really deserves."
Danny: "Okay."
(Spoiler alert: She doesn't get past it.)
We're rolling into the back half of Season 1, and the table's been set for some real dramatic and political tension. The direction of the administration is coming into focus, even with serious Congressional opposition (you can tell this White House/Congress dynamic was influenced by the Clinton years). The health issues of both Leo and the President will have repercussions into the future. And gosh darn it, I'm really getting to like these people that work in this White House!
Tales Of Interest!
- Stockard Channing earned an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress thanks to this episode and her work in The State Dinner.
- When we first saw Marbury, he was suppressing a boozy belch in the President's face. Here, he's adding whiskey to his coffee (while touting various subcontinent health remedies that all include, you guessed it, a strong shot of whiskey):
- Sam gets a lot of grief during the SOTU practice for various typos, including a pound sign in the middle of "hallowed" (causing the President to quip, "The pound sign is silent?"). One error that isn't commented on, but appears in the teleprompter, is a misspelling of "welfare rolls" as "roles":
- Gail's fishbowl contains a podium and American flags (and red, white, and blue rocks!). Even Gail is getting ready for the SOTU:
Quotes
Josh: "You think he's getting sick?"
CJ: "I don't know."
Josh: "Are his glands swollen?"
CJ: "Damn."
Josh: "What?"
CJ: "You know what I forgot to do?"
Josh: "What?"
CJ: "I forgot to feel the President's glands."
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President: "My wife hands me pills, I swallow them with water. Vitamin C, Vitamin B ... is it possible I'm taking something called 'euthanasia'?"
Sam: "Echinacea?"
President: "Ah, that sounds more like it."
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President (watching daytime dramas while resting in bed): "I don't understand, don't any of these characters have jobs?"
Charlie: "I don't know, Mr. President, I think one of them is a surgeon."
President: "They seem to have a lot of free time in the middle of the day. And that woman's changed her clothes a lot for one afternoon."
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Leo: "Lord Marbury, under our Constitution the President is not empowered to create maharajahs."
Marbury: "Yes, thank you for clearing that up, Leo. Having been educated at Cambridge and the Sorbonne I am, as you know, exceedingly stupid."
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(In a quote freakishly relative to our own time, 18 years later)
Marbury: "To this very day you pay North Korea not to develop nuclear weapons."
(Weren't those the days?)
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Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)
- We see Roger Tribby as the Secretary of Agriculture, played by Harry Groener (most famously known as the Mayor in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer).
What you may or may not remember is that we saw the Secretary of Agriculture during the Cabinet meeting in Enemies, with President Bartlet jovially saying the Secretary had "never eaten a vegetable in his life."
They are quite obviously not the same person. Apparently the leadership of the Agriculture department changed hands in the month or so since that Cabinet meeting - or, more likely, the show runners forgot they'd shown the Ag Secretary in an earlier episode when they cast Groener here.
- Not to mention, the name "Tribby" (actually "Tribbey") comes up again next season as the name of the White House Counsel. At least until they change actors playing the White House Counsel, and it becomes a different person. True, there's often changeover in Cabinet and staff positions (I mean, look at the Trump administration! Or don't), but Bartlet seems like a pretty steady type of leader who wouldn't be changing staff members left and right. Funny the contortions we go through to justify what is only the result of casting and actors' availability ...
- Check it out - it's Ivan Allen again, our "actor-who-always-plays-a-cable-news-anchor"! Here he's out of focus in the background as coverage of Leo's press conference plays on the TV in Leo's office:
- The Congressman hounding Toby about NEA funding and other topics in the SOTU is played by David Spielberg. He was a familiar character actor, seen in many, many TV shows and movies (and no, he was no relation).
(Also, isn't it interesting to notice that of the three Congresspeople who are in the meeting with Toby, the Congresswoman never makes a sound? Yes, I know, it's just one less speaking part to pay for, but it really stands out to have a third person in this group without giving her anything to say, other than gesture towards Toby.)
- In the Situation Room, the display of the Kashmir area includes the label "Jamu." My (admittedly Wikipedia-level) research seems to show the area is actually called "Jammu" with two 'm's. (Not to be confused with Michael Jackson singing "jamon" in Bad.) In fact, it's a single state called Jammu and Kashmir.
- Also in the Sit Room, the officers are using sturdy-looking Macintosh laptop computers.
- A couple of other product placements: There's a USA Today on Leo's desk; and at one point President Bartlet is wearing a Notre Dame T-shirt made by Champion.
DC location shots
- There are no location shots in this episode.
References to real people
- While not real people, there are stepladders labeled "NPR" and "CBS" in the press briefing room.
- Toby refers to the President as "Ebenezer," in a direct reference to Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."
- TV personality Larry King is mentioned, along with the CNN show "Crossfire" and the newsmagazine Newsweek.
- In Toby's meeting one Congressman mentions Mapplethorpe, referring to the photographer famous for his homoerotic imagery. Another Congressman screws up his artistic references, talking about Rodgers and Hart writing Oklahoma! and Arthur Murray writing Death of a Salesman (Toby corrects him, as it was Rodgers and Hammerstein who wrote Oklahoma! and Arthur Miller who wrote Death of a Salesman, while Arthur Murray taught ballroom dancing).
End credits freeze frame: Toby and Sam receiving praise from the President for writing the State of the Union speech. "I say thee, yea, Toby Ziegler, and I say thee, yea, Sam Seaborn!"
