Take Out The Trash Day - TWW S1E13

Original airdate: January 26, 2000

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (12)

Directed by: Ken Olin (1)

Synopsis

• The President is about to sign a hate crimes bill, but there are concerns about one of the guests invited to the bill signing. Josh and Sam are trying to hold off a Congressional investigation into Leo's past substance abuse. A leak about a Vice President's advance man using a Navy helicopter turns out to be much more significant. Meanwhile, a report about the effectiveness of sex education methods is raising eyebrows, Toby goes to bat for appointees to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Zoey's Georgetown sociology professor is making waves, an Alabama town wants to abolish all laws except for the Ten Commandments, and the President is dealing with a banana issue.

"Karen, what you did caused a lot of problems. For me, for the President, for a lot of people we don't even know. But I'm not sure it wasn't a little bit brave."

There is a lot going on this week at the White House. A lot. And most of it is going to be dumped on the media on Friday afternoon, as a way to dilute the coverage and have attention dissipate over the weekend - it's Take Out The Trash day.

Donna: "So why do you do it on Friday?"

Josh: "Cause no one reads the paper on Saturday."

Donna: "You guys are real populists, aren't you?" 

Let's dig in. First off, President Bartlet is going to sign a hate-crimes bill (outside, in February, much to the consternation of the press corps) inspired by the murder of Minnesota teen Lowell Lydell, who was beaten to death with rocks by other teenagers because he was gay (a story that unfolded during In Excelsis Deo back in December). Lydell's parents, Jonathan and Jennifer, have been invited to the signing ceremony, but Mandy is concerned about Mr. Lydell's reticence. She's afraid he might be embarrassed by his son's homosexuality, and as the DNC media flack, the last thing she wants is controversy over that in the Rose Garden to take attention away from the bill signing. CJ is assigned to "audition" the Lydells when they arrive in Washington.

To her credit, CJ is aghast at the notion the father might not be supportive of justice for his son (she repeats, "But his son just died" many, many times as she's trying to figure it out). Not only Danny but Leo and President Bartlet steer her towards Mandy's point of view, that the relationship between fathers and sons might indeed be fractured if the son happens to be gay.

Then the interview happens. CJ gets to the point, asking Mr. Lydell if he might have issues with his son's sexuality, and Mr. Lydell unloads:

Lydell: "I don't understand how this President, who I voted for, I don't understand how he can take such a completely weak-ass position on gay rights. Gays in the military, same-sex marriage, gay adoption, boards of education - where the hell is he? I want to know what quality necessary to being a parent the President feels my son lacked. I want to know from this President, who has served not one day in uniform - I had two tours in Vietnam - I want to know what quality necessary to being a soldier this President feels my son lacked.

Lady, I'm not embarrassed that my son was gay. My government is."

Two things here: It's great to realize how far we've come in the area of equal rights for gay people since 2000. Heck, even Barack Obama wasn't able to come out in favor of same-sex marriage until after his election ten years ago, as fears were the electorate wasn't going to support those views at the time. Now same-sex marriage is legal across the land, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is gone. It's not all sunshine and roses, of course, but tremendous progress has been made.

The other thing is, Mandy is really, really terrible at her job. We keep being told how valuable she was during the campaign, and how in demand she is as a media consultant, but damn - she can't read people at all. Mr. Lydell is kind of quiet and won't speak up (because he doesn't think the administration is progressive enough), and she immediately jumps to "He must be embarrassed that his son's gay - I gotta tell the President this!". Not to mention the poor FBI negotiator she talked the President into sending (who then got shot) in The State Dinner. Wowzer.

This whole sequence of events leads CJ to question the administration's stance. She has a testy exchange with President Bartlet (not about the Lydells or gay rights, but you know it's on her mind) and then tries to leak the story to Danny:

CJ: "If you call Mr. and Mrs. Lydell in St. Paul and ask them why -"

Danny: "Don't."

CJ: "Look -"

Danny: "Don't leak me a story."

CJ: "I wasn't."

Danny: "I've seen this look on the face of four other press secretaries before you. You've got a story in the trash this week that's a story - you want it out there and someone's said no."

CJ: "They're all stories this week."

Danny: "That happens sometimes."

CJ: "Four other press secretaries and you never took a free lead?"

Danny: "I always took a free lead."

CJ: "Then -?"

Danny: "Not from you."

CJ: "Why?"

Danny: "Cause 20 minutes from now you're going to remember you're a professional and you're not going to like me anymore."

CJ: (pause) "What makes you think I like you now?"

Danny: "I don't know. But as long as you keep grabbing me and kissing me, what the hell do I care."

Meanwhile, Josh and Sam are called to Capitol Hill to talk with Representative Bruno, who is considering holding hearings into Josh's "investigation" of White House staffers following Rep. Lillienfield's accusations of widespread drug use (The Short List). Of course, everyone knows the real target is Leo, and his prior drug and alcohol rehab in 1993 (only publicly disclosed in the last episode, He Shall, From Time To Time ...). Bruno has some serious leverage, as he leads the subcommittee responsible for the White House budget.

Luckily, the administration has a bit of leverage as well, in a report on sex education that concludes abstinence-only education is ineffective, and in fact leads to worse outcomes in teen sexual behavior than something called abstinence-plus (or as Sam calls it, "everything but"). The Republicans in Congress don't want this report out before the midterm elections in November, plus they are trying to make a deal where funding for 100,000 new teachers is dependent on an "abstinence-only" requirement. Josh, Sam, and the President agree to the deal - they'll put the sex ed report in a drawer until after the midterms, and Bruno won't call hearings over drug use in the White House.

The sex ed report, or at least the material included in it, is mostly played for laughs, even while its existence proves to be a key element in the Leo/Congressional hearings storyline. Aaron Sorkin goes for the funny with this conversation (even though the idea of Mrs. Landingham asking to see a report the President is reading doesn't ring true at all):

Mrs. Landingham: "Would you like to share what's in that report, sir?"

President: "With you?"

Mrs. Landingham: "Yes, sir."

President: "No."

Mrs Landingham: "May I ask why not, sir?"

President: "Because I'd rather not be in therapy for the rest of my life."

Then there's the tale of the Vice President's advance man, Chad Margrudien. Danny (and other members of the press) are on to the story that he took a Navy helicopter to Pebble Beach to set up a visit by Vice President Hoynes, then made the helicopter wait while he played a round of golf. It turns out the women in the West Wing may have located the source of the leak, as they are seen here discussing it:

Margaret, Cathy (who we hadn't seen in a while), Carol, Ginger, and Donna, getting chastised by Mrs. Landingham for gossiping and causing Josh to comment, "Well - here's a group of federal employees." Anyway, Donna has the scoop, and goes to Josh and Sam with the word that Karen Larson is the likely source of the Margrudian leak.

Josh and Sam quickly figure out there's more to it than that. Larson previously worked in Hoyne's Public Affairs office, but was transferred to White House Personnel when she developed a crush on the VP. Being in Personnel, she had access to the files of everyone who works in the West Wing - including Leo. Sam calls her in and asks her point-blank if she's the one who gave Leo's file to Claypool, and she admits it. Naturally, she's immediately fired.

But Leo ... well, Leo is a man of deep introspection and thoughtful compassion. He calls Larson into his office on her way out the door, as she's carrying the box of her personal items. Their conversation is a brilliant insight into Leo's addictions, his acceptance of them, and his understanding of Larson's initial abhorrence of a drug addict and alcoholic in a position of such importance. And then - he gives her her job back! While this seems totally in character for Leo, in this particular instance, can you imagine what's awaiting Larson back in the Personnel office? Everyone knows what she's done, everyone we've seen holds a tremendous amount of respect and loyalty to Leo and the President - how is she going to keep working in that environment?

Toby is dealing with Congress holding up appointments to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which he happily wades into (as he's a loyal viewer of Julia Child and Brideshead Revisited). His best moment of this story is his correction of the congressional aide talking about merchandising of Big Bird and "Fuzzy Bear" toys - "It's Fozzie Bear, not 'Fuzzy Bear'!" he says bitingly.

Sam keeps talking about an Alabama town that wants to abolish all laws except for the Ten Commandments, which brings up all sorts of logical problems:

Sam: "Cathy, there is a small town in Alabama that wants to pass a law saying if I don't honor my father I go to jail. What do you think about that?"

Cathy; "How do they know if you're honoring your father or not?"

Sam: "Yeah, I think they've overlooked that problem."

And there's a minor problem with Zoey's sociology professor at Georgetown, who is apparently espousing some radical ideas, and the Georgetown student newspaper is about to print a story about the First Daughter being in this class.

The overarching tone of this episode is anger. Everybody is angry, it seems: Leo gets angry at his old friend Simon Blye, when he realizes Blye is using his situation to reestablish Blye's reputation as a media op-ed voice and party bigshot. Leo then throws Blye right out of his office; Congressman Bruno gets angry at Josh and Sam, telling them they messed up the entire Leo rehab situation (saying this is what we get with "teenagers" in the White House); Sam gets seethingly furious at Karen Larson when she admits giving the files to Claypool; Mr. Lydell is angry at the President for his weak inaction on gay rights; even CJ and President Bartlet have an uncomfortably tense talk in the Oval Office over the sex ed report (although for CJ, she's not really angry about the report, she's still on unsteady ground over the administration's gay rights position).

But anger doesn't necessarily lead to a bad outcome. It's clear these are people who feel comfortable being open with each other (although CJ can't quite come to say what she means to the President, I mean ... it's the President. Although she does get to tell him, "We could all be better teachers," and he agrees). Leo's anger at his old friend actually leads him to give Larson a second chance; Lydell's questioning fury motivates CJ in a couple of ways - too bad it doesn't seem to do anything for Mandy, but she's just soulless, I guess.

What begins as a crass, cynical way to treat stories you don't want to be given attention develops into a deep self-examination by CJ and Leo and Larson, at least. Take out the trash? This trash ends up being thought-provoking and having real meaning, at least for those in this West Wing. For the public? Maybe not so much. As we hear in the back steps of the briefing room:

Danny: "If there's a story, I'll find it."

CJ: "No, you won't."

Danny: "How do you know?"

CJ: "Cause we've gotten very good at this." 

Tales Of Interest!

- The 15 pens to hand out/13 letters in Josiah Bartlet was a hoot. Just the sort of thing the Washington Post readers of Danny Concannon expect. It also led to a nice little acting moment by Melissa Fitzgerald:

CJ: "Carol? Dotting the 'I's, crossing the 'T's, thank you for that."

Carol: "We do our homework."

CJ: "You misspelled 'Senator.'"

Fitzgerald's little disappointed shoulder-sag there was priceless.

- The "trash" terminology gets mentioned five times, at least. Josh explains it to Donna; Toby tells CJ to put the story about Zoey's sociology professor's radical views out with the trash; Danny mentions the Friday trash dump a couple of times; and President Bartlet tells CJ they can deal with the non-release of the sex ed report by throwing it in with the trash.

- Speaking of Zoey, we know she's enrolled for the spring term at Georgetown now, since she's taking sociology and all.

- This episode was directed by Ken Olin, who may be best known as an actor (thirtysomething) but has transitioned into a successful directing career. He did some nice stuff - I particularly liked the camera movement and cuts around the characters during the talk between Josh, Sam, and Bruno. However, when Josh and Sam are first sitting down at Bruno's desk, Sam is holding his hand in what looks to be an odd position on the desk:

See that? He has the fingertips of his left hand on the edge of the desk. It doesn't look natural at all. I wonder if it's a continuity thing, because perhaps they first filmed the scenes from the side, facing Bruno, and Lowe (or his stand-in) had a hand on the desk from that angle:

So when they filmed facing Lowe and Whitford, they had to have the hand on the desk to match that? I dunno. Just a thought.

Quotes    

(President Bartlet is discussing a banana import issue with Leo.)

President: "I don't want to spend a whole day talking about bananas. Good morning, Nancy, good morning, Mrs. Landingham."

Mrs. Landingham: "Good morning, Mr. President. Did you say you wanted a banana?"

President: "No."

Mrs. Landingham: "Nancy, run and get the President a banana."

President: "I really don't want a banana."

Nancy: "Are you sure, sir?"

President: "Yes, thank you."

Mrs. Landingham: "They've got lots of potassium."

President: "I'm done talking to you now."

(Much later in the episode)

President: "Mrs. Landingham - "

Mrs. Landingham: "Yes, sir?"

President: "You're not going to believe this, but I think I'd actually like a banana."

Mrs. Landingham: "I'm afraid not, sir, no."

President: "Why not?"

Mrs. Landingham: "You were offered one earlier, sir, and you were snippy."

President: "I wasn't snippy!"

Mrs. Landingham: "I'm afraid you were, Mr. President."

-----

Donna (talking about the Karen Larson rumor): "She said she would, in her heart. You know how many things I've been wrong about in my heart?"

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

• Bobbi the reporter is back. She was in the first three episodes, then her appearances started to taper off. We hadn't seen her since In Excelsis Deo.

• As mentioned earlier, Sam's assistant Cathy has also returned. She's been missing for a few episodes.

• The Lowell Lydell murder story occurred during the episode In Excelsis Deo, which was the spur for the hate-crimes legislation being signed by President Bartlet here. That's an amazing turnaround for a bill, less than two months. Also, the Lydell plotline was inspired by the real-life murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998.

• We get a distant view of Gail's fishbowl, so we can't really see what's in it. It just looks like some tall trees, maybe.

• Congressman Bruno is played by well-known character actor James Handy, who I remember best from The Verdict (but he's appeared in many, many movies and TV series, including Alias and NYPD Blue).

• I've been meaning to mention this for a while, but I think it's kind of cool that President Bartlet has a collection of blown glass balls on the presidential desk. They don't seem to have any special significance, and attention is never called to them. It's just a personal little detail that makes the world seem real and lived in - unlike the Trumpian desk that's apparently always empty.

• Karen Larson is played by Liza Weil. Even though Leo gives her her job back, we don't see her again in The West Wing. Maybe that's because she moves to Stars Hollow to go to school with Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls) before coming back to DC to try to set up President Fitz Grant in a sex scandal (and then getting killed) (Scandal), then is resurrected and goes to Philadelphia to work for attorney and law professor Annalise Keaton (How To Get Away With Murder).

DC location shots    

• Once again, there are no on-location scenes in this episode.

References to real people    

• Toby mentions Julia Child in his defense of public broadcasting, along with programs such as Sesame Street, Brideshead Revisited, Wall Street Week, and Live From Lincoln Center, not to mention the Muppets and Fozzie Bear (a congressional aide mentions Big Bird).

• Jesse Jackson can be seen on the TV in Leo's office. It appears to be an episode of Crossfire on CNN, as you can also see Crossfire co-hosts Tucker Carlson and Bill Press.

• Some product placement: While reading the sex ed report in her office, CJ has a can of "Diet Cola" (which is an obviously re-branded Diet Coke can), and when Toby comes in to talk to her, he fidgets with a tin of Altoids that was on her table.

End credits freeze frame: CJ and Danny with their flirtatious face-off in the press room.