Original airdate: March 22, 2000
Written by: Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. (6) & Paul Redford (3) and Aaron Sorkin (16)
Directed by: Ken Olin (2)
Synopsis
- A trade bill's future in Congress is threatened by a Democratic amendment addressing international child labor issues, and President Bartlet's naming of a Federal Reserve chairman after the incumbent dies is made more difficult after a leak to the press. It turns out the First Lady is behind both of these complications, leading to an Oval Office confrontation between Jed and Abbey. Meanwhile, the budding relationship between Charlie and Zoey hits a snag over Secret Service concerns for their safety.
"No, no 'however.' Just be wrong. Just stand there in your wrongness and be wrong, and get used to it."
Marriage between two intelligent, strong-willed, motivated, powerful people can provide rich storytelling fodder. You have two people, each with the drive and power to turn events in the direction they want; yet at the same time, conflict can erupt when the interests of these strong personalities don't coincide. The depth of these relationships is revealed in the solutions to those conflicts - how each partner can work towards their goals while at the same time respecting and supporting the other. And when these strong personalities have the humility and the good humor to admit their mistakes, you strike dramatic gold.
And that leads us to this episode. President Bartlet continues to drive his administration's agenda, this time with the assured passage of a long-sought-after trade bill. In the meantime, he gets the unexpected task of naming a new chairman to the Federal Reserve Board when the current chairman dies suddenly. Abbey, in her turn, has landed on the cause of fighting the international exploitation of child labor, making television appearances and speaking engagements to focus attention on this issue. Add to that the fact that the obvious choice for a new Fed chair, Ron Erlich, used to be Abbey's boyfriend.
So where do we find the clash, the dramatic conflict? Abbey's focus on child labor spurs a Democratic congresswoman to offer an amendment to the trade bill, one that addresses child exploitation - and one that would torpedo any hope of getting the bill through Congress. Then, "sources close to the First Lady" leak a story to the press indicating her support for Erlich as Fed chairman, a sly move that essentially cuts the legs out from under the President and forces his hand. These two tracks collide in the Oval Office near the end of the episode, as Jed and Abbey have it out in their first real argument we see as First Couple.
It's a doozy. Stockard Channing is tremendous, with a bite and suppressed anger behind her line delivery revealing her hurt from a husband avoiding her on important topics ("You staffed me out? [...] "Don't handle me, Jed."). Channing was nominated for a Supporting Actress nomination for this season, but amazingly, this episode wasn't one included in her submission (The State Dinner and He Shall, From Time To Time ... were her two offered episodes). Jed, on his part, realizes he passed the buck to CJ and his staff (and even made an effort to strong arm Danny out of a source) because he wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with his wife - a confrontation he's having now, anyway.
But in the end, it's the respect and affection Jed and Abbey have for each other that brings the argument to a close. Abbey admits she shouldn't have leaked the story supporting Erlich, realizing the move weakened Jed politically. Jed concludes he still has a bit of jealousy over Abbey's continued friendship with Erlich, even after 30-plus years of marriage, which caused him to delay his announcement. As it turns out, Abbey had already gone to the congresswoman to convince her to drop the amendment, and Jed drops the fact that he was going to name Erlich all along. It's top-notch acting by Channing and Martin Sheen that gives us the real vibe of the Bartlet relationship, and the end of the scene is wonderful; Jed and Abbey, giving credit to each other while admitting where they went wrong, walking out of the Oval Office with the President gently wrapping Abbey's jacket around her shoulders:
Let's touch on the episode title, as plenty of people are confused by the "Pro-Am" part. It's the clash between the professional, forward-looking, plan-three-steps-ahead political moves of the West Wing and the president's staff (the "pro" part) contrasted with the act-first/think-later, freewheeling, "go after what you want and we'll deal with the consequences" process of the First Lady and her staff (the "am" part). Sam addresses that directly in his discussion with Abbey in Lilli Mays' office:
Abbey: "We're thoroughly professional."
Sam: "No, ma'am, I don't think you are. [...] I believe that you are prone to amateur mistakes."
The writers here, I believe, try to build a parallel between the relationship of Jed and Abbey and that of Charlie and Zoey - both in how the partners interact and respect each other and in the "pro-am" aspect of the episode. It doesn't quite work; we don't have nearly the investment in Charlie-Zoey as we do in the First Couple, and Charlie's huff after the Secret Service shoots down their plans to go to a club opening doesn't feel like that character anyway. He takes their security concerns as a personal affront, even a racial one ("If it's a problem for the Secret Service I'm black--" he tells Danny, causing Danny to reply, "I don't think the problem is you're black, I think the problem is you're stupid."). In any event, you've definitely got Charlie acting like the "amateur" in this duo, with Zoey's reluctant yet understanding agreement with the Secret Service assessment of the situation more "professional."
Just like the Bartlets, it all works out in the end. Charlie takes Danny's words about being "totally hassle-free" for Zoey, showing up at her dorm with flowers and a video, satisfied to spend the evening in (and safe). Speaking of the dorm, wherever they filmed that scene at, it really looks like a dorm hallway of the time:
On to the rest of the episode. The trade bill (the Global Free Trade Markets Access Act, or G.F.T.M.A.A for short, lol) is finally on its way to passage, after being worked on for seven years and three administrations. Even though the bill is set to pass the House by 15 votes, Josh enlists a reluctant Toby to help him convince three liberal Democratic "no" voters to change their votes. Josh's goal is to run up the score, thereby convincing more members of the liberal wing of the Democratic party to get more enthusiastic and supportive of the Bartlet administration. Now, this particular part of the plot ends up being dropped without a conclusion, but not before we see the work of the comedy team of Lyman & Ziegler. Toby really isn't interested in helping Josh "run up the score:"
Toby: "There was a victory, and we're the victors, and I'm not going in there, hat in my hand -"
Josh: "No one's asking you to."
Toby: "YOU'RE asking me to!"
Josh: "No, we're going to do good cop, bad cop."
Toby: "No, we're really not."
Josh: "Why not?"
Toby: "Cause this isn't an episode of Hawaii Five-O. How about you be the good cop, I be the cop that doesn't go to the meeting?"
But Toby goes along, eating his White House-branded M&Ms:
And making his snide remarks to the congresspeople in the meeting, causing Josh to call him out:
Josh: "This, right here - this is why you have a reputation as a pain in the ass."
Toby: "I cultivated that reputation."
Josh: "Could I get you to try harder in there?"
Toby: "Sure, cause right now I'm not trying at all."
It turns out, though, that the White House might need those extra votes. The episode began with Abbey on TV, talking with a 14-year-old boy who started a charity to help children in other countries who are forced into essential slavery to pay off family debts. This focus by the First Lady on child labor issues inspires Rep. Becky Reeseman to offer an amendment to the trade bill addressing child labor in connection with international trade - a change that would doom the bill. As mentioned above, this move by Reeseman (with implicit approval from the First Lady) already has Bartlet's staff up in arms with those in the First Lady's office.
Then, the unplanned. Bernie Dahl, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, dies of a heart attack. President Bartlet needs to name a replacement quickly to calm the financial markets:
President: "Market's gonna open 200 points down."
Leo: "If we're lucky."
President: "When was the last time we were lucky?"
Leo: "Super Tuesday."
However, the obvious choice for the post, Ron Erlich, used to date Abbey (for nine months, about 30 years ago), and the President isn't thrilled about that prospect:
President: "I'm not ready to jump into bed with Ron Erlich yet, making me one of the few people in my family who can say that."
He wants to put off the announcement for a day while he mulls it over, telling the Communications Office to use "respect" as the excuse - which brings us back to the Lyman & Ziegler comedy roast:
Toby: "We are waiting a day to make our announcement out of respect, Josh."
Josh: "For whom?"
Toby: "The dead."
Josh: "Ah."
Toby: "And how I wish I were one of them."
Josh: "You're gonna love this meeting."
Toby: "Betcha I'm not."
So it's the twin complications of a child labor amendment to the trade bill and the media leak supporting Erlich that have the West Wing staff up in arms, and Jed doing his best to avoid talking to Abbey about it. Once Sam and Abbey have a talk (where, as mentioned above, Sam lets her know in no uncertain terms that she's playing out of her league), the First Lady goes to Rep. Reeseman to convince her to drop the amendment, then Jed admits he was going to name Erlich to the post all along (he just didn't want it to look like he was pushed into it by his wife).
You could look at this episode as a story of couples: Jed and Abbey, the true power couple, working out how they mesh together and who gets the priority (spoiler alert: it will be the leader of the free world), but also figuring out how each one can help and support the other in their goals; Charlie and Zoey, fumbling their way through a new relationship, with added complexities of their interracial status as well as her fame as First Daughter; and even Josh and Toby, the bickering comedy duo throwing humorous verbal daggers at each other (okay, not really, but they are pretty funny). It certainly adds to the world-building of The West Wing universe and creates a lot of depth for us in the future. All the while, setting up the big climax that's coming in the season finale.
Tales Of Interest!
- Again, to go into the title, a Pro-Am is a sporting term for a tournament that matches professional players with amateurs, oftentimes celebrities. Perhaps the best known is the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a golf tournament created by Bing Crosby in 1937. Through the years pro golfers such as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth have played alongside amateurs like Bob Hope, Clint Eastwood and Bill Murray.
- Still no sign of Mandy. While she at least got a mention in the previous episode, here there's nothing, which seems odd for the second-billed star of the show (okay, perhaps third, including Sheen). What's also interesting is that the show doesn't seem to suffer from her absence. Hmm ... perhaps this should have been under foreshadowing.
- I think the writers are trying to make a comparison between the Global Free Trade Markets Access Act and the real-life NAFTA enacted in 1994. The fact they "condense" the bill into the clunky and unpronounceable G.F.T.M.A.A. not once, but twice, is the basis of my belief.
- The character of Lilli Mays (as played by Nadia Dajani) is a lively foil for Sam and a strong member of Abbey's team. While we'll see the First Lady's Chief of Staff in the future, it won't be Lilli, which is kind of too bad because I think she made an impression in this episode. On the other hand, how much time is there to include stories about the First Lady's staff in this show? Not much.
- We're back to CND as the cable news network of choice (I still don't know what that's supposed to stand for, except for being one letter away from CNN). What we do discover is that at least CND's morning news show originates from Rockefeller Center in New York - not-so-coincidentally the same place the real-life NBC is based. Toby also tells Sam to change the TV to "channel 5" when news of Bernie Dahl's death breaks; while the TV shows a report from station WKPJ, Channel 5 in Washington DC is Fox affiliate WTTG (WKPJ is a religious radio station in Athens, Georgia). Also, Roger Salier, the name of the reporter on WKPJ, is apparently played by Ivan Allen, who we've previously seen several times as a news anchor on CND.
- One of the toughest things for directors, editors, and continuity people to handle in filming a movie or TV series would be a clock onscreen. Without taking extreme care to make the times match during different takes, it would be easy to edit a scene with varying times appearing on the clocks in the background. We get that here, in the gym scene between Sam and Rep. Reeseman. When we first see the clock, it reads 12:34:
After cutting to Sam, when the camera cuts back to Reeseman the clock now reads 12:33:
The third and final time we see it, the clock is back to 12:34, actually changing to 12:35 right after the cut:
- A shout-out to director Ken Olin and his cinematographer; some great choices of shots in this episode, particularly (for me) Leo and the President discussing how to handle naming of a replacement Fed chairman. Both actors are shot in shadow, with the brightly lit Oval Office behind them and the guard outside the window (obviously light and shadow are always key parts of The West Wing "look"):
- Oh, the list of cities Jed recalls for his "late night talks" with Danny: Ames, IA; Tulsa; Skokie; Center City; Tallahassee; Albany; San Antonio; Jasper, WY; Wichita. Ames is interesting, considering Iowa's early first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses (plus, I live in Iowa, so, yay!). Center City is not really any city anywhere, only a small town of about 700 in Minnesota (although there is a Center City section of Philadelphia). Jasper, Wyoming, apparently doesn't exist at all (unlike Casper, which is the second-largest city in the state) - the only other reference to Jasper, WY, I could find is in a 2017 episode of the TV series Supernatural.
- Okay, something that comes up a lot with this episode. We've already learned in Five Votes Down that Jed and Abbey have been married for 32 years, so since about 1967. In the midst of the argument about her relationship with Erlich, Abbey says she dated him for six months 30 years ago ("It was nine months!" responds Jed). It seems unlikely to the point of impossibility that Abbey was dating someone else after she married Jed; I contend it's probable she's rounding to a convenient number during the argument, and her dating of Erlich happened before the Bartlets were wed. Even so - it couldn't have been very long before, so the shadow of that dalliance might have been over the wedding itself. It might explain why Jed's still kind of jealous three decades afterwards.
Quotes
President (after regaling CJ and Leo about economic theories and GDP growth rates): "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Leo: "CJ doesn't understand a word you're saying."
CJ: "I understand the oeuvre. I get the basic, mise-en-scene, of what you're saying."
(Leo and the President exchange knowing looks)
CJ: "I really don't understand anything."
-----
Sam: "She was inspired by the First Lady. She thought this morning there were trumpets, and she doesn't want to -"
Toby: "There were trumpets?"
Sam: "The trumpet called, the trumpets, sounded?"
Toby: "What the hell goes on at that gym?"
-----
Danny: "Mr. President, did you call me in here to see if I knew who the sources were close to the First Lady?"
President: "I was - going to ... in a - proper, gentlemanly, even --"
Leo: "Byzantine."
President: "--way."
Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)
- GOING BACK - I mentioned in Celestial Navigation that Josh has a Wesleyan University coffee mug on his desk. Turns out Bradley Whitford is actually a graduate of Wesleyan, so that's a little shout-out to his alma mater.
- The unnamed congressman leading the delegation of liberal Democrats being pestered by Josh and Toby is played by Richard Fancy. You've seen him, he's appeared in many, many TV shows and movies, but he's perhaps best known as Elaine's boss Mr. Lippman in Seinfeld.
- Congresswoman Becky Reeseman is played by Amy Aquino (Brooklyn Bridge, Picket Fences, Bosch).
- We discover some more information about the history of The West Wing universe. While the most recent real-life President we've being referred to is LBJ, it's generally thought the TV timeline diverged from reality somewhere around the Nixon administration. In fact, it could be fanwanked that, in this version, Nixon's resignation led to a presidential election in 1974, from that point offsetting the election cycles two years from reality (resulting in the election Bartlet won in 1998). It's said here the trade bill has been worked on for seven years and three presidents - that means the administration prior to Bartlet's, in 1995-99, was only a one-term president. That also means, in turn, that Leo's time as Secretary of Labor (at the same time he entered rehab in 1993) came during the administration prior to the one defeated by Bartlet. So he could have served under a Democrat - I had previously theorized Bartlet's election came after a two-term Republican presidency, meaning Leo served under a GOP president, but this information eliminates any chance of a two-term president serving immediately before Bartlet.
- Once again Aaron Sorkin and the writers beat us over the head with President Bartlet's poor polling numbers. Even from Pilot, when Mandy told Josh a new poll showed the President's unfavorables at 48 percent, throughout this first season there's continual talk about the polls just not turning in his favor. Even Lilli has to drag Sam about it:
Sam: "Your guy's married to our guy and our guy won an election. Just something you and your people are going to have to get used to."
Lilli: "Your guy has a 48 percent approval rating, my guy's at 61. And bite me."
Sam: "Ah. Point well argued."
I hate to bring this up again, but look at what President Bartlet has accomplished since we first saw him in September: a gun-control law; hate crimes legislation; changes to the census; a huge budget surplus; banking reform; protection of the Big Sky reserve; not to mention in this episode not only is a long-sought-after trade bill on the verge of easy passage, we also learn Bernie Dahl is considered the architect of "the longest peace time economic expansion in history." It's hard to square all this with an administration struggling to get their agenda through. It feels more like a dramatic device Sorkin is using so he can have the President change direction and focus and strike out on a more independent path (spoiler alert: that's coming in a couple of episodes).
- We've had zero mention of Jed's MS since it was revealed in He Shall, From Time To Time ... Are the writers trying to plug in a little reference in this wordplay between Jed and Abbey after their argument?
Abbey: (talking about Charlie and Zoey in the dorm) "I'd say in about an hour the lights will be out, there'll be a sock on the doorknob --"
President: "Don't finish that sentence, I'm a man of questionable health."
Now, we do know the President suffers from other issues (back trouble, for one), so perhaps this is not a direct MS reference. But I think it probably is.
- FORESHADOWING: Danny's description of events to Charlie turns out somewhat true in the season finale, although it's not Danny who bears the brunt of the outcome:
Danny: "Look, the Hardy Boys in these letters they're talking about, they may be heavily armed but I wouldn't put a lot of money on their marksmanship. One of these days they're going to miss her and hit me."
DC location shots
- There are no DC location shots in this episode.
References to real people
- Lilli mentions Henry Clay when she's trying to convince Sam to not have President go to Congress to negotiate.
- TV personality Larry King is mentioned.
- Places named after real people include Johns Hopkins Medical Center and Rockefeller Center.
- Donna is reading a book written by Leigh Rutledge about life in America 100 years ago, a book that Leo is seen looking at later in the episode. This is almost certainly a reference to the 1996 book When My Grandmother Was A Child, describing life in 1900 America.
- Danny mentions the Hardy Boys, a book series created by Edward Stratemeyer.
- Product placement: In addition to Toby's White House M&Ms, we have references to automakers Toyota, Ford, and Range Rover. There's also clearly a can of Pepsi on the desk during the discussions between Josh, Toby, and the congresspeople.
End credits freeze frame: Sam, Josh, and Toby discussing the trumpets sounding to encourage Rep. Reeseman's amendment to the trade bill.
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