Bartlet's Third State Of The Union - TWW S2E13

Original airdate: February 7, 2001

Teleplay by: Aaron Sorkin (34)
Written by: Allison Abner (2) & Dee Dee Myers (3)

Directed by: Christopher Misiano (4)

Synopsis

• The State of the Union address appears to be a smash, but while Josh and Joey Lucas wait for polling numbers, something about the speech makes Abbey feel betrayed. A police officer recognized for heroism has an unfortunate secret in his past. Colombian rebels capture some DEA agents. And Ainsley finally meets the President.

"We had a deal."

We don't always get a lot of family-related storylines on The West Wing. I mean, sure, the staff is a family of sorts, a family we almost feel a part of by watching them week after week ... but the real dynamics of people actually related by birth or marriage usually takes a back seat to the political strategies and foreign policy plotlines we get with the Leader of the Free World™. Plus, that kind of thing can tend to get a little soap-opera-y.

This episode (actually the first of a two-parter) sinks us right into the middle of a run of shows that dig fairly deep into family, from the trust issues that husbands and wives and fathers and mothers and sons and daughters have to deal with, to the nagging worry that maybe your children don't quite have the relationship with you that you think they should, to ... well, just stick around through The War At Home and Ellie and Somebody's Going To Emergency, Somebody's Going To Jail (heck, maybe even The Stackhouse Filibuster) and see what I mean. This isn't just a momentary footnote by Aaron Sorkin, though - this family-level background building is going to prove immensely important as we hit the stretch run of the season. Because we're going to learn (if we haven't already) that family isn't just the people we live with that are related to us, they're the people we work together with each and every day, and the sinews of those relationships are the strengths that keep us together when things get tough. And they're going to get tough, believe me.

The big issue here is Abbey. Stockard Channing is back, and boy, is she ever (she earned a nomination for a Supporting Actress Emmy for this episode and the second half of this two-parter, The War At Home, and she earned it). Something about the President's State of the Union speech is bothering her, but we're not sure what it is. Is it that a section about the Violence Against Women act got pulled out? Is it because he suddenly seems to support school uniforms? Is it the last-minute addition about a blue-ribbon commission to study entitlement programs? It seems to be all of those things, and yet none of them. Abbey is ready to tear into Toby for the writing of the speech, but even she isn't exactly sure where to direct her ire:

Abbey: "It was the language."

(...)

Toby: "Believe me, we gave Republicans plenty to be pissed about - the surplus, missile defense, capital gains. And I was just on TV for the 900th time and alienated gun owners, to say nothing of people who own Dodge Durangos. So what exactly was your problem with the language?"

Abbey: "It seemed ..."

Toby: "Abbey -"

Abbey: "I was just thrown by the last minute changes." 

But in a tense conversation with Jed in the White House kitchen we find out what the problem was.

Abbey: "You made a promise. We made a deal."

Jed: "Abbey."

Abbey: "When did you decide you were going to run for a second term?"

Jed: "That's not what tonight's -"

Abbey: "That's all that tonight's speech was about!"

So for the first time we discover Jed and Abbey had agreed on a one-term presidency. While it's not expressly stated here, we can infer that President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis (something we found out about exactly one year ago, on the eve of that season's State of the Union) is the main factor here. With Abbey surreptitiously treating her husband and keeping his illness hidden from all but a dozen or so people during the election campaign, the idea of hiding such a huge secret for yet another campaign and another term just seems too much to handle.

As we've been talking about since The Leadership Breakfast, Leo and Toby (in particular) are moving full-speed ahead on developing a plan for a re-election campaign, and the writing of the State of the Union address as a political selling point was fully a part of that. Nobody else was aware of this "deal" between Jed and Abbey (in fact, there have been comments by the President over the past 35 episodes that appeared to put the lie to that agreement already), and of course the administration staff would be working toward building a case for another term. The President has been sort of edging his way in that direction, almost without admitting it to himself - but the bold bipartisan nature of his speech and the forward-looking calls for agreement and moving past "partisan entrenchment" were giant flashing lights to Abbey signaling the direction Jed wants to go now.

And as a doctor, I think she sees better than anyone what another campaign, another term, another six years in the Oval Office could do to her husband - not to mention the fact that this disease can't be kept a secret forever. The seeds are planted for the Bartlet administration to lay its soul bare, not only in front of the nation, but also in front of the staffers and "family" members who have put their trust in Jed, only to have this huge secret kept from them. Hang on, folks. It's going to be a bumpy ride through the rest of Season 2.

Channing, of course, is outstanding in this confusion, this sudden unmooring that Abbey is going through. The speech was a gut-punch to her, as she instantly realized that it was intended to kick off the re-election campaign without so much as a word of discussion with her ahead of time. And yet, she has to keep that public face of normalcy and happiness after the speech's success. Here she is, smiling and glad-handing well-wishers, just moments after the tense confrontation with her husband behind the scenes (the shot of her through the kitchen door gathering her courage is tremendous):

Abbey also shows that, despite her disappointment with the political events spinning out of her control, she still deeply loves and supports her husband who has perhaps the most difficult and challenging job in the entire world. I love the moment when the President tells her about the DEA agents being held hostage in Colombia, with three hours left to negotiate before a military rescue team will go after them, and even in her anger and disappointment she says, "I'll stay up with you."

The Colombia storyline is another high-stakes foreign policy development, right in the middle of what should have been an overwhelmingly successful night for the administration. Five agents with the DEA were taken hostage by anti-government rebels, and the options are limited. The President is left with trying to negotiate their release, while preparing a military strike to rescue them (one that could ignite an actual war with Colombia). It brings a real awareness of the responsibilities and duties the President has, and the decisions he has to make under intense time pressure without, perhaps, all the information he'd like to have available.

Speaking of not having all the information - the President acknowledged a Detroit police officer for heroism during his address, but soon afterward news comes to the White House that the officer had been accused of using excessive force earlier in his career. It's up to CJ to try to handle the issue, although ... what is she supposed to do about it, exactly? She does discuss the story with the officer, to try to get his side (which doesn't sound all that nefarious, especially considering charges were dropped and the civil suit against him was dismissed). Anyway, we know the media is going to spill the story soon, so CJ is trying to figure out a way to get ahead of it.

Meanwhile, Joey Lucas is back! Fully transformed from the campaign manager of Take This Sabbath Day and now a full-time polling expert, Joey and her sign-language interpreter Kenny are back to pester Josh as they prepare to get some instant nationwide polling numbers following the State of the Union. Naturally Donna is after Josh to ask her out (the sexual tension remains high with those two), and complications ensue when the power goes out at the polling firm's office just before the first numbers are ready.

And then there's Ainsley. As the Capital Beat TV show broadcasts live from the White House with its State of the Union coverage (prompting a legitimate question from the press to CJ, "So why do they get special treatment?" to which CJ's response is a not-very-satisfactory, "Because they're special"), the administration brings out all their spokespeople to appear, from CJ to Toby to Ainsley (being an attractive Republican working in the Democratic White House, it's a pretty good spot for her, even if she hasn't met the President yet):

Ainsley: "I've never met him. I'm an associate counsel. The Chinese food guy's got more access than I do."

Mark: "And yet they have you out here speaking for the White House."

Ainsley: "Yeah! It's a really big night for me!"  

Ainsley indeed enjoys her big night; even sitting in wet paint in the sculpture garden (something CJ did earlier as well) can't ruin her mood, as she enjoys a Pink Squirrel while dancing to "Blame It On The Bossa Nova":

But then Sam's plan to have Ainsley meet the President backfires. She's a bit tipsy, she's in a bathrobe, and she's already told Sam she's terrified to meet President Bartlet - so naturally, Sam has him drop by her office as a total, horrific surprise. This moment is intended for laughs (Ainsley's scream as she throws her drink glass against the wall is pretty funny), but the humiliated, stricken look on her face as the President departs isn't funny at all. It's terrible.

Great job, Emily Procter. Bad form, though, Sam Seaborn.

What we do have to look forward to, though, is the second part of this arc in the next episode. Will the DEA agents be rescued, without kicking off a war in South America? Will Ainsley get a second chance to make a first impression? Will Josh ever get his polling numbers, and will he get up the courage to ask Joey for a date? And how will Abbey and Jed settle things?

We will get a more in-depth feeling about family, though, in both the family-as-relatives sense and the family-we-work-together-with sense. There's so much more power and unity and strength and purpose, in both senses of family, and we'll take a few episodes to explore that. Before all hell breaks loose.



Tales Of Interest!

- Somebody involved in this episode really wanted to give a plug to University of Florida. Note the Florida Gators mug held by the background actress here behind Sam. That mug is being held in a very unusual and unnatural manner, that just happens to clearly show off the logo to the camera. Hmmm.

- As mentioned, Stockard Channing was nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy for her performance here and in the next episode.



Quotes    

Josh: "Where the hell you been?"

Joey (through Kenny): "My plane had mechanical difficulties."

Josh: "This is the State of the Union. There was nothing you could do about it?"

Joey (through Kenny): "No. Because as a child I never paid attention during airplane mechanics class."

Josh: "Is this the kind of Noel Coward-esque wit I can expect all night long?"

Joey (through Kenny): "Yes." 

-----

CJ: "You know why I'm not wearing any pants?"

Sam: "I just assumed it was the usual reason."

(...)

Sam: "Where'd you get the bathrobe?"

Carol: "The gym."

Sam: "They have bathrobes at the gym?"

CJ: "In the women's locker room."

Sam: "But not the men's."

CJ: "Yeah."

Sam: "Now that's outrageous. There's a thousand men working here and 50 women - "

CJ: "Yeah, and it's the bathrobes that are outrageous."

-----

Sam: "I think if you said something along the lines of, 'You know, a lot of people assumed you were hired because you're a blonde, Republican sex kitten and they were obviously wrong.' And to keep up the good work."

President: "That's really good."

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

• We saw Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law, Major League) as Rep. Henry Shallick in The Leadership Breakfast. He's back as a Republican guest on Capital Beat; it seems like he's being set up as a recurring character, but as it turns out we won't see Rep. Shallick again.

• The adviser in the Situation Room, Mike Chysler, is played by Glenn Morshower. He is often seen playing military advisers or law enforcement officers, is a familiar voiceover artist (video games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 or Battlefield 3), and had long-running roles in 24 and Friday Night Lights. 

• The Detroit police officer, Jack Sloan, is played by familiar character actor Richard Riehle (Office Space, among many other TV and movie appearances).  

• Ted McGinley is back as Capital Beat host Mark Gottfried.

• It was exactly a year ago (He Shall, From Time To Time ...) that Leo (and we, the viewers) discovered President Bartlet suffers from MS. We've heard very, very little about it since, only Zoey's remark about the President looking flushed in What Kind Of Day Has It Been and Abbey telling the anesthesiologist in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I that he's the fifteenth person in the world to know ("When all this is over, tell the press, don't tell the press. It's entirely up to you."). I can't help but think Leo's quick remark to Jed in the Oval Office ("How you feeling?") is a subtle callback to his illness and his collapse on the brink of the State of the Union the year before.

• I also couldn't help but think the moment where President Bartlet stops to tie his shoe on his way to the House chamber was a callback to the moment when he collapsed in the Oval Office before the State of the Union a year ago. I mean, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but when he stops and stoops down to the floor, the looks on the faces of Leo and Toby and Sam all seem to reflect a concern and worry that the pressure is getting to the President again. Or maybe they're just concerned he's going to be late, I don't know.

DC location shots    

• There don't appear to be any DC location shots in this episode.

They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    

• The President says Bob Novak (then with CNN) claimed this State of the Union is "the speech of (his) political life."

• Several shots of C-SPAN network coverage of President Bartlet's speech to Congress.

• Josh compares Joey's airplane mechanic joke to the wit of playwright and actor Noel Coward.

• There's a fleeting shot of CNN's John King on TV in the background of the White House reception as Sam enters ("Sam Seaborn, everybody!").

• We see Josh holding a copy of Vogue with actress Charlize Theron on the cover.

End credits freeze frame: The President and his team waiting to enter the House chamber.

The Drop In - TWW S2E12

Original airdate: January 24, 2001

Teleplay by: Aaron Sorkin (33)
Story by: Lawrence O'Donnell, Jr. (8)

Directed by: Lou Antonio (1)

Synopsis

• Tempers flare in the Communications office when Toby adds a passage to Sam's speech that has the President scolding environmental groups. Leo tries to convince the President to continue funding a space-based missile defense system. CJ is sent on a mission to stop potential controversy involving a stand-up comedian. And Lord John Marbury returns, this time as Great Britain's ambassador to the United States.

"We can't govern if we don't win."

The "cynicism of attacking your friends for political protection" (in Sam's words) takes center stage in this episode. Toby and Leo continue their work as the self-anointed Committee to Re-elect the President by using a speech to an environmental group as an excuse to rebuke friends on the left, as a substitute for going full-out after their adversaries on the right. Meanwhile, CJ is dispatched on a mission to prevent a comedian's appearance at a charity event from re-igniting controversy over a joke told during the campaign two years ago. In both cases, the administration is scolding its friends in hopes to gain some political cover, which is indeed, as Sam sadly puts it, cynical.

The speech issue nearly tears Sam and Toby apart. Sam is proudly working on what he thinks will be a masterpiece of a speech, a call to arms about protecting the environment and the earth we live on. Toby, who wasn't involved in the decision to have the President speak before the Global Defense Council, realizes a public commitment to left-leaning environmental causes isn't going to help Bartlet's re-election prospects all that much - these groups are going to vote for him anyway, he reasons, but what might be seen as big concessions to the left will just harden opposition on the right and strengthen the cause of a Republican challenger.

Building on we saw in the previous episode, Toby and Leo are starting to develop a re-election strategy pretty much on their own. Together they agree that Bartlet can't be seen beholden to environmental groups, so they come up with adding (or "dropping in") a section to the speech that calls these groups out for not being loud enough in condemning violent extremists. Toby has a cause ready made - radical environmentalists who burned a Colorado ski resort that was encroaching on the habitat of an endangered lynx.

What makes this even more cynical and divisive, of course, is Toby's insistence to keep the drop-in a secret from Sam. Toby doesn't want to deal with Sam's arguments on the subject as he's crafting what he looks upon as one of his crowning speech achievements; also, Toby might be harboring some anger at Sam, perhaps blaming him a little for the humiliation Toby suffered in The Leadership Breakfast (although, what did Sam have to do with that? Nothing!).

(The discussion of the drop-in between Leo and the President gives us a couple of great lines. First, by the President:

 "And we can't take it for granted that everyone pretty much fundamentally opposes arson?" 

Followed by Leo's scientifically inaccurate statement:

Leo: "We'll get you some information on the lynx, which is a kind of opossum, I think."

President: "Okay, well, it's not a kind of opossum, so why don't you get me that information.") 

The President agrees (after Leo reminds him they did something very similar with a Christian group back in Pilot), the speech is delivered, and Sam is crestfallen. He had exhorted his staff to come up with something stirring and inspiring:

"The difference between a good speech and a great speech is the energy with which the audience comes to their feet at the end. Is it polite? Is it a chore? Are they standing up because their boss is standing up? No, we want it to come from their socks."

And instead the audience, after being chastised, applauds politely from their seats:

"They're not standing."

Sam, still in the dark about who was behind the drop in, puts two and two together when both Toby and CJ use the same phrase in addressing the response ("Friends are honest with each other."). And Sam goes off, shoving past Toby and storming to the Oval Office (where he's prevented from seeing the President) before heading off to drown his sorrows. Once Toby tracks him down, Sam really lets him have it:

"You and the President may think they deserved it, but this cynicism of attacking your friends for political protection offends them and it offends me. It offends you, and there's really nothing I can do to make you feel better about that."

Toby's response is that re-election polling numbers are scary at the moment, and he felt the best thing to do - for political purposes - was to use a slapdown of a friendly group as a method to put some space between the administration and the left, perhaps gaining some votes from right of center. Leaving Sam out of the discussion, though, with Toby and Leo essentially running the re-election strategy on their own, turned out to be an unnecessary and hurtful part of the plan.

CJ has a similar situation with Cornelius Sykes, a popular comedian who helped campaign for Bartlet's election in 1998. He's about to be asked to host a charity event the President will attend, but Josh and CJ have concerns Sykes' appearance will stir up press interest in an incident from the campaign. Sykes had made a joke about New York City police shooting a black man, and candidate Bartlet had faced intense pressure to disavow Sykes' comment, which he did not do. Instead the party line given by the campaign was that Jed didn't laugh at the joke. We discover, as CJ and Sykes spar over club sodas, Jed did laugh at the joke, because it was a good joke in context, and the campaign was simply trying to gain political cover - just as the administration was doing now with the speech to the Global Defense Council. Sykes agrees not to take the charity gig, but we are left with the sense that the grimier side of politics is starting to take hold among these staffers, people that we've previously seen upholding some pretty strong moral positions even in the face of doing the easier, more popular thing. Elections have a lot of tactical moves, and they're not all completely on the angels' side of things - and some relationships may end up not being strong enough to withstand the aftereffects.

Something else this episode has? A lot of schadenfreude, or taking pleasure in the misfortune of others. Leo is desperate to show the President that an experimental missile defense system will work and be worth the cost, but when a test goes awry and the target is missed by 137 miles, Jed has a wry look of self-satisfaction at the expense of his old friend:

And when Donna brings Josh the news that Lord John Marbury has been named Britain's new ambassador to the United States and will now take up residence right here in Washington, she can't help herself with her look of glee at Josh's discomfort either:

Marbury's arrival and the missile shield come together at the close of the episode, when Marbury (instead of trying to talk the President into supporting the shield, as Leo wanted) asserts the defense program is an expensive boondoggle that will never work; and even if it did, adversaries would eventually come up with other methods to get around it. The discussion leads President Bartlet to hope that strong wills and strong minds might work together for the betterment of humanity:

"They say a statesman is a politician who's been dead for fifteen years. I'd like us to be statesmen while we're still alive."

As we saw with Leo and Toby's handshake at the end of The Leadership Breakfast, the Bartlet re-election campaign has been set in motion. The conflict over the speech between Toby and Sam is a direct outcome of that motion, and we're going to see more and more of that storyline develop, with more and more of the characters becoming involved. It's a real slow-burn part of Season 2, but it's a good one.


Tales Of Interest!

- The producers continue to show off their newly built West Wing set for Season 2. Here we see Leo and Jed make their way down several flights of stairs to the Situation Room, located straight down a couple of flights from the mess. They enter the (wide open) Sit Room through an outer office. This entry to the room will change as the series goes on:

- Sam's speech to Ginger, Bonnie, and the rest of the writing crew in the Roosevelt Room is a reminder of a much different time and a much different direction in American government. It's sad to see this scene from almost 20 years ago and realize not only how little has changed, but how much the current administration is actively working against the goals Sam outlines here:

Sam: "As of today, it shall be the unequivocal position of the United States government that global warming constitutes a clear and present danger to the health and future well-being of this planet and all its inhabitants."

- You may remember in my Noël recap I pointed out how the glass globes and the lamp on President Bartlet's desk had switched sides. Here they are back to the positions we saw prior to Noël, with the lamp on his right and the globes on his left:

- Gail's fish bowl features a missile stuck nose-down in the rocks, an illustration of the failure of the missile defense system.

Quotes    

Mrs. Landingham: "In our day, we knew how to take care of ourselves."

Leo: "Well, in your day, you could pretty much turn back the Indians with a Daniel Boone musket, couldn't you?"

Mrs. Landingham: "Ah, sarcasm. The grumpy man's wit." 

-----

President: "Peanuts. Charlie Brown."

Leo: "I've heard of them. I'm just not conversant in them."

President: "Why?"

Leo: "I've never read the comics."

President: "Leo, were you born at the age of 55?"

Leo: "I know there's a dog." 

-----

Colonel: "Mr. President, approximately three minutes ago a missile was launched with a simulated nuclear warhead from the Kwajalein atoll in the South Pacific."

President: "And it's going to hit my garage in New Hampshire exactly when?"

-----

Sam: "Clean Air Rehabilitation Effort."

CJ: "Yeah."

Sam: "You don't know what it is."

CJ: "It's an effort by which we clean the air and rehabilitate it."

Sam: "Okay, how could you -"

CJ: "I'm not involved in the nuances of environmental policy."

Sam: "Which will come as a relief to environmentalists." 

-----

Josh: "Leo McGarry has nothing but respect and affection for John Marbury."

Donna: "That's what I said."

Josh: "Good, because Leo thinks he's a lunatic."

...

Donna: "You seem threatened by his brilliance."

Josh: "How do you know he's brilliant?"

Donna: "I saw his picture."

----- 

Toby: "Here's what I think ..."

Leo: "Screw the environmental lobby?"

Toby: "Did I say that? Did I say, 'screw the environmental lobby'?"

Leo: "You didn't say anything."

Toby: "That's right, and before I even open my mouth, you decide I'm going to say, 'screw the environmental lobby'!"

Leo: "I apologize."

(pause)

Toby: "There's an extent to which we've got to screw the environmental lobby."

-----

President: "Sweden has a 100 percent literacy rate, Leo, a hundred percent. How do they do that?"

Leo: "Well, maybe they don't and they also can't count."

-----

Leo: "Sir, I really think you should know -"

President: "Yes?"

Leo: "- that nine out of the ten criteria that the DOD lays down for success in these tests were met."

President: "The tenth being?"

Leo: "We missed the target."

President: "Damn!"

Leo: "Sir -"

President: "So close!"

Leo: "Mr. President -"

President: "It's that tenth one. See, if there were just nine criteria ..."

----- 

President: "It would be hypocrisy not to hold our friends to the same standard."

Leo: "Yes."

President: "Yet it seems strange to score political points by doing the right thing."

Leo: "Yeah."

President: "I'm victim to my own purity of character."

Leo: "Whatever."

-----

Sam: "Final draft?"

Ginger: "Well, it's the 12th draft. Whether or not it's the final draft is up to you."

Sam: "Is that sass?"

(beat) 

Ginger: "Yeah."

-----

President: "Bryce Davis said if I keep this up, he's going to encourage Seth Gillette in a third-party bid."

Leo: "What'd you say?"

President: "I said for fifty bucks and a ride to the airport, Gillette could have the job right now."

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

• Air Force Colonel Chase is back in the Situation Room, played by David Graf (the Police Academy movies). We saw him previously in The Portland Trip.

• Cornelius Sykes is played by Rocky Carroll (Roc, Chicago Hope, NCIS).

• Roger Rees returns as Lord John Marbury, previously seen in Lord John Marbury and He Shall, From Time To Time ...

• As Leo is convincing the President to go along with a mild rebuke of environmentalists, he reminds Jed that they did a similar thing with Rev. Al Caldwell when his Christian group refused to condemn religious extremism a year and a half ago (seen in Pilot).

• Sam brings up Toby's embarrassment at the hands of Republicans in the previous episode (The Leadership Breakfast), asking if Toby blames him for the debacle.

• President Bartlet mentions Seth Gillette as a possible third-party challenger. We'll actually see Gillette in an upcoming episode.

• The Martin Sheen jacket flip, his unique way of putting on a jacket due to an arm injury he suffered at birth.

• Nancy returns! Played by Renee Estevez, Martin Sheen's daughter, she appeared several times in Season 1 but this is her first sighting in Season 2.

DC location shots    

• I do not believe there are any Washington DC locations appearing in this episode.

They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    

• The Oriental Hotel in Bangkok is indeed a historic location. While I haven't found evidence that the author James Michener's typewriter is on display there, the hotel does have a suite named after him. 

• With the receiving of several ambassadors in the episode, some real-life heads of state are mentioned (King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain); also Prince Bandar bin Sultan was indeed Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States at the time.

• Leo prods Mrs. Landingham with a reference to Daniel Boone.

• We get a whole thing between Jed and Leo about Charlie Brown, Lucy, and the Peanuts comic strip ("I believe the word you're looking for is, 'good grief.'").

• In Season 1 there was a human-figure shooting range target on the wall of Josh's office. In Season 2, after he was shot, that disappeared - and now we see it (or one like it) in the Communications Office bullpen:

• The comedian Joey Bishop is mentioned, as well as early-20th-century entertainer and humorist Will Rogers.

• CJ expresses her adoration for former Monkee and TV star Davy Jones; she also mentions journalists Cokie Roberts, Diane Sawyer, and Lesley Stahl as previous recipients of the Matrix award from New York Women in Communication.

• Apollo 11 and astronaut Neil Armstrong are used by Leo in defense of the missile shield.

• Lord John refers to Josh being shot at Rosslyn and his recovery when he tells him, "The prayers of millions were answered."

• CJ and Cornelius Sykes bring up the comedy club chain Catch a Rising Star. 

• We see CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour on TV in Leo's office.

• Lord John's lineage includes British royalty Queen Victoria, King George III, King George I, King Charles I, King James I, and Mary, Queen of Scots.

• Product placement: Bonnie appears to be using an HP laptop (and I believe there's a Gateway in the Roosevelt Room as well; I still can't figure out the logo on CJ's laptop, though - is that Gateway?):

• We see Seattle's Best coffee cups twice, once in the Roosevelt Room and once next to CJ in the briefing room:

(That also looks like a Fritos bag in the upper left corner of the shot.)

• Sam has a couple of Heinekens, while Toby has a Canadian brand of beer (perhaps Molson):

End credits freeze frame: Lord John Marbury delivering his credentials in the Oval Office.