The War At Home - TWW S2E14

Original airdate: February 14, 2001

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (35)

Directed by: Christopher Misiano (5)

Synopsis

• President Bartlet reacts with fury and sadness when his military rescue mission in Colombia results in the deaths of nine soldiers. Jed and Abbey have it out over his medical situation and his future political plans. Josh finally gets some polling numbers, as well as a shove (in a couple of ways) from Joey Lucas. Ainsley's re-do of her meeting with the President goes a little bit better than the first.

"You draw a line."
"Where?"

What is the goal of governance? How should leaders lead - by carrying out the wishes of their constituents, or by using the position granted to them by the voters to reach higher? Is it enough to just do what the voters said they put you in office to do, or can you actually lead the populace to things they hadn't envisioned, by persuading and convincing them of the validity of your ideas? As Sam pointed out in The Portland Trip, "Can't great oratory inspire an idea that can be implemented?"

That's pretty much the theme of this wrapup of the two-episode arc, covering President Bartlet's State of the Union address and the hostage crisis in Colombia happening the same night. The capture of DEA agents by a Colombian drug cartel, and the underlying issues that brings to light, causes the President to consider a new approach to the war on drugs, something he says has been handed down from President to President over a series of administrations. Should there be a new approach to dealing with illegal drugs? Should the war turn hot, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers sent to the jungles of South America, or should the efforts turn to stopping the demand for drugs here in the United States?

When the military mission ordered by President Bartlet runs into an ambush, resulting in the deaths of nine soldiers, his mind turns in another direction as well - why not send black ops agents to assassinate a drug lord like Juan Aguilar? "What's to stop me?" he asks Leo, after Leo begged him to turn away from the idea of getting America bogged down in yet another jungle war with "no end in sight," much as the war Leo himself fought in Vietnam. Would the American people rejoice in an illegal mission to assassinate Aguilar? Perhaps. But is it the province of a true leader to take that path? Or are the lives of five DEA agents worth the trade of releasing a drug lord from a Colombian prison, a choice the President of Colombia firmly places on Bartlet's shoulders ("I'm willing to let Aguilar out in exchange for the hostages if you ask me to," President Santos tells Bartlet. "I'm making the offer and I'm leaving it up to you.")?

This episode puts the full weight of heavy foreign policy and military responsibilities on President Bartlet, really for the first time in the series. We saw a little bit of this back in A Proportional Response, but the stakes turn out to be considerably higher here (with the safety of hostages at risk, rather than a retaliation for an aircraft being shot down) and the outcome much worse (with the loss of nine soldiers in the rescue attempt). Jed's angry reaction on the portico after hearing the news, as well as his consideration of both a massive invasion or extra-legal actions in response, show us how deep this hits and how personally he takes the responsibility as President.

And of course, he feels the need to be there at Dover Air Force Base when those nine caskets come home; a moment that causes his eyes to well with tears:

This is what you're in for as leader of the free world. Things aren't always going to go according to plan; so isn't it worth it to reach a little higher than just to follow the will of the voters?

Joey Lucas clearly outlines this same thinking to Josh. We discover the reason Josh is so desperate to get polling results after the State of the Union is quite specific; he wants to see how five swing congressional districts respond to the President's call to beef up waiting periods for gun sales. When the numbers appear to show that policy doesn't seem popular in those districts, he's ready to pull back on the plan - but Joey says, double down and push even harder. Don't watch where the people are going and get in front of where they're heading anyway, use your position and your resources and your persuasive skills to explain to the voters why your policy is better. Convince them. Lead them. It's a nice little scene to sum up what really is the theme of the episode, if not the series as a whole.

Toby and Seth Gillette end up having a discussion along the same lines. Senator Gillette was mentioned a couple of episodes ago as threatening a third-party challenge to President Bartlet after his speech to an environmental group called them out for not stopping extremists, a kind of pivot to the right as the next campaign starts to gain its footing. Gillette (who could only exist in The West Wing universe, as a Democratic liberal hero Senator from North Dakota, of all places) also angrily calls out Toby ("you patronizing son of a bitch") and the administration for turning away from seniors (with the proposed commission to examine Social Security and entitlements) and African-Americans (since the Detroit police officer recognized at the speech turned out to have an excessive-force mark on his official record). Toby, though, recognizes that pandering to the groups already on your side doesn't really serve as leading the nation. Perhaps finding pathways that satisfy more people a little bit (while also finding ways to secure the future finances of the country) might prove better leadership than giving your friends everything they want.

We also get to the bottom of the "deal" Jed and Abbey had about running for a second term, something touched on late in the previous episode. Yes, it directly relates to Jed's multiple sclerosis, a disease we discovered he suffered from in He Shall, From Time To Time ... and was mentioned as a tightly held secret before his surgery following the Rosslyn shooting. Before the first campaign, Abbey got a pledge from Jed that he'd only serve one term, as the odds that his health would deteriorate only increase as the years go by. Now with the staff ramping up plans for a re-election campaign, and Jed appearing to be on board (especially with the topics outlined in his State of the Union), Abbey can't believe he's about to go back on his word to her and go after a second term. After all, the main reason he didn't reveal his medical condition to the country during the campaign was based on his promise to only serve four years:

Abbey: "But we had a deal. And that deal is how you justified keeping it a secret from the world. It's how you justified it to God. It's how you justified it to me."

What other storylines from the previous episode get wrapped up here? There are a couple, and are they wrapped up rather fleetingly. First, the Detroit police officer who explained himself to CJ previously (saying the suspect who claimed he was mistreated had broken his leg trying to get away, a story that appears to be truthful given the physical differences between the two) gets scheduled to talk with Mark Gottfried on TV the next morning, giving him the chance to state his case to the television audience. And that's it, that's all ... apparently that's going to do the trick.

Ainsley demands that Sam set up a do-over of her meeting with the President, as the first encounter (with her dancing in a bathrobe while enjoying a Pink Squirrel) was embarrassing to both her and her father, apparently. Sam sets it up, this time in Leo's office, but Ainsley's nervousness causes her to mistake a closet for a bathroom:

President: "Why were you in the closet?"

Ainsley: "I had to pee."

President: "They won't let me smoke inside but you can pee in Leo's closet." 

But what makes this second "first meeting" special is Jed asking Ainsley if her father is proud of her, and her face just breaks out into this beaming smile:

So much better than the stricken, humiliated look she had in her office the first time.

And that's about it - a couple of quick storyline wrap ups from the last episode, and a deep dive into the nature of leadership and trust and consequences. We are definitely building the setup for the rest of the season, as Jed's MS issues in relationship to his re-election campaign and his promise to Abbey are well in play.


Tales Of Interest!

- The title of this episode is pretty finely crafted. Leo explicitly describes it in relation to the war on drugs, with the angle that the real drug war should be addressed at home, in America, since it's the appetite for illegal drugs here that's funding drug lords like Aguilar in Colombia and other countries. It also relates to the final scene, where President Bartlet stands at attention as the flag-draped caskets return to the United States - an obvious symbol of the war being brought back home. And finally, the rift between Jed and Abbey over changing "the deal" about running for a second term can play right into the theme of a "war" at "home." That title is doing triple duty.

- Remember that oddly prominent Florida Gators coffee mug being held by a background actress in the previous episode, apparently as some kind of inside signal by someone on the production staff or crew? Well, we get it again in this episode:

Somebody here is really shilling for the University of Florida.

- As far as the polling situation goes ... are we supposed to believe the area of DC where the polling research company is located actually didn't have power for some 24 hours? That just seems like a really long time for a run-of-the-mill electricity outage, not related to a storm or a flood or something like that. Oh, well ... it's fiction, I know.

- We get a look at yet another new addition to Season 2's newly built West Wing set, with the "breakfast nook/Presidential dining area" where Josh and Sam meet with the President (and, while the President demands eggs be brought out, nobody actually eats anything):

- The fly-away hairs over the foreheads of the actors are really on display. First, we see a strand of hair rather distractingly blowing back and forth across Sam's forehead while he talks to Toby:

And later we get the same kind of look, with a lock of hair spilling over President Bartlet's forehead (although this is really a hallmark of Martin Sheen's hair anyway):

- Speaking of Sam, while we've previously seen NASA/space-related screen savers on the computer monitors in his office, here it looks like he's working on some kind of document ... but I'm not sure why he would choose a look with a blue background and white text for his writing. I don't know, it just looks odd to me (on the other hand, that's a rather odd display for 2001, with a modified flat screen and an oddly rounded base - maybe that's not a monitor for writing at all but some other type of display):

- I really liked the lighting and the look Christopher Misiano came up with for the scene in Josh's office with Joey and Kenny. The late night darkness (it's mentioned that it's 2:00 am) is split by the bold, bright lighting of the white papers on his desk that bounces upward like a beacon in the near blackness of the office:

Really cool.

- While we're on desks, I've mentioned previously that the President usually has three family photos prominently displayed on his Oval Office desk, featuring Abbey and Zoey (even though we know they have other daughters as well). Here we catch a glimpse of an additional photo, making four in total; although we can't see what they are, perhaps we're getting prepared to meet some more of the Bartlet family (in fact, the very next episode is called Ellie, so that ought to be a clue about another Bartlet daughter).

Quotes    

Leo (walking out on the portico where the President is playing chess in the cold): "You understand we've got heating inside, right?"

President: "This isn't cold. It's crisp."

Leo: "No, it's cold."

President: "Well, you're a big wussy." 

-----

Jed: "We didn't get a chance to talk again last night."

Abbey: "I don't think we should."

Jed: "Talk?"

Abbey: "No."

Jed: "Ever?"

Abbey: "Oh, if wishing made it so, Jed." 

-----

CJ: "How you doing, Ainsley?"

Ainsley: "Well, my mouth is dry, my hands are moist, and I have to pee."

CJ: "Okay ..."

(Later, in Leo's office)

Leo: "How you doing, Ainsley?"

Ainsley: "I'm concerned about peeing on your carpet."

Leo: "Okay, well ... now I am, too."

-----

Josh: "You don't think they're gonna kidnap another five people tomorrow morning and demand twelve months of free cable?"

Donna: "So you give them free cable."

Josh: "How about the keys to the Situation Room?"

Donna (pause): "You draw a line."

Josh: "Where?"

-----

Abbey: "Do you get that you have MS?"

Jed: "Abbey ..."

Abbey: "Do you get that your own immune system is shredding your brain and I can't tell you why? Do you have any idea how good a doctor I am and that I can't tell you why?" 

Jed: "I had one episode in two years."

Abbey: "Yes. But relapsing-remitting MS can turn into secondary progressive MS, oftentimes ten years after the initial diagnosis - which is exactly where we'll be in two years. Do you know what that's gonna look like if it happens?"

Jed: "I know when it's gonna -"

Abbey: "Fatigue. An inability to get through the day."

Jed: "Look ..."

Abbey: "Memory lapses. Loss of cognitive function. Failure to reason. Failure to think clearly. I can't tell you if it's gonna happen. I don't know if it's gonna get better, I don't know if it's gonna get worse. But we had a deal. And that deal is how you justified keeping it a secret from the world. It's how you justified it to God. It's how you justified it to me."

-----

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

• Seth Gillette, the Senator who was mentioned in The Drop In as threatening a third-party challenge to the President after his admonishment of environmental groups, is seen here played by the very recognizable Ed Begley Jr. (St. Elsewhere, the Christopher Guest movies, tons of other movies and TV series).

My own personal brush with fame: I appeared in a non-speaking role in the 2017 film Amelia 2.0, where Begley played the head of the Wesley Corporation. Here's me sitting in the board room right in front of Ed, in a scene from that movie:

• The sorta-kinda romantic interplay between Josh and Donna continues, and gets called out explicitly by Joey Lucas:

Joey (through Kenny): "If you polled a hundred Donnas and asked them if they think we should go out, you'd get a high positive response. But the poll wouldn't tell you it's because she likes you. And she knows it's beginning to show and she needs to cover herself with misdirection."

Josh replies with, "Believe me when I tell you that's not true" - yet earlier in the episode, when Josh is telling Sam about Donna's efforts to get him to ask Joey out, he first seems bewildered as to why Donna would be pushing him to go out with another woman (because he seems to know she's got some feelings for him), then tells Sam he's not "jealous" when Donna goes on dates, but he does do his best to sabotage them (the likes of which we saw clearly in The Portland Trip). What exactly does he think is going on with the two of them? 

• A couple of things about the President's private talk with Leo about what to do in Colombia: First, when Leo says they can have President Santos release Aguilar without it being known the United States asked for it, President Bartlet mentions there were 14 people in the room who heard Santos make that offer. Leo responds, "Those 14 people keep bigger secrets than this." Back in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen, Part 1 Abbey tells the anesthesiologist that he's the 15th person in the world to know that President Bartlet suffers from MS - fourteen people had been keeping that secret.

Second, the President immediately goes to muse about living outside the law and wondering what's stopping him from sending CIA agents to Colombia to kill Aguilar. An almost exactly similar situation will turn out to be a driving force in Season 3.

DC location shots    

• None.

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

• The President mentions George Bernard Shaw (with the quote about life just seeming longer if you stop smoking - the quote is actually attributed to Sir Clement Freund) and Truman Capote (about living outside the law and therefore no longer having its protection). 

• Bob Woodward and Jeff Greenfield are among those being thanked for being guests on the special edition of Capital Beat.

• There's a clear view of CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the TV in Josh's office. Later we see he has Bloomberg TV on.

• Sam says Ainsley's dancing brings to mind Joey Heatherton. When she mentions how she and her father are both petrified by her disastrous first meeting with the President, Sam compares her situation to the Greek tragedies of Euripides and the "House of Atreus."

• We hear Abbey's staffer mention a biography of Truman. Perhaps she's referring to David McCullough's 1992 biography, which I can whole-heartedly recommend as being excellent.

• Donna brings up CNN, USA Today, and Gallup in questioning Josh about their own polling.

• Product placement: Toby has a bottle of  Early Times whiskey when Sam comes to tell him about meeting with Senator Gillette.

End credits freeze frame: The shot from inside the hangar as the caskets are unloaded from the plane.

By the way, it's doubtful (if not impossible) that the Coast Guard would have handled the travel arrangements for the casualties from Colombia. The Delta Force is an Army unit, plus the Coast Guard wouldn't have authority to fly to Colombia. I imagine the arrangements for this aircraft goes back to the Coast Guard's cooperation while filming the opening scene of Shibboleth.