Walking And Talking And Yelling At Clouds: September 2019

Original airdate: October 17, 2001

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (46)

Directed by: Thomas Schlamme (9)

Synopsis

Part two of the season opener reveals answers to some questions we had from the previous episode: Why does Josh keep mixing up RU-486 and tobacco? What threw CJ so much she's thinking about quitting? How did the Haiti crisis get resolved? Who is Bruno Gianelli and where did he come from? And will Jed and Abbey finally get along again?

"I haven't really made up my mind yet, but ... at the moment ... I'm leaning toward voting for you."

After Manchester Part I I thought I had a good handle on the plotlines and a general idea of how things would play out in Part II. Aaron Sorkin, that clever old storyteller, brings a whole lot more information to light in Part II, information we needed to know but didn't have access to previously, and crafts it into a marvelously dramatic finish to this two-parter. For example, in Part I we saw Josh bound and determined to light a fire under the House committee that was tying up funding for the tobacco lawsuit, against all advice to the contrary; CJ in a funk after an unfortunate choice of words in a press briefing; the situation in Haiti still on edge as the US threatened military action against the coup; and Jed and Abbey navigating some dangerous relationship territory after Jed's surprise announcement that he's running again. So we might think we know where these are all going - in my case, at least, while it might not have been a big surprise where we ended up, Part II had quite a few surprises in store about how we got there.

Let's start with Josh. As we continue the back-and-forth story between the present in New Hampshire and a month previous in Washington, Part II shows us that Josh's tactic of calling out the House subcommittee was successful, and the tobacco lawsuit funding was secured. But now, Josh is obsessed with making a (perhaps illegal) call to the FDA to have them hold off on a potentially disrupting announcement on RU-486 - yet he keeps saying he can "fix tobacco" instead of the FDA. Hmmm.

We discover that Josh's "victory" on lawsuit funding may have turned out to be less of a win than he thought. Bruno walks him through the political ramifications, and the advantages the campaign would have had by holding on to the issue:

Josh: "We got the money, Bruno."

Bruno: "You don't want the money. You want the issue. You should have waited until the fall, when the bell rings and then we hammer them with it. [...] Of course you got the money. I'm amazed they didn't send it to you with candy and a stripper. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio - three swing states you could have brought over with that. That's an election."

And Josh's face as he realizes the opportunity he missed:

Josh is now desperate, trying to find any other thing he can to make up for losing a perhaps vital campaign issue, which is why calling off the FDA is in the front of his mind. His later scene with Donna shows his despair and worry about how he might be costing President Bartlet reelection in a close race. And in a revealing callback to CJ slamming a door frame after her gaffe with the press, we see Josh slamming another door frame in frustration about his mistake:

Speaking of Bruno - we now get to find out a little about who he is. We figured out in Part I that the campaign brought him in (along with Doug and Connie) to kick-start the campaign after poll numbers stayed flat over the past several weeks. He's a hired gun - as Leo tells Margaret, he's helped elect five Senators, three governors, and the Prime Minister of Israel. Leo and Bruno (and the President) have a "introduction" scene neatly set up by Sorkin (even though this comes well after we first see Bruno joining the group on Air Force 1 in Part I, this flashback is his first appearance in the White House). First, Bruno gives his demands to Leo:

Leo: "What do you want?"

Bruno: "Fifteen percent of the ad buys. You're gonna say, ten, so why don't we just say, thirteen?"

Leo: "Why don't we say twelve?"

Bruno: "Why don't we say thirteen?"

Bruno also demands unfettered access to the President, saying, "I take this request to the President, tell him it's a deal breaker, he's going to say yes." Leo cheerily says he should go ahead, walk right into the Oval Office and talk to the President himself. President Bartlet greets Bruno and gets to the heart of the matter:

President: "You have one or two demands."

Bruno: "Yes, sir."

President: "You want twelve percent of the ad buys."

Bruno (uneasy pause): "Okay, twelve. And -"

President: "A room, a car, and a driver, that's no problem."

Bruno: "Well, thank you, sir. I'll also need unfettered access to -"

President: "No."

Bruno: "Sir, I -"

President: "Sorry, Bruno, Leo runs the show."

Bruno: "Respectfully, sir -"

President: "It's a deal breaker."

How the turntables have turned! It's a neat little trick that Sorkin gives us here, and it establishes that the "new guys" are still going to be outsiders, with Bartlet sticking with the team he knows and trusts. That's a key to the conclusion of this episode, too.

CJ's story was perhaps the most involving of Part I. We saw her under tremendous pressure, dealing with the demands of the press eager to get answers not only on the President's health and his surprising announcement, but also the ongoing crisis with the coup in Haiti and what the administration was going to do about it. When she slipped under that stress and said the President was "relieved to be focusing on something that matters," which implied both that the President was "relieved" to be dealing with a military situation that had already cost lives, as well as the notion that his MS and his deceiving the country about it didn't "matter" - well, that wasn't a good look for the White House Press Secretary. We sussed out the notion in Part I that she was considering leaving the administration, but we find out the real reason here. Leo (along with the President) pulled her from an important briefing about the wrapup of the Haiti crisis, having National Security Adviser Nancy McNally talk to the press instead. Nancy's not gung-ho about the idea, but Leo has the last word:

Leo: "I'm not punishing her. You're not the political face of this administration, you're not part of the MS thing and you won't be asked questions about it."

Nancy: "I don't feel right about this."

Leo: "I don't care."

So it wasn't the fact that she made a mistake that was making her reconsider her position at the White House - it was the fact that Leo and the President lost trust in her, just enough to take away her responsibility for briefing the press that one time. That makes her thought process a lot more clear, and a lot more understandable. Sure, she was going to beat herself up for screwing up, but that one mistake didn't seem like a reason to quit ... however, having your boss use that mistake as a reason to sit you down? Yeah, her bitter remarks towards Leo on the street in Manchester and her considering leaving because of that benching makes sense.

The President finally comes to his senses, however. In a nicely written and acted scene in a barn as Bartlet goes over his speech one final time, CJ comes to tell him she'll resign if the polls go up after his speech. They have a tense, fiery little conversation (the President goes back to the problems facing the country, much as he did with Mrs. Landingham's memory in Two Cathedrals) to which CJ responds, "Don't you dare lecture me, Mr. President!" That almost seems to flip a switch in his mind:

President: "I was never supposed to win. [...] Then you guys came along and all of a sudden I got 22% in Iowa and then South Carolina and Michigan and ... then Illinois. (pause) It was a mistake benching you for that last press conference."

Charlie (enters barn): "Excuse me. CJ, they need you."

(pause, President looks kindly at CJ)

President: "I need you, too."

What did happen with Haiti? It almost turned out to end anti-climatically ... after Part I, when American helicopters fired on Haitian troops while evacuating the embassy, and the next plan was to send military aircraft on a threatening low-level flyby of Port-au-Prince, here we find out the coup leader Bazan was willing to leave the country and allow the return of the democratically elected president on some conditions (asylum in America for him and dozens of friends, a private jet, $10 million from the US). The counteroffer was asylum for him and his immediate family in Venezuela and access to his American bank accounts only. And that was how things finished up.

The conflict between Toby & Sam and Bruno's team that we saw in Part I continues to fester, as they can't come to an agreement over how to structure the President's speech. Doug has a conversation with Toby that really gets to the point:

Doug: "You guys are so pissed at him you don't even know it. You're more pissed at him than the press is. You're more pissed at him than the party is. You're so pissed at him, you're pissed at me. 'Cause if he hadn't lied, you could've run the campaign you always wanted to run instead of a bunch of people coming in here and teaching you not to bother anybody."

That's the heart of why there's so much conflict, and why Sam keeps recommending the President apologize to the American people. The staff is still dealing with the shattering news that Bartlet kept this secret from them, hid this information from them, and now has put them in the emotionally and financially painful position of dealing with the fallout.

(Perfectionist Toby is also upset that the campaign signs say "Bartlet For President" when he already is the President. "Cause I was there when he won," Toby says, "I saw him get sworn in, I actually rode in a limo ...")

(Shades of a certain current President altering reality with a Sharpie?)

That pain is nowhere more evident than between Jed and Abbey. All the way back to Bartlet's Third State Of The Union, we knew the couple had a deal - they'd keep his MS secret, and in exchange he'd only serve one term. But now that the real possibility of a second term (and the unfinished business Bartlet sees he has yet to tackle) is here, Jed is going back on his promise without any kind of conversation with his wife. She tries - first he's too busy with Haiti, then he can't talk about it because he has too much to say, then he doesn't want to talk about it because he's tired of having to justify himself (to which Abbey gives him a well-deserved "Go to hell").

One of the less-satisfying parts of this episode, I think, is how Abbey ends up where she does. We don't see a whole lot of her process of dealing with the situation - she's not happy about CJ trying to set up a husband-wife photo opportunity, for example, but later she seems pleased to be given the opportunity to introduce the President before his speech. I think I might have liked seeing her work through her thoughts and emotions a little more, particularly since she's absolutely in the right here (Jed needed to talk to her about going back on his promise!), but instead we end up at her uneasy acceptance of his decision in the limo ride to the speech:

Abbey: "I haven't really made up my mind yet, but ... at the moment ... I'm leaning toward voting for you."

While I have no doubt this sort of coming together happens with couples all the time, with or without a lot of talk and give-and-take, I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of Abbey's internal journey. Just my thought on it.

The big moment that brings us closure, though, is just before the speech, in that little New Hampshire classroom. The President apologizes, all right - not to the American people, but to his staff, his friends, the companions who have been by his side and helped him get elected the first time. He recognizes what his deception has put them through, and he asks them to stand firm with him and forge ahead:

President: "It occurs to me, I never said I'm sorry. I am. For the lawyers, for the press, for the mess, for the fear. Bruno, Doug, Connie - these guys are good. They want to win. So do we. The only thing we want more is to be right. I wonder if you can't do both. There's a new book, and we're gonna write it. You can win if you run a smart, disciplined campaign, if you studiously say nothing - nothing that causes you trouble, nothing that's a gaffe, nothing that shows you might think the wrong thing, nothing that shows you think. But it just isn't worthy of us, is it, Toby?"

Toby: "No, sir."

President: "It isn't worthy of us, it isn't worthy of America, it isn't worthy of a great nation. We're gonna write a new book, right here, right now. This very moment. Today."

It's a nice moment, wrapping up a tense, drama-filled two episodes and kicking off a campaign for another term. And just as he did in the very first episode, Pilot, President Bartlet ends his pep talk to the staff with the words, "Break's over." They're a team, they're united, and they're all-in.

Tales Of Interest!

- When Josh is bragging to Bruno about all his experience handling Congressional matters he says he's been Deputy Chief of Staff for 30 months. If this is June, as we determined in the last episode, he's exactly correct (with Bartlet taking office in January 1999, this is June 2001, that's 30 months).

- However, time goes a bit awry when Abbey is offering CJ some apple cider while she carries a basket of apples. Apples would not be ready for picking in New Hampshire in June (harvest would be mid-August at the earliest), so I'm not sure where Abbey got that basket from:

- Tommy Schlamme is doing his thing again with the shots in this episode. There's the neat long, slow tracking shot from upstairs, with Leo and Josh down on the floor:

Another cool shot with the action of the argument taking place in the dining room in the background, with Leo sitting in the foreground just working on stuff:

And the West Wing standby of the shot rotating around the character, which we get as Bruno waits for Margaret to show him into Leo's office. We also get that familiar shot of characters being shown on a screen, with Leo and the President visible on a security monitor as they enter the Situation Room (more advanced security in the Sit Room, we see - the place has come a long way since A Proportional Response):

- Speaking of Margaret, she's on fire this episode. We get to hear her foreign policy ideas while she's talking to Sam:

Sam: "Hey, good news about Haiti."

Margaret: "I say we should have gone in there with four tank divisions and turned the place into a casino."

Sam: "Manifest destiny?"

Margaret: "Bet your ass."

And then she schools Leo about making his own appointments:

Margaret: "Do I need to explain the rules, on making appointments again? Are you confused?"

Leo: "Get out."

Margaret (heading to her desk): "I'll jot them down."

NiCole Robinson is great.

- There's a quick glimpse of Gail's fishbowl on CJ's desk, but I can't quite see what's in there this time. It looks like perhaps just a tiny White House? I really can't tell:

- This is something that looks good on TV, but would never be done in real life by a competent event planner. When the President comes by the site for the speech the night before, and runs into Abbey as she prepares for her introduction, the balloons are all inflated and adorning the venue. If that was done the night before, by the next day they'd be going flat and limply hanging from their strings. You don't inflate your helium balloons that far ahead of an event!

Quotes

(President Bartlet is practicing his speech in a barn while the staff listens)

CJ: "There's a snake over there."

Sam: "What kind?"

CJ: "I don't know and I don't want to ask him. Would somebody shoot it, please?"

-----

Doug: "Listen, it's a simple equation. Bartlet rules America. America rocks, therefore Bartlet rocks."

Sam: "America 'rocks'?"

Toby: "Bartlet ... 'rocks'?"

Doug: "Yes."

Josh: "He really doesn't, that much."

-----

CJ (as she and Josh walk into a classroom): "We'll be using this as the green room, he can walk right out the door and up on the stage."

Josh: "What's this room usually used for?"

CJ: "I don't know, desks, a blackboard, could be some sort of a classroom?"

-----

Doug: "He's gotta stand up, he's gotta declare, and he's gotta apologize."

Toby: "He's not gonna apologize."

Doug: "Why not?"

Toby: "For what?"

Doug: "For your campaign and your White House perpetrating a fraud. (pause) I'm from Oregon. In Oregon we like to see a man stand up and say he's sorry. Where are you from?"

Toby: "Me?"

Doug: "Yeah."

Toby: "I'm from the United States of suck my -"

Josh (quickly): "All right."

-----

Jed: "I'm just saying it could be worse. I could've been an astronaut."

Abbey: "You could not have been an astronaut."

Jed: "I'd have been a great astronaut."

Abbey: "You're afraid of heights, speed, fire, and small places."

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

As mentioned above, Josh smacks a door frame in frustration over possibly screwing up the President's reelection campaign, just as we saw CJ do in Part I over screwing up a statement to the press:

President Bartlet's last words in his pep talk to the staff are "Break's over" - the exact same words he used after re-energizing the staff in Pilot.

DC location shots

As mentioned in Manchester Part I, we have several scenes shot in and outside the Red Fox Inn in Middleburg, Virginia.

The building used for the President's public campaign announcement in New Hampshire (referred to as a school) is actually the Bluemont Community Center in Bluemont, Virginia.

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

In the early strategy scene in the barn, Doug brings up Dr. Kevorkian (Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a famous advocate for and perpetrator of assisted suicide).

CJ tells Toby she could have stood on top of the Sears Tower with a Stratocaster and that wouldn't have been gotten attention because of the President's revelation of his MS and his surprise campaign announcement.

Bruno asks for a room at the Hay-Adams Hotel.

Connie has no luck looking for a Starbucks anywhere near the Bartlet farm.

Toby brings up the Rose Bowl parade (actually the "election" of the parade's Grand Marshal) in his fight with Doug. Doug also mentions not having drank the Kool-Aid like the rest of the Bartlet staff did (a reference to the Jonestown massacre, where Jim Jones apparently laced both Kool-Aid and Flavor Aid drink mix with cyanide).