The U.S. Poet Laureate - TWW S3E17

Original airdate: March 27, 2002

Teleplay by: Aaron Sorkin (60)
Story by: Laura Glasser (5)

Directed by: Christopher Misiano (8)

Synopsis

• President Bartlet's offhand remark disparaging a rival spreads through the media after it's picked up on a hot microphone. Toby is smitten with the newly named Poet Laureate, even as she insists on making a controversial political point at her honorary dinner. Josh goes down an Internet rabbit hole when he finds a website devoted to discussions about him.

"That was old-school ... go knock 'em dead."

Truth. How should it be told? When speaking truth to power, is it always necessary to be done publicly? And is the truth still the truth even if just a sideways reference slips into the public discourse, as a guidepost that leads the public to to uncover the rest of the truth on their own?

There's so much to enjoy in this very good episode: a great performance by Laura Dern; the sight of gruff, grouchy Toby mooning over a cute poet; Donna and CJ giving Josh the business over responding to internet trolls; the return of Ainsley Hayes; the genesis of a song lyric from a Pulitzer Prize-winning musical. But at its heart, it's President Bartlet turning Toby's words from Hartsfield's Landing into action as he cleverly launches the opening salvo of the 2002 Presidential campaign. And the essence of truth, whether it be told boldly out loud in front of powerful people, or cagily slipped in front of a reporter almost as if by accident, is the bedrock of these stories.

Remember what Toby told the President over the chessboard two episodes ago?

Toby: "Then make this election about smart, and not. Make it about engaged, and not. Qualified, and not. Make it about a heavyweight."

We haven't been certain Bartlet has been ready to go that route. Leading up to that conversation, he's been leaning towards being easygoing and noncontroversial, downplaying his intelligence and wonkiness in order to seem more affable and relatable to the average American voter. This plays into the hands of the most likely Republican challenger, Governor Robert Ritchie of Florida. Ritchie is described as a folksy everyman, not too intellectually curious or introspective (let's be frank, Aaron Sorkin is using Ritchie as an obvious stand-in for the persona of the then-current real-life President, George W. Bush). Toby has been pushing Bartlet to use the advantages he has with his smarts, his education, his obvious experience and intelligence, to make the fight from his own ground instead of battling Ritchie on his.

Now, at last, we see Jed come down firmly on Toby's side. He's ready to set the terms of the campaign as "smart, and not" - and he finds a very, very clever way to enlist the media to do a lot of the job for him. We begin by seeing the President doing a serious of interviews with local TV stations as he touts an upcoming press conference on energy independence. On the air, Bartlet brushes aside questions about Ritchie's call in a newly published book to open oil exploration in an Alaskan wildlife preserve, while off-air, he also dances around the anchors' questions about Ritchie's perceived lack of intelligence.

Until he's pressed by an anchor from Philadelphia, once the broadcast part is finished:

Anchor: "Have you read the book?"

President: "I'll read it when he does."

Anchor: "What's your read on him so far?"

President: "I don't know, Leslie. I think we might be talking about a .22 caliber mind in a .357 magnum world."

It turns out the feed was still going out to the Philadelphia TV station, an AP reporter happened to be there to hear the comment, and this off-the-record remark about the Republican candidate's smarts quickly goes public.

This is a great episode for CJ, as we get to see her wrangle the press corps as only she can. Sam thinks the White House should just lean into the implication that Ritchie is, well, dumb:

CJ: "I have the briefing room in twenty minutes."

Josh: "What do you think you're gonna get?"

CJ: "'Is the President saying Governor Ritchie's stupid?'"

Sam: "Yes."

CJ: "No!"

Sam: "'Yes' is the only answer to that question."

But CJ comes up with a different way to go:

CJ: "I can try a non-apology apology."

Josh: "Try it."

CJ: "'The President didn't realize that the camera was hot and he said something he shouldn't have, as we all do from time to time.'"

Josh: "Nice."

Sam: "Yeah. It's a head-fake towards contrition."

Watching CJ handle the press over the next couple of days is masterful. Plus, we get to see the Ritchie campaign blunder their way through its response, making things worse by keeping Bartlet's quote in the news and making the whole story about this contrast between "smart, and not."

Reporter: "A senior official in the communications office of the Ritchie campaign said if the President thinks his candidate is stupid, he should just come right out and say so."

CJ: "Really?"

Reporter: "Really."

CJ: "Let's start a pool to see how long the senior communications official is going to keep his job if once a day he suggests we call his candidate stupid. Somebody's gotta step in and stop this fight 'cause we're the only ones scoring points, and we're not even playing."

The crowning moment of this entire storyline, the real chef's-kiss where all the pieces fall into place, come just before the President steps out for his live press conference. CJ has figured out that the entire calling-Ritchie-dumb-in-private-but-it-went-public was a setup by Bartlet all along. He knew the camera feed was live, he knew his comment would go public, and he knew it was a way to emphasize his intelligence and fitness for office at the expense of Ritchie, with the press and the Ritchie campaign actually doing all of the work for him.

CJ: "Mr. President, is it possible you saw that the green light was on?"

(Bartlet gives CJ a steady, unreadable look. CJ smiles)

CJ: "That was old-school."

Ah, Toby. Gruff Toby, grouchy Toby, prickly Toby. It turns out this guy has quite the crush on a certain female poet, Tabitha Fortis, who just happens to have been named the U.S. Poet Laureate. A White House dinner in her honor is coming up, but Fortis has a problem - she wants the United States to sign an international treaty banning the use of land mines, and she's going to use the dinner as a public forum to make her case. Of course the administration doesn't want that, and Toby volunteers to talk to her.

Toby: "I'll talk to her."

CJ: "I thought Sam 'cause he's more familiar with land mines."

Toby (nervously fiddling with his pen) : "I'll do it."

CJ: "Why?"

Toby: "'Cause."

(CJ starts to grin)

Toby: "What?"

CJ: "Is it possible you've got a little touch of the poet? Or would like a little touch of the poet?"

 Toby (sheepishly): "Yes." 

We've never seen Toby so darn cute.

Fortis is played by the marvelous Laura Dern, and her performance is just great. Tabitha's physicality and "flightiness," for lack of a better word, are embodied so well, from her first appearance hunched over a book while she's waiting for Toby, to her darting eyes and nervous inability to hold a steady gaze as the two talk in Toby's office. And I love the moment where Fortis admits she has a soft spot for him as well, even as she departs with the intention of not showing up for her honorary dinner:

Fortis: "All right then. I'm sorry we can't have the party. But I like talking to you. Yeah, you're cute, and, uh ... I love the way you write." 

For a poet to tell a speechwriter she loves the way he writes is practically a red-hot expression of passionate lust between two crafters of language like we have here. A great moment.

As Toby takes some time showing Tabitha around Washington, they have a short discussion about crossing things off lists.

Fortis: "I like crossing off lists. It's very satisfying. You like lists?'

Toby: "Yes."

Fortis: "You like crossing things off?"

Toby: "I'll let you know when it happens."

Toby then keeps after Tabitha, continuing to make his points about the land mine issue and about how her insistence on making her point at an honorary dinner would neither further her goal nor recognize her well-deserved honor:

Toby: "Tabitha, you don't know what you're doing. This isn't kid's stuff. If you stand up in the President's face, that's going to be the story, and nobody's going to care about what you care about. Nobody is going to care about what you care about."

That's not enough to sway her, though, and she sticks to her guns. Eventually, whether it's his logical arguments or maybe her emotional feelings for him, something gets under her skin. She loses track of her thoughts at a poetry lecture, and it's Toby she asks for, it's Toby she wants to give her comfort and assurance. As they talk on the steps outside the lecture hall, she explains why the land mine issue is a personal one for her:

Fortis: "There was a man in Banja Luka that I met. He took his son and I ... to go fishing in the Sava River. And the little boy, uh ... hooked a piece of garbage ... and when he tried to take it off the line, it blew him up. Right in front of his father, and, uh ... right in front of me."

She shakily comes to the conclusion that maybe Toby was right, that maybe her personal truth about ending the use of land mines doesn't need to be a part of the Poet Laureate dinner, as long as she can meet with the President and tell him her story. Toby agrees. And then he pulls out a notebook:

Toby: "What's that say?"

Fortis: "'Meet Tabitha Fortis.'"

(Toby takes out a pen and crosses off the entry)

Josh discovers the internet in this episode, and it doesn't turn out so well for him. He comes across Donna and the other assistants gathered around a computer:

They are enjoying the website lemonlyman.com (I recommend you do NOT go to that website yourself; while the site was originally set up by Warner Bros. before this episode aired in 2002, they no longer run it, and it now appears to be a site distributing malware and spyware if you click on anything). This website is where fans of Josh talk about him, sightings of him around town, and his general dreaminess (I suppose).

(Let me step in a moment to say this scene reminds me of many of these same women gathering to gossip about Karen Larson and her leaks to the press in Take Out The Trash Day. It was kind of a sexist example of women gossiping then, and it's not all that much different to have all the "lady secretaries" getting together to giggle over Josh's website now.)

Josh becomes obsessed with this website, and after reading what he thinks is inaccurate information there about something he said, he's fixated on correcting it - by posting a comment on the website himself. Well, posting as himself, but not actually typing it himself, as he forces Donna to take his dictation to make the post:

(I get it, this is a dramatic device that allows the audience to hear what Josh is posting, while at the same time getting the disapproval and commentary from Donna - but for gosh sakes, Josh can't type into a website on his own?)

This escalates quickly. Josh's attempt to correct the online comments is met with disdain and criticism, to which he responds in kind, and then the press takes notice that a senior White House official is debating with people on a website. Eventually CJ has to make this all stop:

CJ: "I'm assigning an intern from the press office to that website. They're going to check it every night before they go home. If they discover you've been there, I'm going to shove a motherboard so far up your ass -"

(Josh looks down at the floor)

CJ: "What?"

Josh: "Well ... technically, I outrank you."

CJ: "So far up your ass!"

(And yeah, let me just say, we really really could use someone with CJ's attitude to take control of online commenters in the modern White House. I mean, the country really needs that. Like, three years ago.)

There's a lot more discussion below about the origins of this storyline. Let's just say, this whole thing was a personal vendetta for Sorkin, and he has no qualms about using his role writing for a network TV series to try to get back at everyday regular people who talk about him on a website.

Speaking truth to power. Starting a discussion to reveal the uncomfortable truths about a political opponent. Obsessively trying to pin down the last word in truth on an everchanging, constantly evolving website - we've got all that and more. But in a bigger sense, we've got President Bartlet coming to terms with who he is, what he is, and how he should present his own personal truth to the American people in the upcoming campaign, in a very satisfying vindication of what Toby's been telling him since at least The Two Bartlets.

Tales Of Interest!

- The West Wing trademark of the camera spinning around the characters starts right at the top of the episode, as our vantage point moves around President Bartlet as he chats with the local morning TV anchors.

We get another trademark shot composition of a character in the background while we see the same character on a TV monitor in the foreground:

And later, the briefing room standard of CJ visible on a monitor as the reporters look toward the viewer (where CJ actually is):

- I want to talk for a second about the whole "green light-red light" camera issue. Maybe it's just because of my past history with radio and television, but I think it's fairly well-known even to the general public that when a television camera turns on, a red light illuminates on the front (you can see that clearly in the briefing room photograph just above). I have never heard of a light that can change from red to green, let alone a system where green means the camera is recording and red means it is not. I'm not saying something like this doesn't exist, but just the engineering of the equipment to allow different colors of lights on the camera seems ... excessive.

Let's go ahead and stipulate that for the White House video equipment in this episode, a green light means the camera is recording/sending video back to the local TV studio and a red light means it is not. If that's the case ... how could President Bartlet be talking to the first anchor in Cincinnati after the light changes to red and the technician calls, "We're out"? The camera is still on, it's still connected, it's still sending video and audio back and forth between the Mural Room and Sunrise Cincinnati - so the color of the light doesn't mean anything - except, perhaps, that they're "live" on the air when it's green (and even that explanation makes no sense with what we see during the Philadelphia interview). Even after it's red, the President is still chatting with the Cincinnati anchor, which means if he made an insensitive remark at that time - with the light red - people in the studio in Cincinnati would still hear it, and they'd still have the capability to record it or make it public in some way, just as the AP reporter in Philadelphia eventually does.

Now, if the green light means the feed is still going out "live" over the air, that would mean Bartlet's entire after-interview conversation with Leslie went out over the air on the Philadelphia TV station. Of course that didn't happen - so what is the purpose of the different colored lights?

Sorkin's writing of the green/red light factor into the "hot mic gaffe" storyline is just silly. It seems to be dumbing down the visual aspects of the scene for the general public (green means go, red means stop), even though the different colors make no sense if the camera is still sending back video and sound (which it obviously is). That's not to complain about the idea of a politician saying something controversial when he thinks he's not being recorded, that can and does happen and works as a great plotline in this episode - but the way Sorkin writes it here is just sloppy, from a technical standpoint.

- So, Josh and his outrage about "something is wrong on the internet and I have to fix it!" and his befuddled frustration at being called out online ... this is basically a giant middle-finger from Sorkin to the types of website commenters he personally did battle with, particularly those on mightybigtv (which later became Television Without Pity). You see, Sorkin was notorious for engaging with people online about his shows and his writing (there's a very long post about the backstory on that, originally written in 2006 with some updates since, here.) He started out by giving a little inside information about upcoming storylines and general commentary about the show, but after he and Rick Cleveland won an Emmy for writing In Excelsis Deo in Season 1, quite the firestorm erupted over Cleveland's actual input on the script. Sorkin poured fuel on that fire when he posted online to say he pretty much rewrote Cleveland's original script and and just gave him a writing credit as a favor, people (including Cleveland himself!) responded to say that was baloney, and Sorkin never really forgave the online posting community for calling him out. (I love the wording quoted in that link posted above that describes Sorkin as enjoying posting on the internet until he realized it was a printing press, instead of a conference call where he could just mute individuals).

So here is his chance to get back at them. Josh discovers an online fansite, sees something he thinks is inaccurate, posts personally (well, through Donna) to "correct" them, and then sees himself the target of unending criticism and attacks because of his "friendly correction." Donna, too, is a stand-in for Sorkin's opinion of online commenters, with the attitude that they're all crazy, off-their-medications, deranged people with too much time on their hands.

Here's another contemporaneous note about the topic, from a spring 2002 Slate article about this episode:

"The most startling such shout-out occurred just last week, when Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing creator who sparred with posters on Television Without Pity (back when it was called 'mighty big tv'), struck back at his tormentors - by enlisting them in a subplot on his show. When White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman discovers a critical Web site devoted to him, he becomes entangled in its byzantine internal politics, then (like Sorkin) sees one of his posts end up in the newspapers. Lyman's special tormentor, the moderator of the site, is portrayed as a muumuu-clad, chain-smoking dictator - a nasty slap at Sorkin's own nemesis at Television Without Pity. The majority of the site's posters were amused, but a few took umbrage. 'Glark' (the technical director of TWOP) responded online: 'If "we" at TWOP are the TV critic terrorists and we've gotten under his skin enough that he's changing the way he writes and shoe-horning these plots into the show then - ladies and gentlemen - the terrorists have already won.'"

- I keep bringing up the President's collection of glass paperweights, and how they move back and forth on his desk. Here we get a closeup of Leo absentmindedly handling one of them while he waits for the President in the Oval Office:

- CJ gives us a complete rundown on President Bartlet's college history:

CJ: "For the record, the President graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a major in American Studies and a minor in Theology. He received a Masters and a Doctorate at the London School of Economics and an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Dartmouth University where he was a tenured professor."

(CJ is wrong about Dartmouth, though ... it's Dartmouth College, not University. At least in our world, maybe it's different in the West Wing universe ...)

- Hey, check it out - Ainsley has a new office! Apparently they found space for her outside of the Steam Pipe Trunk Distribution Venue in the basement (and we know these new digs are not connected to her promotion to Deputy White House Counsel, since they're in that office when Sam tells her he's convincing Oliver Babish to actually approve that promotion):

What's sad, though, is that not even a new office and a new job title could keep Ainsley visible in the Bartlet White House. This is Ainsley's final appearance on The West Wing until one last special appearance in Season 7. Emily Procter, knowing Sorkin would probably not be able to give her enough storylines to become a full cast member, joined the new series CSI: Miami when it debuted in fall 2002.

- I'm sure many of you are aware that Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of the Broadway musical Hamilton, is a huge fan of The West Wing. In fact, at the 2016 performance when Miranda and three other members of the original cast took their final curtain calls, the orchestra played a snippet of The West Wing theme. (Humblebrag alert: my son and one of his friends were fortunate enough to be in the audience at that performance.)

Hamilton fans know there are many references to The West Wing buried in the lyrics and conversations of the musical, and one big example was rooted in this episode. A recurring lyric in the song The Schuyler Sisters is "I'm looking for a mind at work (work)" ... Miranda took that specific lyric from this episode's conversation between Sam and Ainsley about smart Presidents:

Sam: "Because before I look for anything, I look for a mind at work."

- I needed to have done a better job of tracking all the nicknames CJ has for Charlie over the course of the series. I know I noticed her coining nicknames for him in earlier episodes, but I didn't make a note of it and didn't dig deep enough to go back and find them. Anyway, I'll try to do better ... here she calls him "Chuckles" and "Chipper." (Maybe that's another reason why he was so quick to hit her with the pranks we saw in Hartsfield's Landing.)

- There's been some interesting debate among artists about Fortis' comment the truth in that final conversation with Toby, a comment that sounds "nice" in context about their disagreement, but one that artists in general may find a lot of fault with:

Fortis: "An artist's job, is to captivate you for however long we've asked for your attention. If we stumble into truth, we got lucky, and I don't get to decide what truth is." 

Most artists, I think, would make the point that it is indeed the truth that they are trying to tell, and their main goal in creating art is to expose and illuminate "truth" in some way. I've seen the argument made that if your job is only to captivate the audience, you're just an entertainer and not an artist - that's a discussion that's much more in-depth than I'm willing to engage in at the moment, but I can tell you that Sorkin has taken quite a bit of criticism for putting these words in the mouth of a poet.


Quotes    

Josh: "Why do you suppose this one's so hard to spin?"

CJ: "'Cause it's the classic Washington scandal. We screwed up by telling the truth."

Josh: "All right. Let's try not to do that that much." 

-----

Bonnie: "Well, there's also the section called 'Sightings About Town.'"

Donna: "This is reserved for actual Josh encounters of the third kind, most of which seem to have taken place in restaurants and haberdasheries to which you've never been ... unless you're leading a double life and I think we both know you're not that clever."

-----

Leo: "You're going to be reprimanded tomorrow night on the House floor."

President: "For what?"

Leo: "It's not nice to call people dumb."

President: "Let me ask you something. You're pretty dumb, did you take offense? Look at that. I did it again."

-----

Sam: "By the way, my Princeton Tigers could whip your Cal Bears any day of the week."

CJ: "At what?"

Sam: "Logarithms, possibly."

-----

Sam: "Congressman."

Rep. Wachtell: "There's a heavy stench of partisanism in the air, Sam."

Sam: "Actually, you know, they just sprayed for bugs."

-----

Ainsley: "Does it concern you that the smartest Presidents have been the worst?"

Sam: "I don't grant your premise, but -"

Ainsley: "John Quincy Adams was so full of himself, he could hardly build a coalition around having eggs for breakfast. How many grand theories of international relations did Wilson come up with that were dead on arrival in Congress?"

Sam: "I don't care."

Ainsley: "Why?"

Sam: "Because before I look for anything, I look for a mind at work. Nobody's saying the President has to have a tenured chair in semiotics, but you have to have ..."

Ainsley: "What?"

Sam: "Gravitas."

Ainsley: "And how do you measure that?"

Sam: "You don't, but we know it when we see it, and Republicans tend to mock it when they do."

-----

CJ: "Let me explain something to you, this is sort of my field. The people on these sites? They're the cast of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. The muumuu-wearing Parliament smoker? That's Nurse Ratched. When Nurse Ratched is unhappy, the patients are unhappy. You? You're McMurphy. You swoop in there with your card games and your fishing trips -"

Josh: "I didn't swoop in, I came in exactly the same way everybody else did."

CJ: "Well, now I'm telling you to open the ward room window and climb on out before they give you a prefrontal lobotomy and I have to smother you with a pillow."

(A pause, as Josh considers for a moment)

Josh: "You're Chief Brom-"

CJ: "I'm Chief Bromden, yes, at this particular moment."

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

• The wonderful Laura Dern is cast as the poet Tabitha Fortis. Dern, of course, is well-known for her roles in Blue Velvet, Jurassic Park, and Big Little Lies, as well as her 2020 Academy Award-winning performance in Marriage Story and many, many others.

• The Philadelphia TV anchor we see in the opening scene, Leslie, is played by Beth Littleford (Spin City, Crazy. Stupid. Love, Dog With A Blog). She's another one of those actors you see all the time, on TV shows, movies, and commercials, but probably don't know their names. Littleford received a Peabody Award in 2015 for her role as a correspondent on The Daily Show between 1996 and 2000. 

• White House Counsel Oliver Babish gets mentioned by Sam when he's talking to Ainsley about her promotion, so we know he's still in that position (remember, President Bartlet already had two other White House counsels before Babish). We haven't actually seen him since Gone Quiet, and while we will eventually get to see Babish again, it won't be for a few years.

• WHAT'S NEXT MOMENT - Not a "real" West Wing "what's next," but we get the words when CJ and Sam are talking after CJ's press briefing with the nonapology-apology:

Sam: "All right, so far not bad."

CJ: "What's next?"

Sam: "Well, but Wachtell's in my office right now." 

DC location shots    

• There are no DC location shots. The outdoor scenes with Toby and Tabitha outside the Folger Library and on the Georgetown University campus were actually filmed at Occidental College in Los Angeles. The Occidental campus has been used in many movies and TV shows, including Clueless, Beverly Hills 90210, Real Genius, and Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. The scene with Tabitha crossing the Folger Library off her list was filmed on the steps of Fowler Hall.

Here's a historical photograph of Fowler Hall:

As Toby and Tabitha continue to walk, we see additional buildings in the plaza behind them:

The building in the center is Occidental's Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center: 

And if you're at all curious, this is what the actual Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, looks like, located near the Capitol building just east of the Library of Congress:

• The Georgetown University scene was filmed outside Thorne Hall at Occidental. A prop fountain was brought in for additional atmosphere.

Here's what Thorne Hall looks like without the fountain:

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

• CJ calls Toby "de Bergerac," as in Cyrano de Bergerac, a 17th-century French novelist. CJ's reference would almost certainly be to the fictional character originated in Edmund Rostand's 1897 play and made famous in popular culture since then (the 1987 Steve Martin-Daryl Hannah movie Roxanne being one example). It's an odd comparison for CJ to make, I think. When you think of Cyrano, you think of a (somehow less-attractive yet eloquent) person who ends up helping a less-articulate friend court a potential lover; and naturally, that person being wooed is actually the one the Cyrano character is in love with. That doesn't appear to apply at all in Toby's case (except for his eloquence, of course!) since he's the one doing the "wooing" of Tabitha.

• Tabitha refers to "Dylan" as someone who might be able to use "Ziegler" in a blank verse poem, which almost certainly means Bob Dylan.  

• The political TV shows Meet The Press, Capital Gang and Inside Politics are mentioned, as well as Josh's appearance on Nightline where he gets in trouble with the lemonlyman posters over his GAO comments. We also get references to U.S. News and World Report and the Washington Post.

• President Bartlet sings the 1920s song "Makin' Whoopee" to himself while reading papers in the Oval Office. Well, part of it, anyway ...

President: "Another sky, another June, another something that rhymes with June, another reason, another season, for makin' ... wait a sec."

Charlie: "Yeah, 'sunny honeymoon' is what you were looking for." 

• The Presidents John Quincy Adams and Wilson are criticized by Ainsley, while Tabitha mentions visiting the FDR Memorial.

• Josh rants about being called "a poor man's Clark Clifford." Clifford was Secretary of Defense under Lyndon Johnson and an adviser to several Presidents.

• Josh also compares the criticism from the lemonlyman website community to Lord Of The Flies.

• CJ does a whole little synopsis of the movie (or play) One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, bringing up the characters Nurse Ratched, McMurphy, and Chief Bromden.

• When Tabitha talks about poets who were too rebellious to be named Poet Laureate, she names Adrienne Rich, Anne Sexton, and Allen Ginsberg. Her failure to remember all of Ginsberg's Howl during her lecture at Georgetown is the reason the organizers call Toby.

• Products: Josh says the dictatorial ruler of the lemonlyman website smokes Parliament cigarettes. He also asks Donna for a Yoo-Hoo ... this is a bit of an Aaron Sorkin Easter egg, as Yoo-Hoo is also mentioned in his 1989 play A Few Good Men. Donna is seen sipping from a Diet Pepsi can, and another can be seen on Josh's desk next to his computer.

End credits freeze frame: Toby and Tabitha having their conversation on the steps by the fountain at Georgetown.

Dead Irish Writers - TWW S3E16

Original airdate: March 6, 2002

Teleplay by: Aaron Sorkin (59)
Story by: Paul Redford (8)

Directed by: Alex Graves (9)

Synopsis

• It's Abbey's birthday party, but her enjoyment is tempered by a looming career-altering decision. British ambassador Lord John Marbury debates Toby over an Irish politician's invitation to the White House. Sam (and his college physics professor) defend a funding request for a big scientific project, Josh and Amy have differing opinions on candidates for a campaign post, and Donna discovers to her surprise she might actually be Canadian.

"I mean women talk about their husbands overshadowing their careers. Mine got eaten."
"Your husband got eaten?"

It's fitting, I think, that an episode that begins with a witty sparring session between husband and wife closes with an expression of deep love and sacrifice with that same couple. That these old married folks just happen to be the President and First Lady of the United States adds some dimension to the situation, but it's a tale of human connection and devotion that plays out in countless homes across this world of ours. The stakes are higher, perhaps, but the humanity is what draws us in.

It's, in a way, a final conclusion to the family drama that's been playing out ever since Bartlet's Third State Of The Union and The War At Home. That's where we first discovered President Bartlet had made a deal with his wife, Abbey, that in exchange for not disclosing his multiple sclerosis to the nation, he would only serve one term as President. In those episodes we saw Jed unilaterally reconsidering that deal, a consideration which in a very real sense was a betrayal of his promise to Abbey. And by the time Bartlet made his decision to run again in Two Cathedrals he knew he's put many, many people (Abbey in particular) into uncomfortable, even emotionally and financially painful, positions; and we saw the strain on the Bartlets' relationship come close to a breaking point in Manchester. While the congressional censure the President accepted in H. CON-172 gave him some measure of closure, Abbey is still facing discipline from the New Hampshire board of medicine for her role in treating Jed's condition behind closed doors.

And to make things worse, it's her birthday party. While she's trying to put a happy face on for her friends, she knows she might be facing up to a one-year suspension of her medical license the very next day. Word arrives that the swing vote on the board, someone who worked with Abbey for 20 years and was appointed to the board by Jed, is going to recuse himself from the decision. That makes the worst-case almost certain and hits Abbey pretty hard.

CJ: "Abbey, the Union Leader's got sources saying Dr. Nolan's going to recuse himself from the case."

(A pause as Abbey considers the news)

Abbey: "Claudia Jean?"

CJ: "Yes, ma'am?"

Abbey: "Let's get drunk."

This leads to a wine-fueled girls-only party with Abbey, CJ, Amy, and eventually Donna where the role of women and wives in a male-dominated world is the topic. Well, that, and CJ's inability to open a bottle of wine.

Abbey is insistent that giving up her license, even temporarily, is a lessening of her value as a person:

Amy: "Well, if the most they can give you is a year's suspension, is it ...?"

Abbey: "That big a deal?"

Amy: "Yes."

Abbey: "Yes. I'm a doctor. It's not like changing your major. You of all people should - I mean women talk about their husbands overshadowing their careers. Mine got eaten."

The other women try to refute that point of view, arguing that Abbey's position as a First Lady with an M.D. has led to tremendous progress in government-administered health programs, but it's Donna who kind of hits the nail on the head, accidentally:

Abbey: "That's not the point."

Amy: "What's the point?"

Abbey: "I'm a doctor."

Donna (breezily): "Oh, Mrs. Bartlet, for crying out loud, you were also a doctor when your husband said, 'Give me drugs and don't tell anybody,' and you said, 'Okay.'"

(The room falls silent)

Donna (horrified): "Oh my God. You switched back to First Lady." 

We don't quite realize it yet, but Donna's comment struck Abbey with the deeper truth - she was wrong when she treated her husband on her own, her identification as a doctor really does need to take a back seat to her identification as First Lady and her role as wife and partner to the President of the United States (earlier after Abbey complains about the President's censure having no tangible penalty, yet she is facing the loss of her medical license for a year, CJ responds with "That's different ... because it is, and you know it."). As CJ and Amy and Donna assure her, she still has an important part to play in the administration, and she can still help the lives of many American women with her influence on policy, even if she's not actually practicing medicine.

Which takes us back to the party. The President has been trying to come up with a worthy birthday toast for his wife - he's feeling guilty about the position he's put her in, about going back on his word to her, about the price she's paying for his decisions, and he's hoping any little comfort he can give can help express his love for her. Abbey pulls him aside:

Abbey: "I'm going to voluntarily forfeit my license for the duration of our stay in the White House."

(A long pause. Jed, emotionally struck, is at a loss for words)

Jed: "Okay. I'm gonna do a toast and everything in a minute, and I'll tell the ditch story, but I wanted to say that I love you very much."

Abbey: "I love you, too, Jethro."

Jed: "Don't call me that."

Abbey: "I think I will."  

It's a true measure of sacrifice for Abbey. Jed knows it, and he deeply appreciates it, understanding how much she's giving up for him, his campaign, and his Presidential legacy.

Meanwhile, our title storyline has the return of British ambassador Lord John Marbury. He's here to help Abbey with her birthday celebration, but more importantly, he brings word from the Queen that an Irish politician with ties to the Irish Republican Army must not be invited to the White House for an upcoming St. Patrick's Day commemoration. Leo (or "Gerald") hands him off to Toby for that discussion, and the two head off to a neighborhood bar in search of Lagavulin.

These two intelligent minds have a great discussion about the history of conflict, how nations can and should work together, and the definition of terrorists and the benefits or drawbacks of negotiating with them. Toby and Marbury take turns quoting Irish writers' opinions on the past and whether it always repeats or if we might break out of those cycles. Marbury insists, again, that Brendan McGann cannot come to the White House, but Toby makes the argument that we must talk to our adversaries:

Toby: "So wouldn't you say we were doing you a favor?"

Marbury: "By intervening?"

Toby: "That's the act of a friend. What is left to do but talk? What could be better for that wounded place than sitting down and talking, what is better than sitting down and talking?"

Marbury: "Not to talk to Brendan McGann."

Toby: "We can't choose who."

Marbury: "No, of course you can't."

Toby: "Then - what can we do but talk to him?" 

And then Marbury changes tactics, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, and Toby - after a moment - realizes what's actually going on.

Marbury: "Nothing. You must talk to him."

Toby (taken aback): "What?" 

Marbury: "Toby, despite appearances I do have lucid ... moments. And I know that England is running out of time to this, particular ... well, sir, as ambassador for Her Majesty's government I must tell you that -"

Toby: "Brendan McGann cannot come to the White House."

Marbury: "Yes."

(Toby and Marbury exchange a look)

Toby: "Understood, Mr. Ambassador."

The British government must express its position that McGann cannot come to the White House, for it must be its position regarding Sinn Fein and the IRA ... but Marbury knows nothing will change if nobody is able to talk to one another. He's letting Toby know that the British government disapproves of this meeting, but personally he believes this discussion has to take place, and the United States is in a much better position to spark change on this front than the British.

Sam's old college physics professor is trying to get funding for a superconducting supercollider, a project that has the site all picked out but no funding appropriated for actual construction. Sam is willing to take on pushing for that project because one of the main opponents, a Senator from Illinois, is an old adversary of Sam's - and once Sam figures out that Senator is responsible for an anonymous hold on the funding bill, he's ready to unleash some payback.

There's really not much to this plot line (again, Sam gets shunted off to a less-important one-off of a story), but Hector Elizondo is brilliant as Dr. Millgate. He's so quick and bitingly witty with his review of Sam's performance back in college:

Sam: "So, did I disappoint you when I didn't go into physics?"

Dr. Millgate: "No."

Sam: "Why?"

Dr. Millgate: "You were bad at it."

Sam: "No, I wasn't."

Dr. Millgate: "Yeah."

Sam: "I just needed a little encouragement."

Dr. Millgate: "No."

And eventually, when Sam and Senator Enlow face off in a nasty little exchange where the Senator insists there needs to be a demonstrable benefit in order for the government to fund this extravagance, Dr. Millgate and Sam tell him there is no payoff - that we know of, anyway:

Sen. Enlow: "If we can only say what benefit this thing has. No one's been able to do that."

Dr. Millgate: "That's because great achievement has no road map. But the X-ray's pretty good. So is penicillin. Neither were discovered with a practical objective in mind. I mean, when the electron was discovered in 1897 it was useless, and now we have an entire world run by electronics. Haydn and Mozart never studied the classics. They couldn't, they invented them. "

Sam: "Discovery."

Dr. Millgate: "What?"

Sam: "That's the thing that you were ... discovery is what ... that's what this is used for. It's for discovery." 

Senator Enlow agrees to lift his hold and allow debate on the bill, but we're left with the knowledge there's little chance of Congress agreeing to fund the project. Not to mention, we get the sobering revelation that Dr. Millgate is suffering from cancer and may not have a lot of time to see his hopes for the supercollider come to fruition.

One of a couple of humorous storylines involves Josh's short list to fill a position in the re-election campaign being sabotaged by Amy, with help from the First Lady. Josh, naturally, has a couple of men in mind for the post, but Amy wonders why he's not considering any women:

Amy: "Women are gonna be 60% of the vote. Don't you think they should make up, I don't know, 40% of the campaign staff?"

Josh: "Let me tell you why this is a dangerous area. Because I can't make decisions based on the fact that I like your smooth skin."

Amy: "You're right."

Josh: "Don't try and trick me."

Amy: "No, you're really right. This should be off limits for us."

Josh: "Yes."

Amy: "I apologize."

Josh: "You're trying to trick me."

Amy: "No."

Josh: "I'm gonna be scared for the rest of the night."

And well he should be, as he discovers later when he encounters Abbey and she hands him a piece of paper:

Abbey: "Yeah. I'd like you to add these names."

Josh: "I can't help noticing these are all women."

Abbey: "Women are 60% of our vote, Josh. Don't you think they should make up at least 40% of our campaign staff?"

Ha ha, Josh. Busted!

And then there's Donna. I'll talk about the realities of the situation later, but her admission into the party is delayed because, well ... she's apparently not an American citizen. The border between Minnesota and Manitoba has been adjusted due to a surveying error, and her birthplace turns out to actually be in Canada. So it's a whole thing, with jokes about Canadian pennies and national anthems, and it all pays off with Abbey getting the band at the party to break into a rendition of O Canada, with maple leaf flags and all:

(Also impressive that all these attendees at Abbey's birthday party know the lyrics to O Canada.)

Of course that serves to set up the moment when the President and Charlie return from their toast-making powwow outside, so he can splutter:

President: "What the hell is going on?"

Abbey: "Shhh."

President: "I was gone for 45 minutes. They were all American when I left!"

Another West Wing combination of drama and family emotion, political and literary deliberation, and broad Canada-related humor. It's a fine line to walk, but Aaron Sorkin is pretty good at it. This episode does serve as a fitting conclusion to the Jed-Abbey conflict that's been simmering for over a year, while solidifying their deep-felt love and connection that can only serve them both well for what lies ahead. Plus quality Lagavulin, magnificent breasts, and deputy communications directors who can really wear tuxedos - what more could we ask for?




Tales Of Interest!

- Director Alex Graves has some smooth moves here. His use of windows, shooting through them and moving through them, is a definite theme of the episode - perhaps meant as a way to make the viewer feel they are eavesdropping on private moments? We first see it right at the opening, as the camera peers into the private quarters of the First Couple:

Later, as Abbey, CJ, and Amy sneak off to drink wine in a sitting room (later joined by Donna), we again push into the scene through the exterior window:

And as that scene ends with the ladies heading back to the party, the camera once more looks through the window as it pulls back and pans down to the President and Charlie outside on the portico:

Another more typical West Wing device is having the camera spin around the characters, something we see a couple of times in this episode. The early scene with Josh and Amy greeting the President and Abbey at the party is a great example; I particularly enjoy a moment after Lord John Marbury appears, because even though Josh and Amy aren't really included in the conversation at the time, you get to see Mary-Louise Parker's facial expression react to Marbury's comment about Abbey's breasts as the camera twirls around the actors:

- I've mentioned before Martin Sheen's shoulder injury at birth that resulted in his unique method of putting on a jacket. Here's another example of the Bartlet jacket flip:

- Oh, boy, let's delve into Donna's problem, shall we? First of all, could she lose her American citizenship retroactively because of a surveying error? That's hard to believe, although I can't really find any hard evidence either way - a legal website has examples of how naturalized citizens could lose their status, or how an American could voluntarily decide to give up citizenship, but there's nothing about a natural-born American being stripped of citizenship involuntarily. However, one could make the argument that Donna was never a "natural-born" American if her birthplace was actually in Canada. It just seems to me that if you're ever going to "grandfather" something retroactively, it would be the citizenship of people who were born in what was considered the United States at the time and only later found that spot to actually lie in a different country. I mean, that spot was understood to be part of the United States at the time she was born, so "discovering" it was actually in Canada in 2002 shouldn't have any effect on Donna's status. I am not a citizenship lawyer, though, so don't use my argument in court.

Let's look specifically at Warroad, Minnesota. The border between Minnesota and Manitoba is just under seven miles from the only health clinic in Warroad, so that's further than the "four mile" error Donna mentions. Of course, if she was born at a home outside of town, north of Warroad, that could easily fall within that four miles. On the other hand, that particular border has been set along the 49th parallel since 1818, and it's pretty hard to believe a four-mile surveying error of a line of latitude would have gone unnoticed until 2002 (and since it was an error pertaining to latitude, that same four-mile mistake would extend all the way to the Pacific, wouldn't it? That would be a pretty newsworthy deal, don't you think?).

Of course the entire situation is played for humor by Sorkin, but there's a kernel of inspiration in the neighborhood. The Northwest Angle, an odd protuberance of Minnesota extending into Ontario (not Manitoba) that is not accessible from the United States by land, was actually created in that same 1818 survey, which corrected an earlier border-drawing mistake made in 1783. That area is just northeast of Warroad, across a part of the Lake of the Woods. I gather Sorkin used that example of redrawing the Minnesota-Canada border a couple of centuries ago and applied it to his characters.

- Stockard Channing won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a drama for her performance here and in Gone Quiet. Her performance really is quite remarkable, ranging from irritation at Jed, to engaging bafflement with Marbury, to anger with Leo, to a range of emotions with the other women, to that extraordinary emotional moment with her husband at the end of the episode. Heck, I might have given the award to her just for the way she called President Bartlet "Jethro."



Quotes    

Jed (to Abbey, working on a crossword): "It's your birthday week. It's a week of festivities, like Mardi Gras. Or Lent. Three letters. 'It may be bitter.' Tea, right?"

Abbey: "'It may be bitter'?"

Jed: "Yeah."

Abbey: "Why tea?"

Jed: "Cause 'woman' doesn't fit."

-----

Marbury (to Abbey): "Your breasts are magnificent!"

President: "All right."

Abbey: "Oh - umm, thank you ... John."

Marbury: "May I inquire, Mr. President, the first thing that attracted you to Abigail, was it her magnificent breasts?" 

Abbey: "It was."

President: "You know, John, there are places in the world where it might be considered rude to talk about the physical attributes of another man's wife."

Marbury: "My god! Really?"

-----

President: "Look, obviously we knew this was gonna be a thing, but it doesn't have to be tonight, right?"

Marbury: "No, absolutely not, I shall take it up with Gerald."

Abbey: "Who's Gerald?"

President: "Pretty sure he means Leo."

Marbury (takes a drink of wine): "You have a new chief of staff?"

President: "No."

Marbury: "Then Gerald it is."

-----

CJ: "I'll say this about you, you can wear a tuxedo."

Sam: "I know."

CJ (turning to exit): "I know you know."

-----

Amy: "'About the thing'? You guys pulling a heist?"

Josh: "No."

Amy: "Come onnnn ... let me in on the action. I can be a dame. I won't blow the whistle, get you cheesed."

-----

Sam: "He was asking me about the supercollider, and I didn't have any answers, and -"

Sen. Enlow: "It's dead."

Sam: "It is?"

Sen. Enlow: "As a Greek poet."

Sam: "Well, I'm sure there's some poets alive in Greece someplace. Can you tell me how it died?"

-----

 (After Donna tells the women about her citizenship problem)

Amy: "You seem pretty calm about it."

Donna: "No, I'm very upset. I don't know the words to my national anthem, I've been throwing out Canadian pennies my whole life, I've been making fun of the Queen, I ... we don't do that."

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

• Amy Gardner has been missing for a few episodes, but she's back (played by Mary-Louise Parker), and officially dating Josh now.

• And a welcome return for Lord John Marbury (Roger Rees), last seen in The Drop In when he was named British ambassador to the United States.

• The well-known Hector Elizondo (Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries, Chicago Hope, Last Man Standing) appears as Sam's college physics professor Dr. Dalton Millgate. We aren't told which college, but we do know from And It's Surely To Their Credit that Sam was recording secretary of the Princeton Gilbert & Sullivan Society for two years, before later going to Duke Law School.

• This is what I mean by a "it's that guy!" appearance. Chuck Kane, the fellow lobbying Josh for a job in the campaign, is played by Jerry Lambert. Lambert is a guy you know you've seen before, mostly in commercials but also appearing in TV shows like Sons & Daughters, Modern Family, Everybody Loves Raymond, and American Housewife.

• Marbury makes a direct reference to the President's United Nations speech and Toby's role in writing it, which we saw discussed in Night Five ("They'll like us when we win!").

DC location shots    

• The scene with the President, Leo, and CJ talking outside the White House was shot at one of The West Wing's favorite DC locations, the DAR headquarters on C Street NW (just southwest of the White House). We saw the building in 20 Hours In L.A. with Leo meeting Vice President Hoynes on the sidewalk, and the DAR library was used as George Washington University's law school library (where Laurie was studying) in Lies, Damn Lies And Statistics. 

The architecture of the building with its two-story fluted columns, tall arched windows, and curved portico make it a good stand-in for the actual White House. 

This is a Google Street View of the area they filmed in; the south side of the building, in the 1700 block of C Street NW.

You can see in a later scene with the President musing over toasts with Charlie - which I believe is meant to make the viewer think it's in the same or similar place as the above scene - we are back to the regular studio set of the portico outside the Oval Office (the columns are smooth, not fluted, and the doors/windows are not the same).

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

• The President mentions Lenox china and a wine from the Willamette Valley Vineyards as he's telling Abbey about the party menu. He also refers to "Hope Cellars," which may refer to a Hope family wine. 

• Chuck Kane mentions the CNN show Crossfire, even though he's confused about which administration official was on it.

• Marbury's favorite Scotch is Lagavulin, a 16-year-old Islay single malt. You may also know Lagavulin as the preferred choice of Ron Swanson in Parks And Recreation.

• The Manchester Union Leader, which has the story about Dr. Nolan recusing himself from the decision on Abbey's medical license, was an influential voice in New Hampshire politics. While the newspaper still exists, it changed its name to the New Hampshire Union Leader in 2005.

• Dr. Millgate compares Sam's past issues with Senator Enlow to someone eating another person's Froot Loops.

• The debate between Marbury and Toby refers to a bevy of actual people and events. The Good Friday peace accords (or the Belfast agreement) was a 1998 agreement between Britain and Ireland over governance of Northern Ireland. Toby brings up Palestinian leader (Yasser) Arafat, and in the discussion of "dead Irish writers" we hear quotes from (Rudyard) Kipling, James Joyce, and Eugene O'Neill.

• While it's not specifically named in the episode, the neon sign in the window of the bar Toby and Marbury are sharing a drink in reads "HAWK 'n'" something. That's a clear reference to the Hawk 'n' Dove bar, a dive bar watering hole favored by Democratic politicians like Bella Abzug and Tip O'Neill over the years. That bar was actually located east of the Capitol at 329 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, which would have been quite a walk for Toby and Marbury to take from Abbey's White House party (Toby says "Let's go down the street," but from the White House to the Hawk 'n' Dove would have been almost a 2 1/2 mile walk).

While there is still a Hawk 'n' Dove bar in the same area, it's a more upscale place with new owners and a different location since 2011.

• Abbey says her bottle of old vine zinfandel was originally owned by King Baudouin of Belgium. I can't quite catch the name of the winery (Hog Cellars? Odd Cellars? Ogg Cellars? - none of those turn up anything).

• Dr. Millgate defends his smoking in the White House by bringing up FDR and Churchill. He mentions X-rays and penicillin, as well as the discovery of the electron in 1897 and the composers Haydn and Mozart, in his monologue about scientific research.

• Sam asks if the Sloan Kettering cancer center can do anything for Dr. Millgate's disease.

End credits freeze frame: The women (and Josh) watching the band play O, Canada to honor Donna.