Arctic Radar - TWW S4E10

 

Original airdate: November 27, 2002

Teleplay by: Aaron Sorkin (73)
Story by: Gene Sperling (2)

Directed by: John David Coles (1)

Synopsis

• The administration tries to dodge the issue when a Navy pilot's career is threatened after she refuses an order to stop an affair with another officer. Toby loses his writing mojo, and Sam thinks Will Bailey might be the answer. Donna tries to get Josh to help set her up with Jack Reese. A Star Trek fan in the office causes problems for Josh.

"You ready to saddle up?"

Hard choices - not just making them, but actually inviting the opportunity to make them. Whether it be a choice between angering the military for overriding their decision on discipline, or angering women voters by not stepping in; or a choice between going on a long-deserved vacation or helping write an important political speech for no pay; or a choice between doing your part for national security by staffing a lonely Arctic Circle radar base or, well, not ... stepping into the fray to actually have the opportunity to make these choices seems to be a theme of this episode.

(I may be reaching by including Jack Reese's quick mention of a memo to the radar base here, but Aaron Sorkin had to have some reason for naming the episode Arctic Radar. It had to mean something, right? Right?)

The theme of reinvigorating the administration, of stepping up to the hard challenges instead of avoiding them for expediency, is a good one to mark the beginning of Bartlet's second term ... although it's also a baldfaced ripoff of the theme from Season 2's Let Bartlet Be Bartlet. Can you rip off yourself? I guess, seeing as how Sorkin basically ripped off an important subplot from his screenplay of The American President for A Proportional Response, the answer is definitely yes.

Looming over the entire episode is the issue of Vicky Hilton, a high-ranking Navy pilot leading a trailblazing career for women in the military who finds herself in a heap of trouble after having an affair with a married, lower-ranking officer. The trouble isn't so much the affair, but the fact she ignored a direct order to stop. Leo and Toby are working hard to keep the issue away from the President, as they think involving the White House in the issue would only be a lose-lose proposition.

Of course, there are two sides here - which is what makes it a hard choice! - and Sorkin and Gene Sperling do a pretty good job of bringing them out. You've got mentions of all the wives/daughters/girlfriends weighing in. First, Amy:

Josh: "And the Commander-In-Chief chooses not to overrule his commanders."

Amy: "He chooses to do that without hearing informed argument?"

Josh: "Yes, cause then when he says no, I got a problem with women."

Amy: "Except that my friends and I can give you a problem with women right now." 

Then, Jordon and Andy:

Toby: "Is Jordon pestering you? Cause I'm getting it from Andy on this day and night."

Leo: "No, Toby, I meant a women's issue. The constituency of women."

Toby: "Yeah."

Leo: "Though Jordy hasn't shut up about Vicky Hilton."

Toby: "This is what I'm saying."

 And even the First Lady and Jed's daughters:

President: "You think we should get involved?"

Leo: "No, but you're gonna have problems with the women."

President: "Abbey and the girls?"

Leo: "No."

President: "Women?"

Leo: "Yes."

President: "Cause I got to tell you, I've been hearing it from Abbey and the girls."

Others weigh in on the side of Hilton - Charlie says "I don't think you can reasonably ask someone to control who they fall in love with," and even Toby believes "I think we invested time and money teaching her how to fly a warplane which it turns out she does very well and there aren't that many who do. So I'm going to go ahead and pick national security over caring who she sleeps with."

But Admiral Fitzwallis, in an uncomfortable conversation with Josh, drives the military's point of view home.

Josh: "Just out of curiosity, if you could step in, would you save her?"

Fitzwallis: "No. I'd discharge her, dishonorably, and I'm sure that's what's going to happen."

I have to think, in essence, Fitz has the point right. While other opinions may have some validity - who an officer chooses to sleep with should not have an effect on his or her job, or that a woman who has broken so many barriers and led the way for others to follow might deserve some special consideration, or even that we invested training funds in her, why fire her? - the bottom line is this: She failed to follow a direct order. Following legal orders is the bedrock essence of military discipline - once you give members of the armed forces a choice over which orders to follow and which to ignore, the military fails to function as designed. Plus, officers must be seen as impartial, so that when they make the decisions and give orders that necessarily result in the deaths of soldiers under their command, those soldiers know the orders are for a greater good, for national defense - and not to protect someone that officer has a special relationship with.

So in the overall scheme of things I believe Leo and Toby are absolutely right. There's simply no upside for the President to get involved, even though as Commander-In-Chief he has the power and the right to intervene. Civilians (the President) do indeed have final authority over the armed forces in this country, as Amy says ... but countermanding a decision made for unit cohesion and the importance of following orders, just to placate a bloc of Democratic voters, doesn't seem like a wise decision. And even having the President make it known that he's even considering such a decision can only upset both sides, the military and women voters. It really is a lose-lose proposition.

But it makes for good dramatic television, so there's that.

The story of Jack and Donna (two American kids growing up, in the heartland) continues, this time with Donna begging Josh to let Jack know she kinda likes him. Yes, it sounds pretty juvenile, but at least Josh calls that out with his reference to Potsie and Ralph from Happy Days. What ends up being more important, though, is that Jack Reese can read Josh way better than Josh knows himself.

From the beginning of the series, from the first scene of Donna bringing coffee to Josh in Pilot, there has been a great chemistry between Josh and Donna. Sorkin and the showrunners had little intention of making Donna much of a recurring character - Mandy (remember Mandy?) was supposed to be the romantic foil for Josh - but Janel Moloney's dazzle and commitment and obvious spark in her character forced their hand, which is why Moira Kelly disappeared from the show and Moloney moved into the opening credits in Season 2. The spark and romantic tension has popped up here and there - the special moment of Josh watching Donna read the note he wrote in her Christmas gift in In Excelsis Deo, his sabotaging of her date and the recognition of how good she looked in The Portland Trip, Josh going above and beyond to save her and her diary from House investigators in War Crimes - but it hasn't really been acknowledged by the characters themselves.

Reese sees right through it. Josh's first effort to encourage Jack to ask Donna out includes a list of wacky things she's done in the past, a list that horrifies Donna when she finds out.

Donna: "Cause he's gonna think I'm flaky."

Josh: "Maybe, but he's not going to care."

Donna: "Why?"

Josh: "Guys will go out with anybody."

Donna: "That hasn't been my experience. Go back!"

So Josh does go back, trying to explain to Jack why he told him those stories ... because they're stories that make Josh think fondly of her:

Josh: "Listen, it occurs to me that, uh ... you know, I mentioned Donna before and it occurs to me that I told you ... that I named some things that tickled me. I ... I don't know. I certainly wouldn't want to leave you with the impression that she was ..."

To which Jack responds, "I don't want to get between anything." 

It takes Jack Reese, a character who has only been around a few weeks, to knock Josh over the head about what he really thinks about Donna. Josh actually has to process this for a moment before denying it.

But later, as Donna excitedly gets ready to leave to have a drink with Jack, Josh gets close to the (unspoken) point.

Josh: "Those are good stories about you, though. Those stories would make me like you." 

That flies right over Donna's head in her eagerness to have a date with Jack ("You like everybody," she answers, which we have seen over the past four seasons is obviously not true). But we are inching closer and closer to, maybe, Josh and Donna actually realizing there is something more than a work relationship brewing here.

I've said before this really isn't a healthy relationship, given the balance of power between the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and his assistant, nevermind the little indignities and cruelties Josh hands out to her. But Bradley Whitford and Janel Moloney do such a good job of playing the underlying truths of these characters, we almost can't help ourselves rooting for them.

A couple of minor plotlines in this episode: the President shouting at the UN Secretary General over parking tickets (as another thing Leo is trying to keep off Bartlet's radar, the story just exists as a reinforcement of the 'tough choices' Vicky Hilton theme), CJ putting a reporter in his place in the briefing room (tough-CJ stories are always welcome, and her tactic of letting Mitch back in the front row but pledging to show the seat empty on TV - with a sign pointing it out - is classic tough CJ). The Star Trek pin story, while also a minor one, is kind of a favorite with many West Wing fans.

What happens here is one of the temporary employees (Janice Trumbull) in Josh's office, there to help with all the appointments and new hires for the second term, wears a Star Trek pin on her outfit. Josh is miffed, asking Donna to tell Janice to take it off (unless it's a Star Trek holiday or something), which sends Janice off into a complaint to her supervisor.

The whole thing ends with Josh's incredibly condescending speech at Janice, apparently outlining the differences between being a "fan" of something and being "obsessed" - which would be hard to discover just because someone is wearing a freakin' pin on their jacket. To me, it just seems to be another example of Sorkin's disregard for people who spend time on the internet (as we previously saw in The U.S. Poet Laureate), whether it be in discussions of his show or gathering together in appreciation of, well, any kind of deep communal regard for a creative work. Josh's incredibly rude assumption of Janice being a weird Star Trek groupie - without any information to the contrary except for her admonishing him about "honor and loyalty and civic duty" - just feels wrong and out-of-left-field uncharacteristic. And then having Janice smile at the end when Josh says "Well, work hard around here. We'll make one [Star Trek holiday]" is just cringeworthy.

(Crazy sidebar: here's a side-by-side comparison of the Space Force seal, the new branch of the military created in 2019, and a Starfleet seal from Star Trek, which is possibly something close to the pin Janice wore. We went from a temporary employee being chastised for wearing a pin in the West Wing to nearly the same design being an actual branch of the military):

The storyline that I think is the meat of the episode involves Toby, Sam, and Will Bailey. Sam is packing up his office to head for California for 90 days and the special election campaign for the California 47th.

Toby urges him to leave his Lakers banner, but Sam recognizes that as Toby's desperate need for Sam to come back after the election. Toby is overwhelmed with picking up Sam's writing duties, as he doesn't trust anyone else on the writing staff to do, well, anything:

Sam: "Are you going to use Michael?"

Toby: "From the staff?"

Sam: "Yeah."

Toby: "Michael's who you use when you need brief remarks to whoever wrote the check we couldn't turn down."

Sam: "What about Jerry?"

Toby: "Jerry's who you use when you can't get Michael."

Naturally, there is a pretty big speech on the horizon, as in Bartlet's second inaugural address in January. Toby insists there's no one else but him who can do it any justice, and as he also stubbornly continues to write even routine remarks from lower-level White House offices, the strain is definitely showing.

Sam has an idea. He was blown away by a speech from the governor of California that he knew was written by Will back in Game On; he tells Will that Toby liked that speech, too, and might be interested in getting some help on the inaugural address. He convinces Will to stop by DC on his way to a vacation in France, writing a quick note he tells Will to deliver to Toby.

Except that's not the story Sam tells Toby. Will arrives as Toby continues to fight his writer's block with a bit of fire:

Will thinks Toby asked him to come to help with writing the speech; Toby thinks Will is coming on his own accord to ask for a job. The realization that Sam set them both up starts to come as Toby nonchalantly puts out the fire in his wastebasket:

(Handy that he has that seltzer bottle handy, as is often seen in offices everywhere, right?)

As two high-powered writers with a command of the English language, this first little butting of heads results in this delightful skewering of each by the other:

Toby: "Call and response isn't going to work in front of a joint session. You're alliteration happy: 'guardians of gridlock,' 'protectors of privilege.' I needed an avalanche of Advil. And when you use pop culture references, your speech has a shelf-life of twelve minutes. You don't mind constructive criticism, do you?"

Will: "No, sir."

Toby: "Anyway, thanks for coming in. I told Sam I can do this by myself."

Will: "Well, maybe he thought that your speeches were obscurantist policy tracts lost in a cul-de-sac of their own internal self-righteousness and groaning from the weight of statistics. I'm just speculating. I can't say for sure."

Toby is not used to getting pushback like this on his writing. He grudgingly recognizes Will may have a point, and gives him an assignment: write a 500 word section for the speech, as an "audition" of sorts. Toby will try his hand and they'll compare later.

That comes late at night, in the Mess, as Toby continues to struggle with his writing spark. Will comes in and drops the legal pad on the table - "Four hundred ninety eight," he says, "but with my name, it's 500." In a terrifically taut scene that makes outstanding use of silence, of light and shadow, they start reading.

I just love Richard Schiff here. Well, I love most of what he does with Toby (in my initial original broadcast viewing of the show, I thought Toby was unnecessarily gruff and mean and unfeeling - but watching the series over, Toby has become one of my favorite characters). As they start reading each other's work, Toby quickly realizes what has dropped into his lap with Will.

Toby: "Stop reading mine."

Will (impressed with what he's seeing): "Actually, it's --"

Toby (quickly): "Stop reading, please." 

Will's effort is such a great piece of writing that Toby, while he's still reading it, offers Will the (unpaid) opportunity to work on the inaugural address.

Toby goes on with one of the great monologues of the show, a howl of frustration at his slump, a devastating note of regret at feeling he can't measure up to the history of Presidential speechwriters, a recognition of a common member of the brotherhood of writers. I hate to put the whole thing down here, but it's just masterfully delivered by Schiff:

Toby: "This is incredibly good, Will. 'Never shrinking from the world's ...' 'a fierce belief in what we can achieve together.'

"I used to write like this. It was ten months ago. I don't understand what's going on. I really don't. I've had slumps before, everybody does, but this is different. I'm sorry, we don't know each other, but there aren't that many people I can talk to about it.

"I don't understand what's happening. There's no blood going to it. I've never had to locate it before. I don't even know where to look. I'm the President's voice and I don't want it to sound like this. And there's an incredible history to second inaugurals. 'Fear itself,' Lincoln ... I really thought I was on my way to being one of those guys. I thought I was close. Now I'm just writing for my life and you can't serve the President that way. But if I didn't write - I can't serve him at all."

Will tries to console and encourage Toby, telling him what he really needs is a few days in Atlantic City, but also - "You are one of those guys." He's touched by Toby's praise, by his acknowledgment of Will as a member of a very small group of talented specialists, but he's still committed to taking some time off after the grueling Horton Wilde campaign:

Will: "Okay. I'm glad you liked what I wrote. I'm pretty tired. I've been tired for a pretty long time and you've been tired even longer. I'm getting on a plane tonight and going to a place in Nice and I'm going to stay there for a few weeks. When I get back, it'd be a privilege to give you all the help you ask for."

Toby is outwardly appreciative, but he knows he needs the help now, not in a few weeks. Will's insistence on taking a break seems to show Toby he's not really all-in on this opportunity. Until Will remembers Sam's note:

Will: "Oh, man, I forgot. Sam wanted me to give you this."

(Hands Toby an envelope)

Toby: "You didn't give it to me yesterday?"

Will: "Yeah, you know what? Not your FedEx guy. Happy Thanksgiving." 

Will walks away. Toby opens the envelope.

 

Then, in the absolutely pitch-perfect ending to this episode, Will returns in the background shadows.

Will: "Unless you want to start now." 

 

Tales Of Interest! 

- We got a couple of special themed Thanksgiving episodes the past two seasons, with Shibboleth and The Indians In The Lobby. This turns out to be the Season 4 Thanksgiving episode, but we only know that because characters wish each other a happy Thanksgiving as the episode draws to a close.

- Sorkin and Sperling cram in a hefty amount of references to previous episodes in this script. You can see the ones I found in the Story Threads section below ... there were a bunch.

- Toby has been wearing a wedding ring from the beginning of the series, even after we discovered (in Mandatory Minimums) that he was divorced. Here is the first time I've noticed he's no longer wearing the ring, which is interesting when we think about the fact that he's trying to get Andy to re-marry him as they await the birth of their twins.

- I'll talk about this more in the They Do Exist! section, but Toby is wrong about "fear itself" coming from a second inaugural address. That's actually from FDR's first inaugural speech.

- It seems like kind of a crappy deal for Will; Toby says they'll set him up in a hotel room, but there will be no pay for working on the inaugural speech, and if he wants Elsie onboard Will has to pay her out of his own pocket. It's not like Will is really concerned with money, though, considering his plan to stay at the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild in Nice for a couple of weeks.

Quotes    

President: "What can she get?"

Leo: "She could go to jail for two years."

President: "For failure to follow an order?"

Leo: "Sure."

President: "We should have that here." 

-----

Mitch: "You can't just do this. It's a slap in the face."

CJ: "Well, I certainly didn't mean it as one."

Mitch: "It is."

CJ: "Mitch, I put you in the very first row I don't care about. Of the things I don't care about, I put you right up front. I'll see you later." 

-----

Donna: "We're running about 15 minutes behind."

Amy: "At 10:00? That's, like, half an hour ahead."

Donna: "I know, we're very proud." 

-----

Janice (to Josh): "Okay, well, you got the cards but Star Trek and the entire Starfleet series is about honor and loyalty and civic duty and the fact that you don't think that those are characteristics that should be displayed inside the White House is sad. But I wouldn't expect you to understand those types of things."

-----

Josh: "Admiral, you know I have all the respect in the world for you, right?"

Fitzwallis: "Yes."

Josh: "And if I didn't, I'd respect the uniform and the rank and the position anyway."

Fitzwallis: "What is it, son?"

Josh: "I feel like I have to go to Leo."

Fitzwallis: "Good. That's the way it's supposed to work."

-----

Reese: "I have an aide who, in my life, I haven't talked as much about as you've talked about Donna in our entire relationship, yours and mine, which is a cumulative total of seven minutes old."

Josh: "Nah, nah, no."

Reese: "You sure?"

Josh: "Sure. Tell me your aide's name. I'll ask her out. We'll double."

Reese: "Chief Petty Officer Harold Wendell."

Josh: "I got the fuzzy end of that lollipop."

Reese: "I don't know, Wendell's not 'cute' cute, but he's so funny." 

-----

(The President is told the UN Secretary General is on the line about diplomats' parking tickets) 

President (jabs telephone button and starts yelling): "There are big signs! You can't park there! I hope they get towed to Queens and the Triborough is closed and there's a big craft show at Shea, a flea market or a tractor show!" 

(He jabs the telephone button again)

Charlie: "Well, that was probably his secretary." 

-----

President (to Leo): "Are we together on this? Do we have resolve? We've got four years, no election, and a Republican Congress that hates me and actually hates you more. You ready to saddle up?"

 

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

• Mitch, the reporter who clashes with CJ over seating assignments, is played by Vyto Ruginis. He's been seen in many, many TV shows including NCIS: Los Angeles and ER (also, ironically considering this episode's subplot, Star Trek: The Next Generation) as well as the movies Moneyball and Broken Arrow (which also stars this episode's Christian Slater).

 

• Janice Trumbull, the Star Trek fan temporarily assigned to Josh's office, is played by Audrey Wasilewski, who has a long list of credits in TV shows and movies, as well as many many voice work credits in animated productions. She may be best known for her appearances in Big Love, Mad Men, and as the rocket-propelled-grenade-toting "businesswoman" in Red.

 

 

• There are a TON of references to past episodes here. Behold:

• At the opening Cabinet meeting, President Bartlet boasts that he's had the most stable cabinet since Hoover's. If you think back to Enemies, though, and the first Cabinet meeting we saw, none of the people in the room are the same as we saw that episode. I made this same point about the Secretary of Agriculture shown in Enemies (the one Bartlet joshes about never having eaten a vegetable) not being the same person as Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribby, whom we saw as the "designated survivor" in He Shall, From Time To Time ... We've also seen CCH Pounder as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Deborah O'Leary in Celestial Navigation, but she's not in this scene, either.

• A press question to CJ references an increase in Shehab missile tests, a plot point from Swiss Diplomacy.

• Sam and Toby both mention Will's speech he wrote for Governor Tillman to deliver at the Stanford Club, which was first referenced in Game On. 

• Toby's frustration with losing his writing touch was previously seen in Enemies, where he ended up helping Sam with the "birthday message" for the Assistant Secretary of Transportation in order to get his groove back.

• Nancy, played by Renee Estevez, Martin Sheen's daughter, pops up again in the door of the Oval Office.

• Donna gets a bunch of callbacks: there's a mention of Donna trading votes with Jack Reese, from Election Night; a story about her accidentally leaving her underpants at an art gallery as part of the Karen Cahill caper (The Leadership Breakfast); and Josh reminds her that she got her job by pretending she already had the job, as we saw in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part II.

• The name "Berryhill" is mentioned as someone Bartlet really wants in the Cabinet. That name was first heard in A Proportional Response as somebody working something out with Syria. The name came up several more times throughout Seasons 2 and 3, often in connection with Secretary Hutchinson (who must be Secretary of Defense, as there's a particular Bartlet statement in Swiss Diplomacy that says Hutchinson and Fitzwallis are building an urban warfare military). Finally, though, in Debate Camp Berryhill was referred to as a "Secretary" in the discussion of the Qumari ship carrying weapons for the Ba'hi terrorists. If he's already a Secretary involved in that level of action, wouldn't Berryhill already be in the Cabinet?

• Danny Concannon gets a shoutout, although we haven't seen him onscreen since The Portland Trip.

• As the President and Leo talk about the Hilton affair they get sidetracked into a story about Bartlet getting rid of an ambassador to somewhere in South America because he had an affair with the daughter of the President of Brazil, with the President saying he set the guy up with a job. This is very close to, but not exactly the same as, what we saw in Lies, Damn Lies And Statistics. Bartlet asked for the resignation of the ambassador to Bulgaria because he was having an affair with the daughter of the Prime Minister, with the President finding him a private-sector job for a landing spot.

• President Bartlet says he likes basketball but he can't play. We actually have seen him playing basketball, in The Crackpots And These Women, as he and his staff played a game on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. It's possible he's telling the truth about not being very good, as he did bring in a ringer who used to play for Duke to be on his team.

• Bartlet's appeal to Leo, to not let things be kept away from the Presidency because they're "too sticky" and to "saddle up" against the Republican Congress, sounds a lot like the reinvigoration of the administration we saw happening in Let Bartlet Be Bartlet (even down to Leo's "I serve at the President's pleasure" quote, which reminds us of the staff repeating "I serve at the pleasure of the President" in that episode). A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then (the MS coverup, congressional hearings, censure, an election), so perhaps it makes some sense to do it all over again.

• Will and Elsie Snuffin went from being co-workers and co-speechwriters in Game On to siblings in Election Night (when Elsie called him "big brother") to now step-siblings (Will tells Toby he has a stepsister who works with him on speechwriting).

 DC location shots    

• None.

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

• President Bartlet recalls Hoover's Cabinet.

• Toby asks Sam to leave his Los Angeles Lakers banner in his office (Sam used to have a Lakers jersey hanging in his office back in Season 1, just to prove he's always been a Southern California guy).

• The kerfluffle with Janice Trumbull and her Star Trek pin brings the TV show Star Trek and all its various series into the universe, including Romulans and Cardassians.

• Josh gives Donna a hard time about her asking him to help set her up with Jack Reese, and includes a reference to Potsie and Ralph, characters from the TV show Happy Days.

• Sam recommends the Hotel Beau Rivage in Nice to Will; Will responds that he's staying at the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild (which is actually more of an art museum than a place to stay).

• Josh uses Jackie Robinson as an example of a groundbreaker in his discussion with Fitzwallis.

• Toby has a City College of New York mug on his desk. As my wife and I are watching some Season 1 episodes right now, I noticed that mug pop up in Take Out The Trash Day when Toby is defending public broadcasting in the Roosevelt Room. We also saw him wearing a CCNY sweatshirt during the Pennsylvania Avenue basketball game in The Crackpots And These Women.

• Will tells Toby he was president of the Cambridge Union on a Marshall scholarship. His speech to the Stanford Club is also referenced.

• Josh tells Reese a story about Donna writing a letter to tennis star Ilie Nastase.

• Bartlet refers to Eisenhower and Kay Summersby as an example of affairs in the military not ending careers.

• CJ tells Mitch that Danny Concannon won a Pulitzer Prize.

• Bartlet's rant at the UN Secretary General includes mentions of "the Triborough" (meaning the Triborough Bridge) and "a big craft show at Shea" (meaning Shea Stadium).

• Toby (or, actually, Sorkin) is incorrect with the reference to important second inaugural addresses. He quotes "fear itself" as a famous second inaugural example: Franklin Roosevelt actually delivered the line "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" in his first inaugural address; his second was famous for the line "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished." Toby's reference to Lincoln's second inaugural is fine, though, as it's famous for "divine providence" and "bind[ing] up the nation's wounds."

• We get mentions of the cable movie network Showtime, the pain reliever Advil, and the shipping company FedEx.

 End credits freeze frame: Toby alone in the Mess, considering the loss of his writing ability.

Previous episode: Swiss Diplomacy

Next episode: Holy Night

Swiss Diplomacy - TWW S4E9

 

Original airdate: November 20, 2002

Written by: Kevin Falls (6) & Eli Attie (5)

Directed by: Christopher Misiano (12)

Synopsis

• When Swiss diplomats reveal the son of the Ayatollah of Iran needs life-saving surgery only performed in the United States, President Bartlet battles his advisers and the reluctance of the only available surgeon to try to have it done. Josh's reaction to candidates already starting the 2006 campaign damages his relationship with Vice President Hoynes. Toby is stymied in efforts to help a Congresswoman who lost re-election, and Sam kicks off his House campaign.

"I'll let you know who the enemy is. That's my job. It's not a 15-year-old boy."

Notice anything odd about the header information above? Look again. What's missing? How about the name Aaron Sorkin?

For the first time in 73 episodes and almost three and a half seasons, Aaron Sorkin does not get a writing credit for an episode of The West Wing. It's been a long time coming - in the first season, Sorkin was writing not only every episode of this show but also all the teleplays for the final season of Sports Night. He's continued to hold on to final control of the writing process through Seasons 2 and 3 and now into 4 ... and the strain has been evident for a while. Sorkin has faced pressure over the last couple of years from the studio and the network to get scripts in earlier; the "bottleneck," as it were, of his control of the writing has meant later and later delivery of scripts as the seasons wore on, resulting in increased production costs for the studio as they have to throw together sets and crews for scenes they don't know about until a week or even days before they are scheduled to air. 

Sorkin also had been relying on drugs to help him keep up the pace - while he had been through rehab before in 1995, in April of 2001 he was arrested at the Burbank Airport carrying hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, and crack cocaine. He was sentenced to a drug diversion program as he continued to write for The West Wing. The combination of drug rehab, stress, and the later and later delivery of finished scripts was building, causing pressure on Sorkin from the studio and network to start spreading the workload.

Sorkin was unwilling to really share much of the responsibility, however, and that would eventually lead to him leaving the series entirely at the end of Season 4. But here, at least, we get a taste of a West Wing script without the in-depth involvement of the show's creator ...

And you can tell. This episode isn't bad, per se, it actually touches on some interesting concepts and shows a compassionate fatherly side of President Bartlet as well as developing a rift between Josh and Vice President Hoynes ... but the stylistic verve and humor and energy we've been used to aren't quite there in the script. Storylines aren't quite as involving as we've been used to, and I think there are extra unnecessary lines at the end of scenes and some missing plot development that Sorkin would not have missed. A great example, in my opinion, comes when Donna chides Josh about not being interested in a little financial drama involving the wife of an ambassador:

Josh: "Let's do this: Find out what her problem is, solve it, and then, I don't know, do something else."

Donna: "You're the reason there are term limits."

Josh: "Yeah? You're the reason ... (pause) Nothing, nothing's happening, nothing's there."  

I believe Sorkin absolutely would have come up with some snappy comeback from Josh, instead of having him fumble for, well, nothing. To me it symbolizes a lot of what gets lost from the teleplay when Sorkin's not involved.

Let's get on with this episode, though, shall we?

The President is giddy after his big election win as he leads his team toward his first press conference of his second term, regaling them with jokes about his power and listing off his plans for the next four years.

He's even considering renaming the month of January after himself, much like the President of Turkmenistan. His gleeful mood takes a turn, though, when word arrives from Swiss diplomats that the son of the Ayatollah of Iran is in desperate need of a heart-lung transplant, an operation that has only been successfully done in the United States.

President Bartlet recognizes the political and diplomatic peril of appearing to help a sworn enemy of the United States, but as his advisors argue over the best path to take, he cuts right to the moral and ethical point:

President: "How old is he?"

Advisor: "I'm sorry?"

President: "How old is he?"

Advisor: "Fifteen."

President: "Fifteen. The Shiites, Manny, that's what you want me to take back to my thoracic surgeon wife? Get this boy in pre-op. Somebody tell the Swiss to stop standing in the damn doorway with a mouse in their mouth. If they're coming in, come in."  

The Ayatollah - who floated the idea of sending his son to America through the Swiss in the first place - is trying to play both sides, attacking the United States for exerting its power against the Islamic Republic by "forcing" the operation, and using the situation as an excuse to increase tensions in the Middle East and to rush missile tests. When CJ brings word that the Ayatollah has released a statement whipping up hard-liner opposition to the United States because of this operation, the President slams his desk and has to gather his thoughts for a moment:

CJ: "The Ayatollah's issued a statement."

President: "What kind?"

CJ: "Denouncing it. Bitterly denouncing it, sir. 'Our nation can take care of its own. Interference from the West is an affront to Islam.'"

A very nicely composed shot, there.

Leo suggests using the boy as a bargaining chip to get Iran to back off with the missiles:

Leo: "The Ayatollah's got to honor Bahrain. Stop all tests of the Shehab-3."

President: "He's going to say no."

Leo: "Then that's when you tell him you're going to turn the plane around."

President: "No."

Leo: "I said you threaten to turn the plane around."

President: "No. Come on! That's a fifteen-year-old noncombatant on his way to a hospital. I want you to pretend that plane's got a big red cross on it."

The situation gets even stickier, though, once it's discovered only three doctors can actually do the surgery. One is currently operating on a patient and another is out of the country, climbing K2. The final surgeon fled Iran in 1980 after fundamentalists (like the Ayatollah) tortured and killed his father, a science teacher. Dr. Mohebi is going to need some convincing to save the life of the child of the fundamentalist leader who helped kill his father.

Jed turns to Abbey, a surgeon herself, for some advice, and she pulls no punches.

Abbey: "He doesn't have a choice."

Jed: "Abbey --"

Abbey: "He doesn't. Doctors aren't instruments of the state, and they're not allowed to choose patients on spec."

Jed: "I can't order him to do it."

Abbey: "Yes, you can."

The President was already decided, but now he has backup from a medical professional in order to convince Dr. Mohebi.

President: "Look, I'll use every power of the office to protect you and your family, of course I will. Can I just say that this is how things change for the better? A world-class surgeon or a schoolteacher in Afjah who questions the ayatollah's divine power. Do me a favor, Doctor, go back to Smith-Lansing and look at the kid, cause I think when you do, you're going to scrub up. If you don't, I respect that, and the man made his own bed. Okay?" 

Toby is happily handing out jobs to administration supporters after winning the election, including Karen Kroft, a Michigan Representative who lost her seat after promoting a gas tax increase floated at the White House's request. She wants to work in parks; Toby offers her the position of Director of the National Parks Service. She excitedly accepts ...

Until Leo tells Toby she can't have the job. A recent bill made that position confirmable by the Senate, and her promotion of the gas tax increase makes that impossible. Toby keeps trying to find her a landing spot, but it seems that everything is subject to Senate confirmation: 

Toby: "Alternate federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission."

Leo: "What about it?"

Toby: "It's Senate-confirmable."

Leo: "Really?"

Toby: "So is Commissioner of Hopi Indian Relocation."

Leo: "Let me tell you something about this job, you need a deep bench."

Toby: "Inspector General of the Railroad Retirement Board. Director of the Institute of Museum Studies."

There's no where for her to go. But she understands, over a drink with Toby.

Kroft: "I came out for a gas tax cause someone from Michigan had to. Gas prices are too low. It's why the air is polluted. It's why no one wants alternative fuels."

Toby: "And clearly, that argument took the nation by storm."

Kroft: "In my religion - the whole symbol of the religion ended in crucifixion and condemnation. That wasn't the measure of the experience. It's just how it ended."

Toby: "Yeah, but I'm the Romans."

Kroft: "It's in the living. It's in the campaigning that you make your mark. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose."

An ongoing plot line, one with tendrils leading all the way back to Season 1 and that will continue throughout this season, sees a clash between Josh and Vice President Hoynes. Josh is curious as to why the Democratic Senate Minority Leader calls him out in the press; when he goes to the Hill to find out, Senator Triplehorn lays into Josh for the Vice President tying up all the top campaign people in Iowa and New Hampshire. This is just a couple of weeks after the election, mind you, yet the Senator is already looking towards the 2006 presidential contest, and he's pissed that Hoynes seems to think the nomination is just a formality.

Sen. Triplehorn: "I'd like you to be for me, Josh. Not because you're good at what you do, but because of your beliefs."

Josh: "Okay, I'm not for anyone. I barely unpacked from the last campaign."

Sen. Triplehorn: "Well, Hoynes is going to have to release those precinct captains or we're, uh ..."

Josh: "It keeps getting earlier, doesn't it?"

Josh does have a connection with Hoynes, as he was on his staff back when Hoynes was a Senator himself getting ready for a Presidential run (until Josh flipped to Bartlet's campaign as seen in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part 1). He goes to the Vice President to have the uncomfortable discussion about stepping back from starting the campaign for the office Hoynes deeply feels he deserves and was tricked out of when Bartlet changed his mind and ran for a second term. Hoynes is quietly furious at Josh for the accusation, and lets him know in no uncertain terms that Josh can expect no position from Hoynes in his future administration.

But something the Vice President says to Josh sticks with him. While he was supposedly in Hawaii right after the election, he tells Josh that's not right, he was rafting on the Flathead River in Montana - a place where it would have been impossible to make those calls to the precinct captains. Josh and Leo figure it out (rather quickly, and without many clues from the script itself - a bit sloppy in the exposition, I think) ... it was the President himself who talked to the campaign staffers in Iowa and New Hampshire, the President himself who, while expressing his thanks for the work done to help get him reelected, also locked down those workers for his Vice President, essentially trying to make the 2006 campaign a coronation instead of a contest.

Leo: "How many precinct captains did you line up for Hoynes?"

President: "I didn't line up --"

Leo: "Forty-seven. Charlie showed me the call sheets."

President: "I said thanks on behalf of the ticket. I can't help it if --"

Leo: "Yeah."

President: "They'll think whatever they want."

Leo: "Well, they think you're freezing the race for Hoynes."

President: "I'm freezing it for us. We just won four more years. It's not time for a free-for-all."

Leo: "This shouldn't be what you do anymore."

Sam's storyline easing him out of the White House continues, as he goes back to Orange County to announce his campaign staff for the special election in the California 47th. Sam is disturbed and even a little angry when he discovers Will Bailey is backing out of the campaign ("What's your title?" "Citizen Bailey"). As we learned in the previous episode, Process Stories, the Democratic Party is sending plenty of heavy hitters for this election, so Sam doesn't need Will ... but he appreciates the effort and skill Will used to get a dead Democratic candidate elected in a solidly Republican district.

Sam gets a little encouragement from the President, too, when he checks in at the Oval Office on his return to the White House:

President: "It's okay to run away from me when you need to."

Sam: "I would never, Mr. President. I would never do that. That's not how I'm getting votes."

President: "I appreciate that but that's not what I'm talking about. You disagreed with me on Medicare. I remember the meeting right here. Then you wrote a five-page memo. Run toward yourself. I'm wrong about that, walk. You're not going to be used to your surroundings."

Sam: "Yes, sir."

President: "You lose, you lose, but if you waste this, I'll kill you. I'll just kill you, Sam." 

As the day draws to a close, Leo brings word to the Oval Office:

Leo: "Sahlman Afkham was wheeled into surgery 15 minutes ago."

President: "Well, Mohebi's day just started."

Leo: "Well, I suppose there are worse ways for ours to end."

And President Bartlet walks back to his residence along the Portico, a callback to the happy, excited, optimistic walk he took that morning, this time alone in the dark:

Perhaps it's kind of neat to have the episode structured this way, beginning and ending in the exact same place, contrasting the team's energy and excitement of the start of the day with the responsibility and weight-on-the-shoulders of the lone President at the end. Personally, I think it's a little bit simplistic and obvious, and something I don't think Sorkin would have done with this episode ... but I might just be overthinking it a bit.

There's plenty more of the post-Sorkin era to come, that's for sure - but here's our first taste of it. It's still The West Wing, and it's still good television. It's just different.

 

Tales Of Interest!

- If you don't count Documentary Special (and you probably shouldn't), this is the first West Wing episode ever without an Aaron Sorkin teleplay. After 72 straight episodes, Sorkin finally takes a week off ... a sign of change on the horizon. 

- Even without Sorkin, though, we get something really familiar - a long opening walk and talk. The scene with President Bartlet and his staff walking down the Portico, into the Oval Office, then through the offices and halls to the briefing room is about 90 seconds long, and while it appears to be one long take, it's actually not. There's one obvious cut with an intervening wall as the group goes from the Portico into Debbie's office and into the Oval, and possibly another one about 1:17 in with another wall in a hallway, but it's still an impressive walk-and-talk. Not Five Votes Down, but still ...

- Speaking of that scene and the walls ... is it just me, or does this framed proclamation look like it has photographs of President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore? I know it's blurry as the camera was tracking the group walking along, but it's gotta be them, right? Remember, in The West Wing universe, the Clinton-Gore administration never happened.

- Karen Kroft offers Toby tickets to a football game: "They're playing the Eagles. We're talking 50-yard line." This has to refer to Washington's NFL team; however, in real-life 2002 the Philadelphia Eagles played in Washington in September. This is November or December, sometime after the election. (There's also a glimpse of a baseball cap with a Washington Redskins logo on it in Josh's office.)

- I can't help but notice several topics that really stand out as contrasts with the Trump administration (which we can finally put in our rear-view mirror January 20):

• President Bartlet gleefully (and jokingly) saying the American people voted to let him do whatever he wants, an actual belief in which seems to be the entire basis of Trumpism.

• Andy being sued for election fraud for ... not publicly revealing she was pregnant? Considering the wild-eyed, evidence-free fraud allegations being thrown about currently, this almost seems quaint.

• Toby's concern over the proliferation of appointments requiring Senate approval stands in bold contrast to the Trump approach of simply naming appointees to "acting" positions, skipping the Senate confirmation step entirely.

- We've seen family pictures on the President's desk before, mostly of Jed and Abbey, but also a few of their youngest daughter, Zoey. Here we can actually see a photograph of Zoey along with their middle daughter, Ellie (Nina Siemaszko), whom we first met in Ellie. We still have not seen the Bartlet's oldest daughter, Elizabeth, the mother of their grandchildren as mentioned in Pilot.

Quotes    

CJ (preparing the President for his press conference): "Mr. President, how do you interpret your margin of victory?"

President: "Well, the votes have been counted and the people have spoken, and it's clear that their will is for me to do and have anything I want." 

-----

President: "This meeting doesn't go in the Sit Room anymore, okay? I don't know why the hell it's here. This isn't a military operation."

Leo: "It's a secure room."

President: "My office is a secure room, too, isn't it? Please, somebody, tell me it is, or I gotta go pack some stuff. You see my point?" 

-----

Toby (to Ginger): "Would you ... I need a list of sub-cabinet vacancies that aren't Senate-confirmable."

Ginger: "Mine's not."

Toby: "A little less sub-cabinet than that."

-----

Donna: "Do you even know what a congressman makes?"

Josh: "Buck and a half, $161,200 for the leadership."

Donna: "To maintain two residences, fly your kids --"

Josh: "Okay ... I know you like to hit with me but you've got to go sit in the back of the class cause you just suggested making only a hundred and fifty thousand was reasonable justification for committing a felony. Which is what it is, Lulu."

Donna: "The hell is Lulu?"

Josh: "It's To Sir With Love."

Donna (sarcastically): "Thank you."

----- 

Hoynes: "Well, good for Triplehorn. I've got an obligation to myself here."

Josh: "You've got a Constitutional obligation that comes first."

Hoynes: "Last time I checked, my Constitutional obligation was to have a pulse."

 

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

• Rep. Karen Kroft (D-Michigan), who lost her re-election bid thanks to introducing a gas tax hike as a favor to the White House, is played by Lucinda Jenney (Rain Man, The Shield, 24).

• Senator Triplehorn is played by Geoff Pierson (Dexter, 24, Designated Survivor, Ryan's Hope).

• Right at the start, as the President is listing his agenda for the second term ("I asked you for a legislative priority, you gave me nine") he refers to "find a surplus again." A big plot point of Mr. Willis Of Ohio was a budget surplus of $32 million. Apparently that's not still happening with the budget now, three years later.

• The well-known tendency of Martin Sheen not being able to remember names was written in as a trait of President Bartlet's as well, which is shown here when he calls one of Abbey's staffers by the wrong name.

President: "Hey, Terry."

Staffer: "Bobbie, sir."

President: "Yeah." 

• This exchange between Hoynes and Josh:

Hoynes: "No zealot like a convert, Josh."

Josh: "What's that supposed to mean?"

Hoynes: "It means you'd have been great at Leo's job."

It ties into a lot. We know from In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part 1 that Josh worked for Hoynes before jumping to Bartlet's presidential campaign. We know from Bartlet For America that Hoynes joined the ticket with the expectation that Bartlet would serve only one term, leaving Hoynes as the anointed successor, only to have that rug pulled out from under him when Bartlet changed his mind. Obviously Hoynes is itching to get started on the campaign for the office he felt entitled to already, and his close ties with Josh meant Josh would have been the frontrunner for Chief of Staff - but those bridges might have been burned in this episode. (Josh's potential for somebody's future Chief of Staff, though, might still be alive, if you hold on a few more seasons.) 

• President Bartlet's frustration at finding a pen when one runs out of ink is a reminder of Ways And Means, when he sat at the late Mrs. Landingham's desk and found the stash of pens she kept and placed in his pocket each morning.

• The Martin Sheen/Jed Bartlet jacket flip makes an appearance. Sheen's left shoulder was injured at birth, and he's unable to lift his arm above his shoulder, so this is how he puts on jackets.

• There's Nancy, the occasionally appearing Oval Office assistant played by Martin Sheen's daughter, Renee Estevez.

DC location shots    

• None. The scene where Josh meets with Senator Triplehorn (supposedly in the Capitol) was actually filmed in the Los Angeles City Hall.

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

• There's a shot of the board in Josh's office that lists several real-life Senators from the time this episode was filmed. We can see the names Cochran, Crapo, Daschle, Wyden, Craig, Edwards, Feingold, Boxer, and Feinstein. 

These refer to:

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Mississippi from 1978-2018

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, elected in 1998

Sen. Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota from 1987-2005

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, elected in 1996

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho from 1991-2009

Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina from 1999-2005

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin from 1993-2011

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California from 1993-2017

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California since 1992  

• Eisenmenger's Syndrome is a real condition affecting the heart and lungs, and once it's advanced enough a heart-lung transplant is the only treatment.

• The C-SPAN logo appears on the TV in Leo's office as the President conducts his press conference. Presidents doing press conferences! When does that ever happen?

• Will mentions Epcot as one the places he might take a vacation to.

• The President calls Charlie "Watson," as in the character Dr. Watson, the sidekick to Sherlock Holmes in the stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

• A shot of Josh returning to the White House nicely showcases a black Ford Excursion. Ford must be paying Warner Bros. for a bit of product placement, as we had a similar prominent shot of an Excursion with the Secret Service detail outside CJ's house in We Killed Yamamoto.

• Leo mentions a Starbucks being robbed in Seattle.

• Josh's banter with Donna includes calling her "Gracie" (Gracie Allen of George Burns and Gracie fame), "Ethel Mertz" (I Love Lucy) and "Lulu" (To Sir With Love).

• Jed and Abbey's discussion about the responsibilities of doctors to treat "the patient in front of them" includes references to Dr. Samuel Mudd, his treatment of John Wilkes Booth's broken leg after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and Mudd's conviction for treason.

End credits freeze frame: The President and members of his staff walking towards the Oval Office to start the day.

Previous episode: Process Stories

Next episode: Arctic Radar