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