Original airdate: May 7, 2003
Written by: Aaron Sorkin (84)
Directed by: Alex Graves (14)
Synopsis
- Zoey's graduation celebration ends abruptly, which could be linked to missing Ba'hi sleeper agents seeking retaliation for the killing of Shareef. Toby buys Andy a house, but doesn't get the result he wants - instead she goes into labor. Amy asks Donna some pointed questions about Josh.
Now this is how you set up a season finale.
Jed: "You scare the hell out of the Secret Service, Zoey, and you scare the hell out of me, too. My getting killed would be bad enough, but that is not the nightmare scenario. The nightmare scenario, sweetheart, is you getting kidnapped. You go out to a bar or a party in some club, and you get up to go to the restroom, somebody comes up from behind, puts their hand across your mouth, and whisks you out the back door. You're so petrified, you don't even notice the bodies of two Secret Service agents lying on the ground with bullet holes in their heads. Then you're whisked away in a car. It's a big party with lots of noise, and lots of people coming and going. And it's a half-hour before someone says, 'Hey, where's Zoey?' Another 15 minutes before the first phone call. Another hour and a half before anyone even thinks to shut down all the airports. Now we're off to the races. You're tied to a chair in a cargo shack, somewhere in the middle of Uganda. And I'm told that I have 72 hours to get Israel to free 460 terrorist prisoners. So I'm on the phone pleading with Ben-Yabin and he's saying, 'I'm sorry, Mr. President, but Israel simply does not negotiate with terrorists, period. It's the only way we can survive.' So now we've got a new problem, because this country no longer has a commander-in-chief, it has a father who's out of his mind because his little girl is in a shack somewhere in Uganda with a gun to her head!"
It's obvious Sorkin has been thinking about this storyline for a few years now - the bolded parts of the quote are what we see happening in this episode, and some of the other worries the President has will be a huge part of the next. What's also really interesting about this is Sorkin (along with producer and director Tommy Schlamme) is leaving the series at the end of the season, so this knotty little situation he's cooking up is going to be dropped in the laps of the showrunners left behind.
So, what's happening? As the Bartlet family gets ready to celebrate Zoey's graduation, the President is also briefed on a serious national security situation. Five Ba'hi sleeper agents have disappeared, slipping away from their trackers, as online chatter about a possible terrorist attack in the Pacific Northwest grows. Meanwhile, reporter Danny Concannon returns from Germany to let CJ know he's got the story about the President ordering the killing of Abdul Shareef, and he's going to print it. The potential national security implications of that news being made public at the same time possible terrorists from Qumar are on the loose in the United States brings the whole simmering situation to a head.
President Bartlet brings in CJ, Toby, Josh, and Will and finally just flat-out tells them what happened a year ago:
President: "Yeah, listen, I don't think this is going to come as a galloping shock to anyone here, but last May I ordered a Special Ops unit to kill Abdul Shareef, and that's what they did, and we made it look like what got reported."
Toby: "Everytime we drive past you say that it's your dream house."
Andy: "It is."
Toby: "And every time the congressman's had us over, you've said it was your dream house."
Andy: "I wasn't lying."
Toby: "You told Jeff Wyler that if he ever put it on the market, you wanted to buy it."
Andy: "I do."
Toby: "Well, as it turns out, he was going to put it on the market, but he's not anymore 'cause I bought it."
It's a hail mary from Toby, a declaration of his love for Andy to buy her this dream house in hopes that would convince her to marry him again, to bring up a family in this home. It doesn't work.
Andy: "Can you get the down payment back?"
And as Toby keeps after her, wanting to know why she won't marry him, Andy gets devastatingly honest:
Andy: "You're just too sad for me, Toby."
Toby: "What?"
Andy: "You're too sad for me. You're just sad. You bring the sadness home with you, and you're ... sad."
Toby: "I'm not sad."
Andy: "You are. I don't know if anything can change that, but I can't."
Toby is wrecked.
Toby: "Did you feel this way when we were married? That I was ... sad?"
Andy: "No. I'm going to sit in the car. My ankles are starting to --"
Toby: "Did my friends feel like that?"
Toby is left alone, mulling over his life, his choices, his future.
And then a shout from Andy. Her water has broken, the twins are on the way, and they are off to the hospital.
Zoey: "And I'm confused about you."
Charlie: "Well, I can't advise you on that."
Zoey: "Why not?"
Charlie: "Because I think this is tonight, and tomorrow you're on the Concorde."
Zoey: "I deserved that. You think we can just sit here ... and enjoy the night for a while?"
Charlie: "Actually, I ... I think it's a bad time in a person's life to stop showing up at ... at places they say they're going to show up."
Zoey (pause): "I should go to the party."
Of course, Charlie's comment about showing up is meant for both of them: Zoey is expected to appear at the party, where a lot of people are hoping to see her before she leaves; and Charlie wasn't going to show up at the Arboretum until he got talked into it, even though the two of them made a pact three years prior. He's a pretty deep fellow, that Charlie.
Earlier in the episode we saw the Secret Service preparations for Zoey's trip to France, with three young college-age-looking agents appearing in the White House, along with good old Ron Butterfield and the agent in charge Wesley Davis (personally requested for the job by President Bartlet). In order to assure the President that these fresh-faced guards are indeed up to the task of protecting his youngest daughter, Ron has one of the agents make quite the defensive move on Davis, flipping him quickly to the floor:
(There's a reason Molly is the one that gets to show off here, and it's not just because Zoey already knows her from her being on her sister Ellie's detail for a while. It is a going-to-be-somber example of Chekov's Gun on display, much like the pointed focus on Zoey's panic button.)
And then we have Donna and Amy, working together throughout the episode on a dicey situation with some donors who may or may not be on an upcoming trip with the First Lady and need some topic or committee they can be assigned to. But that's not really the reason why Amy has stopped by ... right from the get-go she's bugging Donna about Josh, and his reaction to something Amy said about the search for a new vice president, and did he tell Donna anything about this that he didn't say to Amy? It's a weird topic, and one Amy just will not let go. We know she's still a little in love with Josh, after their breakup that happened in Posse Comitatus - but there's some kind of undercurrent in her questions of Donna, something bothering her that she can't quite say outright.
And this brings us to the final act, a dark, brooding mix of scenes filled with dread and foreboding, all mixed with the driving techno beat of Angel by Massive Attack (In the DVD commentary Sorkin says he wrote these scenes with this song in his mind, later asking the production staff to find the rights to a song with a similar sound as Angel ... only later realizing oh, yeah, why not just use the song he had in mind in the first place? Sorkin has been known to made bold musical choices to punctuate climactic moments before, although nothing can measure up to the use of Brothers In Arms in Two Cathedrals).
We cut between several locales: the party, in what looks like a revamped warehouse, where we find Jean Paul, stoned and manipulative, trying to convince Zoey not to change her mind about him:
The press room, where CJ and Danny are negotiating over the background reporting on what really went down at that Bermuda airstrip a year ago; and Donna's office, where Amy puts away the beers and keeps driving at finding out what Josh thinks about her.
Donna finally, exasperatingly bursts out with the comment, "You have to get Josh," leading to this reaction from who was, after all, Josh's former girlfriend.
And as Donna struggles with explaining exactly what she meant by that, Amy cuts right to the point. "Are you in love with Josh?"
Donna stoically focuses on her work, unable to give Amy an answer.
Ron: "We have a situation. We're up at black, and procedurally, the Chief of Staff is told before --"
Leo: "What happened?"
Ron: "Zoey Bartlet is missing, and there's a dead agent at the scene."
The look on Leo's face is a master class in acting from John Spencer. He leads the way through the White House to the residence to deliver the terrible news to his friend, Jed, first walking, then breaking into a run as the intense, throbbing techno beat continues:
And the screen goes bright white.
Oh, there is so much yet to come from this story, not least of which is the important factor of there being no Vice President in office - but that's on the way for the next episode, as Season 4 draws to a close.
- It certainly appears from the casual clothing we see everyone wearing in the West Wing that this is a weekend - and since it's also Georgetown graduation, this is almost certainly set on a Saturday. All the events here happen over the course of a single day.
Malloy
De Joie (from Utah)
Ceballos
Villegas (LA)
Franco (IN)
La Cava (ME)
Lubin (MD)
Ryan Lyndell (MA)
Avery (CA)
Crandell (CO)
Rinier (CT)
Sacinco (MI)
Kim (AR)
McKenna
- Charlie's note about burying the champagne has May 7 listed as Zoey's graduation date. This episode aired on May 7, 2003 (odd that Georgetown graduation would be on a Wednesday, huh?). Georgetown's actual graduation ceremony in 2003 was on May 17.
Quotes
Toby (to Josh): "They know about the house."
Josh: "Did you tell them?"
Toby: "No. Did you?"
Josh: "It's a bold, romantic gesture. I spread it around, got you some good will. I think I turned some people around on you."
President (hangs up phone, to staff): "Yeah, listen, I don't think this is going to come as a galloping shock to anyone here, but last May I ordered a Special Ops unit to kill Abdul Shareef, and that's what they did, and we made it look like what got reported."
Leo: "Anybody need him to stop?"
Josh: "No, sir."
Leo: "Anybody need a minute?"
Toby: "No, sir."
CJ: "No, sir."
Leo: "There was considerable evidence presented to a group that included Fitzwallace, Nancy, Berryhill, Babish, the Attorney General, and a few others. We gave it to the Gang of Eight. The man had committed crimes and remained a threat. For instance, we stopped him from blowing up the Golden Gate Bridge. Were U.S. laws broken? No. International law? Possibly."
President: "See, I said we took Shareef, and they said fine, and then you went on talking for another five, ten minutes."
-----
(Will and Abbey are talking about the President's commencement speech as she heads to the car)
Abbey: "It's about creativity?"
Will: "Well, he decided that's what he wanted to talk about. Now the trick is, he's got to not change his mind."
President (breezing down hallway): "Good! You're here. I want to make some changes."
-----
President (discussing his speech with Will): "'You must be the change' -- is that it? 'You must be the change you wish to see in the world.' Sounds too much like Eastern philosophy."
Will: "Well, it was bound to, sir."
President: "'Cause Gandhi lived in India?"
Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)
- It's the debut of Taye Diggs (Ally McBeal, Private Practice, Rent, Chicago) as Secret Service agent Wesley Davis. Diggs is also known as being the husband of Wicked/Frozen star Idina Menzel.
- A somewhat familiar face, character actor Arye Gross (Ellen, Castle) is seen as Andy's obstetrician. In the DVD commentary Sorkin says the baseball cap was an homage to the doctor who delivered his daughter in 2000.
- Charlie says he and Zoey buried the champagne bottle in the National Arboretum "3 1/2 years ago" (Charlie met Zoey in The Crackpots And These Women, in the fall 1999; they began dating in the spring of 2000 as Zoey enrolled at Georgetown, so it's only been buried three years).
- The opening scene with Josh searching for a new Vice President ties into the events of Life On Mars, when Hoynes resigned the office. That plot point is pretty much dropped for the rest of this episode, but will become extremely important in the next one.
- Zoey's relationship with Jean Paul was first revealed in Holy Night.
- Amy Gardner is back, pestering Donna for details about how Josh reacted to her comment (their scenes bring some light on both of their relationships with Josh: Amy had been dating him between Dead Irish Writers and Posse Comitatus, and whispered she missed him in College Kids; Donna has had a special relationship with Josh from the start, if you recall the note Josh wrote in her Christmas present in In Excelsis Deo, her totally stricken reaction when she discovered Josh had been shot in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I, "I wouldn't stop for red lights" in 17 People, or many, many other examples).
- With the crisis of the missing Ba'hi operatives, both National Security Adviser Nancy McNally and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Fitzwallace are on the case.
- Here's Andy Wyatt again, Toby's ex-wife pregnant with their twins and steadfastly refusing Toby's efforts to remarry (their backstory was told in Debate Camp). Andy is also a Congresswoman from Maryland.
- White House correspondent Danny Concannon returns from Germany, having confirmed his story about the pilot of the jet that brought Shareef to his doom in Posse Comitatus. Concannon and his pursuit of CJ had been a constant thread in Season 1 and the first part of Season 2 (through The Portland Trip), then he disappeared from the show until his reappearance in Holy Night, telling CJ about his first lead on pilot Jamil Bari.
- The concern about the missing Ba'hi sleeper agents are tied to the assassination of Shareef (Posse Comitatus); we also get a mention of Shareef's foiled attack on the Golden Gate Bridge (Enemies Foreign And Domestic).
- When Leo explains the entire Shareef assassination story to the staff we hear the names Babish (White House Counsel Oliver Babish, first seen in Bad Moon Rising and not seen since Gone Quiet) and Berryhill (a name that's come up in eight previous episodes, and who may be the Secretary of State, although yet to appear in person); he also tells them about the meeting with the congressional Gang of Eight seen in Posse Comitatus.
- We see a photograph of Jed's father (played by Lawrence O'Donnell, as seen in Two Cathedrals) on the desk of his study.
- Toby tells Andy his reluctance to trust others may come from the fact his father used to kill people (his father worked for the organized crime Murder Inc. in the 1950s, a story told in Holy Night).
- When Donna tells Amy she has to "get Josh," she lists off events from Josh's past: his sister died in a fire that he escaped, leaving him with survivor's guilt (The Crackpots And These Women, also a factor in Noël), his father died during the campaign, and Josh woke up in the hospital after a lifesaving operation to discover the President had also been shot (In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen).
DC location shots
- I had to do some serious searching to find the actual location of the house that Toby buys for Andy. There was a thread on Reddit (just from this past fall, so very recent!) where another person was having the same difficulty, then they happily announced they had found it ... only to fail to post the actual link to their evidence. I was able to discover the production had filmed in the Georgetown University area and also somewhere in Alexandria, Virginia, for this episode and the next. By seeing the house number on the front - 2103 - and then searching southern Alexandria on Google Maps looking for addresses with 2103 (there's really not that many with that number, it wasn't as much of a drudge as you might think), I was able to find it. It's located at 2103 Woodmont Road.
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| The house as seen in the episode |
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| The location of the house on a map |
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| A more recent Google Maps street view of the house |
- The graduation ceremony was filmed at Healy Hall at Georgetown University.
- The under-the-tracks scenes in the dark with Josh, Charley and Wesley were filmed in the Georgetown area: in the DVD commentary Alex Graves they were racing the sunrise to get those scenes shot, and got them done in "45 seconds."
- The alley behind the nightclub where Molly's body is discovered was filmed in Georgetown, while the actual nightclub scenes were filmed in Los Angeles.
- The arboretum scenes were planned to be filmed on location at the actual National Arboretum, located in northeast DC, but budget/scheduling constraints forced the production to film those at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, California.
They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing
- Charlie calls Jean Paul "Tartuffe," the title character of a 17th century comedy play written by Molière. He had referred to Jean Paul as "Chef Boyardee" in Evidence Of Things Not Seen, so he doesn't have a high opinion of Zoey's boyfriend.
- Josh is seen carrying a copy of the DC publication Roll Call; he also brings up the magazine Town & Country.
- In Will's discussions with the President over his speech we hear about Cicero, Thomas Aquinas, Rudy Vallée, Eudora Welty, and Gandhi. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world" isn't actually a Gandhi quote, but it's often attributed to Gandhi, and he did say something thematically similar in 1913 ("If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change").
- The C-SPAN logo is spotted in one scene.
- Zoey is using a Kodak disposable camera during the graduation ceremony (ah, remember the times before cellphone cameras?).
- Charlie says Zoey will be heading to France in the Concorde tomorrow. Interestingly enough, the final Air France flight of the supersonic jet from New York to Paris occurred on May 30, 2003, just a couple of weeks after this episode aired.
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