Friday, January 14, 2022

Twenty Five - TWW S4E23

 





Original airdate: May 14, 2003

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (85)

Directed by: Christopher Misiano (14)

Synopsis
  • The White House goes into crisis mode after Zoey's kidnapping. Toby's doubts about his ability to be a father disappear when he has a chat with his newborn twins. And President Bartlet's fatherhood leads him to an earthshaking decision.


"You're relieved, Mr. President."



Over the past four seasons, we've absolutely seen these characters on The West Wing become a family - not only because they don't really have much in the way of families on their own (Leo got divorced, Toby is estranged from his father and also divorced, Josh, CJ, and Donna can't get anything to work right romantically). The power of family - specifically fatherhood - comes to the fore in yet another emotionally wrenching season finale, as Toby and Jed start out in far different places but end up shoulder-to-shoulder as the President does the politically unthinkable.

As I wrote in my previous entry on Commencement, Aaron Sorkin has had this story idea for a long time, and outlined it precisely in a monologue from the President in Mr. Willis Of Ohio:
President: "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!"
And that's all playing out here, and President Bartlet makes a direct reference to that scene as he talks to Leo. 
President: "I know it's a strange time to bring this up but I forecasted this once. I made up a scary story a few years ago for Zoey so that she'd take her protection seriously, and I went too far."
Zoey, secretly drugged by Jean-Paul, gets abducted from the bathroom at a party in a club. A Secret Service agent is gunned down in the alley. A fax comes in, with a picture of Zoey, making demands for prisoners to be released. (The scene with Donna reading the fax, with the camera slowly pushing in right between Josh and Will as they keep blathering about something, is just a first-rate decision by director Christopher Misiano.)



And the President is whipsawed between his responsibility to the nation and his devotion to his daughter.
President: "If they show me a picture of her alive and tell me to aim cruise missiles at Tel Aviv, they're counting on the fact that a father --"

Leo: "But you wouldn't."

President (turning to face Leo): "I might."

The President realizes his dilemma, and the untenable position he's been put in. And he's smart enough to know he can't live up to both responsibilities, which leads him to, as Will puts it, "a fairly stunning act of patriotism. And a fairly ordinary act of fatherhood."

But we'll get to that later. The episode begins right where Commencement ended, as Ron Butterfield and Leo are racing through the White House to reach the President in the residence. Jed and Abbey are with some friends, talking about kids growing up and leaving the nest after Zoey's graduation, sharing old photographs - until Leo and Ron appear at the door, their faces reflecting the horrible news they are about to share.


In what I think is a brilliant decision, and one that we see a lot in the series, we don't hear the news of the kidnapping being told to the President. We see it, in the background across the room, as the chatter of Abbey and family friends continues on the soundtrack.


It's all told in visuals, the look on Jed's face, Abbey seeing that look, the photos of Zoey falling to the floor ... great work by Misiano (who did win a directing Emmy for this episode).

And bam, we're off. Hectic press conferences, Josh and Charlie stuck outside the nightclub talking with the FBI, Situation Room meetings with a distracted Bartlet hearing about military options before anything at all is known about the actual motives or perpetrators. We viewers are swept along with the flow, barely keeping up as the information races past and the emotions grow raw - with the unease and disquiet helped by Misiano's choice to use lenses and camera shots to keep us off balance (look back at the first shot of CJ coming into the press room - the odd wide angle lens makes us almost queasy as it sweeps across the room).

And then Sorkin reminds us of an additional wrinkle, one he'd added to the nightmare scenario outlined back in Season 1:

Will: "Listen ..."

CJ: "Yeah?"

Will (sighs): "Nothing."

CJ: "What?"

Will: "There's no Vice President."

CJ: "What does that have to do with this?"

Will: "Are we really expecting him to get on the phone with somebody and say, 'We don't negotiate with terrorists'?"

Sorkin maneuvered the Vice President out of office in Life On Mars. The position remains empty. Will is the only one who realizes at this point that if the President makes the decision to remove himself as Commander in Chief during this family crisis, he can't hand those duties off to his own VP. 

Meanwhile, where's Toby? As we saw in the previous episode, Andy went into labor with the twins early, so he's been at the hospital through all this. Once he arrives in the West Wing, he's sharp and no-nonsense as ever, telling Ginger to hold on to all his messages as he rewrites Will's draft press release on the fly and assigns the staff to immediate concerns. Then, almost an afterthought, as Will, Josh, and CJ head out to their tasks:

Toby: "Oh, uh, hey! This is ... by the way, this is ... the babies were born."

Not surprisingly, considering the urgent pressures they're working under, CJ doesn't make the connection to what Toby has been dealing with: 

CJ (lost): "What babies?"

But again, this little scene really does show us the strong familial bonds these characters have grown. They work together so well, especially under pressure, almost knowing what is needed before it's said (the teamwork of them piecing together an effective press release is on-point) - and then so quick and genuine to respond to truly important life events like this. The congratulations are immediate and heartfelt - and I adored this little reaction from CJ (she and Toby have had a special kind of relationship throughout the series):


But Toby has some deeper, darker concerns. We saw in Holy Night that he has an uneasy relationship with his own father, who worked for the Mob and served time in prison decades ago. We just saw in the previous episode that his ex-wife (and mother of his twins) calls him "too sad for me." He's always been prickly, terse, devoted to his work ... and now he has serious doubts that he'll ever be able to live up to being a father.

Toby: "Hey, let me ask you something. When Jenny was pregnant with Mallory, you were nervous, right?"

Leo: "Yeah."

Toby: "Yeah, me, too."

Leo: "Every father."

Toby: "Yeah. (pause) But I think I was nervous for a different reason."

Leo: "What?"

Toby: "I think I was nervous I wasn't gonna love my kids ... the way other fathers love theirs."

Leo assures Toby that he'll be a great father, that it's "a mortal lock." Toby then heads back to the hospital to check on Andy. A nurse asks if he'd like to spend some time with the twins. He first says no; then changes his mind. Which leads to a terrific monologue of Toby talking with his children.


Toby: "I didn't realize babies come with hats. You guys crack me up. You don't have jobs. You can't walk or speak the language. You don't have a dollar in your pockets, but you got yourselves a hat. So everything's fine. I don't wanna alarm you or anything, but ... I'm Dad. (to Huck) And for you, son, for you, this'll be the last time I pass the buck, but I think it should be clear from the get-go that it was Mom who named you Huckleberry. I guess she was feeling like life doesn't present enough challenges to overcome on its own. (to Molly) And, honey, you've got a name now, too. Your Mom and I named you after an incredibly brave, uh ... an incredibly brave woman, really not all that much older than you. Your name is Molly. Huck and Molly. So, what do I do? Well, you're gonna need food and clothes and doctors and dentists and, there's that. And, should you have any questions along the way, I'm gonna be doing stuff like this ...

"... Huck, because you're leaking a little bit out of your mouth there. You're holding my finger, son? Hey, Molly. Your brother's holding my hand. Do you wanna hold my hand? (laughs) This isn't going to mean anything to you but ... Leo was right. Leo was right."

This is a tremendous scene. Richard Schiff is incredible. A great deal of the first part of the scene is one continuous shot, slowly pushing in on Toby's face ... and remember, there are two babies lying on the bed! Schiff is acting ... with babies! Babies who cry, who fuss, who don't take direction well at all! I don't know how many takes they had to do to get this, but these are a couple of really well-behaved babies. And note the little move Schiff does to calm down one of them when they start to fuss a bit - that's not in the script, you can't control what babies do while you're filming, Schiff just ... was a dad. It's wonderful.

And immediately afterward, as the TV is showing some old home movies of Zoey and the Bartlets, Toby looks up to see a young Jed wiping the mouth of a young Zoey, just as Toby had done with Huck.


And he instantly realizes the same thing the President is coming to terms with - there's no way for a President to guide the nation and the military when his daughter is in danger. He dashes to the White House.

Toby (running up, out of breath): "Hey! The President's gotta get out of the West Wing. I don't know what we've been thinking."

Leo: "Why are you out of breath?"

Toby: "I ran here very fast and there were some obstacles."

Leo: "The babies are okay?"

Toby: "Yeah, they're great. And if somebody was hurting them, I'd drop napalm on Yellowstone to get them to stop. Letting some prisoners out of jail wouldn't be nothing and I've known my kids for about 45 minutes."

Leo: "He's invoking the 25th."

Toby: "He is?"

Leo: "Yes."

(Pause. Toby looks at Leo, CJ, Josh, and Will)

Toby: "Good." 

Here we are - invoking the 25th. What does that mean? We've been given clues throughout the episode - Will making the comment that there's no Vice President, and how can President Bartlet be expected to not negotiate for Zoey's safety; Jed telling Leo to quietly assemble the Cabinet and call the Speaker; a copy of the Constitution next to Leo as he tells Charlie to start holding all non-essential paperwork away from the Oval Office.



 Here's the specific wording of Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution:

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

It's a way to transfer power temporarily, designed specifically for physical/medical related reasons (if the President goes under anesthesia for an operation, for example, this provides a method for the Vice President to be officially in charge; remember, this was also a topic after the events of In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen, when President Bartlet underwent surgery after being shot, and Leo essentially ran the administration illegally since the 25th was not invoked in that case). But here it's not being used because President Bartlet is physically unable to carry out his duties; it's because he's emotionally and mentally unable, because it's his youngest daughter in peril and his actions as President could be directed more to save his daughter than to serve the country.

But also note, the amendment specifically refers to the Vice President. There is no Vice President at the moment. That seriously complicates matters. Sorkin has chosen to follow the regular order of Presidential succession, which leads him to the Speaker of the House - and in this case, the Speaker is not a member of the President's party, but instead a Republican antagonist of the administration. That concerns Josh, especially, who thinks making this move will hand the Republicans the White House in the next election, but as Will says, it's actually a hugely unselfish move for Bartlet to make.

Leo: "Where did everyone come down?"

CJ: "Josh and I were on the fence. We don't know what Will thinks."

Will: "Of the President temporarily handing over power to his political enemy? I think it's a fairly stunning act of patriotism. And a fairly ordinary act of fatherhood." 

Going back to what happened in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen, there had been no formal transfer of presidential power to Vice President Hoynes as Bartlet underwent surgery. Leo turned out to be calling the shots, an illegal situation called out by Toby in 17 People ("For 90 minutes that night there was a coup d'etat in this country"). At least this time, the administration is following the rules and the Constitution and formally transferring the power of the office. And yet ...

When a Cabinet secretary asks President Bartlet what they should do if he and the Acting President issue differing orders, Bartlet's answer is swift and certain:

President: "Leo would know what to do."

Immediately afterward, at the White House as they await the arrival of Speaker Walken, Josh has the same question.

Josh: "What if he changes his mind and starts giving orders?"

Toby: "Leo will know what to do."

So Leo retains an immense amount of power - but yeah, as Acting President Walken is going to be the man for the time being.

And finally, just to tie things together with family and fatherhood and the connection these people have, as the President has a quiet conversation with Toby about the twins, distracting himself a bit from the earthshaking, unprecedented event about to happen, Toby leans in and whispers:

Toby: "There's no one in this room who wouldn't rather die than let you down, you know."

Shoulder-to-shoulder, family to the end. 

The episode (and season, and Sorkin era) ends with Speaker Glenallen Walken being sworn in, and President Bartlet walking out of the Oval Office as the oath is given.



There's other stuff going on in this episode - Charlie going off on Jean-Paul as he remembers Zoey telling him Jean-Paul was going to try to get her to take ecstasy; the revelation that Jean-Paul unknowingly dosed Zoey and himself with GHB, a date-rape drug, instead, supplied by some unknown nefarious source; Abbey's desperate attempt to make a personal plea to the press, until the onslaught of reporters in the press room jar her to reality;


But I think I'll deal with most of these other topics in another section.

Now we go on to Season 5, without Aaron Sorkin, without Tommy Schlamme, and with a lot of story threads just hanging out there waiting to be addressed. Hmm ... John Wells, are you up to this?


Tales Of Interest!

- This episode begins with a stark white title screen with black lettering, rather than the usual black screen with white letters. This is designed to tie back to the end of Commencement, which faded to white instead of black as Leo ran through the White House. That white title screen is used one more time in the series, for the final episode (Tomorrow) - so it's used for the final Sorkin episode as well as the last one ever in the show.

- The end of this episode actually made me stop watching the original run of The West Wing. I was totally invested in the series, I loved the show and the characters, I'd record the show if I wasn't able to watch it as it aired on Wednesday nights ... and then Season 4 ended like this and I was out. I may have seen a bit of the first episode of Season 5 when it aired, but I did not watch any of the rest of the season when it aired in 2003-04. Thinking more about it, I might have gotten back in to watch Gaza and/or Memorial Day at the end of the season - and I did return to watch Seasons 6 and 7 - but yep, I did abandon the show on May 14, 2003. I didn't see any of Season 5 until I did a rewatch of the whole series over a decade later, around 2015-2016, which was before I started this blog recap.

Here's what turned me off. I can pinpoint the precise moment. I wanted to continue following the Bartlet administration, to see how Jed would continue through his second term. To see him giving up the office, even temporarily (and for some reason I didn't see how it could be that temporary at the time), completely shocked me into giving up on the show. Two moments: Speaker Walken's line "You're relieved, Mr. President":


And the shot of Bartlet walking out of the Oval Office as Walken is sworn in as Acting President:


Those two moments signaled to me that The West Wing wasn't going to be the show I had been watching for four years. So I bailed. I'm glad I eventually came back, though!

- I'll go into a lot more detail about Sorkin's departure and the issues surrounding that in my Season 4 wrapup post, but he has a few interesting comments in his DVD commentary. He tells us that he hadn't fully decided on leaving the series until he finished writing the teleplay for this episode, so he had plotted out some ideas for resolving the cliffhanger threads he left here. As a strong example, he goes back several times to the words he gave Nancy McNally to say in the Situation Room:
Nancy: "Leo. Whoever took her doesn't know what they're doing. It was an absurd kidnapping. She's not gonna turn up in a Ba'hi camp. She's gonna turn up in the back of a muffler shop."
Sorkin's plan was to reveal that it was not Islamic extremists or Qumari terrorists who had taken Zoey, but that instead it was home-grown Christian fundamentalists behind the kidnapping, trying to instigate an attack on Muslim countries. To me, that idea is uncomfortably close to the Kennison State bombing story from 20 Hours In America, Part Two and College Kids, when the initial suspicion of Islamic terrorists is exposed as wrong when it turns out to be the "Patriot Brotherhood" of Iowa behind the attack.

Anyway, Sorkin wasn't necessarily writing the next team into a corner, but that's kind of what he did. In the commentary he paints himself as "helping them out," by giving them some plotlines to work on instead of wrapping things up and making the next season's writers start from scratch, but ... I don't know. Considering he spent a good portion of the DVD commentary complaining that the Season 5 writers didn't continue the plot the way he intended ("Listen to Anna [Deavere Smith]," he keeps saying), I mean, you can't have it both ways, Aaron.

- Sorkin apparently told the cast about his departure as they were filming the Oval Office scene with Walken being sworn in. We found out in the DVD commentary for Commencement that the director of that episode found out as they were shooting, and the news was out to the public about 10 days before this episode aired, so everything was happening pretty fast.

- Who exactly is needing an ambulance as law enforcement combs the nightclub area for Zoey? The only person we are aware of being injured was Molly, and well, she's dead. I suppose someone had a medical issue with all the excitement and stress and turmoil going on ... makes for a good background visual, anyway.



- A few plotlines brought up in Commencement were left untouched in Twenty Five - well, one at least. Remember the tense back-and-forth between Amy and Donna that took up considerable space in the last episode? With Amy putting away the beers, and the foreboding, ominous Massive Attack song playing as she flat-out asked Donna, "Are you in love with Josh?" and Donna just stood there impassively looking at her book, with a world of things going on behind her eyes? Well, there's no follow-up on that at all, although I believe Sorkin intended to address that but a scene between the two was cut for time. You can see the shot of them both right after Abbey leaves the press room, as Amy is on the phone ... I'm guessing this shot was intended to lead into an Amy-Donna scene that might give us some more light on their late-night conversation, but it never happens, and with new showrunners in Season 5, I don't remember that it ever really does.



- In the Bartlet home movie we see on TV, with Martin Sheen's son Emilio Estevez playing a young Jed, it appears Zoey is about 5 years old. We know she's about 22 at this point (she was 19 in The Crackpots And These Women, just before enrolling at Georgetown), so that would make the movie about 17 years old, or around 1986. President Bartlet said in The Short List that he was 26 at the London School of Economics in the late 1960s, which would have made him in his mid-40s at the time of this movie. Emilio Estevez was about to turn 41 at the time of filming this episode - so pretty close!

- I don't know if the childhood pictures of Zoey dropped on the floor are actually a young Elisabeth Moss, but I'd guess they are. They sure do look like her! Since they used a young actress to portray Zoey in the home movie, I wasn't sure if maybe they used that actress' picture instead, but looking at it again I think this is a young Moss.



-There are a lot of shoulder pats going on in this episode, which I think helps tie in to the family-connection undercurrent that's so important here. First is Agent Wesley Davis giving Charlie a quick pat on the shoulder, after Josh gets Charlie calmed down and stopping him from rushing off, as Davis dashes off in the hectic frenzy around the nightclub. I couldn't get a good screengrab of that, it happened too fast. Another example comes after the President outlines his plan to give up the office, speaking to Leo on the steps outside the Situation Room. As Jed gets up to leave, just a quick touch of his friend Leo's shoulder as he goes.


And another really nice, unexpected bit of physical contact as Leo is about to tell Charlie about invoking the 25th, and halting all non-essential paperwork to the Oval. As Margaret heads back to the office, leaving Leo and Charlie on the Portico, she gives Charlie a little shoulder pat.


You can just tell these people really care for each other.

- This episode earned an Emmy win for Christopher Misiano, for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series. It also received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Martin Sheen, who lost to James Gandolfini for The Sopranos); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (John Spencer, nominated for this and The Red Mass - the award went to Joe Pantoliano for The Sopranos); Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Stockard Channing, nominated for this and Privateers - that award went to Tyne Daly for Judging Amy); and Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series (Sorkin, but that Emmy went to Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess, and David Chase for The Sopranos).



Quotes    

Ginger: "You've got about a hundred phone messages. How do you want 'em?"

Toby: "I want them to stay in your hand for the moment." 

-----

Leo: "Mr. President, no one is expecting you to keep the United States out of a war tonight. Me and Nancy and Fitz are standing right next to you. When you get information, you don't need to remember it. And we're standing right next to you when you give orders. You're not gonna hurt anybody."

President: "I know it's a strange time to bring this up but ... I forecasted this once. I made up a scary story a few years ago for Zoey so that she'd take her protection seriously, and I went too far. And I scared her. And she cried. This was the story. Leo, the people you just named don't have the legal authority to stop me from doing certain things and some of them would go to jail if they didn't follow my orders. (pause) Very quietly, I want you to assemble the Cabinet. I want you to call the Speaker of the House."

-----

President: "So what do you know now that you didn't know before?" 

Toby: "Babies come with hats."

-----

Margaret: "I think you should sleep for a few hours."

Leo: "I'll sleep when he sleeps, but you should sleep for a few hours."

Margaret: "I'll sleep when you sleep." 

Leo: "Well, this is going to be interesting because we're gonna have a small band of dedicated people who can't lift their arms." 




Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)
  • John Goodman (Roseanne/The Conners, Revenge Of The Nerds, Everybody's All American, Monsters Inc., The Righteous Gemstones, 10 Cloverfield Lane, etc, etc, etc) appears as Speaker Walken. He was uncredited for this episode, making his appearance at the end a surprise for viewers. 

  • One of my favorite actors and recurring characters, FBI Special Agent Mike Casper played by Clark Gregg (The Avengers, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., State And Main, The New Adventures Of Old Christine), is back in the Situation Room sparring with Nancy McNally.

  • Vernee Watson-Johnson (tons and tons of TV appearances stretching back to Welcome Back Kotter, Carter Country, The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, plus several daytime drama stints including a long run on General Hospital) is a familiar face as the nurse who encourages Toby to spend some time with the twins.

  • This is the final time we see Trent Ford as Jean-Paul, which is totally fine, considering what a loser of a boyfriend he was for Zoey. We were introduced to him in Holy Night, so he's only been around for six months or so. Fittingly his last appearance is wordless and stoned out of his gourd.

  • Our favorite onscreen TV news anchor, played by Ivan Allen, gets a quick blink-and-you'll-miss-him shot, along with the fictional CND network logo. Allen has appeared multiple times in The West Wing on a variety of cable and local news channels, almost always referred to as "Roger Salier." In this example, though, the other news anchor calls him "Keith Nantz."

  • As Donna is going through the faxes the White House has received, she tells Josh about all the messages from his female fans:
Donna: "Do you know how many faxes we've gotten and do you know how many of them are from your insane groupies? (reads) 'The Lyman Hos have chosen this time to let you know via fax, should you be needing any physical comfort during this horrible time --' Read that. Do you like that? Is that what turns you on, you sicky?"

Josh: "I didn't write this."

Donna: "Yeah, but they must sense it in you."

Josh's female admirers were mentioned by CJ at the end of the long, single-take scene at the hotel in Five Votes Down, and an online Josh fan site was a plot point in The U.S. Poet Laureate. 

  • This is a neat callback that really needs to get a lot of credit. In the meeting with the Cabinet, one of the secretaries that has a forceful discussion with President Bartlet is the same actor we saw playing Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribby (and the President's "designated survivor") in He Shall, From Time To Time ... Using Harry Groener (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) again to play the same role he had in one scene four years ago is really cool in providing the viewer some continuity with past episodes and helping us feel like this is a real, logical world we're watching.

  • Unfortunately, though, the rest of the actors making up the Cabinet don't match up in any way with Cabinet secretaries we've seen in past episodes. We get it, it's the reality of casting a TV series, sometimes you can't always get the same actor who does a minor scene in one season to come back for another background appearance years later. We saw CCH Pounder as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in Celestial Navigation; she's not at the table (although we also saw someone named Bill Fisher [Jim Jansen] instead as HUD secretary and planning a run for New Jersey governor in Stirred). We've seen Dan Larson (Sherry Houston) as Attorney General and Ken Kato (Conrad Bachmann) as Secretary of the Treasury in Lies, Damn Lies And Statistics; Bill Horton (Edmund L. Shaff), Secretary of the Interior in Ways And Means; and Mitch Bryce (Alan Dale), Secretary of Commerce in 20 Hours In America, Part One. We also heard Josh basically offer the job of Secretary of Labor to Indiana Governor Jack Buckland (Kevin Tighe) in On The Day Before, although that was never followed up on. None of those actors appear in this Cabinet scene.
  • Most egregiously, though, is the Secretary of Defense. This is the man sitting immediately to President Bartlet's left:


When the President calls on the Secretary of Defense for his vote, that's the guy who responds. Yet, in Inauguration: Part 1 we saw the Secretary of Defense, Miles Hutchinson, played by Steve Ryan:


Since "Secretary Hutchinson" has been referred to almost ten times over the course of the series, and Ryan will return playing the character in the future, having a completely different face sitting in this Cabinet meeting is just, well, wrong.

  • In a similar vein, the judge that comes to the Oval Office to swear Walken in is called "Madam Justice," which implies she's on the Supreme Court. In The Red Mass we saw the full Court in attendance, and this woman was not among them.
Supreme Court from The Red Mass


Madam Justice Sharon Day
  • Toby seems deeply moved by the fact babies come with hats. In Debate Camp, when he tells the others about Andy being pregnant with twins and the "Team Toby" crew gets excited about getting Toby and Andy back together, CJ says, "Yeah! We're gonna get hats!" Not exactly a callback connection, but hey - it's there.
  • The Bartlet home movie being played on television has Martin Sheen's son Emilio Estevez playing the part of a young Jed. 

  • Obvious callbacks to Mr. Willis Of Ohio (the "nightmare scenario" story Jed tells Zoey to scare her into paying attention to the Secret Service); Leo's daughter Mallory (we first met her in Pilot); the Toby-Andy twins plotline (all the way back to Debate Camp); Zoey's planned trip to France with Jean-Paul (first revealed in Evidence Of Things Not Seen); the resignation of the Vice President (Life On Mars); and plenty of direct tie-ins to the previous episode Commencement (Jean-Paul and the drugs in Zoey's drink, the name of the slain Secret Service agent living on with Toby's daughter Molly).
  • A reporter asks if the stress of Zoey's kidnapping might affect the President's multiple sclerosis (a disease we found out about in He Shall, From Time To Time ... and which was a key storyline late in Season 2).
  • We get a mention of Oliver Babish, still the White House Counsel (first seen in Bad Moon Rising, not seen onscreen since Gone Quiet).
  • Will brings up his interns (Lauren, Lauren, Lauren, and Cassie) as possible assistance to Josh on the phones. We met them in The California 47th.
  • As Nancy is urging caution instead of an impulsive strike against Qumar, she reminds the President that the nation is an ally of the United States in the Middle East. In 20 Hours In America, Part Two, she had a drastically different attitude, saying this after Qumar claimed to have found evidence that Israel had killed their defense minister, Abdul Shareef:

Nancy: "I am, however, beginning to lean towards reducing our nuclear arsenal one at a time, if you know what I mean, sir." 

  • Another look at the President's collection of glass paperweights on his Oval Office desk.




DC location shots    
  • We're back at the site in Georgetown, I believe, seen in Commencement - underneath the overhang that's supposed to be outside the nightclub Zoey was taken from.

  • As the Speaker makes his way from the Capitol to the White House, we get a shot of the police escort on Pennsylvania Avenue with the Capitol Dome in the background.






They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    
  • Abbey says the President has accepted an invitation to be a judge at the Cannes Film Festival in order to have an excuse to visit Zoey in France during the summer. The actual 2003 festival opened May 14 (the very day this episode aired) and ran through May 25.
  • Charlie insists Zoey isn't missing, but just hanging out at a Baskin-Robbins.
  • Ron Butterfield tells the President they've shut down the Key Bridge, the Memorial Bridge, and Route 29. The Francis Scott Key bridge crosses the Potomac from Georgetown into Virginia:

  • The Memorial Bridge crosses the Potomac from DC near the Lincoln Memorial into Rosslyn, Virginia (although why didn't Ron mention closing the Roosevelt bridge as well?):

  • And US Highway 29 runs west from the Key bridge into Virginia, away from the metro DC area:


  • Nancy asks Casper if this kidnapping seems like "a James Bond operation." So the Ian Fleming books and/or movies based on the character exist in this universe.
  • Fitzwallis wants to move the Washington carrier group into the Persian Gulf. The USS George Washington is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier commissioned in 1992.
  • Leo's reference to the transponder codes as the Air Force tracks the private aircraft flying near a nuclear power plant is sort of correct. His description of 7500 as a hijack code is correct; use of 7700 is supposed to indicate an onboard emergency, not necessarily a loss of radio communications - that would be 7600. At the time, though, I think pilots were expected to use 7700 first if they lost their radio, then change it to 7600.
  • The President jokingly mentions "those little LoJacks" on babies' ankles, to keep them from being "boosted" from the hospital.



End credits freeze frame: Toby, Leo, Josh, CJ, and Will watching Speaker Walken arrive.







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