Original airdate: October 22, 2003
Teleplay by: Peter Noah (1)
Story by: Peter Noah & Mark Goffman (3) and Paula Yoo (3)
Directed by: Christopher Misiano (16)
Synopsis
- A North Korean pianist's request to defect puts the Bartlet administration into a diplomatic dilemma. Josh's already outsized opinion of his powers of persuasion gets an unwarranted boost, which could lead to trouble down the line. Toby and Will mistakenly air their misgivings over the new Vice President right there on the President's teleprompter.
Okay, this is more like it. For the first time in Season 5 it feels like a West Wing episode, with a prickly moral dilemma, some real Joshy arm-twisting of a reluctant Democratic congressman, and some pretty darn good writing. Even if some of this territory is kind of rehashed (Shibboleth, anyone?), it's still welcome to see. I think a big part of what helps is moving on from the Zoey/Abbey/family drama storylines and back into exploring some big-picture political and moral challenges. Peter Noah's first credited West Wing teleplay is also pretty good, with a nice amount of humor scattered through the episode (kudos also to Mark Goffman and Paula Yoo for their contributions - Goffman and Yoo both joined the writers' room at the beginning of Season 4, with Goffman earning credits on College Kids and Red Haven's On Fire and Yoo with story credits for Process Stories and The California 47th).
Barrow: "It's the most unpredictable regime in the world. Walking out on the negotiations could be the least thing they do."
Leo (scoffing): "They'd shell Seoul over this?"
Barrow: "You wanna find out?"
CJ, once again, finds herself in the position of fighting back against the idea of the US doing the expedient thing, and she pushes for taking the high road and doing what's right instead. We saw her take the same path in The Women Of Qumar, fighting with Leo and Nancy McNally while calling out the government's military cooperation with a regime that openly mistreated women and girls; and just in the last episode we saw her questioning the administration's moral position over the killing of the Qumari Defense Minister in Season 3, sitting in her office alone stewing over the issue during the Fourth of July fireworks.
CJ is right, of course. Granting Jai's request to defect not only is the right moral thing to do, it's actually against United States law to deny it. However, the fact he didn't make his request in public gives the administration cover to keep it a secret, and thereby make it possible to send him back to North Korea in order to keep the diplomatic negotiations going. Showing up to make that argument is a new recurring character, Undersecretary of State Ted Barrow, who makes no bones about the fact that he thinks geopolitics rule supreme over morality or, well, pretty much everything else, and he won't stoop to politeness to make that point:
Barrow: "They are making plutonium, they can get it onto warheads, and their best customers are the people who hate us. Why are we still talking about this?"
Mike: "I don't see how we can get past the legal issues."
CJ: "I don't see how you can send someone back to the bleakest place left on the planet after he tells you he doesn't want to go."
Leo: "CJ --"
Barrow: "It's not that bleak. The DMZ is beautiful; it's like a nature preserve. Endangered Black-faced spoonbills, Amur leopards ---"
CJ: "What's your point?"
Barrow (bitingly, not a little rude): "That I know more about this than you do."
The decision is made; the President can't openly grant Jai's request. During a rehearsal, Bartlet himself meets with Jai, hoping to sneak in a discussion behind the backs of his government minders - and also hoping Jai can gather enough meaning from what Bartlet tells him to find another way to get what he wants.
Jai: "I try to stay, you arrest me?"
President: "No."
Jai: "You give me back to them."
President (emphatically): "No. Freedom means choice. You must decide which is the most responsible choice."
Bartlet is trying to fight his way past the language barriers to let Jai know his choice - if he makes his request in public, or to anyone outside the White House, the United States would be bound to accept it. But by trying to defect in secret, he's giving the administration an out to sidestep the issue.
At the climactic concert, it's not certain whether Jai has understood Bartlet's coded message. After he plays, he stands up ... and it looks like perhaps he's going to make the choice for freedom.
Jai: "Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to ... (long pause) I wish to ... (longer pause. He exchanges looks with the President) I wish to ... (he sighs) ... thank the President, the American people for this opportunity. I wish it be start many exchanges and improve relations between our countries."
He bows, obviously in mental turmoil, then exits with his handlers, heading back to North Korea.
Finally, the kicker. As President Bartlet tries to relax back in the Oval Office, his mind racing over missed opportunities, he tells CJ that the negotiations with North Korea are on hold, niggling complaints over the sizes of flags caused the Koreans to walk out, and denying Jai's request to defect turned out to be all for nothing.
Being President really is a tough job to have.
But at least he's finally going to have a Vice President! After John Hoynes resigned the office in Life On Mars after news of an affair (and his pillow talk involving classified information) became public, the office of VP was unfilled - which became a problem after Zoey was kidnapped in Commencement, causing Bartlet to use the 25th Amendment to step away from the office temporarily. With the Presidency being held by the Republican Speaker of the House in that period, the search for an actual Vice President became even more urgent. And as we saw in Jefferson Lives, the Republican-led Congress flexed its muscles to tell the White House they couldn't have the guy they wanted (Secretary of State Berryhill) without a fight, but if they wanted to get a VP quickly they could choose from a few weak pre-approved options. Which led us to Colorado Rep. Bob Russell being chosen, on the Fourth of July - and now, after what must have been some routine confirmation hearings, the House and the Senate are voting to confirm Russell to the post of Vice President.
Josh is on the warpath against Rep. Theile of Rhode Island - he's come out publicly against the decision, and if he's the only vote keeping the Russell confirmation from being bipartisanly unanimous, Josh thinks it'll embarrass the White House while elevating Theile in the news cycle. Which, again, ends up embarrassing the White House by keeping Russell's lack of qualifications firmly in the spotlight.
Theile is called to the White House and Josh is ready to use his usual strong-arm tactics to threaten him into changing his vote (we've seen Josh do this as far back as Five Votes Down, when he threatened Rep. Katzenmoyer with a primary challenge, ending his threat with "President Bartlet's a good man. He's got a good heart. He doesn't hold a grudge. That's what he pays me for"). This time, though, his threats aren't working.
Because Theile is using the White House's own position on Russell against them.
Theile: "My petty animus is that Russell's not good enough. Which is exactly what you've been saying to each other round here ever since his name was announced. You think I don't know how you got rolled on Berryhill, or forced to settle for this party hack? You've put someone second-rate next in line to a President with a serious health problem. You wanna talk about embarrassment? Be embarrassed about that."
Ryan Pierce, Josh's intern who talked Josh into sitting in on the meeting, takes it all in.
And later, Ryan - who has some family connections with quite a few members of Congress, including Theile - puts in a call to the Congressman.
What happens with that call, we don't know, but Theile ends up voting for Russell's confirmation and it does sail through unanimously. Josh, somehow, thinks it was his doing ... and we're going to see the self-assurance and hubristic confidence Josh has in his own abilities nearly bring him to ruin in the near future.
But that's yet to come. Theile's comment about the White House's opinion of Russell is echoed in the Communications Office. Will is writing remarks for the President to make for his introduction of the new Vice President, but he can't find a "lofty" enough voice to make the speech soar for the President.
President: "Loftier. If I don't sound enthused, how do we expect the country to get excited about this guy?"
Will: "Yes, sir."
President: "You're not very excited about him?"
Will (stammering): "Oh, no, I mean ... sure ... I mean, I'm not ... not excited about him."
President: "What you sounded like just then, is how this reads."
Will comes to Toby, admitting he can't seem to find enthusiasm for the guy, but Toby has his own issues. He wants to get involved in not just publicizing administration policy, but be part of crafting and shaping the policy. He goes to Leo to try to change direction in his role, but Leo - understandably caught up in the diplomatic intricacies of North Korea - doesn't have the time to devote to Toby. Plus, the President himself asks Toby to help Will out.
Which leads to a frustrated Toby and a Will with writer's block bouncing lines off each other as they unmercifully roast Russell and his complete lack of political heft and suitability for the role of Vice President. Toby throws out scathing lines:
As Will gleefully adds his own, typing them madly into his draft remarks:
Toby (dictating to Will): "In a triumph of the middling, in a nod to mediocrity, and with gorge rising, it gives me great nausea to announce Robert Russell - Bingo Bob himself - as your new Vice President."
Will (typing): "This lapdog of mining interests is as dull as he is unremarkable."
Toby: "As lackluster as he is soporific --"
Will: "Good."
Toby: "This reversion to the mean --"
Will: "This rebuke to the exemplary --"
Toby: "Gives hope to the millions unfavored by the exceptional --"
Will: "Yes."
Toby: "The Vice Presidency, being famously once described as not being worth a warm bucket of spit - let's now hock a big loogie for Bob Russell. Not the worst. Not the best. Just what we're stuck with."
We see the words being typed on the computer screen, and then, as they settle down to work ... apparently they never get deleted.
Which is just inexcusable. Because, naturally, that's the copy of the speech that gets loaded in the teleprompter, and as President Bartlet makes his introduction of the new Vice President in the Rose Garden, he sees this:
Gamely, the President shifts gears and muddles on, creating his own speech out of thin air.
Russell notices the change in tone, and he looks over and sees the prompter screen.
Russell: "I'd like a copy."
Toby: "There are no copies, we've shredded ..."
Will: "Wiped hard drives ... we're considering putting out our own eyes."
Russell: "Find one. Send it to my office. I thought it was hilarious."
Toby: "Uh, hilarious, sir?"
Russell: "I know my public profile, my political persona. I'm just glad to see there's such a keen awareness of the scale of the job you've all got ahead of you. I'm part of the team now, which makes all this pretty much your problem. Good luck with it."
I'll add a little mention of Josh and Amy - Amy started flirting with Josh in The Women Of Qumar, they were dating by Dead Irish Writers, then when a policy dispute over welfare spending caused Josh to pull some triggers that got Amy fired in Posse Comitatus they broke up. Their paths crossed again in College Kids and The Red Mass, then after Amy was hired as Abbey's chief of staff in Red Haven's On Fire and they were working in the same building, well ... fireworks definitely happened in Jefferson Lives, and now even Ryan can see there's something happening.
Ryan: "So what's the deal there? Boyfriend/girlfriend? Friends with privileges?"
Josh: "What?"
Ryan: "Something's going on."
Josh realizes he and Amy haven't really defined what they're doing together, and during the piano concert he has a little heart-to-heart with her.
Josh: "It's like what CJ said today about the economy; by refusing to put language to it we're trying to pretend it doesn't exist, but it's something ... even if we don't know what to call it. I just think it's time to start thinking about a language plan for whatever it is we're doing, too."
Oh, yeah, there's also talk about a looming recession, and whether or not the administration should do anything about it (or even make a public acknowledgement of the "bagel"); Donna's aunt and uncle from Wisconsin visit, causing Josh to think about cheese jokes and Donna to run on about diets and how choosing from them all in moderation is the best approach (an approach the President mirrors with his opinion over the best way to deal with the economy); and proposed message calendars. But the bottom line is the administration choosing the smoother expedient path over the harder, tougher trail - something we just saw in the last episode with the Vice Presidential decision and something we are no doubt going to see more of.
Tales Of Interest!
- There's a good old traditional West Wing walk-and-talk early between Donna and Josh.
- I really don't think President Bartlet would have made the choice he makes here about Jai's asylum had Aaron Sorkin still been running things. The nuclear negotiations are delicate, true, and the consequences of angering the North Koreans by allowing Jai to defect would be serious (although, attacking South Korea? Really?). I think the Bartlet we knew from previous seasons would have been more, I don't know, empathetic - more anxious to help a desperate freedom-seeking soul from a tyrannical country. And he definitely would have come up with a smarter plan to help Jai succeed than the stilted "freedom means choice" code words he tried to convince him with. Just tell him, "All you have to do is tell somebody, anybody, besides me that you want asylum and we have to give it to you."
- We don't know what Ryan has that changes Rep. Theile's mind, but it must be pretty powerful. Theile isn't just standing up to what he sees as the White House's surrender to the GOP, but he's also bucking his own party leadership. Remember what we saw in Jefferson Lives - the Democratic congressional leadership also giving a thumbs-down on Berryhill and agreeing with the list of mediocre candidates provided by Speaker Haffley. It's probably easier for a congressman to stand up against a President (even with a ruthless grudgeholder like Josh) than it is to go against your own party in Congress.
- Gail's fishbowl is seen in passing as CJ listens to the CD in her office, but there's nothing in particular seen inside it (other than Gail, of course).- Why'd They Come Up With Han?
QuotesJai Yung Ahn tells the President there's a Korean word, "han" - then he plays a melancholy piece (Chopin's Prelude in E Minor) to try to explain it. The President later tells CJ he's looked it up.President: "There is no literal English translation. It's a state of mind, of soul, really. A sadness; a sadness so deep no tears will come. And yet, still, there's hope."
That's a fairly good definition - the word may also be described to mean "an internalized feeling of deep sorrow, resentment, grief, regret, and anger."
In any event, it fits the emotions Jai must be feeling when he's told the President can't accept his defection.
Leo: "Why they're a rogue state."CJ: "Rogue state ... makes them sound raffishly charming. Should be thug state. Psycho state."
Leo: "We'll ask the UN to re-designate."
CJ: "Punk state, that's what they are, a bunch of punks."
Leo: "Bunch of punks, with what could be six nuclear warheads."
CJ (to press in hallway): "In a minute, everyone."
(press murmurs their thanks)
CJ (to Leo): "Okay, you could obliterate Australia, but you know what, you're still just a punk."
Leo: "Good opener. Use that."
-----Josh: "Congressman Theile needs to come over before the VP confirmation vote."
Donna: "Which is noon?"
Josh: "Senate's noon; the House votes at four. Get him in after the Punch and Judy show."
Donna: "The citizenry would be comforted knowing that's how you refer to the President's economic advisers."
Josh: "The citizenry doesn't have to sit in a room with them."
-----
Donna: "I'm taking my aunt and uncle from Wisconsin, who are perfectly nice people, on a tour of the White House later today, and I'd rather not go through an entire morning of cheesehead jokes, which are beneath you anyway ..."
Josh: "You know what's the state bird of Wisconsin? The Muenster. The state motto? Live brie or die. It narrowly beat out you can have my wheel of cheddar when you pry it out of my cold, dead, stinky fingers."
-----
CJ: "If we don't allow this defection, if we blithely exploit this young man's ignorance, then I don't know who we are any more."
-----
President: "We cancel the concert it's a red flag. I told him freedom means choice; my choice is to trust in his decision."
[...]
Leo: "It's a crapshoot."
President: "The negotiations are a crapshoot. (considering, smiling) The whole damn job's a crapshoot."
Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)
- It's the first appearance of Ron Canada (Dallas, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Boston Legal, Wedding Crashers) as Undersecretary of State Theodore Barrow. Barrow and his gruff, overbearing, egotistical self will make several more appearances over the rest of the series.
- Associate White House Counsel Mike (who will later get the last name Wayne) is seen in the meeting with Barrow, Leo, and a guy from Immigration. Played by Benjamin Brown, we saw Mike in Privateers, where he explained to Josh and Toby that their friend couldn't get whistleblower protection for the misdeeds of his chemical company.
- One of the regulars, Washington Post reporter Katie, is seen in CJ's press briefing. We haven't seen the other usual members of the press corps (Mark, Chris, Steve, Danny) for a while.
- When Jai Yung Ahn's words as translated as "All glory flows to our Dear Leader for whom he wishes long life and good health," President Bartlet jokingly responds, "Next time he's overseas it'd be nice if Yo-Yo Ma said that." The famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma has performed at the Bartlet White House at least twice, first (offscreen) in The State Dinner and then actually appearing in Noël (with Donna famously yelling, "Yo-Yo Ma rules!").
- Leo tells Toby (referring to Will), "The President loved his Zoey speech," which is a direct reference to the speech given after Zoey was rescued in The Dogs Of War. It's also a passing reminder of Zoey's kidnapping, rescue and recovery, a storyline running from Commencement through Jefferson Lives.
- Ed and Larry make an appearance in the economic advisers meeting, as well as the informal policy (from Josh) to call a recession a "bagel" (the notion of not using the word "recession" was first mentioned in Swiss Diplomacy; the idea of calling it a "bagel" instead happened in 7A WF 83429).
Ed (or is it Larry?)
Larry (or is this Ed?)
- We are reminded by Leo that President Bartlet holds a Nobel Prize in economics. That was first mentioned in "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" - although there actually is not a real Nobel Prize given in the field of economics, but a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences has been granted since 1969.
- CJ's moral reservations about the political maneuvering to try to sidestep Jai's asylum request reminds us of her personal questions over the administration's killing of Abdul Shareef that we saw in Jefferson Lives. We can also recall CJ's stances for doing the right thing instead of the profitable thing in The Women Of Qumar or The Indians In The Lobby or, well, many other episodes.
- Also, asylum seekers causing diplomatic/geopolitical problems for the Bartlet administration, as well as an outside-the-box solution, was previously seen in Shibboleth. In that episode it was Chinese Christians attempting to flee to America, with the United States facing trouble from China if they let them stay (but found a work-around by instead allowing them to "escape" federal detention).
- The announcement of Russell as the new Vice President ties up the thread going back to Life On Mars when John Hoynes resigned the office. Russell was actually chosen as the replacement when a list of candidates was forced on the administration by Republican House leadership in Jefferson Lives, which was on July 4 - we don't know how long it's taken for Russell's confirmation to get through Congress (the vote on which happens during this episode) but considering the frenzy of the White House to pass up a fight over the guy they really wanted to get the office filled right away, it can't be too long after Independence Day.
- Leo's suggestion to Toby that he come up with a message calendar isn't the last time we're going to hear about that.
- Toby is still relying on his old rubber ball as a tool to help him think (or to get the attention of his co-workers). His Spaldeen was first seen in Ellie, and then most famously in 17 People.
- Donna fixing Josh's bowtie is getting to be a West Wing standard, and it's always pretty sexy. I think the first time she did it was in On The Day Before, as he was trying to look like Tony Bennett.
DC location shots
- None.
They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing
- Already mentioned above, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma is specifically named (obviously a favorite of President Bartlet).
- The President compares a legislator on the phone to John C. Calhoun, who served as a Representative, a Senator, Vice President, and Secretary of State and of War during the 1800s.
- The composers Schubert, Chopin, and Bach are specifically mentioned. Musical works that are referred to include Beethoven's Apassionata and Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as Chopsticks (or The Celebrated Chop Waltz).
- Pieces performed in the episode are all Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Opus 52 is the rehearsal piece; Prelude, Opus 28, No. 4 is what Jai plays to explain "han," and the performance piece is Etude, Opus 10, No. 12 "Revolutionary."
- Leo is drinking a Diet Coke.
- Toby uses the phrase, "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" from Shakespeare's play Macbeth.
- The discussion about Presidents who don't know the price of milk recalls the story of President George H.W. Bush expressing surprise at the price of milk while seeing a demonstration of grocery store price scanners in 1992. While the story probably wasn't accurate (Bush was actually marveling at the technology, not the price of milk), the public impression of politicians being out-of-touch with citizens' everyday lives survives three decades later. The "asking politicians the price of milk (or bread)" question has been a consistent reality check from the press in both Britain and the United States since then.
- Josh compares Ryan to the comic book character Richie Rich.
- Toby's mention of the Vice Presidency "famously once described as not being worth a bucket of warm spit" is meant to recall John Nance Gardner, who was Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt for FDR's first two terms. Gardner's actual quote (perhaps to Lyndon Johnson) was that the office was "not worth a bucket of warm piss," but the oft-used line was cleaned up for public use.
- Hey, it's Ginger! Haven't seen her around the Communications office for a while.
- Jai Yung Ahn is seen playing a Yamaha piano. You might expect something like a Steinway to be used for such a performance, but perhaps the North Korean Jai is more familiar and comfortable with a Yamaha.
End credits freeze frame: The Oval Office photo op with President Bartlet and Jai Yung Ahn.
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