Original airdate: October 29, 2003
Teleplay by: Eli Attie (9)
Story by: Eli Attie and Michael Oates Palmer (3)
Directed by: Laura Innes (3)
Synopsis
- Josh gets in trouble when his strong-arm tactics cause a Senator to switch parties. Amy gets in trouble by using Abbey's name to change the CDC budget. CJ gets in trouble when she tries to stand up to Leo's tampering with EPA documents. Will doesn't get in trouble, really, but Toby is less than pleased when Will decides to work for the Vice President.
We've got trouble, folks. Right here in DC city.
Toby: "You're not considering it."
Will: "The clock's running out."
Toby: "You are not considering it."
Will: "How many months are we going to spend making calendars?"
Toby: "You think I want to be making calendars? You think I like being in a PR dogfight with Congress, writing banner copy for photo ops?!"
But Will gets to the point of countering Toby's argument pretty directly.
Toby: "Russell's an empty cowboy suit, you work for the leader of the free world."
Will: "I work for a guy who works for a guy who works for the leader of the free world."
Near the end of the episode Toby begs Leo again, passionate about where he wants to take the administration, using the ambitious goals of previous administrations in his argument:
Toby: "Where's our hundred days? Where's our Great Society? Where's our New Frontier? Somebody's got to do what we came here to do. Those jobs aren't coming back. We lose or cave on every battle we have with Congress, and we have a calendar - not a plan."
But it's too late.
Leo: "Will's going to work for the Vice President."
Quite the change in the overall story of The West Wing as Will, an eager young campaign manager who directed the election of a dead candidate in Election Night, then excitedly jumped into the Bartlet communications office in Arctic Radar before getting stunned speechless (or, actually, hearing-less) with an actual job offer in Inauguration: Over There, is now giving up his White House office to work for what's seen as a weak, politically vulnerable Vice President.
CJ and Leo find themselves in a bit of a tiff ... again. CJ is facing questions from the press about an EPA report that differs from a draft version, in that some paragraphs critical of coal are missing. The press wonders if the White House had something to do with the change, and Leo, well ...
CJ: "What midlevel lackey tampers with an independent report?"
Leo: "You're looking at him."
[...]
CJ: "We have to do a total mea culpa. Make this a one-day story."
Leo: We're not culpa-ing anything. 'The report will reflect administration views.'"
CJ - who we know has the skills and ability to tap-dance around any press questions and handle it the way Leo wants it handling - ends up blowing it.
CJ (to the press): "If there was interference with an independent report, that was obviously a mistake."
And that gets her called on the carpet with Leo, as he demands she put out a statement under her own name taking back the "mistake" comment and reemphasizing that the final EPA report reflects the administration's position.
CJ: "You don't want me to do that."
Leo: "I do."
CJ: "That's saying I wasn't speaking for this White House."
Leo: "You weren't."
And finally, after she does release the statement and gets a bit more background explanation from Leo, we end up with what I think is a stunning quote that totally reverses almost everything we've learned about Leo and the Bartlet presidency since 1999.
Leo: "I'm not apologizing to you. I'm telling you my thinking as a courtesy. But you work for me. When I make a decision, that's the decision. If you can't back it up, don't go in the briefing room."
CJ: "We're here to serve the country."
Leo: "We are the country."
"We are the country"? This is not at all a reflection of the West Wing style we've seen from these folks before. This a totally new direction, a radical swerve from "serving the people" to "we know what's best and they'll like it."
There's ongoing tension from the Jed/Abbey situation echoing through the halls, after Abbey took Zoey and departed to New Hampshire in Jefferson Lives. Abbey blames Jed and Leo's secretive decision to kill the Qumari Defense Minister (Posse Comitatus) for creating the situation leading to Zoey's kidnapping (Commencement). Now the President is on his own in the residence, and he's got a little resentment of his own building up over his wife's attitude.
President (in the kitchen of the residence): "I want a CIA briefer here in person every morning. Why'd I get this on paper?"
Charlie: "You never have briefers in the family quarters, sir. Your rule is --"
President: "That was Abbey's rule."
And that resentment ends up boiling over when Amy uses Abbey's name (and popularity) to rewrite the Health and Human Services budget. In Jefferson Lives we saw Amy's concern over cuts to the CDC violence prevention budget; here, with Abbey's popularity running high in Congress, she takes the opportunity to call congressmen on Abbey's behalf, causing even Republicans to jump in and restore the funding. And then not only are the cuts restored, but the spending increases to over double the original request. This wouldn't be much of a problem, except - increasing that particular pile of money means huge cuts to other CDC priorities, like programs to combat bioterrorism and pandemic response.
President Bartlet figures out how this is happening, and he pays a visit to Amy's office.
President: "How many calls today?"
Amy: "Sir?"
President: "The First Lady, how many calls did she make to members of the subcommittee today?"
(Amy is silent)
President: "No calls. She's hiking in the White Mountains. She made no calls, you made them."
And now he lashes out as his anger at Abbey finds a target.
President: "My wife is not a budget appropriation. She's not a line. Don't put words in her mouth. Don't treat her like she's your blank checkbook."
(He turns to leave)
Amy: "Due respect, sir, it's what she'd want."
President (forcefully): "She has to be here to want things ... and you don't have to be here at all."
Did she ... just get fired?
Turns out no, she wasn't, but she begins to see that maybe this isn't the right place for her to work at all. She goes to Josh, desperate to tell the story of what happened, to look for his support and consolation - and this is where the two major plotlines of this episode start to come together.
Back to the start: Josh's day - his birthday, by the way - begins with a Washington Post article lauding him as Bartlet's point man on Capitol Hill, the "101st Senator" who can bend Congress to the President's will.
Josh is outwardly upset at the article - claiming the staffers don't trumpet their individual successes in public - but inside I think he feels a bit of barely self-contained pride. The quip to Donna about saving a copy for his mother is evidence, as well as the memory of the previous episode when he leaned on Rep. Theile for his vote to confirm Russell as VP (a vote Theile eventually did cast, but it wasn't because of Josh - and Josh doesn't know that). Things don't get much better when - in an obvious homage to a part of the story saying Josh once sent a dead fish to a congressman - a fish wrapped in newspaper appears on Josh' desk.
With the glow of all that attention fresh, Josh is ready and willing to use his heralded influence when news breaks of military promotions being secretly put on hold by a Senator. Josh quickly figures out it's Idaho Senator Chris Carrick, who is a Democrat yet still often a thorn in the administration's side (there's a couple of mentions about the administration losing a vote on a stimulus package a week ago, with Carrick being one of the No votes). Josh heads out to use his persuasive skills at the Senator's office (where a bowl of potatoes reminds us he represents Idaho).
Josh: "No, let's talk about what you're going to do for our underpaid, underpromoted fighting men and women."
Carrick: "Not a damn thing until I get my launcher."
Josh: "And when were you promised -- "
Carrick: "Seven years ago."
(pause)
Josh: "Under the last President?"
Carrick: "Right."
Josh: "Okay, uh, a bunch of things have fallen by the wayside since then, like communism."
Not only that, but the anti-missile system doesn't work and the Pentagon doesn't want it anyway. Carrick refuses to budge.
And now we begin to have these two plotlines merge, with Amy going too far to fund her priorities and getting slapped down by the President, and an overly confident Josh arm-twisting a vulnerable Idaho Democrat, mostly just because he can.
Amy's hope of consolation from Josh is dashed, as Josh has discovered the Post article (and the dead fish on his desk) were all Amy's doing. She thought it would make a nice birthday present for her boyfriend; he's offended because she doesn't seem to know the rules of how the West Wing works.
Josh: "We don't glorify ourselves. How is the President going to feel when I've got better press than him? How's every punk congressional staffer going to feel when I'm taking victory laps the week after losing a key vote?"
Amy stands firm - even calling out the staff's dedication to the President as "a messianic cult," which seems a bit much to me - and eventually spills the fact that she thinks she was fired by the President. Josh immediately tells her to apologize, to say she was wrong and save her job - and then he rushes away from Amy, as word of Carrick doubling down and putting holds on even more promotions arrives, their conversation dropped right there mid-very-important-topic.
Josh strides out of his office, taking Carrick's move as a personal challenge, and ups the stakes himself by calling the press to expose the Senator as the man behind the hold, embarrassing a conservative Democrat from Idaho as not supportive of America's military men and women.
Meanwhile, an abandoned Amy is called to the Oval Office, where the President somewhat grumpily admits he hasn't fired her. Amy, though, is starting to see the reality of what's happening, not only professionally, but also personally.
Amy: "I think it's best for me to leave, sir. What I did today, lobbying, prodding, prying money out of that HHS subcommittee, that's what I'm good at. I wasn't made to serve at someone else's pleasure. I don't think my staying would please anyone anyway."
And a final remark that not only applies to Amy and Josh, but also Jed and Abbey:
Amy: "This building's not very conducive to relationships, sir."
Josh is surprised when he learns Senator Carrick has come to the White House in person. Josh's public calling-out of Carrick has had the desired effect, he's going to release the holds and let the promotions be awarded. Our story threads come together as a distracted Josh comes to meet Carrick in the Roosevelt Room.
Outside the door, Amy has her things and is leaving, perhaps for the last time, her discussion with Josh unfinished, maybe forever.
Josh's gaze is at the door, even with Senator Carrick seated right in front of him.
But Josh is grateful for the Senator's release of the promotion holds, and is ready to continue with business as usual - until Carrick slides a letter across the desk:
Josh: "What's this?"
Carrick: "It's my letter of resignation from the Democratic Party."
Josh: "Come again?"
Carrick: "I'm running as a Republican in my next election."
Josh is first flustered, but then the reality of this party switch in a divided, Republican-controlled Congress begins to sink in.
Josh: "We can't win back the Senate without Idaho. We can't pass the tax bill, the new stimulus package ... (realizing the true ramifications, desperately) - I'll get you a meeting with Fitzwallis. A meeting with the President."
To no avail. Josh's overbearing pressure on Carrick has gotten the military promotions to go through, but at a terrible cost - the loss of a Democratic Senator, losing the chance at winning back control, and losing immediate prospects of passing any significant legislation. It's a disaster of epic proportions, and it's directly on the shoulders of Josh.
 |
| "You're leaving the party be ... this is -- 'cause of me?" |
 |
| "I'm not leaving 'cause of you. But you made it a whole lot easier." |
A stunned Josh wanders into the hallway, blindly holding the envelope in front of him. Margaret leads him to the Mural Room to meet Leo ... but of course, it's a surprise birthday party for Josh.
 |
| Note the "dead fish" cake. |
Tales Of Interest!
- Timelines! We know Jefferson Lives was on the Fourth of July. Han, where Russell's VP confirmation got through Congress, couldn't have been a whole lot later than that - the entire reason Bartlet caved to the Republicans and their list of candidates was to avoid a drawn-out fight, to get the office filled quickly. (The only time this happened in reality, in 1974 with President Gerald Ford's nomination of Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President, the process took months - but both Republicans and Democrats had issues with Rockefeller and drug out the process, which would absolutely not be the case here.) So if the confirmation process took six weeks, say, Han would have been mid- to perhaps late-August.
- Will and Toby bonded deeply over their love of language and writing and the responsibility and legacy of speaking for the very President of the United States when their paths first crossed. Remember in Arctic Radar, when they exchanged drafts of the inaugural address, and they were both impressed by the other's writing? Toby said, talking about the awesome history of inaugural addresses, "I really thought I was on my way to being one of those guys. I thought I was close. Now I'm just writing for my life and you can't serve the President that way. But if I can't write ... I can't serve him at all." Now, he wants to step back from writing to try to play a bigger role in setting overall policy, to hand off his writing responsibilities (that basically defined him for four years) to Will and become a Bartlet policy wonk. That's quite a change in motivations.
- Will, similarly, is shifting from his adoration of working in the West Wing (remember when he had an artificial border he couldn't cross, before he was given Sam's office and, eventually, an official White House job?) to moving across the street to a (kinda) lower-status job with the Vice President. This one I could maybe see as an organic character development - Will is tired of the mind-numbing busy work of helping Toby make calendars, and he sees the chance to take a party hack like Bingo Bob and build him into the presumptive 2006 Presidential nominee, perhaps riding this new job into a fresh 8 years in office. So that can make sense, for a young ambitious fellow like Will Bailey.
- Leo's tampering with the EPA memo seems totally out of character for him, even if he's just making the report "reflect administration views." You'll remember in Manchester, when Josh wanted to exert some pressure on the FDA to hold off on their press release approving RU-486 until after President Bartlet announced his candidacy for re-election, Leo was the one that forcefully told him the White House could not interfere with independent decisions by other government agencies. Now it's Leo who's axing paragraphs out of EPA reports to protect the coal industry. Hmmm.
- Then there's CJ. She's been one of the moral voices of the staff for a long time, so this is nothing new - but this makes the third episode in a row where she's poking back against administration actions (in Jefferson Lives she was pressing for more answers about the reasoning behind the Shareef assassination; in Han she pushed for granting asylum to the North Korean pianist, against the eventual decision of the President; and now she's practically throwing Leo under the bus for his tampering with the EPA report). These can be reasonable positions for CJ to take, but "I'm shaking my fist at these bad decisions!" shouldn't be the only reason for CJ to be in the story.
- I'll also add I was disappointed in how CJ dealt with that issue, at least in front of the press. She doesn't have to agree with the decisions made in the Oval Office, but she can't openly scoff at them either. As Leo told her, she had the line - just keep repeating "The final report will reflect administration views" and be done with it. Who cares if a reporter has copies of both the draft and the final report? Drafts are just that, drafts, subject to change and revision. We've seen CJ as a cool, calm professional far too many times to see her lose it under these questions. Think back to The Women Of Qumar, with an issue that was far more personal and important to CJ than this one, and how she was able to smoothly handle the press without her personal views coming through. Now, to have her blurt out, "If there was interference with an independent report, that was obviously a mistake" in front of the press like that - well, much like how Toby and Will should have been justifiably fired for writing (and not deleting) their scorching description of Bob Russell in the President's speech in Han, CJ should probably find herself eased out of her position for contradicting Leo and, by extension, the administration itself. (That said, we had the whole "keep CJ out of the loop with this India/Pakistan thing because she might spill it to Danny Concannon" in Lord John Marbury; that was finally put to bed in What Kind Of Day Has It Been. We also saw CJ offer to resign after misspeaking about the President being "relieved" to focus on a military operation in Haiti rather than his MS in Manchester Part I. But those were different situations - the CJ we've gotten to know over four years should have been able to brush off questions about the EPA report without breaking a sweat, then later take Leo to task for his tampering in private.)
Josh tries to explain to Amy why they don't take victory laps over their successes in this White House:
Amy: "It's not the code to look strong to your constituents?"
Josh: "The only constituency that matters in this building is the constituency of one - the guy in the round room, and that's who you and I work for."
Quotes
Russell: "Oh, I have to work longer hours. I'm playing with a handicap."
Will: "Sir?"
Russell: "Spare tire on the automobile of government. Heartbeat away from having a heartbeat. The story of the two brothers."
Will: "The two brothers?"
Russell: "One went to sea, one became Vice President - neither was heard from again."
Josh: "It's an embarrassment. You should be stealing everyone's copies before they can read it."
Donna: "And burning them on the South Lawn?"
Josh: "I'm serious. ... Save one for my mom."
-----
Toby: "Who's Ben?"
CJ: "A guy I lived with for six months."
Toby: "I didn't know you lived with a guy named Ben."
CJ: "There's a lot you don't know about me."
Toby: "Like what?"
CJ: "Well ... that's about it, really."
Toby: "You don't want his calls?"
CJ: "Well, if I take his call, of course it would be great to hear his voice - he has this low, husky radio voice - and we'd be swapping memories and old jokes and pet names and then it's the frisky little e-mails and pretty soon it's, you know, the weekend in Little Washington and the late-night phone calls and that's when we begin to get on each other's nerves, cause we get on each other's nerves. He has this thing where he twirls his hair and ... Anyway, the bloom's off the rose and I don't call as much and it's the guilt and the cherchez la femme and why-didn't-it-work-out-the-first-time and it's ten years til we talk again."
Toby: "That was like a bad romantic comedy in fifteen seconds."
Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)
- The recalcitrant Idaho Senator Chris Carrick is played by Tom Skerritt (Alien, Top Gun, Contact, Picket Fences).
- Nancy is back, played by Martin Sheen's daughter Renée Estevez.
- Finally, one of our regular reporters besides Katie. Here's Mark asking a question at CJ's briefing:
- The discussion between Toby and Will about not scheduling events on Fridays reminds us of Take Out The Trash Day.
Josh (from Take Out The Trash Day): "Any stories we have to give the press that we're not wild about we give all in a lump on Friday."
[...]
Donna: "Why do you do it on Friday?"
Josh: "Because no one reads the paper on Saturday."
-----
Toby (from this episode): "Fridays don't count."
Will: "Why not?"
Toby: "No one watches the Friday evening news. No one reads the Saturday papers. No Presidential events on Fridays."
- Will is seen using a pager when he's summoned by the Vice President's office. While pagers were falling out of favor by 2003 (Motorola stopped making their model in 2001), the increased reliability and security they provided over cell phones meant they continued to be used in some situations, perhaps including White House staff.
- Russell refers to Will and Toby's disastrous VP introductory speech (joke! It was supposed to be deleted!) which appeared on the President's teleprompter in Han.
- Referring to the First Lady as a "sensitive topic around here" and the President's biting "She has to be here to want things" goes back to Abbey's resentment of Jed and Leo over Zoey's kidnapping and her leaving the White House for New Hampshire (playing out over 7A WF 83429 through Jefferson Lives).
- The violence prevention funding in the HHS bill was first mentioned in Jefferson Lives, when Amy pushed Josh to help her get a 65% cut in funding restored.
- Toby wonders why the President is dragging his feet on naming a new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Admiral Fitzwallis told Leo that he's planning to retire in The Dogs Of War.
- The President says the Chief Justice is "losing it" after mistaking a moot court competition at NYU for the actual Supreme Court. In Inauguration: Part 1 and Inauguration: Over There we discovered the Chief Justice was writing some of his opinions in verse, causing a bit of alarm over his mental state.
- Josh tells Donna the story of his 7th birthday, when he felt left out by the clown at his party paying more attention to his sister. In The Crackpots And These Women we learned Josh's sister died in a fire when she was babysitting her brother, and Josh still carried survivor's guilt over running out of the house. Apparently, then, this fire happened sometime after Josh turned 7.
- Ryan says it was his "great-great-great grand-dad" who tried to annex Cuba, meaning President Franklin Pierce. When he introduced himself in The Dogs Of War, he said the President was his "great-great grandfather." Even though he's added a generation here, he's still about two generations shy (Pierce died in 1869) and Franklin Pierce left no descendants anyway.
- Josh makes a reference to "Triplehorn" as the Minority Leader. We saw Senator Triplehorn as the Democratic Minority Leader first in Swiss Diplomacy, and he also appeared in Twenty Five and Jefferson Lives.
- Amy's end-run efforts to get violence prevention funding back in the HHS budget - using Abbey's name for political capital even though she's not directly involved - reminds us of Abbey's words in Jefferson Lives:
Abbey: "Amy, you're going to have to handle things for me a little while longer."
Amy: "I know. Do you want me to --"
Abbey: "I trust you. That's why I hired you."
- There's a neat little visual composition near the end, as Josh and Amy are having their deeply important conversation until Josh heads off to publicly call out Senator Carrick for holding up the military promotions. Amy wasn't nearly done with her discussion, and as Josh heads out, Donna takes a moment to see Amy leaning ruefully on Josh's doorway.
If anything, this calls to mind the suspenseful buildup to Zoey's kidnapping in Commencement, with the driving, throbbing music of Massive Attack playing and Amy and Donna working on a travel issue over a campaign donor, with a drunk Amy asking Donna, "Are you in love with Josh?" A rather meaningful and important question, a moment loaded with portent and secrets ... and a moment that was totally forgotten and dropped once Sorkin left the show.
- WHAT'S NEXT - The President gives a brusque "What's next?" to Charlie inquiring about his daily schedule, after gruffly dismissing the rule against personal briefings in the residence as "Abbey's rule."
DC location shots
- None.
They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing
- Toby describes politics as "What have you done for me lately, and where's my year's supply of Turtle Wax?"
- The storyline of Josh sending a dead fish wrapped in newspaper to a congressman is based on an actual event. Rahm Emanuel (a senior adviser and enforcer for President Bill Clinton who, many think, served as the model for the character of Josh Lyman) once sent a dead fish to a pollster he was upset with.
- Amy compares Josh's title as the 101st Senator to being the fifth Beatle, so the Beatles exist in this universe.
- A couple of The Godfather references: CJ hails Josh as the "Jewish-Connecticut Corleone," and Amy scoffs at Josh's warnings of her going outside channels to get her violence prevention funding by saying, "Am I going to come back from Mass and find a horse's head on my desk?"
- The publications that are specifically mentioned are Jane's Defence Weekly (in which Toby sarcastically says he's still trying to get a writeup) and the Washington Post.
- President Bartlet says James Madison never had to use a message calendar; Ryan Pierce says his great-great-great grand dad (Franklin Pierce) tried to annex Cuba, which isn't quite true.
- President Bartlet, talking about the cuts to the HHS violence prevention budget, says, "Republicans gutted it, cause 'domestic abuse isn't a public health issue,' as if spousal abuse were part of the Atkins diet." The Atkins diet not only exists, but in an odd coincidence, former West Wing castmember Rob Lowe appears in their ads.
- Josh and Ryan have a back-and-forth about being backstage at a (Rolling) Stones concert.
- Josh says Senator Carrick "makes Machiavelli look like a social worker." (Might I also add, in that same conversation he says Carrick has voted with Republicans for five years, and that he takes everything he's given and "screws us every time." Is it really that much of a loss for him to switch to the GOP?)
- CJ jokes about getting a decent table at The Palm when the press asks about Josh's favorable coverage in the Post.
- The C-SPAN logo makes an appearance as Leo fumes at CJ's quote in the briefing ("Margaret!").
- In the background we can see cable newsman Bill Hemmer, currently an anchor with Fox News, but he was on CNN at the time of this episode.
- Josh mentions the writers Shakespeare and Hemingway as he scoffs about the programs approved to keep Carrick happy.
- Amy keeps a bottle of Mylanta on her desk.
- As Toby and Leo argue over the stagnant drifting of the administration, we get references to FDR as well as his New Deal, LBJ's Great Society, and Kennedy's New Frontier.
No comments:
Post a Comment