Original airdate: October 20, 2004
Written by: John Wells (4)
Directed by: Alex Graves (21)
Synopsis
- President Bartlet's insistence on pursuing a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Gaza deepens the rift between Jed and Leo. A hail-mary effort to get cooperation from the Palestinians pays off. Josh continues to stick around at the German hospital as Donna fights complications from her injuries.
It feels like things are nearing the breaking point - which is the exactly the goal of John Wells' script, to show us the cracks developing between old friends and trusted advisers as one continues chasing what the other sees as pipe dreams. So, good job, John, I guess! It's certainly an involving kickoff to Season 6, even if the plot threads are twisty and complicated and sometimes a bit hard to follow.
Haffley: "Mr. President, you have to go on national television, admit your mistake, and retract those invitations. You've insulted these men and their memories. You have to put this summit back in the cereal box it came in."
President (seething): "I didn't come here to play games." (begins to walk out) "I'm trying to find a way to make peace. And when I do, you can go on TV and explain why you're against it."
Meanwhile, Kate's idea of reaching out to Chairman Farad seems to be at a dead end, since the Israelis have him isolated and his public announcement of inviting himself to Camp David to talk peace has only enraged the Israeli government (Farad has a habit of agreeing to work with the Israelis on efforts toward peace, only to double-cross them at every turn, so they are dead-set against having Farad involved in any discussions). When the President cooks up a brainstorming session, looking for any ideas to pursue peace, no matter how stupid or outrageous, she speaks up:
Kate: "We ignore everything that's happened in the last 24 hours. Yesterday, Farad was cooperating with us, planning to arrest Naisan and the other perpetrators of the CODEL bombing. Then the Israelis surrounded his compound in the West Bank and his people in Gaza refused to arrest Naisan, right?"
Will: "Yeah, so?"
Kate: "So we hold Farad to his earlier promise. Tell him if he wants a summit then he has to arrest Naisan. Show us and the Israelis that he's serious about punishing terrorists."
The Americans manage to get a phone to Farad, then they wait, as a naval battle group gets into position to strike the camps in Syria. The Israelis continue to refuse to take part in any meetings that include Farad, even while Palestinian Prime Minister Mukharat tries to work around Farad to be included himself.
Finally, a phone call. President Bartlet debates with Farad, trying to get him to live up to his deal to arrest Naisan. Farad is reluctant - with so many different warring factions on the Palestinian side, arresting Naisan at the behest of the United States and Israel could mean he'd be removed from his position of power, or worse. Kate has a idea ... if only she can find paper and a pen:
 |
| Clumsy Kate, knocking over Jed's coffee mug |
President (shouting): "Tell me how this ends, Leo! You want me to start something that may have serious repercussions on American foreign policy for decades, but you don't how it ends."
Leo (shouting back): "We don't always know how it ends!" (steadily) "The Lincoln will be in position in a few hours and then you are going to have to give the go-ahead for the bombings."
President Bartlet is not accustomed to being told not to do, not even by Leo. He doesn't appreciate it much, either, particularly as he knows Leo knows exactly where Jed stands on this issue, and why.
His glare speaks for itself.
President: "Or what?"
Leo is in shock at this thinly veiled threat.
So here we are. The President has heard Leo out, but he's not going to take his advice. Leo is going to have to deal with that somehow. Which is going to be even harder for him when the Director of the FBI unexpectedly drops by the Oval Office:
Director Arnold: "Our FBI team in Gaza was just contacted by Palestinian security forces. They have Khalil Naisan in custody and they'd like to turn him over to us."
Farad has come through, the desperate gambit has paid off. He's made the good-faith effort, which gives the President what he needs to lean on the Israelis to insist they take part in peace discussions. The Camp David summit is back on.
But Leo isn't going to be a part of it, at least not at the start. As the Israeli ambassador comes to the Oval Office to take part in the phone call with Prime Minister Zahavy, he's told this:
President: "Leo, head down to the Sit Room and tell the generals to keep their pistols in their pockets for the time being. You don't believe in this, Leo, and they're not going to want to do it. I can't have them pick up any signals from you that we disagree."
And the door is literally shut in Leo's face.
You gotta think that hurts.
Everyone heads to Camp David, the President and his team (sans Leo), Chairman Farad, Palestinian Prime Minister Mukharat, and the Israeli Prime Minister. President Bartlet, though, does have one last move up his sleeve - he tells Leo as soon as the Palestinians land in the United States he'll give the order for the military strike on the terrorist training camp in Syria. So Congress and those baying for retribution will get their bombing, but the peace talks will go on anyway. A neat little trick to have it both ways and an illustration that Bartlet wasn't totally oblivious to what had to happen - although this does still fit in with President Bartlet's desire to limit civilian casualties, which an attack in Gaza would have resulted in.
The peace talks - and the outcome of the split between Jed and Leo - will be the subject of the next episode.
Meanwhile, in Germany ... we were left with Donna heading to urgent surgery after a blood clot threatened her recovery from injuries suffered in the Gaza bombing. Josh had gone to her bedside immediately upon her arrival at the military hospital, only to meet Colin Ayres, the Irish photographer who grew close to Donna on her trip, eventually sleeping with her just before the explosion.
Before going under anesthesia for the surgery, Donna asks to see Josh (not Colin, which is kind of important). While she can't speak with the oxygen mask on, she writes a note saying she's scared. Josh, while scared too, tries to comfort her ... and their hands touching certainly seems meaningful, somehow.
The Josh-Donna relationship has been a simmering storyline throughout the series. Famously, Janel Moloney says from the start she played Donna as being deeply in love with Josh, even without expressing it outwardly, just using that as character-building backstory to inform her scenes with Bradley Whitford. The two actors did have instant chemistry, as audiences were quick to respond to (so much so that the Josh love-interest character originally included in the series, Mandy, was written out after Season 1). Even while the two characters had their own other romantic couplings - Josh with Amy and a bit with Joey, while Donna dated Cliff and Jack Reese and others - there was always some kind of special bond seen between them. While that bond showed up in many episodes, from In Excelsis Deo to The Portland Trip to War Crimes to Arctic Radar to Inauguration: Over There and others, I think it was best expressed in 17 People, after Donna told the story of being taken to the hospital after a car accident and her then-boyfriend stopping off for a beer on his way to see her:
Josh: "I'm just saying, if you were in an accident, I wouldn't stop for a beer."
Donna: "If you were in an accident, I wouldn't stop for red lights."
Even so ... Josh doesn't really treat Donna as well as he should. In No Exit CJ tried to explain to her that if Josh really was trying to help Donna grow in her career, he wouldn't be keeping her stuck in her assistant role. And there are so, so many examples of Josh taking Donna for granted, not recognizing her excellent work in supporting him and her devotion to him and his position.
Colin just met Josh, and he can see it.
Colin: "There was this girl when I was 16. No, 17."
Josh: "This is when you were a bagman for the IRA?"
Colin: "She was mad about me, worshipped me, really, and I liked her, but I was off to the university in Dublin and she was going to stay in Belfast, work in her dad's shop."
Josh (concerned about the surgery): "This is taking too long. Isn't this taking too long?"
Colin: "She wrote to me every single day, and she called weekends. And she ... she was always there. And I took her for granted, you know?"
That's a truth bomb for Josh. But it only gets worse when the doctor reports the result of the surgery - there's a possibility Donna may have suffered hypoxia, a lack of oxygen to the brain, during the procedure, and she may have irreversible brain damage. Her life, and Josh's, may never be the same.
Josh stays by her side. Colin disappears - apparently his only purpose was to be Donna's guide in Gaza and a spur in the side of Josh to make him realize what she truly means to him. While there's a lot of indications in these recent German hospital episodes subtly illustrating Donna's true feelings for Josh, her reaction as she awakens from unconsciousness says, well, everything really.
"Josh?" she weakly calls out. "Josh?" Remember, she's only just coming out of what's basically a coma following her surgery. She has no idea of who or what is around her right now. She knew Colin had also been at the hospital, her mother was on the way, her eyes are barely open and she can't see who is there by her bedside. And yet, her very first instinct is to call out for Josh. What do you think that says about her deepest feelings for him?
 |
| "You're still here." |
 |
| "Yeah ... I'm still here." |
Does this mean Josh has realized how much he's taken Donna for granted, that these two will recognize and act on their romantic feelings, and everything will be happy every after for these lovebirds? Ha! I mean, well, eventually ... but we've got pretty much two entire seasons left before that actually works out, so Josh is still gonna be ... Josh.
Season 6 is off and running. Big changes are on the way, both in and out of the White House. As Paul Harvey used to say, "Stand by, for news!"
Tales Of Interest!
- Mary McCormack is added to the regular cast, promoted from her Special Guest Star role in Season 5, with a spot in the opening credits. Stockard Channing also shows up in the credit sequence, but she's had that going on only for episodes she's appeared in for a while.
Leo: "Tell Farad he can have his summit if it can double as his retirement party. I'll spring for the watch."
President: "What do I need from him to get the Israelis to Camp David?"
Kate: "He'd have to promise to arrest the leaders of Hamas, put the Palestinian security forces under Mukharat and the moderates, and adopt a new PLO charter that gives up that portion of historical Palestine he's going to recognize as Israel."
As the staff is heading to the Marine One helicopter, Toby asks Kate, "Have you ever been to NSF Thurmont before?" to which she replies, "Camp David? No, I haven't." The Presidential retreat commonly referred to as Camp David, located in Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland, is technically named Naval Support Facility Thurmont.
Quotes
Kate: "Sir. I feel as if my counsel is largely responsible for this mess."
President: "I get lots of counsel, Ms. Harper. What I choose to do with it is my responsibility."
-----
Will: "The President knows, right? You guys are telling him?"
CJ: "Knows what?"
Will: "That there is no viable alternative. He's going to have to bomb Palestinians."
Toby: "What's the President doing, Leo? A summit? He's already got a Nobel Prize. What does he need a second one for, bookends?"
-----
Colin: "So you fly halfway around the world at a moment's notice to rush to a woman's bedside when the White House is facing off a biblical apocalypse?"
(pause)
Josh: "We work together."
-----
President: "It passed?"
Toby: "Yes, sir."
President: "How many Democrats against us?"
Toby: "Too many."
President: "But we swept the Vermont delegation, am I right?"
Toby: "Actually, no."
-----
Toby: "Ever been on Marine One?"
Kate: "No, I haven't."
Toby: "You like helicopters?"
Kate: "No, not really. I get airsick."
Toby: "Okay, you can sit with Will."
Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)
- Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine, Eastern Promises, Angels & Demons) returns as Israeli Prime Minister Zahavy. Mueller-Stahl was first seen in that role in The Warfare Of Genghis Khan.
- Jason Isaacs (the Harry Potter films, The Death Of Stalin, Star Trek: Discovery) is back as Colin Ayres, the Irish photojournalist who had a fling with Donna in Gaza before the bombing. Oddly, this will be the end of Colin for us ... Donna apparently drops him like he's hot.
- Along with Speaker Haffley, who shows up at the White House to harangue the President again, we get the House Democratic Minority Leader Sheila Fields, played by Charlotte Colavin. Rep. Fields has appeared as the House Minority Leader a couple of times before, and she's meant to remind us of California Representative Nancy Pelosi, who actually was the House Minority Leader from 2002 to 2007, when she became Speaker of the House.
- When the President enters the room with the congressional leaders, he says, "Are these the same right-wing turkey basters that said I faked MS to get the sympathy vote in the last election?" President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis diagnosis was revealed in He Shall, From Time To Time ... and the impact of that news becoming public was the Season 2-ending plot line from 17 People through Two Cathedrals. In H. CON-172 the President took a congressional censure for covering up his disease during his first campaign.
- Debbie shows up briefly, with a ruler but without even one line, although she does have quite the scornful look for the woman who didn't get the documents lined up correctly on the negotiating table.
- If you remember Access, we were introduced to FBI Director George Arnold (Michael Kagan), where in flashback scenes we learned he had been FBI Director from the beginning of the Bartlet administration in 1999 (even though the President called the FBI Director by a different name in A Proportional Response). Just to reinforce the never-before-heard information we learned in Access, here's Director Arnold once again, doing his FBI stuff.
- The regular reporters Gordon and Chris are seen in the briefing room.
- Here's the background actor I only call Buzz Cut Guy, who pops up in West Wing scenes all the time. Once you notice him, then you start seeing him all over the place.
- We get not one but two Bartlet jacket flips. Martin Sheen's left shoulder was injured at birth, making it difficult for him to raise that arm above the shoulder, so he came up with the over-the-head flip to don jackets.
- Toby complains about the President's peace efforts, saying he's doing it only to get a second Nobel Prize. President Bartlet was granted the Nobel Prize for Economics before entering politics - while the economics prize isn't one of the five official awards established in Alfred Nobel's will, it is still awarded by the Nobel Foundation at the Nobel Prize Award ceremony.
- This is almost certainly not foreshadowing, but Toby telling Kate she can sit with Will in Marine One (because she gets airsick) and then her friendly conversation with Will as he's jogging at Camp David might take on a different note once we really roll our way into Season 7. You'll see what I mean.
DC location shots
- The opening hearse/casket shots and then the scenes around Admiral Fitzwallace's funeral were filmed at and around St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Annapolis, Maryland.
- I believe the Camp David scenes were filmed at ThorpeWood, an environmental education center located in a forest preserve in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland.
They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing
- I'm still a little amazed it took NBC the entire first season to realize they had a 24-hour cable news network they could promote on their own series, but by Season 6 they are taking full advantage to get MSNBC's logo onscreen. (CNN also gets mentioned in this episode, as well as the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes.)
- With the mention of the military strike coming from the Lincoln Battle Group and the video of aircraft taking off from the carrier deck, it's worth noting the USS Abraham Lincoln is indeed an aircraft carrier in the US Navy, and does have the designation CVN-72 as seen in the Situation Room.
- We see a USA Today newspaper in the bullpen outside Josh's office.
- CJ brings bottles of Aquafina water into Toby's office with her peanut butter crackers, and she also mentions she likes Diet Dr Pepper.
- President Bartlet is seen wearing a Notre Dame fleece. When he was offered the role, Martin Sheen insisted that Jed Bartlet be a Notre Dame graduate.
- Will is jogging at Camp David in a Carnegie Mellon T-shirt, which implies he's a graduate of that school. While it was mentioned previously that he went to Cambridge on a Marshall Scholarship, that could have been graduate work. What is also of note is that Joshua Malina tells the story that director Alex Graves didn't want Malina to have his sleeves rolled up for this scene, but the actor did it anyway to show off his toned arms. Again, that's according to Malina.
- Will mentions Beanie Babies in his criticism of Chairman Farad; Josh compares the nurse ordering him to shut off his cell phone to Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
- As the President gets ready to greet Prime Minister Zahavy at Camp David, Abbey tells him, "Go get 'em, Cassius." This is likely a reference to the Roman general Gaius Cassius Longinus, who is best known as one of the plotters in the assassination of Julius Caesar, but prior to that sought to find peace during the civil war between Caesar and Pompey.
No comments:
Post a Comment