In The Room - TWW S6E8

 

Original airdate: December 8, 2004

Written by: Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. (11)

Directed by: Alex Graves (24)

Synopsis

• A magic trick involving the U.S. flag at Zoey's birthday party causes a small media crisis. President Bartlet's MS worsens during his trip to China for the summit. A surprise entry joins the Republican presidential race, and Josh considers his options as the Democratic field starts to tighten.
  

"What's the difference?" 

There's a wealth of pull-quotes in this episode that I could use at the top of this post. There's a lot packed into this 42 minutes of TV drama, from slowly growing complaints about a "flag burning" magic trick in the White House to a President getting sicker with a progressive disease to an important economic summit with China to a shakeup in the field for the coming presidential race to Donna getting stiffed (again) on her request to talk to Josh about her future to Josh considering what he wants with his own future. So maybe I'll just take some of those quotes out to illustrate each section as I go along.

 

We start with Penn and Teller. The famous magicians are performing at Zoey's private birthday party in the East Room, and to finish the show with a flourish they do an illusion to spotlight the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, and the freedoms this nation enjoys under them. And they do it in a dramatic way, first respectfully folding up an American flag before stuffing it into a rolled-up Bill of Rights:

 

 Then making the flag disappear in a burst of flame.

Toby and Josh watch, open-mouthed, as Toby says, "Did they just burn an American flag ... in the White House?" Well, of course they didn't, it's a magical illusion (you can actually see the opportunity for the flag to be removed from the tube when Penn holds it under his arm), but you know how people talk, and the story leaks to the media.

The media love non-issue divisive stories like this, and the questions start to take attention away from the China summit that's happening in just a day or two. CJ puts Josh on the case, trying to get a statement from Penn and Teller admitting they didn't actually burn a flag, but of course they're not revealing anything that might indicate they didn't do what it looked like they did ... and doing so would undermine the entire point of the trick in the first place.

Penn: "You tell me, Charlie, did we burn a flag, or did we just ... vanish a flag in a patriotic flash of fireworks?"

Charlie: "Don't know."

Penn: "What's the difference?"

Josh: "Well, there's a big difference politically."

Penn: "Why? I mean, what if we burned a flag, not in protest, but in celebration of the very freedoms that allow us to burn a flag, the freedoms that everyone who has ever worked in this magnificent building has pledged to preserve and protect?"

President Bartlet, as well, is adamant he's not going to give the story any attention that it doesn't deserve, insisting his only comment will be that he doesn't comment on what goes on at his daughter's private birthday party. We also know from 20 Hours In L.A. that even if Penn and Teller actually did burn a flag, the President recognizes the Constitution gives Americans the right to do it, no matter how others might feel about it. 

That story ends up getting sidelined by something far more important and dramatic, anyway.

 

"Think anyone's gonna ask about that flag-burning thing now?"

We saw in the previous episode that President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis was starting to reveal more symptoms, as he had difficulty seeing out of his right eye and that led to the diplomatic controversy with China when he accepted the gift of a Taiwanese independence flag that he never actually saw. He seems fine as this episode begins, with a meeting in the Oval Office to prepare for the trip to China, but when CJ hands him some papers to sign, his right hand lets them fall to the floor.

He has to force a pen into his right hand with his left, but he's unable to keep the pen in his hand.

So he sticks his right hand in his pocket and leaves it there for a large portion of the episode. He does pointedly make a last-minute request to his friend (and godmother to his daughter Ellie) the Surgeon General to join them on the trip to China - as it turns out, he suspects his condition might worsen and he wants her along, as a caregiver and as a voice of authority to the press.

As Air Force One is on its way to China, CJ notices the President isn't eating, as he's holding his arms strangely stiff. He denies anything is wrong, but asks to see Millie, the Surgeon General. There he admits he can't move his hands. The two try to keep the worsening situation between themselves, but when Kate and CJ have to interrupt a resting Bartlet because of a minor crisis in South Korea, he reveals he can't move at all. Which then leads to the sight of the President being moved on a stretcher in the corridor of Air Force One past a snoozing press corps.

CJ wants to turn the plane around to land in Alaska for medical treatment, but Toby argues turning the plane around and delaying or rescheduling the China summit would be the end of Bartlet's presidency, that he'd be able to accomplish nothing in his final year in office if he was seen as an ailing, weak leader. President Bartlet insists they go on.

President: "This plane is going to China! That's an order from your Commander in Chief."

By the time it's determined they'll have to awaken the press and give them the news, Bartlet's condition starts to improve. He calls the President of South Korea to help somewhat defuse that crisis over enriching uranium, and regains the use of his left hand. With his legs still out of commission and only partial use of his right hand, though, he has to strain himself to force his way down the corridor to the press conference in a wheelchair.

 

How will this development play out for the important summit in China? Stay tuned to find out.

"You have to care who's going to be sitting in that chair after Jed Bartlet's gone."

"I do. That's why I don't want Bob Russell to be President."

 

Things are starting to heat up for next year's presidential campaign. Vice President Russell, with his top advisor Will by his side, wants to jump on the flag-burning issue to take advantage on the right, knowing his top competition, Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, can't afford to do the same. Josh is able to talk Russell out of that move (which would undermine the President's position) with a nice speech about loyalty and controlling the narrative - which leads Russell to ask Josh to come aboard to run his campaign.

Josh is reluctant - he was already asked by former Vice President Hoynes to run his campaign for president, but Josh has issues with both candidates. He's always looked at Russell as a weakling, a joke, a placeholder forced on the administration by the Republicans; and as for Hoynes, he knows his background as a philanderer and leaker of government secrets who was forced to resign his position is going to be a lot to overcome. Plus ... he knows neither one has the "it" factor he found with Governor Bartlet in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I. 

But Josh is also brooding, because he wants a Democrat to follow President Bartlet in office, and things get complicated when he's sent on an errand to ask the Republican California Senator Arnold Vinick to come on board as ambassador to the United Nations. Vinick has been a thorn in the side of the Bartlet administration for years, but he's an honest, respectable Senator with real values. And he stuns Josh when he tells him the UN job is attractive, but he has his sights on higher things.

Vinick: "UN. That's tempting. It's very tempting. But that's not the job I want."

Josh: "Well, the President didn't send me with a menu of jobs. Just this one."

Vinick: "The President can't give me the job I want."

Josh: "Which one?"

Vinick: "His."

Vinick is announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination the very next day, and that move instantly shakes up the entire picture. When Vinick is asked about the flag-burning trick at his announcement speech, he deflects it perfectly, in a First Amendment-related answer comparing American rights to China that would make President Bartlet proud (and causes Donna to tell Josh, "You have a year to talk me out of voting for him").

 

Then another earthshaking surprise. Governor Baker, the supposed frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, announces he's not going to run for "family reasons." With that announcement, Russell and Hoynes become the only logical candidates for the Democrats, and Josh instantly realizes neither one would be a match for Vinick.

Leo: "Ever see Arnie Vinick campaign, up close? He'll go into those high school gymnasiums in Iowa and New Hampshire and blow them all away. Shake every hand in the joint, kiss every baby, hug every widow on Social Security ... and sound smarter and more honest than any Republican they've ever seen. Because he is. He could win, in the early states. Go into the South with some momentum, then ... who knows what happens."

Josh: "Republican who wins California wipes us out in the Electoral College."

Leo: "Right."

Josh: "He's not getting the nomination."

Leo: "If he does ... we've got no one who can beat him."

What's going to happen with the Democratic field? Again, tune in and find out.

 

 

"Then you've got that other thing."

"What thing?"

"Me."

 

 

We also have Donna, who keeps carving time out of Josh's schedule so they can talk about her future career and how she can grow by taking on more responsibility. It's carved-out time that keeps getting rescheduled by events and, frankly, Josh's disinterest in having that discussion. We've seen Donna's dissatisfaction with her role grow over the years, as Josh seems content on relying on her for running his office as smoothly and as efficiently as she always has - and even when he has a few moments of clarity about her worth (17 People for one, NSF Thurmont for another), it never lasts long. Donna surely can't take too much more of having this conversation be put off ... can she?

It's quite a good episode, with some really good crackling dialogue and fast-moving situations and the tide of events sweeping everybody along towards a future they can't quite make out yet. Yes, it's mostly setting the table for what's to come - but that table needs to be set, and it's looking quite dramatic.

 

Tales Of Interest!

- The two episodes this season where Jimmy Smits has appeared included Smits in the cast opening credits. The debut of Alan Alda on the show does not have him added as part of the credit sequence, but he's given just a "Special Appearance by" credit. That will change.

 

- Donna talks about turning down Christmas party invitations for Josh, and Millie discusses her plans for visiting family on Christmas with the President, so the events of this episode line up with the time of year it aired in early December. Remember, though, the show has skipped a year, so this is December of 2005 and not 2004, with the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary right around the corner. Josh helpfully reminds us of that fact when he complains to Leo about how "Vinick's been investigating us for seven years, nonstop" - another example of the "seven years" shorthand the writers have been pounding over our heads to make us realize we missed a year somewhere.

- Martin Sheen famously has trouble keeping names straight, a trait the series' writers have occasionally given to President Bartlet as well. That shows up here in the Oval Office meeting preparing for the China trip, after the trade representative is interrupted by news of the release of the political prisoner. President Bartlet gets back to business by saying, "Go ahead, Leonard," to which he's corrected by the representative saying, "Stanley."

- Charlie's replacement as the President's body man, Curtis Carruthers, was mentioned in passing in A Change Is Gonna Come. Now we get a look at him (played by Ben Murray), although his name is never said in this episode.

 

 

 

Sorry for the timing of the screen grab, Allison

 

- The website for something called "Worldlink" appears in the background twice, first on the computer monitor on Donna's desk

And then again in the office Charlie shares with CJ's other assistants.

 

 

I have no idea why "Worldlink" would pop up twice like this. In my research here in 2023, the top results for Worldlink are an internet provider in Nepal, a talent and technology services firm, and an information technology services company. While the first two companies did exist in 2004, I'm not sure the third one did. There's also a truck driving academy with that name, but I'm pretty sure that's not the reference the show is after.

- Why'd They Come Up With In The Room?

The phrase "in the room" is repeated at least seven or eight times in the dialogue. It refers to "in the room" where the President can speak frankly to the Chinese, "in the room" where Vinick might meet the President over the ambassadorship, and who was "in the room" where Penn and Teller did their "flag burning" magic trick.

Quotes    

Josh (seeing Leo in the hallway): "Hey. You're back."

Leo: "Nah. I just have to sort out some files I left in my office."

Josh: "Can't Margaret send them to the house?"

Leo: "It'd be a federal crime if she did."

-----

President: "Progress isn't good enough for me now. I want to get something done."

----- 

President: "Madam Surgeon General, the briefing book on public health in China is maybe a touch too technical for someone who almost flunked organic chemistry."

CJ: "What'd you get, a B?"

Millie: "B plus, as I recall."

-----

Charlie: "She wants you to help out on the flag-burning thing."

Josh: "Instead of getting us a UN ambassador?"

Charlie: "Not instead of, just before. Twenty-seven congressmen signed this letter demanding the President explain what happened. The story's all over cable news. CJ's afraid it's gonna drown out coverage of the China trip. She needs you to --"

Josh: "Put out the fire? Did she actually say, 'put out the fire'? Tell me she said, 'put out the fire.'"

-----

Will (talking to Josh about Russell's offer to run his campaign): "He's not stupid."

Josh: "That's your bumper sticker?"

(later)

Will: "Bob Russell might be the next President. You get in now, you can make him the candidate you want him to be. After that, we make him the President we need him to be."

-----

Josh (grudgingly impressed by Penn's First Amendment defense): "Did you go to law school?"

Penn: "No. Clown school."

-----

Will: "This isn't a Broadway show, Josh, we don't just close it down after a successful eight-year run. You have to care who's going to be sitting in that chair after Jed Bartlet is gone."

Josh: "I do. That's why I don't want Bob Russell to be President."

  

Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)

• Famous magicians Penn and Teller appear, first performing at Zoey's birthday party and later called back the the White House to defend their illusion to Josh.

• Looks like Charlie and Zoey may still be a thing. They first met in The Crackpots And These Women, almost immediately started dating with a relationship continuing through at least The Midterms, then Zoey disappeared from the show until returning with new boyfriend Jean Paul in Holy Night. Charlie declared his love for her and how he'd keep fighting as he threw snowballs at Donna's window in Inauguration: Over There, and was a reliable friend after her kidnapping and rescue over the end of Season 4 and beginning of Season 5. They'd seemed to be cozy again at least since Abu el Banat.

• Undersecretary of State Ted Barrow (Ron Canada) returns as the State Department representative on the China trip ... although you'd think this would call for Secretary of State Berryhill (probably too tough to get William Devane back for that).

• Stanley (or is it Leonard?), the trade representative in the China meeting, is played by Stanley Kamel (Monk, Melrose Place, Cagney & Lacey, a four-year run on Days Of Our Lives).

• Surgeon General Millicent Griffith (Mary Kay Place) makes another appearance. First seen in Ellie, where she almost lost her job for not being tough enough on marijuana, Millie is a longtime Bartlet family friend and Ellie's godmother.

• There's Nancy, the sometime Oval Office secretary who's played by Martin Sheen's daughter, Renée Estevez.

• Governor Eric Baker (Ed O'Neill) is seen on background TV screens, although his presence over the potential Democratic presidential field looms large.

• The older background actor with the glasses and the white buzzcut (who shows up many, many times in the series) can be seen as part of the crowd watching Penn and Teller juggle.

• Of course, the big reveal here is Alan Alda (M*A*S*H, The Four Seasons, California Suite) as Senator Arnold Vinick. You can bet this isn't the only time we'll see him on the show.
  

• Regular members of the White House press corps that we see include Mark and Katie.
  

• There's a small reference to Josh getting taken off the lead for the China summit after the Taiwan flag thing, the events we saw in A Change Is Gonna Come. Josh says Donna can say the words "the China trip," that it won't bother him that he's not on it. We are also reminded of former Vice President Hoynes offering Josh the job of running his campaign that we saw in that episode as well.
  

• Donna's desire to talk with Josh over increasing her responsibilities and evolving her career path past "assistant" has been another long-running undercurrent of the show. One of the first times she brought up her need to have more responsibility to Josh directly was in Angel Maintenance, while the storyline of her current dissatisfaction can be traced back to her being assigned the work on the pardons in The Benign Prerogative and her outright request to Josh to be involved more in Talking Points, which led to her inclusion on the CoDel to Gaza and nearly getting blown up there. Actually, you can go all the way back to Night Five when she's offered a lucrative job of Issues Director at an online news startup ("Is that your operating budget?" "It's your starting salary") as the point where she starts to realize she's stagnating in the role of Josh's phone scheduler and buffer against nagging requests.
  

• Kate brings up the controversy over the Taiwanese independence flag that played out over the previous episode, A Change Is Gonna Come.
  

• President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis has been an underlying story since we first heard about it in He Shall, From Time To Time ... While his public revelation of that health issue and its impact on the 2002 campaign was a huge part of Season 2, we didn't see the President suffer much in the way of symptoms until Election Night, and that was a short, one-time thing. Abbey did use that event as a spur to tell Jed (and us) his symptoms were only going to continue to deteriorate over the immediate future. The Taiwanese flag controversy from the previous episode was caused by President Bartlet not being able to see out of his right eye, and he recognized enough about his worsening condition to make sure the Surgeon General was included on the flight to China. 
  

• Also in The War At Home we heard Abbey tell Jed that his relapsing/remitting form of MS would likely worsen into secondary/progressive MS in his second term, should he go through with running again. This episode is appearing to show some of that deterioration as she predicted.
  

• There's a mention of Bruno (Gianelli), a hotshot campaign manager who was brought in to help with President Bartlet's 2002 presidential run. Josh says he's going to be handling Baker's campaign, which by late in this episode we discover isn't going to happen. Played by Ron Silver, we haven't seen Bruno since Process Stories - but he'll be back. 
  

• Vice President Russell's enthusiastic support of a flag-burning amendment - and President Bartlet's deeply held desire to keep events at Zoey's birthday party private - remind us of 20 Hours In L.A., when pollster Al Kiefer was pushing the President to embrace such an amendment for political advantage (much as Vice President Russell wants to do here) and Bartlet vehemently refused.
  

• Senator Vinick's mention of investigating someone named Margudian for using a government helicopter for a golf trip is a deep cut reference, going all the way back to Take Out The Trash Day. In that episode a Chad Margudian, an advance man in the Vice President's office, was fired for using a Navy helicopter to go on a golf trip (although that was at Pebble Beach in California, and not Florida as the Senator says here). He was also involved in other shady dealings such as using his influence to get Broadway tickets and scuba diving expeditions while he was doing his advance work. Josh's mention of firing the guy "over a year ago" isn't all that accurate, since this story occurred in 2000, or five years prior.
  

DC location shots    

• None.
  

They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    

• Penn and Teller are indeed real-life famous performers of magic.
  

• The MSNBC logo continues to appear, often, in an example of corporate synergy.

• There's also a glimpse of the CNN logo in the background on Air Force One.

• The CNN show Crossfire is mentioned, as well as Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, and the publications Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.
  

• Senator Vinick's office is referred to as "Dirksen 464," meaning an office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, so former Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen exists in this universe.
  

• Josh compares the nonspeaking Teller to Harpo Marx ("What's the difference?").
  

• President Bartlet brings up President Franklin Roosevelt and the fact he led the country from a wheelchair (although he doesn't mention that FDR and the press cooperated in keeping the symptoms of his polio mostly out of the public eye).
  

End credits freeze frame: Toby, Kate, and CJ taking in the situation of the President's health issue on Air Force One.

Previous episode: A Change Is Gonna Come

Next episode: Impact Winter

A Change Is Gonna Come - TWW S6E7

 

Original airdate: December 1, 2004

Teleplay by:  John Sacret Young (3) & Josh Singer (3)
Story by: John Sacret Young

Directed by: Vincent Misiano (4)

Synopsis

• Preparations for a China summit are complicated by a Taiwanese independence flag, which leads to an outside job offer for Josh and a striking admission from the President. Jockeying over advantage for the upcoming Democratic presidential nomination leads to a tense moment in the Oval Office and a surprise entry in the race.
  

"I didn't see the flag." 

--

"You're never gonna be Leo McGarry to Jed Bartlet. But you can be Leo to me."

Now the gears really start to turn to drive our storylines into the final seasons. The quiet ticking timebomb of President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis may be about to go off, and Josh's restlessness at always being kept a step below of where he thinks he should be might be coming to a head, too. Plus the impending presidential campaign and the maneuvering by candidates (semi-announced or not) for the Democratic nomination is starting to heat up.

 

Let's talk about Josh, as the episode opens and closes with his story. Josh has really seemed to take CJ's elevation to the Chief of Staff position very well - as deputy to Leo, everyone would have thought he'd be the obvious choice, but even in the rudderless confusion of Third-Day Story and CJ's naming as Leo's replacement in Liftoff Josh has seemed just fine with his role as wrangler of Congress. But come on, it's got to rankle him, right? Maybe it's just me, but I've got to think being passed over for the promotion has to play a part in his decision to surreptitiously meet with Hoynes ... yes, in combination with having the lead role in the summit being taken away from him, but it's not just that. Even the fact that he's been happily blowing off job offers recently, seemingly satisfied to stay right where he is, that doesn't really account for the fact that now he realizes he's kind of hit his ceiling with no room to ever move up in the administration.

There are basically two stories going on here, which both converge on Josh, but they're otherwise on two tracks. We have the China summit, and the complications caused by President Bartlet's acceptance of a flag representing Taiwanese independence; and we have the domestic political story of Governor Baker, Vice President Russell, and former Vice President Hoynes all jockeying for the chance to be the next Democratic nominee. Since the episode begins and ends with Hoynes, let's start with that.

I'm frankly not sure if anyone has officially announced their candidacy for the 2006 election. Russell is obviously running, as the sitting Vice President, but it's unclear if he's actually announced yet (or if he feels he even has to, since it's so obvious). Baker, the governor of Pennsylvania, is seen as a strong candidate if he chooses to run, but he hasn't yet said he's in the race (even though, as he tells the President, he's been doing some polling in Iowa and New Hampshire).

And then there's Maude ... er, I mean Hoynes. When he resigned in disgrace in Life On Mars after leaking classified information to a woman he was having an affair with (not for any financial gain or nefarious purpose, just to impress her!), it seemed pretty straightforward that his political career was over. Ah, but is anything ever truly over in politics? In a somewhat prescient discussion of what used to bar people from public office but doesn't any more, Will and Josh get to the point:

Will: "He resigned in a sex scandal. He can't come back from that."

Josh: "Sex isn't what it used to be."

(And of course this completely ignores the point that Hoynes leaked classified information to his mistress ... which I guess in the world of 2023 isn't necessarily disqualifying for a Presidential candidate anymore, either.)

Hoynes was last seen in Full Disclosure, making an interview tour with the press and getting ready to write a book - a pretty obvious play at rehabilitation and perhaps getting back into politics. Now the book is out, and he's ready to jump back in with both feet and make himself a candidate for President.

Will doesn't think he's a problem - he's more concerned with Baker. When Baker is invited to the Oval Office for a photo op concerning President Bartlet's 25th Amendment letter (Twenty Five) giving up the office during Zoey's kidnapping (the letter is being loaned to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Baker is governor of Pennsylvania, ipso facto, photo op), Will and Russell are concerned over the optics of the administration giving the governor a leg up. After Toby turns down Will's request to have Russell be part of the event, Will decides that forgiveness is better than permission. He sends Russell in to crash the photo op.

That dismays Baker (a sign he recognizes what's going on, too, and is seriously considering a run), and while President Bartlet is agreeable during the photographs, he pulls Russell aside afterward and sets him straight with a serious look in his eye.

 

"Don't do that again."

Hoynes, though, may be more formidable than Will gives him credit for. He does a mea culpa national TV interview, releases his book, and is ready to start setting up his campaign staff - making a big ask to Josh. Which we'll leave for the end, since the other summit storyline ties everything together.

The White House is happily putting the final touches on plans for an upcoming trip to China and a summit between President Bartlet and Chinese President Lian - well, happily except for Toby, who's bored to death by the minutiae of menu planning and whatnot. Suddenly, though, a phone call in the Roosevelt Room:

Toby (as the Chinese negotiators answer a cellphone call): "I thought cell phones weren't supposed to work in here."

Kate: "They don't."

The Chinese protocol advisers stand up and walk out without a word. It turns out that earlier that day at a prayer breakfast, President Bartlet accepted (as a gift from a Taiwanese delegation) a flag that represents Taiwanese independence - a position that would outrage the Chinese government and represent a radical change in U.S. foreign policy from America's "one China" position that's been in place since 1979. Josh, who's been the point man on planning the summit and would be the lead on the trip, is shocked and dismayed. The flag has to be returned, immediately, before anyone finds out ...

Toby: "They walked out."

Josh: "The protocol guys?"

Toby: "They got a call from their embassy. Something about the National Prayer Breakfast, and a flag."

Too late.

The Chinese start changing their minds about details of the summit, making more demands including an outdoor meeting in Tiananmen Square, while Charlie gets on the case of tracking down the flag. That gives us a humorous little subplot of Charlie dealing with the haughty Bernard Thatch (previously seen in Noël) down in the gift unit, but Charlie is eventually able to outwit him, with the help of a guy from the White House Counsel's Office (where's Joe Quincy when you need him?). 

Josh and the West Wing staffers think they'll be able to ride out the storm, until independence advocates in Taipei begin to protest in support of that flag. That's turning the whole kerfluffle into a potential geopolitical military confrontation, and as the stakes start to raise uncomfortably, CJ and the President make the decision to take Josh off the trip, with CJ taking the lead.

Josh's words seem to say he's taking the decision well:

CJ: "The President wants me at the summit. There's some things up in the air right now, we'd feel more comfortable if --"

Josh (hiding his disappointment): "Sure. I'll, I'll ... start pulling together the briefing packets for you. Come on, you're going, you need Toby to deal with the press, somebody's gotta man the fort here. I'm fine staying."

(CJ looks steadily at Josh)

Josh: "You're his guy. You're in the room ... in the chair. He needs you. That's how it was with Leo, it's how it's supposed to be."

but his face gives him away.

It's a crushing disappointment. Even with being passed over for Leo's replacement, he felt like he still had a hand in top-level operations of the Oval Office with this summit trip ... and now that's being taken away from him.

So while he'd blown off phone calls from Hoynes earlier (Josh had been on Senator Hoynes' staff, and would have run his 1998 campaign before he saw Governor Bartlet admit he voted against the interests of New Hampshire dairy farmers in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I), now he's reconsidering. He looks at the copy of the book Hoynes sent him, with this inscription:

He turns to the index, and when he sees how many times he's mentioned, he knows the importance Hoynes places on Josh's political skills:

Josh decides to meet with Hoynes, secretly, in a car in the dark parked outside a pet store.

And Hoynes lays it on the line, getting to Josh in a way that really hits home.

Hoynes: "You're never gonna be Leo McGarry to Jed Bartlet. But you can be Leo to me. I'm running for President. I want you with me. I want you to run my campaign."

Is Josh considering it, after all the ups and downs (mostly downs) we've seen between these two? What do you think?

Okay, when I said I would leave Josh to the end, I lied. There's another critical piece of information from this episode ... the reason why President Bartlet accepted the flag in the first place. We get clues all along, right from the start: Jed unable to get his bow tie tied; 

his quick, almost angry retort to CJ when she suggests the move could be a deliberate change to policy ("We done?"); the odd look on his face when Leo praises him for his adroit trickery in using the flag issue to get the advantage over the Chinese in other negotiations ... the clues are there, expertly played by Martin Sheen, but we can't quite put it all together until he and Abbey are listening to James Taylor perform at the National Medal of Arts ceremony.

Jed takes Abbey's hand and holds it close. She finds that oddly romantic ... but also just odd.

Abbey: "You're very friendly tonight."

Jed: "Just because I can't keep my hands off of you?"

(Abbey knows there's something else)

Abbey: "What is it?"

(pause, as Jed shakes his head, then decides)

Jed: "I didn't see the flag."

(Abbey leans in closer to hear)

Jed: "The green flag, I didn't see it. I couldn't tie my tie. I haven't been able to focus, or see out of my right eye since early yesterday morning. I didn't see the flag."  

The MS that Jed has been dealing with since the early 1990s, the disease that he kept a secret during the 1998 campaign while promising Abbey he'd only serve one term, the health issue he finally publicly disclosed at the end of Season 2, the symptoms of which that resurfaced on Election Day 2002 but hadn't been seen much otherwise - and the disease which Abbey knows will almost certainly worsen any day now, and which will probably eventually kill him - is back showing more symptoms. And the symptoms of that disease have almost caused an international diplomatic crisis.

Abbey is a doctor. She knows what this means, and you can see it in her face.

So that's what we have on the way ... a Presidency potentially hobbled by a serious progressive disease, and a loyal and trusted adviser considering whether or not he's hit his ceiling in this administration and it's time to move on to something else. The gears are turning.

 

Tales Of Interest!

- The official title of the episode is A Change Is Gonna Come, yet the opening on-screen title only shows the word Change. Well, at least on the HBO Max (and previously Netflix) streaming version ... as you can see above, the DVDs have the entire title on the screen. I don't know the reason for this; could it be some kind of rights issue (doubtful, since the song performance remains)? It's a bit strange.

- It's the first mention of President Bartlet's new body man, Curtis Carruthers. We will meet him soon.

- Donna is off her crutches, the first time she's been up and on her feet since the bombing in Gaza.

- This is another episode that begins with a cold open, then it turns out that's a flash forward as the episode goes back in time to build up to the moment we see at the very beginning. Sometimes that trope works very well (never better than in What Kind Of Day Has It Been, with Gina Toscano's horrified look at ... something ... taking us to the opening credits and then we go back to that morning), and sometimes it ends up clumsy (The Benign Prerogative takes that flash-forward from the cold open past the credits and doesn't go back in time until we're several minutes into the episode ... that just doesn't work for me thematically).

- We never get a really good look at Gail's fishbowl. If anything, to me it looks like there's still maybe the mini White House that's been in there for a few episodes.

- That's a neat little party trick Leo has come up with, showing off for CJ. While it's his way of demonstrating the balance between China and the United States, with CJ being the checkpoint where the flames of disaster get stopped, maybe it's a bit much?

CJ: "You've really got a lot of time on your hands, huh?"

Leo: "You have no idea."

 

- Why'd They Come Up With A Change Is Gonna Come?

Obviously, it's the title of the Sam Cooke song that James Taylor performs at the end of the episode. Plot-wise, it's connected to the changes upcoming with President Bartlet's health and with Josh's political future.

Quotes    

Josh: "I'm gonna need a converter for China and I can't find my garment bag."

Donna: "I think baggage claim's in the next room over."

Josh: "You used to love it when I couldn't dress myself without you."

Donna: "I used to love peppermint ice cream, too, but now those little pieces of candy, they get stuck in your teeth in a way that I find irritating."

-----

Debbie (talking to the President about the 25th Amendment letter): "You're loaning it out for an exhibit at the National Constitution Center."

President: "I solved Middle East peace, fixed Social Security, and they want the piece of paper I used to remove myself from office."

Debbie: "It is the National Constitution Center."

President: "It's not like the Smithsonian's beating down my door."

Debbie: "I'm sure they'll take a greater interest in you once you're dead."

President: "There's something to look forward to."

-----

Toby: "I couldn't stomach any more haggling over the nine-meat soup."

Josh: "Nine-meat soup?"

Toby: "It was on the menu for the dinner at Shanghai."

Josh (thinking aloud): "Beef, chicken, pork ..."

Toby: "You don't want to go there."

----- 

CJ (as Kate is explaining the various flags of Taiwan and China): "These things come with a GI Joe set?"

Kate: "I play a lot of Risk."

-----

Bernard: "Charles! I can't tell you how thrilled I am to see you again."

Charlie: "Yeah. So it says here --"

Bernard: "Did you pick out that tie, or is it government issue?"

Charlie: "My sister bought me this tie."

Bernard: "The things we put up with for family."

-----

Hoynes: "Now, I've done things I can never undo. Lost one marriage, I'm trying to save another. Let down my children, fallen off the pedestal hard, and had to live with the consequences. When I look around and see Bingo Bob Russell and Eric Baker ... I see plenty of reasons to stay sober."

Josh: "You think the American public's going to welcome you back with open arms?"

Hoynes: "I'm a better person and I'll be a better candidate than I was eight years ago."

Josh: "You lost that race."

Hoynes: "I lost that race when I lost you."

 

Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)

• John Hoynes (Tim Matheson) is back, who resigned his post as Vice President in Life On Mars, really upset CJ with his plans to write a book in Full Disclosure, and is now hawking that book as he prepares to run for President.

• We've seen the interviewer Diane Mathers before in Separation Of Powers, when she interviewed Zoey in New Hampshire about her recovery after her kidnapping. Credited as Kathrin Lautner, the actress now uses her birth name, Kathrin Middleton (Dexter, What Women Want, The Orville, ER [of course]).

• We've seen the actor playing the Chinese protocol negotiator Yahlin before, and surprisingly right here on The West Wing. Ming Lo appeared as the anesthesiologist Dr. Lee in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I, the doctor Abbey revealed President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis to before his gunshot surgery. While it's always fun to see actors return seasons later playing the same role, it's a different thing entirely when an actor returns playing a completely different character.

• Speaking of returning characters, here's Senator Matt Hunt, played by Philip Baker Hall (Magnolia, Boogie Nights, the library cop in Seinfeld). Senator Hunt previously appeared in An Khe, putting pressure on Leo's old Air Force buddy over military contracting financial shenanigans.

• Chinese ambassador Ling-Po is played by George Cheung (Murder In The First, Hawaii Five-0, Rush Hour, four episodes of ER so he's part of that pipeline too), credited here as George Kee Cheung. Ambassador Ling-Po will return in Season 7.

• Bernard Thatch is back! Played by the caustic Paxton Whitehead (Back To School, Mad About You, Marblehead Manor), he worked in the White House Visitors' Office in Noël (when he assisted CJ in tracking down the origin of a painting that had upset a visitor), and now he's working downstairs in the depths of the White House Gift Unit ("Apparently, I am the new Rose").

• We finally meet Eric Baker, the Pennsylvania governor who's been mentioned as a top choice of the Democratic presidential nomination if he chooses to run. He's played by Ed O'Neill (Married ... With Children, Modern Family, Dutch).

• The storyline about President Bartlet's 25th Amendment letter being loaned to the National Constitution Center reminds us of Zoey's kidnapping (Commencement) and Bartlet's decision to temporarily step away from the office of the President while she was missing (Twenty Five). And Josh's remark to Will about Vice President Russell not being a part of that whole event reminds us that the Vice Presidency was vacant at that time, as Hoynes had resigned - which led to the Republican Speaker of the House Walken in the Oval Office, and the unimpressive Russell being forced on the President by the Republicans as the new VP in Jefferson Lives.
  

• While we don't see the face of Ivan Allen in this episode, it's his voice we hear during MSNBC coverage of the demonstrations in Taiwan. Allen has appeared numerous times on The West Wing and other TV shows and movies as a news anchor. He was first seen on The West Wing in A Proportional Response, and this episode counts as his 16th appearance (with 11 more to come!).
  

• Another Bartlet jacket flip - Martin Sheen's left shoulder was injured at birth, making it difficult for him to lift that arm above the shoulder, so he uses this method to put on coats and jackets.

• So many past storylines get referenced here - John Hoynes' disgrace from Life On Mars, his book from Full Disclosure, and Josh's past working with him that we saw in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I (not to mention the exchange in What Kind Of Day Has It Been): 

Hoynes: "You know something, Josh, sometimes I wonder if I'd listened to you two years ago, would I be President right now? Do you ever wonder that?"

Josh: "No, sir, I know it for sure."

• President Bartlet's health issues and his MS diagnosis have been a mostly silent undercurrent ever since we found out about it in He Shall, From Time To Time ... (silent with the obvious exception of the tumult over his public admission of his disease and his coverup of that, a storyline that epically concluded Season 2). The last time we really saw any symptoms manifesting themselves was in Election Night, at the end of which (after Jed admits he couldn't see the teleprompter at the end of his victory speech) Abbey tells him, "There are going to be more days like this. It starts now. It's going to be harder this time." It also takes us back to The War At Home, when Abbey paints a possible picture of Jed's future:

Abbey: "Yes, but relapsing-remitting MS can turn into secondary-progressive MS, oftentimes ten years after the initial diagnosis which is exactly where we'll be in two years! [meaning 2003; we're now in 2005] Do you know what that's going to look like when it happens?"

Jed: "I know what it's going to --"

Abbey: "Fatigue. An inability to get through the day."

Jed: "Look --"

Abbey: "Memory lapses ... loss of cognitive function ... failure to reason ... failure to think clearly. And I can't tell you if it's going to happen. I don't know if it's going to get better, I don't know if it's going to get worse."

• Of course Josh being passed over by CJ for the Chief of Staff job has to nag at him, a little. He appears to be handling it fine, even from the confusion of Third-Day Story and CJ taking over in Liftoff, but I mean ... Leo told him in Noël "As long as I got a job, you got a job," and in Two Cathedrals the President told God Josh "was my son." So for him stay Deputy Chief of Staff as the Press Secretary got elevated above him ... even though he's told he's too important in his role as fish-head-mailer-to-Congressmen, well, it's no surprise if he starts considering other career paths. 
  

• CJ's demand to Hoynes in Full Disclosure - that she'd prefer not to be in his book, even though they had a one-night-stand back in the day - gets recalled when Toby tells her she's not mentioned once.
  

DC location shots    

• None.

They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    

• Frisbees are mentioned, as well as Holiday Inns (in Taipei), GI Joe action figures, the board game Risk, and Quarter Pounders.
  

• Real people who are referred to include Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead (who died in 1995, so as the President tells Debbie he's not available to be the surprise guest artist), the artist Joseph Mallord William Turner (as in "Turner's landscapes"), Patrick Henry, President James Monroe of the Monroe Doctrine, Shirley Chisholm (and her Barcalounger), Liberace, President Franklin Roosevelt leading the liberation of Europe in World War II, and President John F. Kennedy.
  

• Bernard's reference to a 1994 flag contest sponsored by independence groups in Taiwan refers to an actual event; and the eight-petal chrysanthemum flag itself was indeed the winner. Also, Bernard's reference to Title 5 of the U.S. Code, section 7342c, is the correct reference covering gifts to government officials. Richard Squire's later reference to the State Department's protocol regulation 478.7355 appears to be made up - but there is in fact something under Title 22 of the U.S. Code that says essentially the same thing (gifts that could have an adverse affect on foreign relations should be returned).
  

• The National Constitution Center is real, and it is in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, to be precise).
  

• The reluctance of the administration to agree to a joint appearance in Tienanmen Square seems to mean the Tienanmen Square protests of 1989 happened in The West Wing timeline.
  

• We see the MSNBC logo, as well as CNN newscaster Wolf Blitzer on a TV in the background of CJ's office.

MSNBC synergy on an NBC TV series

Blitzer over Kate's shoulder

• The National Medal of Arts is a real thing, the highest honor for artists and art patrons given by the U. S. Government, and is awarded by the President. The medal was previously mentioned in An Khe, with Crosby, Stills and Nash as honorees that year. Interestingly enough, neither the group Crosby, Stills and Nash nor Sam Cooke have actually been honored with the award in real life.
  

• Of course that's the real James Taylor, performing the real Sam Cooke song "A Change Is Gonna Come." Margaret also sings (sort of) Taylor's song "Handy Man" and says "Jellyman Kelly" - a song Taylor originally performed on Sesame Street in 1980 - is her favorite James Taylor song.
  

End credits freeze frame: The President and the First Lady introducing James Taylor.

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