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.
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.
Will: "He resigned in a sex scandal. He can't come back from that."
Josh: "Sex isn't what it used to be."
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| "Don't do that again." |
Toby (as the Chinese negotiators answer a cellphone call): "I thought cell phones weren't supposed to work in here."
Kate: "They don't."
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)
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.
CJ: "You've really got a lot of time on your hands, huh?"
Leo: "You have no idea."
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."
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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."
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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."
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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.
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| MSNBC synergy on an NBC TV series |
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| 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.
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