Original airdate: February 16, 2005
Written by: Eli Attie (14)
Directed by: Christopher Misiano (23)
Synopsis
- As the New Hampshire primary nears, Josh fights to get in the Democratic debate while Santos fights to change the debate rules. Amy Gardner returns unexpectedly, Donna gets mad at a guy in a chicken suit, and a last-ditch live TV ad may end up sparking one campaign into life.
You know, sometimes when you get pretty familiar with a series, be it a book series or a TV series or, I don't know, a comic book series, events that happen over the timeline tend to blur together. Sometimes it's hard in retrospect to place exactly which episode had which memorable event. I've been through that before with The West Wing, particularly Somebody's Going To Emergency, Somebody's Going To Jail - I always remember that Sam-centric episode where he's dealing with his father's infidelity and the newly discovered espionage of Donna's friend's grandfather, but I always forget that's also the second Big Block of Cheese Day and it's the one with the Cartographers for Social Equality and the upside-down map that freaks CJ out.
Josh: "The truth is I can't think of one thing I've done to make this your campaign and not some cookie-cutter Beltway hack-a-thon."
Ned: "So what's the message?"
Josh: "How about our exclusion from the debates, let's try that."
Ned: "So what do we do, film chicken coops and say they're too chicken to debate us?"
(Josh stops. You almost see the lightbulb going on over his head.)
Josh: "I want two volunteers. I want 'em in giant chicken suits. I want them in my office first thing in the morning."
Ronna: "Chicken suits?"
Ned: "You think he's gonna like this?"
But it works, sort of, when Chicken Bob gets pulled aside into a hallway of a hockey arena and chewed out by Donna ... a chewing out that ends up getting on TV news and giving the Russell campaign a bit of a knock while getting Santos some attention.
Once Matt discovers the gambit, though, he pulls the plug. That's not the kind of campaign he envisioned, not the kind of campaign he wants to run, not kind of candidate he wants to be. He continues to hang his hopes on the other candidates coming to their senses and letting all the Democrats debate, as well as that hail-mary 60-second TV ad.
Continuing to prepare for the debate he's not actually in, Matt ends up bringing in Amy Gardner to help. As we all know, Josh and Amy have quite a roadmap of personal history behind them, and things didn't end too well (twice, actually - Posse Comitatus, when Josh got Amy fired to end their first go-around at a relationship, and Constituency Of One, when Amy left her post as Abbey's Chief of Staff and Josh nearly got fired for pushing a Democratic Senator into becoming a Republican). Josh is taken aback to see his old girlfriend helping the campaign, but that turns into anger after Hoynes lets him know that some of her talking points for Matt had been given to him, too. And, as Amy lets Josh know, she's been working with all seven of the Democratic candidates, sharing her priorities and her strategies with the entire field - because she doesn't care who wins, as long as it's not a Republican.
Josh: "We don't open our inner circle to dilettantes and earth mothers."
Amy: "Who's 'we'? You didn't even know I was coming."
Oh, the drama!
Everything looks like it's falling apart. There's no movement on getting Matt into the debate, and when the last-ditch TV ad finally arrives, minutes before the scheduled time for it to air, Matt hates it. It's corny, it features chickens (again), and it's an attack ad against Hoynes and Russell. It's not what he wants to be seen as, and he ends up chucking the tape into the trash. This could be the end of the campaign.
I love this striking image put onscreen by director Christopher Misiano as Matt ponders the future. It's truly art.
Once again it's Ned who sparks an idea. As Matt asks him about "the presidential voice," something that's a huge deal for Amy in her work with the candidates, Ned reverses the point.
Matt: "You were a history major over at, uh, UT, weren't you?"
Ned: "Yes, sir."
Matt: "You think there's such a thing as a presidential voice?"
Somehow that, and the notion of just using his normal stump speech in the ad, inspires Matt. He grabs Josh and rushes to the TV studio, planning to do that last-chance ad live on the air. The program director is cheerful at the prospect - this is something that never happens! - but apologizes for the staff not taking notice of a presidential candidate showing up in person. "They hardly even look up for the first-tier candidates," the program director says, in an unintended but pointed insult.
Matt does the ad live. He barely gets his lavalier mic on and gets seated in the chair before the camera goes on. But boy, is he prepared.
Matt: "Good evening. I'm running for President. And if you don't know who I am, I wouldn't be surprised. I've been shut out of tomorrow night's debate, for suggesting that it actually be a debate, and this is the only ad I can afford. I got in this to improve a broken school system, to fix entitlements, 'cause they're going bankrupt, to expand health coverage, 'cause it'll save money if fewer people show up in emergency rooms. What I've found is that Presidential campaigns aren't about these things. They're about clawing your opponent's eyes out so long as you don't get tagged for it. So how about this - I will never say anything about my opponents, or anything about anything, without saying it myself. Right into the camera. You might not get to hear much of me, but when you do, you'll know I stand by it. I'm Matt Santos, and you better believe I approve this ad."
The TV station staff - and Josh! - are struck into silence by this direct, honest appeal to the voters of New Hampshire. As Matt jokes "The hardest part is clearing your throat, really" those jaded staffers who pay no attention to "first-tier" candidates watch Matt walk out of the studio in awe. (Yes, it's a corny theatrical moment, something that probably wouldn't happen in reality, but I'll allow it for the dramatic effect.)
That one-minute appearance ignites a frenzy of free media for the Santos campaign, and even though Matt insisted on staying positive and not attacking the other candidates, the news media connects the dots and starts asking questions about why Hoynes and Russell are okay going negative and what do they have to hide by preventing the other candidates from debating?
Josh, naturally, still thinking in old-school normal-campaign mode, tries to think about how to take advantage of the attention. Amy, who didn't actually leave when Josh tried to fire her, has a unique way to stop him from ruining the organic media blitz that's lifting Santos up without any effort at all. It involves tape.
The fake debate Josh put together as a ruse ends up being accepted by all the other candidates, and somehow Matt's debate rules apply in what becomes the one and only final debate before the primary. The Santos campaign has come alive, elevating itself into the conversation about who might be the Democratic nominee, and things have turned a corner for the 2006 presidential campaign. It's exciting! It's energizing! It's a sweeping turn into a bold new day!
It's a dandy episode, even as it does till some of the same ground we saw plowed in Opposition Research, but eventually Josh will figure out how to complement Matt's approaches and policies and attitudes to make this even more of a successful campaign. We don't know how New Hampshire is going to turn out, but we do know Matt Santos is going to figure into the decision of Democratic voters from here on out.
Tales Of Interest!
- The episode begins five days before the New Hampshire primary, with the debate coming two days later. The primary was generally in mid- to late-February from 1976 through 2020, although in the 2000 through 2012 period the primary landed on February 1 or earlier. The earliest date was January 8 in 2008 as other states jockeyed trying to get their nominating contests ahead of New Hampshire. We've established it's February - the previous episode was on Valentine's Day - so in this imaginary universe we're back to a mid- to late-February date.
Quotes
Russell: "I think I should open with the VP seal joke. Donna?"
Donna: "It's a hilarious joke that's been hilarious 147 times, sir."
-----
Russell: "What about his nutty debate rules, we want the seven dwarfs to be able to take direct shots at me?"
Will: "You realize, you're one of the dwarfs. There are only seven candidates."
Russell: "Well, there must have been a head dwarf."
Donna: "That'd be Snow White. Not quite what we're going for."
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Santos: "The Vice President and I served together on the House Administration Committee."
Russell: "The Siberia of committees."
Santos: "Non-binding resolutions to limit the number of non-binding resolutions."
Russell: "And that one was binding."
Lowell: "That must have been some time ago."
Russell: "Yeah, I think it was back in --"
Santos: "Two years ago, actually."
(Matt is forgetting our West Wing time skip. Russell was officially nominated and confirmed in the summer of 2003, not long after the Fourth of July; we are now in February of 2006. So, two and a half years since Russell was in the House of Representatives. It was a year and a half in actual broadcast TV time, yes, but we skipped an entire year somewhere around Liftoff, remember?)
Josh: "Well, we could try the Bob Russell thing."
Santos: "Get a bad haircut and break ties in the Senate?"
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Will: "We need to work up some Q&A for the two-man debate. Want to grab dinner later?"
Donna: "You're ... you're asking me to dinner?"
Will: "We've had dinner four nights in a row."
Donna: "But you never asked me, we just went. Who else am I going to have dinner with, everyone else on this campaign is fourteen years old and irons his blue jeans."
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Will (to Donna, after seeing a guy in a chicken suit walk past): "Are you sure it was Advil you gave me on the bus?"
Donna: "That is a very large chicken."
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CJ (watching the TV coverage of Donna with the chicken guy): "You don't engage a chicken! Didn't you teach that girl not to engage a chicken? Though ... I swear, watching the footage it looks like she's gonna pluck the feathers right off that little cluck."
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Will: "You saw this morning's editorials about the debate."
Russell: "Thank God we kicked him out of it, he'd have probably shown up in a powdered wig quoting from the Federalist Papers."
Donna: "I disagree. I don't agree, Mr. Vice President. Maybe it is a stunt, but if it is, we invited it. By trying to rise above the herd by treating everybody else as if they were a herd. You have to go to Santos' debate; then Hoynes would have to go, then we're letting the chips fall on you, on your ideas, not on some Machiavellian maneuver."
Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)
- The return of Amy Gardner (Mary-Louise Parker), women's group lobbyist, Josh's former girlfriend, Abbey's former Chief of Staff, current adviser to the entire Democratic field - and eater of ice cream in February.
- Ivan Allen, who has played a news anchor on The West Wing at various times ever since A Proportional Response, is back, this time reporting on the buzz of Santos' live TV ad. Allen has found a niche of playing TV news anchors in movies and TV shows, including Sicario, August: Osage County, and Apollo 13. This appearance is the 19th of his 27 episodes of The West Wing.
- The past relationship between Amy and Josh that we saw play out between The Women Of Qumar and Constituency Of One is referenced a few times, as Josh tells Matt he can understand why he wasn't told about Amy coming on, being his "ex-girlfriend." This scene is almost the final time we see Amy in the series, until a shocking turn of events in Season 7.
- We heard about a few other candidates in King Corn; on the Democratic side, besides Russell, Hoynes, and Santos, there was talk of Clarkson and Atkins. It seemed to me Atkins was perhaps a minority or person of color, since Russell complained that Santos and Atkins could "stand up there, holier-than-thou, rail against social injustice, while the rest of us loiter around looking like those two albino twins from The Matrix." Here we discover there are a total of seven Democratic candidates, and they all appear at the debate in the final scene. Included among the group is a Black woman, which leads me to believe is Atkins; Clarkson must be one of the other three, leaving two as-yet-unnamed candidates.
DC location shots
- None, but as with Opposition Research, much of this episode was filmed in Dundas, Ontario, just outside Hamilton. The street scenes were filmed on King Street in Dundas. The shop we see Matt meeting with voters in front of at the beginning is currently Picone Fine Food.
We see a sign for a shop called Cumbrae's in the background.
It's still there.
There's also a uniquely shaped sign for the De Luxe restaurant seen in the background.
The sign is still there, but it's been repurposed into a sign for Bangkok Spoon Thai cuisine.
They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing
- As he's defending his debate structure, Matt says, "We'll hook ourselves up to electrodes, Crossfire meets Clockwork Orange."
- "Politics and Eggs" is a real event, as well as the candidates' signing of wooden eggs. That event has been held by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College in Manchester since 1995.
- As Josh tells Matt about the big ad buys by the other candidates, he says, "The airwaves are gonna be flooded with Russell, Hoynes, and reruns of I Love Lucy."
- WMUR is a real television station in Manchester, and is the only TV station in New Hampshire with its own news operation (Boston TV stations also serve much of the state).
- Multiple mentions of "the seven dwarfs" in connection with the televised debate indicate Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs exists in this universe. The term is also a reminder of the 1988 Democratic nomination race, when media commentators referred to the field as "the seven dwarfs."
- Russell tries to sucker-punch the Herald publisher by comparing his control of the debate participants to Fidel Castro.
- Josh and Matt are drinking Dasani bottled water at the campaign headquarters. Matt is also drinking Dasani at the debate prep with Amy.
- The idea of boosting democracy by thumbing their noses at the Dover Herald and hosting their own debate has Josh and Matt bringing up Frank Capra, the director of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and It's A Wonderful Life.
- The dressing-up-in-chicken-suits to taunt candidates over avoiding debates is a direct reference to the 1992 campaign, when supporters of Bill Clinton appeared at campaign events for President George H. W. Bush wearing a chicken suit and heckled him for refusing to debate. Similar to Donna's press-filmed confrontation at the hockey rink, Bush's campaign team was concerned when the President would sometimes engage with the person in the chicken suit at his events.
- Amy criticizes Matt's flippant answer on Russian ultranationalists as "the lamer half of Jay Leno's monologue." At the time Leno was host of The Tonight Show.
- CNN and MSNBC are mentioned, as well as Common Cause.
- Amy is seen with a Dunkin Donuts cup.
- In her explanation of the "presidential voice" Amy makes comparisons between John Lennon and John Davidson, and Sgt. Pepper (the Beatles' album) and the fifth Herman's Hermits album (Both Sides Of Herman's Hermits, if you're interested, released in August 1966, and included the single This Door Swings Both Ways which reached number 12 on the Billboard charts).
- Josh tells CJ that Matt has "the PR instincts of Idi Amin."
- As Josh argues with Matt over the ad he brings up the "Marquess of Queensbury rules," which were developed in the 1860s as rules to ensure fairness in boxing matches.
- To tie in to our episode title, of course Freedonia and its origins in a Marx Brothers movie is part of the dialogue between Matt and Ned.
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