An Addendum to College Kids

I really meant to have this information included in my College Kids blog entry, but I was so excited to have it written and put together I hit "publish" before I had this ready. Oops!

Anyway, thanks to the wacky Joshua Malina and Hrishikesh Hirway of The West Wing Weekly podcast, this clever bit of merchandise you see me wearing above tied to the College Kids episode was created with a ton of references to the show. You no doubt remember Donna telling Josh about the musical groups scheduled to perform at the Rock The Vote event at the House of Blues:

Josh: "Who's at the event?"

Donna: "Aimee Mann, the Barenaked Ladies, Chrissie Hynde, Sixpence None The Richer, Aaron Neville, Diamondback Whale, DaisyChain, Next Big Thing, the Cruel Shoes, and Single-Cell Paramecium."

Josh: "You've just been practicing for when I asked the question, right?"

Donna: "Yes."

Josh: "And you made up Cruel Shoes?"

Donna: "Single-Cell Paramecium."

Well, the podcast folks cooked up an actual Single-Cell Paramecium tour t-shirt! It's available online, but only at limited times ... you might have to wait for The West Wing Weekly to put it up for sale again (you can get on a list to be alerted when it's available, and join me and the other 1710 people who've bought the shirt).

The front of the shirt features the Single-Cell Paramecium band logo, of course (I apologize for the fold marks, but, well ... I keep it folded, so there you are):

And the back of the shirt has tour dates from the "MUSIC=SIRENS" 2002 world tour:

The first cool reference is the tour name itself, as well as the fact that it takes place in 2002 (the year of College Kids and the Rock The Vote event). MUSIC = SIRENS is a callback to Noël, and Josh's post-traumatic stress disorder causing him to associate music with the sound of sirens - thereby reliving the Rosslyn shooting from What Kind Of Day Has It Been and In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen every time he heard music.

But the other tour dates are neat little Easter eggs too. Let's have a look:

• Burbank, CA / Jack Warner Radio Hall

When President Bartlet is joking about his efforts to record his weekly radio address in And It's Surely To Their Credit , he says this (referring to the movie executive behind Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank):

President: "One-take Bartlet. That's what old Jack Warner used to call me." Later he says, "Five is my lucky number. Fifth-take Bartlet, that's what Jack Warner used to call me."

This causes Donna to ask, "Did you really know Jack Warner, Mr. President?" to which he replies:

President: "Yeah, because I used to be a contract player in Hollywood and I'm 97 years old."

• Newport Beach, CA / Mattress World

This is from an upcoming episode, and the introduction of Joshua Malina's character Will Bailey to the show. In Game On Bailey is running a congressional campaign in California for a candidate who died prior to the election. The campaign is being run out of a Mattress World storefront in Newport Beach, and Bailey's successful effort to promote a deceased candidate earns him a place on the White House staff for the rest of the series.

• Kirkwood, OR / Green Bean Gene's

In Galileo there's a mini-scandal when President Bartlet admits in an interview that he doesn't care for green beans, which causes the administration to worry about losing Oregon's electoral votes.

• Pluie, WY / Crossroads

In The Crackpots And These Women a proposal is brought to the White House about creating a "wolf highway" to allow the safe movement of wolves back and forth between Yellowstone National Park and the Yukon Territory. The real-life studies of the travels of a wolf named Pluie were the basis for this story - presented to CJ by none other than Nick Offerman.

• Fargo, ND / Butterball Stadium

President Bartlet calls in to the Butterball Hotline pretending to be Joe Bethersonton of Fargo, North Dakota, in The Indians In The Lobby.

• Warroad, MN / Border Bar

Donna finds out she's actually a Canadian citizen due to a border-drawing error near Warroad, Minnesota, in Dead Irish Writers.

• Madison, WI / Whitford Memorial Hall

Donna grew up and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin, first referenced in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen, Part II. The Whitford Memorial Hall is a nod to Bradley Whitford, who was born in Madison and graduated from Madison East High School. (Fun fact - there actually is a Whitford Memorial Hall in Milton, Wisconsin, just about 35 miles southeast of Madison).

• Cedar Rapids, IA / 4-H Convention

President Bartlet speaks in Cedar Rapids right before the Iowa caucuses in The Two Bartlets, where there is much conversation about the butter sculptures at the 4-H Convention. Cedar Rapids is also the location of the fictional Kennison State University, with the swim meet bombing occurred in 20 Hours In America, Part Two.

• South Bend, IN / University of Notre Dame

Of course President Bartlet is a graduate of Notre Dame, and also Toby and Josh run into a father taking his daughter on a college visit there in 20 Hours In America.

• Nashua, NH / Hank's Bar

Hank's Bar in Nashua is where we find Toby drinking when he thinks he's about to be fired from Bartlet's first campaign in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I.

• Cambridge, MA / House of Blues

This is right from College Kids, and the Rock The Vote event at the House of Blues where Donna makes up the band name. While the performance date listed here is September 25, 2002, that episode actually aired on October 2 (also, the show's timeline does establish the event was on a Tuesday, and September 25 was a Wednesday in 2002).

• Wesley, CT / North Star

Wesley, Connecticut, is where Supreme Court nominee Roberto Mendoza was arrested, with Sam and Toby going on a road trip to get him out of jail in Celestial Navigation.

Toby: "Sam feels we're zeroing in on it."

 Josh: "You haven't found it yet?"

Toby: "We've been navigating by the North Star, which turned out to be the Delta shuttle from LaGuardia. It's a miracle we're not in Nantucket right now." 

• New York, NY / Music Box Theatre

The Music Box Theatre was the site of The Wars Of The Roses stage show that President Bartlet and Governor Ritchie attended in Posse Comitatus.

• Rosslyn, VA / Newseum

The (sadly closed) Newseum - located in Rosslyn at the time - is where President Bartlet held a town hall prior to the shooting in which both Bartlet and Josh were hit in What Kind Of Day Has It Been.

• Dallas, TX / Magnus Petasum

This is a tricky one! Magnus petasum means "big hat" in Latin.

Back in "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" there's a storyline about the staffers blaming Bartlet's joke about big hats (or funny hats) as the reason he lost Texas in the election. Jed discounts that with his definition of the episode's title:

President: "After it, therefore because of it. It means one thing follows the other, therefore it was caused by the other, but it's not always true. In fact, it's hardly ever true. We did not lose Texas because of the hat joke. Do you know when we lost Texas?"

CJ: "When you learned to speak Latin?" 

• Jatara, Qumar / Royal Theatre

Qumar, a fictional Middle Eastern country with a tenuous relationship with the United States, was first mentioned in The Women Of Qumar when CJ questioned the US's close military relationship with a nation that mistreats its women. Later, of course, President Bartlet ordered the assassination of Qumar's Defense Minister Shareef after discovering he was behind multiple terrorist attacks against Americans, including an attempt on the Golden Gate Bridge (Enemies Foreign And Domestic).

• Bitanga, Equatorial Kundu / Nimbala Center

Equatorial Kundu was a topic in In This White House, when a military coup occurred as the President of the country was visiting Washington. President Bartlet offered to give President Nimbala sanctuary here, but he insisted on returning home and was assassinated when he landed at the airport in Bitanga.

 

So, that's that! A fun West Wing shirt full of references for West Wing nerds like myself. I thought (since it ties right in to College Kids) it would be fun to show it off. Stay tuned as my journey through Season 4 continues ... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

College Kids - TWW S4E3

Original airdate: October 2, 2002

Teleplay by: Aaron Sorkin (68)
Story by: Debora Cahn (1)  and Mark Goffman (1)

Directed by: Alex Graves (10)

Synopsis

• As tensions with Qumar over Shareef's death continue to intensify, President Bartlet asks Leo to bring in a lawyer, resulting in the return of Jordon Kendall. Josh and Toby come up with a plan to make college a little easier, after their talk with Matt Kelly in the Indiana hotel bar. A judge's decision on debates complicates things for the campaign, and a related job offer for Amy complicates things for her and Josh. Debbie finally gets hired.

"There are a lot of reasons not to do it, but during the first campaign the President said there were two kinds of politicians."

"The ones who try to say yes, and the ones who try to say no."

It's all about saying yes. Yes to trying to find a way to make college "just a little easier," as Matt Kelly said in the previous episode. Yes to stepping up against Qumar trying to falsely accuse Israel of killing their Defense Minister. Yes to hiring Debbie Fiderer, even though she wanted to poison President Bartlet with arsenic not all that long ago.

I mean, there's some "no" answers here, as well (hello, wide-open debate stage ... howdy, the idea of rekindling Josh & Amy) but it's overwhelmingly about being proactive, moving forward, and making progress. It's a refreshing change from reality here in 2020, isn't it?

This episode really could be Part 3 of 20 Hours In America. It begins immediately on the Tuesday morning when that episode ended, with the President and Leo in the Situation Room hearing about the latest from Qumar while Josh, Toby, and Donna make their way into DC on foot (also, where did Nancy McNally go? She was part of the group heading for the Situation Room at the close of the last episode, threatening to unleash nuclear weapons on Qumar, but now she's vanished. Aaron Sorkin throws in a quick explanation as Bartlet says, "Nancy's in her office, I asked her to make a few calls."). Since we're starting with Qumar, let's continue with that storyline.

At the end of Season 3 Bartlet ordered the killing of Qumar Defense Minister Shareef after finding out he was behind numerous terrorist attacks on American military forces, as well as a threatened attack on the Golden Gate Bridge. All the evidence of the assassination was destroyed, with the official story being Shareef's plane going down over the Atlantic. Now Qumar is investigating again, claiming that it was no accident and to have discovered evidence proving Israel was behind the assassination.

So the President and his advisers find themselves in a fix. They know Israel wasn't involved; they also know any Qumari evidence is faked. The problem is, they can't prove those points without admitting their own culpability and violation of international laws.

Adviser: "Call Qumar's bluff. Demand they produce proof."

Fitzwallace: "We can't call their bluff."

Adviser: "Why?"

Fitzwallace: "Cause they're calling our bluff. When they produce manufactured proof, we'd have to say, 'You manufactured that.' And they'd say, 'How do you know?' So, the next option is we defend Israel."

President Bartlet's first move is to ask Leo to bring in a lawyer - even though he's convinced he did the right thing, Jed knows the legal walls could be closing in, much as they did for the MS coverup in Season 2, and getting ahead of the curve is the best option. The next move, as the day wears on, is Fitzwallace's plan to create a disinformation campaign to imply that Shareef is still alive, hiding out in Libya, and planning to overthrow the Qumari government.

Leo immediately goes to the lawyer he knows, the lawyer who helped him get through the Congressional hearing in Bartlet For America, the lawyer he had a Christmas Eve dinner date with - Jordon Kendall. While it doesn't seem obvious for such a criminal defense lawyer to be the choice for an international law case like this one, it turns out Jordon does have some experience in the area - a graduate of the Maxwell School of Diplomacy and International Relations, former general counsel for the United Nations, involved in high-profile cases like the defection of a Cuban baseball player - Leo has done his homework. Plus, he's still a bit smitten with her:

Jordon: "The problem was, you were never at the other end of the phone."

Leo: "That's an entirely different kettle of beans and we can have that discussion but history's shown that if you just wait and tell it to a divorce lawyer, you can have half my stuff."

Jordon: "I don't want half your stuff."

Leo: "You don't know - some of it's good stuff."

(He also tries to impress her by showing a simulation of a nuclear strike on her hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska; overwhelms her with her government file; and later has this conversation with the President:

President: "How did you do with Jordon?"

Leo: "She's a little wary, but I think she might be willing to go out with me again."

President: "Yeah?"

Leo: "But you meant the other problem.")

Jordon doesn't feel like she is at all prepared or qualified for this role, but Leo convinces her to take a meeting with the President. And Bartlet is quite frank - he knows this assassination was in violation of international law, but he also firmly believes it was the only path he could have taken to protect American lives and interests:

President: "And Article 51 of the United Nations Charter says every nation has the right to wage war to defend itself."

Jordon: "The article's incumbent on war being declared."

President: "Wars don't work like that anymore."

Jordon: "Laws work like that."

President: "Forty-four people are dead in Iowa, and most of them college kids. Shareef has murdered Americans in uniform. He's murdered Americans out of uniform. He was trying to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge, and I didn't have time to file an amicus brief."

Jordon: "How can justice that has to be served in secret be justice?"

President: "I don't know, I'm working on that."

Jordon eventually admits that much of international law hasn't really been codified yet, so outcomes of actions like this can be molded as they work their way through the legal system - which is exactly what the President wanted to hear.

Those 44 dead in Iowa refer to the aftermath of the bombing of the swim meet at Kennison State University in Cedar Rapids, which occurred in the previous episode. There's some discussion over whether or not the President should mention the bombing at a campaign event (he does, eloquently and graciously, much as he did with the "streets of heaven" speech in the previous episode), and consternation when the Republican candidate for President, Robert Ritchie, insists on attending the memorial service in Iowa. The initial concern with the bombing was that it might have involved Islamic terrorists, considering the situation with Qumar and Shareef. The FBI, though, eventually tracks down some homegrown methamphetamine-producing individuals in Iowa linked to the anti-government Patriot Brotherhood. They're holed up in a house in Johnson County, claiming to take responsibility for the bombing.

On top of these crises, the hiring of Debbie Fiderer as President Bartlet's executive secretary hits a snag during her background check. In the recent past, she wrote a seemingly threatening letter:

Charlie (reading Debbie's letter): "'Let's stick some arsenic in President Bartlet's drinking water and see if he delegates responsibility to the World Bank then.'"

Debbie: "Okay, um, where it says 'arsenic' that should read 'Schweppe's Bitter Lemon.' I don't know how that -"

Charlie: "Debbie!"

Debbie: "Come on, 35 million people in Bangladesh drinking contaminated water and the White House issued a statement saying they supported the World Bank's efforts to to address the problem but made no move to intervene independently. I wrote a letter."

Debbie, previously uninterested in rejoining the White House staff, is now desperate to have the job after meeting the President several times  - but this letter is a real security problem. Charlie tries to see what he can do, and who Debbie can talk to to try to save the day.

Of course it turns out that "who" is President Bartlet. He grudgingly agrees to see her at the end of the day, before heading to the residence. She makes her case, although she just can't help herself:

Debbie: "I sincerely apologize. It was a higher environmental cancer risk than Chernobyl. We spend $20 million a year on strategic milk reserve. We can't toss -"

President: "Why couldn't you have stopped with, 'I sincerely apologize'?"

But her job is safe.

 President: "You can keep the job."

Debbie: "Great. Why?"

President: "Why, because you knock me out, that's why."

Debbie: "How did I do that?"

President (reading from Debbie's letter): "'Let's stick some arsenic into President Bartlet's drinking water and see if he delegates responsibility to the World Bank then.' President Bartlet. You referred to me and to the office with respect. You're a class act."

Debbie: "Thank you, Mr. President."

President (heading out the door): "Whack job."

Leading to a quiet moment of celebration as Bartlet departs.

A quick mention of Amy Gardner: in Posse Comitatus we learned Josh had maneuvered her right out of her job at the Women's Leadership Coalition, after she tried to whip up opposition to the administration's welfare reform bill. Josh went over Amy's head to her boss to get support for the bill, leaving Amy high and dry as far where she stood there ... and that move also directly led to the breakup of their budding relationship. The two run into each other here, at the Rock The Vote event in Massachusetts. Amy does some work for the organization, which explains why she's there, and of course Josh is there as part of the campaign. While they make surprised small talk after bumping into each other, Amy lets something slip:

Josh: "It took us 20 hours to get out of Indiana. You should have been with us. You'd have had fun."

Amy: "I would have. I don't know what to say about the pipe bombing."

Josh: "There's nothing to say. I ... I was trying -"

Amy (murmuring): "I miss you."

Josh: "- to call Stackhouse."

Could there still be something here for these two? Unfortunately, the mention of Stackhouse proves to be another wrench thrown into this relationship. Stackhouse, a rogue Democratic Senator and sometimes thorn in Bartlet's side, is considering using a judge's decision to open the presidential debates to all candidates as a way to get on the debate stage and force discussion of his priorities - something the Bartlet campaign really does not want to happen. It turns out Amy has been asked by Stackhouse if she would consider helping him prepare for any potential debate, and Josh is not at all thrilled by that idea:

Josh (angrily): "This is not, not the deal we made with them. In one week, he is supposed to endorse the President."

Amy: "He never thought he'd get into the debate."

Josh: "He's not! So he's, he's moving you from consultant -"

Amy: "I don't know, it's all happening fast. It's just today. I'm considering it."

Josh: "It wasn't the deal we had." (he walks away)

Leading to another murmured "I miss you" from Amy.

Finally, that tuition tax deduction idea. During their time trapped in Indiana, Toby and Josh met with Matt Kelly, just a guy who was taking his daughter on college visits. Kelly said he was proud to be able to provide for his children going to college, but he wished things were "just a little easier." In the next morning's paper, both Toby and Josh saw an article about a CEO getting a huge "retention bonus" from a failing company - and all because Congress had made bonuses and other non-incentive based payouts tax deductible for corporations. Both of them, on their own, come up with a plan - take away some of that tax deduction for big business and use it to give everyday Americans the chance to deduct college costs.

This tuition deductibility idea will be a long-running topic for the Bartlet administration - in fact, in future seasons I believe we see it given away in trade-offs to Republicans in order to advance future budgets - but right here, right now, it's a sign that this administration wants to hear from middle-American citizens, wants to advance the cause of higher education, and wants to make things "just a little easier" for those trying to better their situations. As a sign of the idea's importance, the episode ends with Toby making a phone call from that Rock The Vote event, a phone call to Matt Kelly, the "just a guy" they ran into in Indiana. Toby needs to let him know his voice matters, and this administration listened and wants to turn his thoughts into action.

They want to try to say yes.

Tales Of Interest!

- This episode takes place immediately after the conclusion of 20 Hours In America: at the end of that episode we saw the President with Leo, Fitzwallis and Nancy McNally in the Oval Office heading to the Situation Room while Josh, Toby, and Donna got off the airport shuttle in Arlington and started walking across the bridge over the Potomac; at the start of this episode they are meeting in the Situation Room and Bartlet is told Josh, Toby, and Donna are walking into DC. (Well, the meeting is going on without Nancy - while the President says he asked the National Security Adviser to make a few phone calls from her office, we do know Anna Deavere Smith got a role on Presidio Med that season that cut into her availability for The West Wing).

- We get to see the fictional Qumar depicted on a map in the Situation Room. If you remember In This White House and the fictional Equatorial Kundu, I used some clues in the script to guess where that nation might be located in Africa. Here we get to see an actual map, which puts Qumar in what is actually southern Iran, bordering the Persian Gulf across from Qatar. Qumar would include the important Iranian gulf port of Bandar Abbas. Here's two views of Qumar as seen in the Situation Room:

And here's an actual map of the region, with my roughly drawn border from the first image above, which shows Qumar in southern Iran:

- The trademark West Wing spinning camera is put to consistent use by Alex Graves - we see it in the Air Force One meeting over how to address the KSU bombing at the NEA speech:

We see it again in the hotel kitchen as Sam and Bruno are going over the NEA speech with Bartlet:

And another time in the White House lobby as Josh and CJ spar over Title IX:

And while it's no Five Votes Down scene, we get a long tracking shot in the hotel as the President makes his way up the stairs and into the ballroom to the NEA convention.

The long take starts with President Bartlet coming up the stairs

He heads down the corridor

Walks through two sets of doors

Makes his way through the crowd to the stage

And the shot finishes with the camera on CJ as she watches from the side of the stage.

- I guess we shouldn't be all that surprised given the realities of TV entertainment (especially in the early 2000s), but there's a definite gender-related wardrobe difference at the House of Blues concert. While the guys go without their jackets and ties and push their sleeves up, CJ bares her midriff in her Rock The Vote t-shirt and Amy impresses Josh with her Rock The Vote tank top.

Quotes    

President (as his advisers try to discuss Qumar's moves against Israel): "Listen, I know we're here for a serious purpose, for a sober purpose, but I wanted to say I've never been part of a street gang before, and that's basically what we are - a pretty well-financed one - but anyway, I wanted to say it feels good, and I think when we're done with this meeting, I think we should go out and get girls, and, I don't know, maybe knock over a fruit stand or something."

Leo: "Okay."

President: "We're going to need to learn to sing and dance." 

-----

Leo: "First of all, we have to go beyond the normal attorney/client privilege. This is sensitive."

Jordon: "There are no degrees of attorney/client privilege. I don't care if it's sensitive."

Leo: "No, I'm talking state secrets with highest security classification. If you told anyone, you'd be convicted of treason and sent to prison, probably for life."

Jordon: "No, I wouldn't."

Leo: "No, you wouldn't. It's nothing like treason. But if you told anyone, it'd be bad."  

-----

Leo: "Qumar has been investigating the accident because they believe there was foul play. And we believe, in fact we know, they're trying to frame Israel. They're producing phony evidence."

Jordon: "How do you know?"

Leo: "I'm sorry?"

Jordon: "You said, 'we know.' How do you know?"

Leo: "Because we do."

Jordon: "Why isn't it possible for Israel -"

Leo: "Jordon. We know any evidence of assassination is manufactured."

Jordon: "How?"

Leo: "Cause we destroyed all the evidence."

-----

Jordon: "I don't have any experience with what you're talking about."

Leo: "Nobody does. And we're talking about we killed Shareef. We put 14 bullets in his chest on an airstrip in Bermuda. It's helpful to start saying it out loud." 

-----

Josh: "Who's at the event?"

Donna: "Aimee Mann, the Barenaked Ladies, Chrissie Hynde, Sixpence None The Richer, Aaron Neville, Diamondback Whale, DaisyChain, Next Big Thing, the Cruel Shoes, and Single-Cell Paramecium."

Josh: "You've just been practicing for when I asked the question, right?"

Donna: "Yes."

Josh: "And you made up Cruel Shoes?"

Donna: "No, Single-Cell Paramecium."

-----

Josh: "They're back."

Toby: "They are?"

Josh: "Yeah."

Toby: "Are they being funny?"

Bruno (walking around the corner): "Barnum, Bailey, and their sister Sue!"

Josh: "They're almost over it."

-----

CJ (reading the judge's decision): "'The 15 percent rule, benefiting the two major parties, is partisan politics of the worst kind - regulatory duopoly, democracy by favoristic fiat, a bureaucratic junta -'"

Bruno: "Yes." 

CJ: "'-that is clearly prohibited under federal law.'"

Toby: "There's no way 'favoristic's a word."

Sam: "We all agree with you, Toby, we just don't think it's grounds for an appeal."

-----

President: "Look, win or lose on the 5th, I'm the President right now, right?"

CJ: "Um, yeah, I'm almost sure."

(Election Day 2002 was indeed November 5.) 

----

President: "Allergy medicine?"

Casper: "Allergy medicine with tractor starter fluid strained through a coffee filter is methamphetamine."

President: "Tractor starter fluid doesn't kill you?"

Casper: "No, it'll definitely kill you, but first you'll get pretty high."

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

• Joanna Gleason returns as Jordon Kendall, the attorney who represented Leo in front of Congress in Bartlet For America (and they later had a date; Leo is apparently angling for more of those).

• Clark Gregg is seen again as FBI Special Agent Mike Casper.

• Amy Gardner returns! Mary-Louise Parker's character apparently split up with Josh at the end of Posse Comitatus, as he maneuvered her out of her job at the Women's Leadership Coalition in order to get a welfare reform bill passed.

• In the Situation Room President Bartlet tells a story involving his daughter Ellie (seen in, naturally, Ellie). Later he refers to some of the victims of the Iowa bombing as the same age as his daughter Zoey (first seen in The Crackpots And These Women). He then asks Charlie to set up phone calls with each of his daughters (he has three, we haven't yet met the oldest).

• Leo mentions his divorce to Jordon, which we saw coming initially back in Five Votes Down.

• The Josh-Donna relationship has been an undercurrent from the very start of the series. It's obvious the two have deep affection for each other, from the note Josh wrote for Donna in her gift in In Excelsis Deo to Joey Lucas telling Josh Donna wants to date him in The War At Home to her statement "I wouldn't stop for red lights" in 17 People and plenty of moments in between, even as they both try to develop relationships with other people. A telling moment here, after they return to the White House from their Indiana adventure - Josh has just met with Toby about the idea to make tuition tax deductible, and as he excitedly heads down the hallway he crosses paths with Donna. He's got other things on his mind, but then ...

Donna: "Hello."

Josh: "Hey."

Donna: "Did you sleep all right?"

Josh: "I did, but then I read this thing -"

And he stops. And he realizes Donna is asking about his well-being, and he realizes there are some things more important, at this exact moment, than the policy issues he's in the middle of. This little moment of caring and expressing concern for each other is really sweet, and easily missed in the ongoing sweep of the episode:

Josh: "-How you doing?"

 

• Howard Stackhouse gets mentioned as a guy who might cause trouble for the President by getting onstage for the debates. We've heard the name a lot over the years, first mentioned as a legislator who might have had a family member get favorable treatment for drug charges in Mandatory Minimums. He was mentioned again as a guest on Capital Beat in In This White House, and we then saw Senator Stackhouse speak up against a health care bill (in order to protect coverage of autism) in The Stackhouse Filibuster. He's an independent-minded Democrat from Minnesota, who's been referred to as a possible Presidential spoiler candidate before.

• Charlie gets angry with Debbie over her "arsenic" threat to the President, saying he was four feet away when the guns started firing (What Kind Of Day Has It Been).

• CJ calls on the Rock The Vote crowd to get out and be active, as "Decisions are made by those who show up." President Bartlet said those exact same words in What Kind Of Day Has It Been.

• President Bartlet makes a wry reference to the scandal over his health and hiding his multiple sclerosis diagnosis from the country (a condition first seen in He Shall, From Time To Time ... and which later took up a huge arc in Season 2) when he says to Fitzwallace, "No disinformation to the U.S. press, right? We don't give disinformation to the U.S. press. Unless it's about my health."

• In the final scene, Toby takes the time to call Matt Kelly, the guy they spoke to in the Indiana hotel bar the night before, to let him know the administration is going to try to take him up on the "making college just a little easier" thing.

DC location shots    

• None.

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

• President Bartlet is wearing a University of Notre Dame sweatshirt, the same one he had on at the end of the previous episode.

• Air Force One is bound for the Battle Creek Air National Guard Base, in Springfield, Michigan. It's not that far from East Lansing, so it would be a logical military airport to use. I don't know why they wouldn't have just flown into the Lansing airport, though.

• The NEA convention is being held at a Radisson hotel, as you see the logos in several places as the President enters the building.

• Agent Casper says "It's not Tom Paine" as he refers to the writing style of the Iowa bombers. He means Thomas Paine, whose pamphlets Common Sense and The American Crisis were two of the most influential writings at the start of the American Revolution.

• Rock The Vote is an actual organization founded in 1990 designed to energize young voters.; Donna's list of performers at the event in Boston includes actual musical groups, mostly (I couldn't find anything online for Diamondback Whale; there have been several Daisy Chain groups, including one mentioned as a 90s acoustic duo which is the most likely one for this purpose; all I could find for Next Big Thing was an early 80s Chicago punk band; and Cruel Shoes put out just one album in 1992, ten years before this episode). We actually see Barenaked Ladies and Aimee Mann perform, with Barenaked Ladies performing their hit One Week and Aimee Mann singing James Taylor's Shed A Little Light.

• Poking fun at Josh for his adventures in Indiana, CJ calls him "Admiral Scott" (Antarctic explorer Robert F. Scott was a captain in the Royal Navy, not an admiral) and Don Quixote de La Mancha (who, as Josh corrects her, was not an explorer at all); Bruno also makes a joke, referring to Josh, Toby, and Donna as "Barnum, Bailey and their sister Sue." (As a callback, President Bartlet used the phrase "Barnum Bailey and his sister Sue" in The Lame Duck Congress, a phrase I have been unable to find anywhere except in the writings of Aaron Sorkin.)

• We see Toby with a Starbucks cup; as the series moves along, many of the characters seem to have generic coffee cups from West Wing coffee stations, but Toby pretty consistently sticks with Starbucks.

• Debbie jokes about how her reference to putting arsenic in the President's drinking water should have said Schweppes Bitter Lemon. That is another callback, to grumpy old Albie Duncan asking for that same beverage in Gone Quiet.

• There was a House of Blues in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2002; it was a small capacity space (only room for 180 patrons) which fits what we see in this episode. House of Blues moved to a much bigger venue at Kenmore Square in Boston in 2003.

• Agent Casper says the bombing suspects are holed up in Johnson County, Iowa. That county is immediately south of Cedar Rapids, site of the fictional Kennison State University.

• Debbie mentions Chernobyl, which also came up in Enemies Foreign And Domestic.

• Donna is drinking Miller Lite at the House of Blues.

End credits freeze frame: President Bartlet preparing to leave the Oval Office for the night.

Previous episode: 20 Hours In America Part Two

Next episode: The Red Mass

The Derecho Apocalypse

It's been a few weeks ... but I have a good excuse. My part of the world was devastated by an unprecedented storm on August 10, a storm that knocked out power to literally every customer in Linn County and caused widespread damage to homes and businesses. And I was part of that.

The storm is called a derecho. Its destructive power is similar to a tornado, but instead of localized swirling winds, derechos sweep incredibly strong straight-line winds over a wide area. This storm on August 10 developed in South Dakota as a line of strong thunderstorms, which is nothing out of the ordinary for the Midwest in August. As it moved west into Iowa, it began gaining strength - it caused damage in parts of Des Moines and areas to the northwest, but it really started picking up power after that. By the time it moved into Marshall County, winds were being clocked at over 100 miles per hour, and these winds continued unabated for close to a half hour. The storm caused about a 40-mile wide path of destruction, from near Marshalltown right down Highway 30 through Cedar Rapids, even causing damage in the Clinton/Quad Cities area as it weakened a bit.

When it reached Cedar Rapids, later estimates by the National Weather Service said the peak winds reached 140 miles per hour, ripping roofs off buildings and toppling about half of all the trees in the city. Power lines went down, streets were blocked by trees and debris, it was a mess. TV and radio stations in the city went off the air, with no power or with transmission towers being knocked down. Phone lines were dead. At the least, cell service was still available immediately after the storm, but by Monday night that all went dead, too. No electricity, no communication, difficult travel - it was an unmitigated disaster.

As for me, I happened to be in my car when the storm caught up to me, along Highway 30 near Belle Plaine. I knew a bad storm was coming - we get bad storms in Iowa in the summer - but I had no idea how bad this was going to be. As the initial wind gusts and rain cut the visibility down to zero, I pulled onto the shoulder of the highway to wait it out. The hurricane-force winds picked up the rocks from the highway shoulder and shattered my rear window. The wind and rain blasted into my car, along with the bits of shattered glass and more rocks, and I was sure at some times the wind was going to lift my car off the ground and turn me over into the ditch. Again, this went on for at least 20 to 30 minutes of howling, incessant wind.

Once the worst of the storm passed and I limped back to Cedar Rapids, it was incredible to see the devastation of the farmland. Corn was flattened in the fields as far as you could see. Trees were uprooted and broken off at every farm. About half the farmsteads had buildings damaged, blown apart or roofs torn off. And the city was no different.

My home suffered only minor damage, but my back yard was full of elm tree. And our beautiful shade tree in the front yard, the one that shaded us from the summer sun, even though it looked like it just lost a few branches upon closer examination you could see the split trunk, from which it would not recover. Damn.

We were without electricity for 10 entire days, without internet service for 11. We still don't have our cable TV, now 17 days later. So that explains why I really haven't had the time to put together another blog post. Meanwhile, almost no one outside this area even heard about the storm. The second-largest city in Iowa, a metro area of better than 150,000 people, brought to its knees by a historic storm causing multiple millions in damages and heartbreak and stress to tens of thousands of people - and it wasn't on the national news for days. Once it made the news, it was just for a few days before people moved on to something else - as Iowans struggled without electricity, struggled to try to clear debris, struggled to try to fix their homes. It was maddening.

Things are starting to get a little bit back on track now, as we near three weeks after the storm. Crews from the DOT cleared the debris from our curbs last weekend (just round one, though). Even though the first company I hired to clear my trees flaked on me a week ago, I hope to get those cleared out of here in the next few days (which means the curbs will be filled up with debris again). And eventually I'll feel like I have the time to move on with another West Wing post.

I just thought you might like to know.

20 Hours In America, Part Two - TWW S4E2

Original airdate: September 25, 2002

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (67)

Directed by: Christopher Misiano (10)

Synopsis

• While Josh, Toby, and Donna continue their quest to return to DC from Indiana, a chance encounter in a hotel bar sparks a new way to look at the Bartlet campaign and its policy initiatives. A terrorist attack on a midwestern university prompts a moment of Presidential eloquence. Qumar continues to press the issue of their missing defense minister. Bartlet finally makes a decision on a new secretary, Charlie steps up on several fronts, and Sam gets a visit from an old flame. 

"It should be hard. I like that it's hard. ... But it should be a little easier. Just a little easier. Cause in that difference is ... everything."

Politicians can sometimes get too wrapped up in the "inside baseball" part of things, the little bits of tactical advantage you can gain from a statement or the minor edge you might grab from your stance on an obscure policy. It's easy to focus on those small things that you think add up to a campaign, perhaps, or a national political presence. But when that happens, you may just lose sight of the ultimate role of government - helping and protecting the citizens of your country, giving them support to overcome obstacles that aren't of their making, making things ... "a little easier. Just a little easier."

Having Josh, Toby, and Donna spend a day and a night in middle America, far from the "inside baseball" of DC, proves to be Aaron Sorkin's way of knocking a little bit of sense into them - well, Josh and Toby, at least. While a truly down-to-earth Donna (a native of Minnesota who grew up in Wisconsin herself) isn't completely successful in making them realize it's the people and not the electoral tactics that matter, a chance hotel bar conversation with a guy on a college visit with his daughter actually sinks in.

Sorkin begins this episode, though, with a moment that literally made me burst out laughing. We saw in Part One that the financial markets are falling throughout the day, thanks to a major hedge fund filing for bankruptcy. As the President prepares for a photo op with a fellow who's shaken hands with every President since Herbert Hoover, he's taken aback when the man tells Bartlet his meeting with Hoover came the day before the Black Thursday market crash of 1929 that led to the Great Depression. Given the current market situation, a superstitious Bartlet pulls Charlie aside to reconsider.

President: "There's a lot of science in economics to be sure but like a lot of things, a lot depends on the user. I need the Nikkei Index to do what I need it to do tonight and I've got Hoover's good luck charm over here. But now, while I'm talking about it, I feel like it's ridiculous that someone like me would consider canceling a photo op ..."

Charlie: "I can't believe you're considering doing it, sir."

President: "I'm not, it's momentary."

Charlie: "No, I mean I can't believe you're considering doing it."

President: "Really?"

Charlie: "Tokyo opens in three hours and you're going to drape your arm around the Mayor of Shantytown."

Which leads to the moment where I literally laughed out loud, as Charlie tells Mr. Keith they're going to have to reschedule and when he asks why, Charlie replies, "You're spooking the hell out of the President."

Anyway, back to Indiana, where our three intrepid staffers are riding in Tyler's jeep in an effort to get to a train station as the next step in their journey back to Washington. Josh and Toby continue to bicker over campaign strategy, as they did in the previous episode - Toby wants to keep going after Ritchie as not a smart fellow, while Josh wants to stick to promoting the President's agenda. It's all going to work out fine as they reach the train station, even as Toby still reluctantly keeps up his end of losing the rock-throwing bet to Josh, spending the rest of the day adding "I work at the White House" every time he says his name:

Tyler: "Mr. Lyman. Mr. Ziegler."

Josh: "Call me Josh."

(Josh looks at Toby, as Toby recalls their bet) 

Toby: "Toby. I work at the White House."

Tyler: "Yeah, can I tell you something? People are going to think you're a lot cooler if you don't say that yourself, but rather let them find out on their own."

Toby: "Yeah."

But they made the train, and are some 98 miles away from Indianapolis and a flight that will take them home. Tyler triumphantly points the way:

As the train begins heading the opposite direction down the tracks:

Womp-womp.

The campaign debate continues on the train, as Toby brings up Ritchie quote after Ritchie quote to show how ill-informed he is ("a rising tide sinks all boats?") but Josh can't go along with his plan.

Josh: "I don't know what gave you the impression that I had to be convinced, but I want to win. You want to beat him, and that's a problem for me, because I want to win."

Donna is sick of the bickering. She just wants the guys to approve her plan to get them turned around and back on a flight to DC.

A flight that ends up being delayed by weather anyhow. The three find shelter from the rain in an airport hotel, in an attempt to dry out for a few minutes - where Donna finally has had it, and unloads on Josh and Toby. They've spent the entire day squabbling about campaign tactics while they've ignored every bit of what the ordinary midwestern Americans they encountered were trying to tell them.

Donna: "I can't remember the last time I heard you two talk about anything other than how the campaign was playing in Washington. Cathy needed to take a second job so her dad could be covered by her insurance. She tried to tell you how bad things were for family farmers. You told her we already lost Indiana. You made fun of the fair but you didn't see they have livestock exhibitions and give prizes for the biggest tomato and the best heirloom apple. They're proud of what they grow. Eight modes of transportation, the kindness of six strangers, random conversations with twelve more, and nobody brought up Bartlet versus Ritchie but you."

Chastened, the guys retreat to the hotel bar. Toby gets pulled into a conversation with a random fellow there - he's also waiting out the weather, his flight delayed. He's visiting Indiana with his daughter, on a college visit to Notre Dame. He's just a guy, an everyday, middle-class guy, trying to get by and do the best for his family and make things a little better for his kids.

Kelley: "It should be hard. I like that it's hard. Putting your daughter through college, that's ... that's a man's job. A man's accomplishment. But it should be a little easier. Just a little easier. Cause in that difference is ... everything."

The guy reaches out to Toby, introducing himself as Matt Kelley. 

Toby responds, and as Josh signals to him that the bet is off, he doesn't have to add to the folly of their travels by trumpeting his workplace, for the first time today Toby makes a real connection and tries to make a real difference:

Toby: "I'm Toby Ziegler. I work at the White House. Have a minute to talk? We'd, uh ... like to buy you a beer."

College financial aid and making paying for education "just a little easier" is going to become a policy emphasis for the administration as the series moves on. And it's all thanks to this chance encounter with Matt Kelley in an Indianapolis hotel bar. As our weary travelers finally make it back to DC, they ditch the airport shuttle a couple of miles from the White House, wanting to walk through the streets of Washington in the early morning light, as Josh and Toby agree on a reset on what the campaign needs to be about:

Toby: "Instead of telling people who's the most qualified, instead of telling people who's got the better ideas, let's make it obvious. It's going to be hard."

Josh: "Then we'll do what's hard." 

Also looming over the events of the day is a Midwestern tragedy. Word comes in at the end of CJ's afternoon press briefing of a pipe bomb attack at a university swim meet in Iowa. Forty-some people are killed, another hundred injured, and as she tries to brief the press while listening in to a live feed in her earpiece, the rest of the administration and the nation reacts. An emotional moment, filmed expertly by Christopher Misiano, hits us in Indianapolis as Josh, Toby, and Donna see the news report in the hotel lobby:

And President Bartlet, speaking at a fundraiser that evening, expresses the eloquence and compassion of a true American leader in memorable fashion. Something we in 2020 can only dream about with our current leadership ...

President: "We did not seek nor did we provoke an assault on our freedom and our way of life. We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people's strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive. Forty four people were killed a couple of hours ago at Kennison State University. Three swimmers from the mens' team were killed and two others are in critical condition. When, after having heard the explosion from their practice facility, they ran into the fire to help get people out. Ran into the fire. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes and we reach for the stars. God bless their memory, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America."

Looking on, an impressed Bruno asks an emotional Sam when he wrote that last part, given the bombing had only occurred mere hours before the speech.

Sam: "In the car."

Bruno: "Freak." 

The President's quest to find a new executive secretary finally comes to an end, but not without some drama and unexpected twists and turns. In the previous episode we saw Bartlet interviewing a couple of candidates on Air Force One, but he wasn't happy with either one - they were either not capable of being impressed, or not able to appreciate Jed's sense of humor. So Debbie Fiderer returns for another interview, to make up for her first one that flopped when she took too many pills to prepare for it. This one doesn't go great, either, as she stubbornly refuses to tell the President why she was fired from her personnel job at the White House:

Debbie: "Chronic lateness."

President: "I don't believe you."

Debbie: "It's true."

President: "No, it's not."

Debbie: "You call me a liar to my face?"

President: "Yes."

Debbie: "Okay."

President: "Charlie said it was because of him."

Debbie: "He did?"

President: "He said you hired him and that's why you got fired."

Debbie: "Charlie makes things up."

President: "No, he doesn't!"

Debbie: "He's a bad seed. I knew it the moment I saw him." 

She refuses to tell him more, but as she's dismissed from the interview she encounters Donald McKittridge in the outer office He's the head of the White House Office of Personnel who actually fired her, and he chastises Charlie for even bringing her in for an interview. Bartlet emerges from the Oval Office, putting two and two together and realizing Debbie had chosen Charlie for the job over the son of a big contributor to the campaign of the congressman brother of McKittridge. He still doesn't make a decision, though, until Sam steps into the office and asks, "Was she funny?"

The President races down the hallways to catch Debbie at the checkpoint at the door. He asks her to recall information about the status of the dollar, an update that was given during their interview (a secretary's memory skills will prove to be essential for a President suffering from MS, who might have some lapses in short-term memory as the disease progresses). She remembers the numbers. And with a gesture to Charlie, she's hired.

Speaking of Charlie, remember that previously on Air Force One CJ asked if he could take over as Big Brother for Anthony, whom Simon Donovan had been mentoring before his death in Posse Comitatus. Charlie demurred, leading CJ to ask Sam about it earlier in this episode even though she knows his schedule couldn't possibly allow it (Sam's response: "Maybe he'd enjoy sitting and watching me work. I could narrate what I was doing for him.").

After the fundraiser, Anthony is waiting in the West Wing for CJ, who tries to explain that she's still searching for another Big Brother for him. Anthony glumly resents CJ, in part because he connects her to Simon's death, and his resentment becomes evident as he rudely insults her:

CJ: "I'll take you home now."

Anthony (mumbling): "I don't need a babysitter."

CJ: "I'm sorry?"

Anthony: "I said I don't need a babysitter, bitch. Are you deaf?"

Charlie happens to be walking by, and his response is, well, epic.

Charlie: "This is Ms. Cregg. She's the White House press secretary and senior counsel to the President. And if she wasn't, she would still be Ms. Cregg. I don't mind you not respecting people. I mind you doing it out loud. I mind you doing it in this building. You wanna be a punk, fine, but I don't think you've got the size for it. You wanna go to juvey, get out, deal, and kill cops? Okay, but every time you do a crime, you get caught, so I think you're gonna have to do something else. Nine o'clock on Saturday mornings, I eat breakfast at Cosmo's on Delaware. I come here for an hour and do office work, and then I go to St. Jude's for an hour to play basketball. You can go to juvey, or you can be at Cosmo's at 9:00 on Saturday morning. It's entirely up to you."

So I guess Charlie is willing to take on the Big Brother role after all. 

In a sweet moment later, Charlie finds a gift on his desk. He unwraps it as CJ comes to the doorway - she's given him a framed photograph of Charlie as a boy with his police officer mother, who was shot and killed in the line of duty three years ago. Charlie earlier mentioned to the President that he didn't have any photographs on his desk, for his own reasons - but he proudly places this photo right there.

Then there's Qumar. In the arc we saw at the end of Season 3, Qumar's defense minister Shareef was connected to several terrorist attacks against American targets, and faced with the impossibility of bringing him to justice in the courts, President Bartlet reluctantly agreed with Leo and Admiral Fitzwallis on a plan to assassinate Shareef in Bermuda and make it appear his plane went down over the Atlantic. Now Qumar is still investigating, trying to bait the United States into giving up information about the incident (first they claim they have a recording of a phone call from Shareef on the plane, which Fitzwallis knows is impossible since his phone was disabled before takeoff; next they say they found wreckage with evidence proving it was the Israelis who killed him).

Nancy McNally, the National Security Adviser, has had enough, and she's ready to start "reducing our nuclear arsenal one at a time, if you know what I mean, sir." But the trio of Bartlet, Fitzwallis, and McNally know they're going to have to confront the situation in some meaningful way, as the Israelis aren't going to stand for being falsely accused. Fitzwallis wants to let Qumar know yes, we did it, but while insulating President Bartlet from the decision. Jed isn't having it:

President: "And you talked Leo into Shareef and he talked me into it. It was my order and you executed it flawlessly and I stand by it. I stand by it till I die. Plus, I'm going to need some cell mates in Holland. So, what do we do now?"

A President standing by his decisions, no matter the fallout - administration staffers listening to concerns of everyday Americans, and trying to make their lives better - people like Charlie and Debbie just doing the best they can, supporting those around them and doing their best every day - that's an administration that can lead, an administration that can inspire, an administration that can truly make America great.

Yeah, I know ...

 

Tales Of Interest!

- Timeline: Sam specifically says he's worked for the administration for three years and eight months. With Bartlet's inauguration in January 1999, that works out exactly to September 2002.

- Tyler says the troubles of the lost White House staffers will end "98 miles right down that track." In Part One Josh said they were going to catch "the metro" in Connersville. Connersville is actually about 55 miles from Indianapolis. Once the train starts heading in the wrong direction, Donna says they can get off in Bedford and backtrack - but Bedford is actually 113 miles southwest of Connersville, and to get there you'd start in the same direction as you would for Indianapolis.

 

- The fictional Kennison State University is said to have "Hawkeyes" as their nickname and is a member of the Big Ten conference. CJ remarks she's listening in to "Cedar Rapids police and fire" during the press briefing. In reality, the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, some 27 miles south of Cedar Rapids, is a member of the Big Ten and has the "Hawkeyes" nickname.

- "The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels" is a line stolen from Tom Hanks' Oscar acceptance speech at the Academy Awards in 1994. Hanks won the award for his role as an AIDS-stricken attorney in Philadelphia, and used his speech to pay tribute to those who died of AIDS. As Sam tells Mallory in this episode (in a line written by Sorkin, who knows very well what he did and which not only self-deprecates his theft of the line but also refers to himself as a "great writer"), "Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright." 

Interestingly enough, that same speech - where Hanks also gave a shout out to his high school drama teacher - was the inspiration for the opening scenes of the 1997 Kevin Kline film In & Out.

- Also, Sam's line to Mallory about "I've got to get back in there. That's where it's happening" was another inspiration for Lin-Manuel Miranda and his writing of Hamilton, specifically the song title The Room Where It Happens.

- Stockard Channing appears in the opening credits for the first time this season, but during the episode her only appearance is in the audience during the President's fundraiser speech. She doesn't even have any lines! Oddly, the website I use to get transcripts of West Wing episodes includes a scene from this episode that's not on the DVD or Netflix versions. This scene occurs between the hiring of Debbie Fiderer and the fundraiser speech, and is a conversation between Jed and Abbey in the residence where some more context/resolution of the "aprons and rolling pins" protest against her is given - a plotline that otherwise is just dropped out of the story.

 - Matt Kelley's salary of $55,000 in 2002 equates to about $78,800 in 2020 dollars, while their family income of $80,000 would be about $115,000 today.

- Bradley Whitford was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama for this episode and Evidence Of Things Not Seen. The award went to Joey Pantoliano for The Sopranos. This would be Whitford's third straight Emmy nomination (with a win for In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen and Noël in Season 2).

Quotes

McNally: "Leo. Yeoman Fitzwallis." 

Fitzwallace: "Dr. McNally." 

McNally: "Let's attack."

Fitzwallis: "Who?" 

McNally: "Qumar. Let's recommend to the President that we attack." 

Leo: "Why?" 

McNally: "Cause I've had it." 

Fitzwallis: "I don't think the UN is going to let us do it for that reason." 

McNally: "That's cause you're a sissy." 

-----

President: "Hey, do we have a GPS reading out on Josh and Toby? Have they been sighted?" 

Sam: "I talked to them a little while ago, they're on their way." 

President: "Three hundred IQ points between them, they can't find their way home. I swear to God, if Donna wasn't there, they'd have to buy a house." 

-----

Sam: "I had one good moment talking about the global ripple effect of a budget deficit, but that was it. The rest of the day was just keeping up. And this was a pretty light day." 

Mallory: "One good moment is good." 

Sam: "Oh, I'm not complaining. I'm saying one good moment is great. It's a golf shot. I've got to get back in there. That's where it's happening."

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

• National Security Adviser Nancy McNally (Anna Deavere Smith) returns, this time ready to nuke Qumar (her offhand greeting to the admiral serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as "Yeoman Fitzwallis" is hilarious).

• Lily Tomlin is back as Debbie Fiderer, now joining the staff (and the cast) as President Bartlet's executive secretary.

• Martin Sheen's daughter Renee Estevez pops up in the background of this scene. As Nancy, she's apparently one of the President's five secretaries (as Charlie tells Debbie, in addition to the executive secretary there are two research secretaries, a social secretary, and a scheduler).

• Allison Smith is back as Mallory O' Brien, Leo's daughter and ongoing flirt with Sam (ever since they met in Pilot; she nearly took him to the opera as her date in Enemies and she kissed him after seeing his defense of her father in He Shall, From Time To Time ... ). Mallory was last seen in Galileo, when she told Sam she was dating the hockey player Richard Andreychuk. Now he's been traded to Chicago and they've broken up, which Sam is, well, less than broken-up about, if you know what I mean.

 

• President Bartlet mentions his granddaughter as he's talking with Muriel Keith. We first heard about her in Pilot, when Bartlet referred to his granddaughter Annie as being 12 (while taking Rev. Al Caldwell to task for not renouncing an anti-abortion extremist group that had sent her a doll with a knife). While we've met Jed's daughters Zoey and Ellie, we've yet to meet this granddaughter's mother.

• The issue of Jed's failing memory and having a secretary who can keep facts and figures readily at hand is directly related to his multiple sclerosis, which was first revealed in He Shall, From Time To Time ... and had a significant story arc in Season 2.

• The Shareef assassination/Qumar story line is extended from the episodes at the end of Season 3 (from Enemies Foreign And Domestic through Posse Comitatus).

• The hiring of Charlie (with Debbie DiLaguardia - now Fiderer - forwarding his name to Josh) was originally seen in A Proportional Response.

• CJ's search for a Big Brother replacement for Anthony ties in with Simon Donovan's death in Posse Comitatus and the quick scene of Simon hanging out with Anthony in that episode.

• In Part One Donna brought up the Boomtown Rats song I Don't Like Mondays (apparently this entire episode takes place over a Monday in September). During the montage of news of the KSU pipe bombing and President Bartlet's "streets of heaven" speech, we hear Tori Amo's version of the song.

• The photograph of Charlie's police officer mother reminds us of her death in the line of duty, first revealed by Charlie in A Proportional Response.

• President Bartlet's conversation with Fitzwallis near the end of the episode is a callback to "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" where Bartlet mused over the Joint Chiefs' lack of respect for him as a Commander-In-Chief who had never served in the military.

As Morris Tolliver told him in that Season 1 episode, "Let the Chiefs get to know you, Mr. President. ... They may not like your resume, but they'll like you personally if you give it time. You have a once in a generation mind, sir. Ultimately, they'll respect that."

And in this episode: 

President: "You just hated my living guts when I got this job, didn't you?"

Fitzwallis: "No, sir."

President: "Yeah, you did. I didn't know anything and I didn't have any respect for the Chiefs. You became my counselor and you wrangled the Chiefs and you brought them to me." 

 

 DC location shots

• The Arlington Memorial Bridge, which crosses the Potomac between Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, is seen in the closing shot of the episode. It's over a two-mile walk to the White House from here. The series likes to use that bridge, which was previously a location for multiple scenes in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen.

Here's a current Google Street view:

• The spot where they get off the shuttle van is actually right at the Arlington Cemetery Blue Line Metro station (there's an escalator to the Metro station on that corner). Directly behind them you can see the entrance to Arlington Cemetery. 

And a current view of that intersection:

• The scenes of Tyler driving the wayward staffers to the train station (supposedly Connersville, Indiana) were actually filmed in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. 

View down the street in Bridgeville:

Pulling up to the train station (at the time, the Bridgeville Public Library; the show's producers rented the tracks and a six-car train just to shoot these scenes and the following train ride): 

The building is now the Bridgeville Area Historical Society - the caboose is still there: 

And the reverse shot of Railroad Street in Bridgeville as they park:

Not a lot has changed since 2002: 

 

 

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

• President Bartlet says, "It's a proud day for Alfred Nobel" as he watches the stock market fall, referring to his status as a Nobel Prize winner in economics. In reality, there isn't a true Nobel Prize in economics at all, although there is a related prize administered by the Nobel Foundation since 1968.

• In the discussion between Bartlet and Muriel Keith we hear mentions of Presidents Truman and Hoover, as well as the Great Depression beginning with Black Thursday in October 1929.

• Toby's rants about Ritchie bring up references to Act V of Hamlet, Batman villains, and British prime ministers Benjamin Disraeli and Neville Chamberlain.

• The Big Ten athletic conference comes up in connection with the bombing of the swim meet at Kennison State; Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota are specifically named, and those state universities are indeed part of the Big Ten.

• Mallory and Sam talk about her hockey player ex-boyfriend getting traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. Sam also brings up the musical Camelot as a source from which he stole one of his speech lines.

• It's a Comfort Inn hotel where Josh, Toby, and Donna seek refuge from the rain (supposedly near the Indianapolis airport, in reality probably filmed somewhere in Pennsylvania - but maybe in California, I don't know).

• Donna is wearing an Indiana State University sweatshirt that she must have purchased near the hotel, just to have dry clothes. The giant Indianapolis Colts banner also puts our setting right in Indianapolis. 

• Matt Kelley mentions he and his daughter were visiting Notre Dame; we know that's President Bartlet's alma mater, as he reminds us with this sweatshirt early on Tuesday morning: 

• Toby orders a Jack Daniel's (we've heard him make that order before). It appears Kelley is drinking Rolling Rock, a beer brand founded in western Pennsylvania near the locations the show filmed at for this episode.

• Nancy McNally's eagerness to drop nuclear weapons on Qumar leads Fitzwallis to refer to her as Dr. Strangelove, a character played by Peter Sellers in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film.

• Josh wonders why they couldn't just use Kikkoman soy sauce from a Chinese restaurant to refuel the soy diesel truck they had been originally stranded with in Part One.

Josh: "You're telling me, we couldn't have just gone to the nearest Chinese restaurant, picked up some Kikkoman and poured it into the soy diesel thing?"

Donna: "I don't think it works like that. Plus, how close do you think the nearest Chinese restaurant was?" 

• Capital City Limousine is still in business in Washington, DC. I believe that telephone number is still a good one for them, too.

 

End credits freeze frame: Toby, Josh, and Donna walking toward the Arlington Memorial Bridge with the Lincoln Memorial in the distance.

Previous episode: 20 Hours In America, Part One

Next episode: College Kids