Lord John Marbury - TWW S1E11

Original airdate: January 5, 2000

Teleplay by: Aaron Sorkin (10) & Patrick Caddell (4)
Story by: Patrick Caddell (4) & Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. (3)

Directed by: Kevin Rodney Sullivan (1)

Synopsis

• President Bartlet pulls out all the diplomatic stops in an effort to stave off nuclear conflict when India invades Pakistani-held Kashmir, even calling on an old eccentric British friend for help and advice. CJ deals with trust issues concerning the press and the senior staff. Josh is subpoenaed in an investigation into Leo's stint in rehab. Mandy enlists Sam in an effort to get approval to take on a new client, and Zoey asks Charlie out.

CJ: "You sent me in there uninformed so that I'd lie to the press."

Toby: "We sent you in there uninformed because we thought there was a chance you couldn't."

Let's talk about CJ.

While the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war involving India, Pakistan, and perhaps China, and we get our first meeting with fan favorite Lord John Marbury, I think the most fascinating aspect of this episode is what goes on with CJ. The first 10 episodes of the series have shown us a tight-knit, united, intelligent (and clever) group of senior staffers, with Chief of Staff Leo leading the way, but the rest of the gang all trusting in and relying on each other. This ... well, this is different.

CJ walks into the Oval Office as the rest of the group (President Bartlet, Leo, Toby, Sam, and Josh) are all discussing India's military move into Pakistan. She asks if there's anything going on to tell the press in the final briefing of the day, and they flat-out lie to her, saying there's nothing to report.

You gotta admit, they all look sketchy as heck here.

In the briefing, CJ gets a question about rumored troop movement by India, and she (gently) slaps down the reporter for having bad sources, saying she was just in the Oval Office and there's nothing going on.

When she finds out the truth the next day - I love how Allison Janney plays out CJ's hurt, anger, and frustration. The look on her face when Leo tells her they withheld information from her the night before (Leo: "You'll tell the room you spoke without knowing the facts." CJ: "I guess that's what I'll do."),

her reactions to Ed and Larry's Encyclopedia Britannica briefing,

her snapping at Toby -

Janney is a motherlode of acting talent.

What really makes this all interesting is how this really cuts the legs out from under CJ. This is a possibly career-destroying moment for a White House press secretary. When Toby tells her "They (the press) don't think you lied to them," she answers, "No, but they think you lied to me, which is what happened." How well-regarded would a press secretary be by the press if they know top staff is withholding information from her?

And what's the reason Toby gives for shutting her out of the loop? He kind of brings up her relationship with Danny Concannon (I knew that was a bad idea! For Danny and CJ both!) - well, actually, she brings it up, but Toby was dancing around the subject:

CJ: "They don't know me, I'm from nowhere. I was just starting to get credible, I was just starting to get their respect. You know how long it's going to take me to get it back?"

Toby: "There's a concern -"

CJ: "Don't ask CJ, she doesn't know anything."

Toby: "There is a concern that you are too friendly with the press."

CJ: "Really."

Toby: "We know it's important that you have a friendly relationship -"

CJ: "It's important for all of us."

Toby: "I don't disagree."

CJ: "Does this have to do with Danny Concannon?"

So CJ is rightly furious, but in a professional, controlled, CJ-like manner. What's somewhat interesting, at least to me, is that there's been no hint of the President or Toby or anyone showing concern about CJ's relationship with the press, or with Danny - this kind of comes out of nowhere. BUT - it's absolutely believable. I mentioned before how Danny should be concerned with what his peers might think, with his pining over CJ resulting in scoops like the Syria raid or a one-on-one with President Bartlet; here's the flip side of that concern.

Another aspect could be Aaron Sorkin's attitudes towards women, maybe? He's always gotten criticism for how he writes female characters and how they interact in his scripts; which is somewhat odd when you consider how much of his work includes strong female characters (A Few Good Men, Sports Night, The West Wing, The Newsroom, Molly's Game), although in almost all of those cases these strong women still have to rely on men to get things done. Also consider how he writes men reacting to these women, or other supporting female roles (The Crackpots And These Women is a fine example of men "talking down" to women, I think). Even here, Sam doesn't do himself any favors when CJ storms out of the Encyclopedia Britannica briefing (he tells Toby, "She'll get over it.").

This specific issue with CJ and the trust Toby, at least, has for her gets wrapped up rather tidily.

Toby: "I feel that I didn't have the opportunity to properly articulate my argument."

CJ: "Either I'm a trusted member of the communications staff or I'm not, Toby, what was your argument?"

Toby: "That was my argument."

CJ: "That wasn't your argument."

Toby: "It was my argument, a little while ago, when I was arguing in my head."

CJ: "Are you apologizing?"

Toby: "Yes."

(long, long pause)

CJ: "Well?"

Toby: "What?"

CJ: "Apologize!"

Toby: "I'm sorry!"

CJ: "God!"

Toby: "I was trying to do it nicer than that."

I'm not sure I believe CJ would be ready to smooth things over and move on (like I said, having the press know she'd been lied to by senior staff would be devastating for her credibility), but, you know, CJ is awesome and the show must go on.

Okay. As for the rest of the episode, we cannot forget the brilliant Roger Rees as Lord John Marbury, a former British ambassador to both India and Pakistan and apparently an old friend of Jed's. He only appears late in the episode, but his boozy, breezy attitude coupled with Leo's exasperation at putting up with him (and Jed's delight at the prospect) make him a real fan favorite. Here he's talking to the President while suppressing a (likely alcoholic) belch:

While President Bartlet had been pretty much frustrated with his diplomatic efforts with the ambassadors from India, Pakistan, and China (even threatening a wider conflict), Lord John is able to help arrange a UN cease-fire between India and Pakistan to buy some time, and helps focus the Bartlet administration on what the real issue is in the conflict (religion). As with most guest stars called to appear on The West Wing, Rees is brilliant, and Lord John will indeed make a return visit.

Meanwhile, Josh has been subpoenaed by Freedom Watch, a right-wing organization looking for dirt on members of the administration. It turns out the group has the records of Leo's stay at Sierra Tucson for alcohol and drug addiction a few years back, and is looking to get confirmation from Josh about the stay. Sam manages to help Josh not perjure himself (although Josh nearly assaults Claypool in the bargain), but everyone knows the story can't stay bottled up for long. Needless to say, in the next episode we're going to find out there's some even bigger fish to fry when it comes to health issues in the administration (not really a spoiler alert, but if you don't know - hang on, folks).

Mandy ... poor, confused, wide-eyed Mandy. She asks Sam for his help, because she wants to take on another client and she needs support to get approval from Toby and Josh. Why? Because the client, Mike Brace, is a Republican Congressman. This definitely hasn't aged well over the past 18 years, concerning our current political climate (is there really such a thing as a Republican Congressman who's good on education and women's rights anymore, who a Democratic political consultant would even consider taking on?), but nevertheless, the notion in the Bartlet West Wing doesn't go over very well. Not to mention, Mandy should be on some thin ice considering her disastrous advice about the FBI and Idaho in The State Dinner - this whole idea is really going out on a limb. Even so, it takes Sam's reaction to the Freedom Watch attack on Leo to finally stand up against Mandy's idea:

Sam: "Leo's in trouble. You're a political consultant, your job isn't to end the fight. It's to win it. Now you can work for us or you can work for them, but you can't do both."

And then Zoey's flirtation with Charlie continues, as she basically asks him out on a date (if he ever gets a night off, which he doesn't seem to). He mentions it to the President, in case he has an issue with it, and of course he does - not because of the racial issue, but because he's a guy and she's a girl and he's her father. Bartlet mentions dungeons and the 82nd Airborne, but in the end, he knows Charlie's a good guy, even though he has to caution him about the public reaction his dating the First Daughter will get.

A lot to unpack in this episode - if you're still with me, thanks for hanging on to the end! We're now revving up for a wild ride through the last half of Season 1, and believe me, it's a doozy. I hope you'll join me for the journey.

  

Tales of Interest!

- While the chemistry between Josh and Donna is obvious, and I think they are great together, he really doesn't treat her well at all. Notice how he signs his subpoena using her back as a desk, and she just accepts it.

(I love Donna, and Janel Moloney is fantastic, and thank goodness Donna becomes a much more well-rounded and complete character as the years go by. Josh can just be a giant tool sometimes.)

- The Sit Room has been upgraded since last we saw. Some much nicer lighting, plus a real screen now instead of the chintzy projector we saw previously.

- Director Kevin Rodney Sullivan brought out some of The West Wing favorite shots in this episode (the camera rotating around the actors, as we see in the second deposition scene with Josh, Sam and Claypool), but also tried something we haven't seen before - the split-diopter deep focus shot, showing both President Bartlet and the CIA Director in focus in the Sit Room.

- Toby tells Sam the administration hasn't nominated an ambassador to Pakistan yet. Sam replies, "It's been over a year." Um, no, it hasn't. It's the first week of January, Bartlet won't mark his first-year anniversary in office until January 20. It's been over a year since the election, but that doesn't matter when it comes to nominations. (Writers for The West Wing have been making this error all season.)

- It's an open question as to how much help Mandy provided during the campaign, but it must have been really something. After Sam agrees to talk to Toby and Josh about her taking on a new client, he says he'll still need to do many, many more favors for her before they're even. Whatever she did on the campaign, it must have been incredibly effective (too bad they couldn't find something equivalent for her to do in this West Wing).

- Sam has a neat photo behind his desk of former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, apparently with Bartlet at a campaign event.

Quotes    

(The President has just learned of the incursion by India into Kashmir, discovered by American intelligence 25 minutes prior)

Bartlet: "All I'm trying to do right now, I'm trying to avoid making eye contact with the CIA director."

CIA Director: "Mr. President -"

Bartlet: "Three hundred thousand troops? I can't move my motorcade from K Street to Connecticut without it showing up on a weather satellite."

CIA Director: "We dropped the ball, sir."

Bartlet: "Pick it up again." (pause ) "Would you please?" 

-----

Josh: "I'm being deposed at lunch tomorrow."

Sam: "Who you bringing?"

Josh: "I'm not bringing anyone."

Sam: "Josh."

Josh: "It's a non-event."

Sam: "You should bring a lawyer."

Josh: "I am a lawyer."

Sam: "Yeah. Seriously, you should bring a real lawyer." 

-----

(Ed and Larry are giving their briefing on India and Pakistan, featuring numbers on population, income, religion ... average rainfall ...)

Toby: "What the hell kind of briefing is this?"

Larry: "Toby - if we could have just another hour to prepare ..."

Toby: "Where'd you get this stuff?"

Larry: "Swear to God, the Encyclopedia Britannica."

-----

Bartlet: "There's an India expert I want to bring in."

Leo: "Who?"

(Long pause, as Bartlet gives Leo a look)

Leo: "No."

Bartlet: "You guys are going to love him."

Leo: "He's a lunatic."

Bartlet: "He's colorful."

Leo: "He's certifiable."

Sam: "Who?"

Bartlet: "Lord John Marbury, former ambassador to New Delhi from the Court of St. James."

Sam: "Where do we find him?"

Leo: "A psychiatric institution."

Bartlet: "He's colorful, Leo."

Leo: "You're really going to let him loose in the White House, where there's liquor and women?"

Bartlet: "We can hide the women. But the man deserves a drink."

-----

(Toby reacting to Sam's news about Mandy wanting to take on a Republican client)

Toby: "Is this a joke?"

Sam: "No."

Toby: "I don't understand."

Sam: "Toby -"

Toby: "I'm in disbelief."

Sam: "What should I say your first reaction was?"

Toby: "Disbelief!"

-----

Bartlet: "I'll take the Indian ambassador in the Oval Office."

Charlie: "Yes, sir."

Bartlet: "And then if you could just ask the Secret Service to step in and kill me, please."

-----

Sam (to Claypool, with steel in his eyes): "You're a cheap hack. And if you come after Leo, I'm going to bust you like a pinata."

-----

Leo: "Sir?"

Lord John: "It's, um, your lordship, as a matter of fact, but it couldn't possibly make the least difference."

----- 

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

• Claypool, the Freedom Watch guy, is played by John Diehl (Miami Vice, The Shield, Jurassic Park III).

• The Chinese ambassador is played by James Hong (Big Trouble In Little China, Blade Runner, hundreds of other roles including voiceover in Kung Fu Panda).

• The Pakistani ambassador is played by Eric Avari (The Mummy, Mr. Deeds, Independence Day, Heroes).

• The Indian ambassador is played by Iqbal Theba (Community, ER, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but to me he'll always be Principal Figgins from Glee ["K-E-dollar sign-Ha"]).

• 
• 
  
• Ed and Larry, together again ... and credited as "Ed" and "Larry" for the first time!

• Mandy mentions how good everyone is going to look in California; there is indeed a California trip coming up in a few episodes.

• Gail's fishbowl features a couple of missile launchers.

DC location shots    

• There are no location shots in this episode.

References to real people    

• When Leo asks Bartlet if he might have a problem with Charlie's race (in reference to dating Zoey), Bartlet exclaims he's "Spencer Tracy at the END of 'Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.'"

• CJ remarks that the entire Lord John visit is starting to seem like a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. We'll see more references to Gilbert and Sullivan in upcoming episodes, too (Sorkin seems to have a thing for those two).

End credits freeze frame: The staff informing President Bartlet that Leo's rehab story is about to break.

It's Coming!

The clamor from all of you has been deafening. I know you want - no, I daresay, you need - more of my posts on The West Wing. I've heard you, and I'm listening!

I'm back at work on the next episode (Episode 11 of Season 1, Lord John Marbury) and I hope to get it out today, January 5. Why today, you ask? That would actually be 18 years to the day from when the episode first aired on NBC, January 5, 2000. I thought it would be fitting to get my efforts re-started on an actual anniversary date.

From now on, who knows? I certainly intend to put more time into this blog, with the holidays and my onstage Warbucksing done for the moment. There is a little show called Noises Off upcoming this spring, however, so should I happen to get cast in that, well, my time gets crunched yet again. I am hoping to aim for at least 2 West Wing episode reviews per month - I figure if I can stick to that, I should get to the end of Season 7 by the middle of 2025, which seems like a long way away but will probably be here before we all know it.

It just warms my heart and encourages my civic pride to get back to a real, competent, caring, intelligent, worthwhile Presidential administration. May we soon get back to that in reality ... that would be my fervent prayer.

Check back later today!

Hiatus

Hello, yeah, it's been a while. Not much ... no, wait. Much.

If you've been following along with my rewatch of The West Wing, you might be wondering why there hasn't been anything posted here for two months. Well, do I have excuses? Yes, yes, I do.

Not only do I have a regular job with 40 hours per week (stretched across weird rotating shifts, to boot), I have another terrifically enjoyable radio gig covering high school football in the fall. That takes up probably about 10 more hours per week. Then I also made the questionable decision to audition for the musical "Annie" at Theatre Cedar Rapids, and then I got cast, and so I am in the midst of rehearsals, there's another 12-15 hours per week.

I'm not complaining! I like all the things I'm doing (or at least I like getting a paycheck for doing some of it, because I like to eat and not sleep under a bridge like the folks we saw in In Excelsis Deo), but it does help explain why my recap posts have come to a halt.

Good news, everyone! Football season is about over (championship games are next week) and "Annie" opens in a week (so it will only take up 3 or 4 days a week, instead of 6). I hope to get back in the groove with Lord John Marbury pretty soon. I actually already made one pass through watching it in September, but I'll need to revisit it and work up my post.

Hang in there, folks! We need The West Wing now more than ever!

In Excelsis Deo - TWW S1E10

Original airdate: December 15, 1999

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (9) & Rick Cleveland (2)

Directed by: Alex Graves (1)

Synopsis

• Toby's coincidental connection to a dead homeless man leads him to use the President's name to bring about a moment of honor at Arlington National Cemetery; Josh and Sam go too far in their efforts to protect Leo and counter Lillienfield's accusations; a murder of a gay high school student in Minnesota causes CJ to voice support for hate crimes legislation; and Danny's flirtation with CJ continues, while the President sneaks out to go Christmas shopping.

"Anyway ... I miss my boys."

What duty do we owe our fellow humans? What responsibility do we, as individuals, have to honor a veteran, even (or perhaps especially) if he's homeless and dies of exposure, alone and almost forgotten? What lines should we cross when we are going those extra miles in the service of those who we owe everything to? Is there anything we can do to sufficiently honor a mother's memory of her twin sons, lost in combat on the same day?

Is there a better time to consider questions of duty and honor like this than Christmas? Well, here we are, the first holiday season of The West Wing, and In Excelsis Deo proves to be a doozy of an hour of prime, emotional television - even if the song playing over the end scenes is Little Drummer Boy instead of the Gloria.

There's something about holiday episodes of TV shows that I really love. They ground our characters into real life, having them celebrate and recognize holidays that we, the viewers, are celebrating at the same time. Whether it's Halloween (I still have fond memories of a Halloween episode of Roseanne, for example, and The Simpsons made a reputation on their Treehouse of Horror episodes), Thanksgiving (WKRP's Turkey Drop, anyone?), or Christmas, these particular episodes can lodge in our memories for a long time.

The holiday episode is a treasured landmark of The West Wing. Aaron Sorkin and the production staff are going to make a habit of finely crafted holiday productions, with both Thanksgiving and Christmas shows among the most beloved by fans.The Christmas episodes, in particular, also will prove to be star turns for some of the supporting actors; for the next three years, a Supporting Actor Emmy will be claimed by one of The West Wing actors in large part due to the Christmas episode (this year it's Richard Schiff, who was nominated for both this and Five Votes Down. The teleplay by Sorkin and Rick Cleveland also won an Emmy).

And you have to give props (heh, see what I did there?) to the set decorators! They go all out for the Christmas shows, and the background decoration everywhere you look just immerses the viewer in the White House holiday spirit.

Even in the Oval Office, there's a tree:

On to the show: Toby is called by the DC police, because a homeless man found dead by the Korean War Monument on the National Mall had his business card in his coat pocket. It turns out the coat belonged to Toby before he donated it to Goodwill (or as Toby calls it, "the Goodwill"). That's that, right? No, Toby is disturbed by the perfunctory behavior of the police and the casual treatment of this man whom Toby discovers served with the Marines in the Korean War. He goes to great lengths, with the VA and whoever else he can contact, to try to find a family member or anyone who can also care about the fact that this person, Walter Hufnagle, has died.

He finally, coincidentally, locates Walter's brother, another homeless man camped out under a highway overpass. In his efforts to explain the situation to George, he realizes Walter's memory deserves more than he is about to get.

Toby: "Your brother is entitled to a proper funeral with mourners, and I think he deserves an honor guard and you don't -- you don't know me. But I'm an, in ... I'm an influential person, I'm a very ... powerful person, and I, I, I would like to arrange it."

Schiff nails this scene. His delivery of "powerful person," the almost shame he has in openly declaring the power available to him ... it's wonderful. Emmy-worthy, you might say.

Toby pulls some strings (using the President's name, without his knowledge, naturally) and the burial and honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery is a done deal. President Bartlet, when he discovers the plan, makes sure Toby knows he's gone too far ... but also lets him know he's done the right thing.

President: "Toby, if we start pulling strings like this, you don't think every homeless veteran will come out of the woodwork ..."

Toby: "I can only hope, sir." 

Leading to the final dialogue-free scene of the episode, the funeral at Arlington intercut with the childrens' choir singing Little Drummer Boy at the White House.

Mrs. Landingham joins Toby at the funeral, a kind of respect of her own, not only for Toby taking the extra steps to honor Hufnagle, but also in memory of her own two boys. In another emotionally wrenching scene, she tells Charlie the story of her twins, Andrew and Simon, and how they went to Vietnam after their second year of medical school only to die at Da Nang on Christmas Eve, 1970. Kathryn Joosten plays this scene so incredibly well, continuing to type and do her job while she explains to Charlie why she feels down during the holidays. Seeing Toby pull strings to honor another war vet (that he doesn't even know!) - well, there's just no question that she is going to come along to pay her respects, not just for vets like Hufnagle, but also for Toby doing what he did.

The Lillienfield drug-abuse story from the previous episode is still alive. Josh is desperate to find something to counteract the Leo-drug-rehab news that he's sure Lillienfield has. Spurred by Donna (of all people) and expressly forbidden to do so by Leo, he decides to go through with an ill-conceived plan to use Sam's friend, the call girl Laurie, to get sex-related dirt on Republican lawmakers in order to fight back. Interestingly enough, Sam reluctantly agrees to help Josh with this plan - seems to me that a request like this would be an instant friendship-killer for Laurie. But as Sam stresses to her, their loyalty and duty towards Leo means they have to try everything they can think of to protect him. Laurie refuses to go along - Josh gets really rude, then realizes he's gone too far and apologizes - which causes Laurie to say:

Laurie: "You're the good guys. You should act like it."

Leo actually had Sam and Josh tailed, in case Josh was going to go through with this cockamamie plan, and he is furious. He calls them in and chews them out, but in typical West Wing fashion, the deep respect and loyalty between the staffers still comes through.

Josh: "We meant well."

Leo: "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

Josh (sheepishly): "No."

Leo (pause): "It does."

Josh: "I'm glad."

In other news, Sorkin and Cleveland make a direct reference to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming man who was tied up, beaten, and left to die outdoors. In this case it's a gay Minnesota high school senior, Lowell Lydell, who is tied up, beaten, and left to die outdoors by a group of teens. Lydell dies during the episode, and the administration starts to consider whether or not they should pursue hate crimes legislation. This is a contentious topic - should some crimes be punished more harshly than others, depending on the motive or thoughts of the perpetrators? It's a valid ethical question, one which CJ comes down firmly on the side of "Absolutely, yes, we should." When she quizzes Danny about the topic, he's on the other side: "A crime's a crime. And you agree with me."

This is a part of the continuing flirtation between CJ and Danny, one that I've mentioned in the past seems ill-advised, but whatever, here it comes. CJ (who has already tried to make holiday plans with Sam and Josh, as well as Leo) finally accepts Danny's offers of dinner, on Christmas Eve, no less. And if you don't think Allison Janney can make a line like "I have to feed my fish" look and sound sexy, my goodness, are you wrong:

An extremely cute part of the episode is the President's meeting with a group of elementary schoolkids. In the White House foyer, gaily decorated with holiday cheer, Jed takes great delight in teasing the kids about their height, pretending to be the President of Belgium or the King of England (causing the kids to yell, "No! America!"), and answering one little girl's question about his favorite part of the job, "I'm doing it right now."

The fact that the President learns of Lydell's death during this meeting with the kids is another example of how things happen in the real world, and serves as yet another display of the top-notch acting of Sheen and Janney, in particular.

Another light-hearted moment is the President's sneaking out to go Christmas shopping. In a nod to President George H.W. Bush, who apparently also liked to get out of the White House and do some personal shopping on his own, President Bartlet is heading to a rare-book store to get some Christmas gifts. He invites Josh along:

President: "You wanna come?"

Josh: "An hour with you in a rare book store?  Couldn't you just drop me off the top of the Washington Monument instead?"

President: "It's Christmas, Josh. No reason we can't do both."

Josh: "I suppose."

President: "Let's go shopping!" 

Christmas cheer, the glow of decorations, the joy of giving - countered with the somberness of duty, the responsibilities of honor, and the weight of grief. There is indeed a lot to take away from In Excelsis Deo, and it's well-done, award-winning TV entertainment at its best.


Random thoughts:

- According to the DVD commentary for this episode, the opening scene (from the gift basket coming into the entrance, through the Toby/Sam/Mandy/CJ scene in the foyer, up until the group walks into the hallway and Toby is accosted by Ginger) took 28 takes. There's a lot of sweeping camera work, through the foyer and around the actors, and some really nice subtle acting responses in there. Twenty-eight takes, that's quite a lot.

- Something I really appreciate is the give-and-take between Toby and Sam about the millennium. Remember, this episode aired just weeks before New Years Day 2000, the date generally recognized as the start of the new century. I, however, am firmly in Toby's camp: Since there was no Year 0, the year 2000 is the final year of the old millennium, and the 21st century doesn't technically begin until New Years Day 2001. But it is hard to fight against the general zeitgeist (as Sam later says, "seeing your odometer roll over from 99,999 to 100,000").

Sam: "I am fully briefed."

Toby: "On what?"

Sam: "Pageant of peace, season of hope, coming of the new millennium."

Toby: "Coming of the new millennium?"

Sam: "Yes."

Toby: "Fine."

Sam: "Don't start."

Toby: "I said fine."

(cross talk with Mandy and CJ)

Toby: "It's not the new millennium but I'll just let it drop."

Sam: "It is the new millennium."

Toby: "It is not the new millennium, the year 2000 is the last year of the millennium, it's not the first year of the next one."

Sam: "But the common sensibility, to quote Stephen Jay Gould -"

Toby: "Stephen Jay Gould needs to look at a calendar."

Sam: "Gould says this is a largely unresolvable issue."

Toby: "Yes, it's tough to resolve, yes, you'd have to look at a calendar."

-Hey, look, they gave Ginger some lines! She's been in the background of nearly every episode so far (and was credited as "Kim," her real first name, back in A Proportional Response) but now she's a real Communications Office staffer!

- Bobbi the reporter is back. After appearing in the first couple of episodes, she disappeared, but here she is asking about Lowell Lydell and hate crimes.

- In case anyone was wondering, the dates listed in this episode (Wednesday December 23, Thursday December 24) actually do line up with the actual dates in 1999.

- What inside Marine knowledge does Toby have, to recognize that tattoo so quickly and know it belonged to a Korean War outfit? Not to mention his later mention of how he was treated at Panmunjon ...

- When Josh tells Sam Leo went into rehab six years ago, Sam responds that Leo was Secretary of Labor six years ago. In the previous episode, we learned Supreme Court Justice Crouch waited five years to retire, until there was a Democrat in the White House. This would seem to mean Leo served as Secretary of Labor under a Republican administration.

- On the morning of the 24th, when President Bartlet steps away from the childrens' choir to find out what strings Toby pulled, Toby tells the President "a homeless man died last night." Hufnagle actually died two nights ago, the night of the 22nd.

- Can anyone, even calling in a favor in the name of the President, actually get a burial scheduled and an honor guard service performed in less than a day? Toby is talking to Walter's brother saying he'll arrange the funeral on the night of the 23rd - they're at Arlington the very next morning.


Quotes    

Josh (seeing Margaret helping Leo sign Christmas cards): "This is quite an operation."

Margaret (flatly): "We like to spread holiday cheer."

Leo: "Who the hell is this guy and why do I care if he has a Merry Christmas?"

Margaret: "Leo, just sign the damn thing."

-----

CJ: "What's your Secret Service code name?"

Sam: "They just changed them."

CJ: "I know. What's yours?"

Sam: " 'Princeton.' "

CJ: "Mine's 'Flamingo.' "

Sam: "That's nice."

CJ: "No, it's not nice."

Sam: "Flamingo's a nice-looking bird."

CJ: "The flamingo is a ridiculous-looking bird."

Sam: "You're not ridiculous-looking."

CJ: "I know I'm not ridiculous-looking."

Sam: "Any way for me to get out of this conversation?"

CJ: "I'm going to talk to someone."

Sam: "Excellent."

-----

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

• The DC policeman is Lance Reddick, known for Oz, The Wire, Lost, and Fringe, but best known by me as the guy in the Cree lightbulb commercials.

• In The Crackpots and These Women, President Bartlet mentions that Mrs. Landingham lost two sons in Vietnam. Here we find out the whole heartbreaking story.

• In Five Votes Down Toby complains how he doesn't have any money, saying he's got just 23 bucks in his pocket. Here, he's got quite a wad of cash, and he gives it all to the homeless guy who helps him find Walter's brother. (The homeless guy is played by veteran character actor Raynor Scheine.)

• Gail's fishbowl features a festive Christmas tree.

• Laurie must have moved - her apartment is quite a bit different from the one we saw (and she loved) back in Pilot.

• We could kind of figure out from the beginning that Sorkin's goal in adding Moira Kelly to the cast was to create a bit of romantic tension - with Josh and Mandy being former lovers, it would seem to be a goldmine of possible plotlines with these two sassy characters back at each other's throats. Unfortunately, Kelly and Bradley Whitford never seemed to develop that spark of chemistry, and without that, the writers really never knew quite what to do with Mandy - in this episode all she does is realize the Santa hats do clash with the Dickensian costumes, and whine at the President for not letting her take press along to the rare book store. Donna and Josh, though - that chemistry jumped off the screen right from the beginning, when Donna brings Josh coffee and tells him he and Leo and Sam and Toby got the President elected. Janel Moloney wasn't intended to be a regular, but by this point of the series she's already a key part of the group, and it's obvious (even though Josh really treats her like crap most of the time) there's some kind of deep connection between the two of them. Moloney and Whitford really do work well together, and that's just going to keep on happening for the next seven seasons. Take a look here at how Donna reacts to the note Josh wrote for her in her skiing book, and the look Josh has seeing her smile:

• We are going to see the parents of Lowell Lydell - and a very interesting look on taking things for granted and not getting the full story - a few episodes in the future.

DC location shots    

• On the National Mall, near the Korean War monument (a couple of scenes filmed here)

• Under a highway overpass, at Capitol and P, perhaps? When the veteran at the souvenir stand tells Toby that Hufnagle usually could be found at Capitol and P, he didn't specify north or south; Capitol Street crosses both P Streets, NE/NW and SE/SW. My guess is this shot was the south side; that is near the Navy Yards in a rougher part of DC, at least in 1999. Nationals Park was built here on the east side of Capitol Street in 2006-08, so if this shot was indeed Capitol and P SE/SW, this overpass and many of the surrounding buildings no longer exist.

• Walter Hufnagle's burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

References to real people    

• As part of the White House Christmas festivities: TV weatherman Al Roker (as Santa - also he's conveniently on NBC, the same network as The West Wing); musician Jose Feliciano; baseball player Sammy Sosa and his wife.

• Stephen Jay Gould is mentioned in the Sam/Toby millennium debate.

• The Lowell Lydell story is an obvious rewrite of the real-life murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in October 1998, which received its own literary treatment in the play The Laramie Project (which debuted two months after this episode aired).

• The books encountered at the rare bookstore are all real; The Fables of Phaedrus; The Adventures of John Capen Adams, Mountaineer and Grizzly Bear Hunter of California; On The Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus; Life of Epicurus. The skiing book Josh gives to Donna, however, is fictional.

End credits freeze frame: Cast lineup listening to childrens' choir (notice that Donna, still listed as a guest star in the credits, is important enough to be included in this group. Toby's not here - he's at Arlington).