2162 Votes - TWW S6E22

 

Original airdate: April 6, 2005

Written by:  John Wells (7)

Directed by: Alex Graves (27)

Synopsis

• Chaos reigns at the Democratic National Convention, which begins with no clear presidential nominee and gets even more convoluted when an unexpected candidate throws his hat into the ring. An enraged President Bartlet orders Toby and Kate to find out who leaked the secret of the military shuttle.
  

"So, who is it?"

"You."

Now this is a rip-roaring finish to Season 6, a roller-coaster ride of an episode set up almost like a thriller, whipsawing us from unexpected twist to unforeseen turn. It's one of my favorites from the later seasons of The West Wing, and I could write endless paragraphs about it, so buckle in, boys and girls!

 

Let me just sum up the convention storyline in a sort of "Too Long, Didn't Read" list of bullet points:

• The convention begins with Russell and Santos fighting to get enough delegates for the nomination
  
• Russell's expected naming of Baker as his VP choice would likely sew up the nomination for Russell
  
• Josh goes to Hoynes to ask for him to support Santos, as that would put Matt over the top
  
• Baker ends up double-crossing Russell by trying to get himself nominated from the floor
  
• Chaos breaks out as delegates switch sides
• Word leaks about Baker's wife and her hospitalizations for depression, something that Baker had kept a secret
• As Baker's support (and his appetite for staying in the contest) fades, Leo insists it's time for Matt to step aside for Russell
  
• Matt turns his final speech into a surprise rallying cry for the delegates to take the power given them and make the nomination choice based on who they personally prefer
• The President is swayed to Matt's side, he leans on the teachers' union leader, the delegates flock to Santos
• Josh asks Leo to be Matt's running mate

Yeah, so even my "short wrapup" is pretty involved. And I haven't even mentioned the continuing saga of the International Space Station astronauts and the secret military space shuttle that's their only hope.

Okay. We start at the convention arena, with negotiations over candidate speaking order and other quibbles. As things are being set up, Matt, Helen, and some of the Santos staff take a look around, while Helen worries about speaking in front of 25,000 people ("more like 25 million," Ned says helpfully. "Gotta figure in the television audience").

It's a pretty big space.

Helen's hand reaches out for Matt's.

And they share a look. This is a long way from Mayor of Houston and US Representative.

And I really do appreciate the chemistry and relationship between Matt and Helen that Jimmy Smits and Teri Polo bring to the show. They are just great together.

Josh knows Russell's announcement of Baker as his VP pick after the first ballot will likely sway the nomination. He thinks he might have an ace up his sleeve - he used to work for John Hoynes, the third-place candidate whose over 950 delegates could bring the nomination to Matt instead.

Unfortunately, the supremely confident Hoynes is still banking on the prospect of the convention wearying of the intractable, unending battle between Russell and Santos and eventually turning to him as a savior.

Josh doesn't pull any punches, though.

Josh: "Your political life is over. It was over the day you resigned the Vice Presidency. I don't care what they're saying to Larry King - your delegates are going to rush to the nearest lifeboat after the first ballot."

Hoynes: "Hey, don't sugarcoat it for me, Josh, I can take it."

Josh: "And there's not gonna be a Cabinet post or an ambassadorship coming your way, either. Your indiscretions saw to that."

Josh tells Hoynes he could serve as an advisor, a "party elder" in a Santos administration, something he'd never get from Russell, then drops the hammer with this final bit.

Josh: "You've had a long and distinguished career, sir. Wouldn't you like to see your name just one more time in the history books without the word 'scandal' after it?"

 

Hoynes needs some time to think; then the convention kicks off. It's a frantic, frenzied whirlwind of action in the candidates' war rooms, with Josh and Ned and Ronna and Will and Donna on the phones, talking to state delegation leaders, keeping track of vote totals on whiteboards, trying to hold on to the delegates they've got and sway some they don't have. The pace is breathless, reflected in the shaky, nervous, hand-held camera style chosen by director Alex Graves.

Russell is confident his VP choice of Baker (who we saw was his backup plan if Matt turned down his VP offer in Things Fall Apart, as he did) will be a slam-dunk to get him the nomination. Trouble is, Baker has suddenly grown cold feet. "Why don't we sleep on it?" he tells Russell in their private meeting, then he briskly walks out of the suite.

Will: "What happened?"

Russell: "He wants to sleep on it."

Will: "Sleep on it? We'll be on the third or fourth ballot by --"

Russell: "Yeah, I think he's aiming to be on it - the son of a bitch doesn't want to be VP, he's gonna try to get nominated from the floor."

Baker - who was considered the clear front-runner for the Democratic nomination in The Hubbert Peak, before he dropped out for "family reasons" in In The Room - now sees his opportunity with two less-than-stellar candidates facing off. He sees a chance to swoop in and steal the nomination right out from under their noses. Apparently those "family reasons" no longer apply.

The "Draft Baker" movement rips through the convention like a thunderbolt, as delegations and delegates sway from one candidate to another. By the end of the second ballot, as midnight approaches, the convention remains deadlocked among three candidates ... but Hoynes is no longer among them. The Baker candidacy drew away all his support, leaving him with only about a hundred delegates: no chance for a "savior" riding to the rescue, no opportunity to be kingmaker, no offer for an advisor role. His gambit failed spectacularly.

And by morning, the remnants of the Hoynes campaign are literally going in the dumpster.

Josh knows their campaign is gasping for air at this point. He'd like to get the powerful teachers' union lobby behind him, but given Matt's views on radical education reform (particularly getting rid of teacher tenure), he knows that's a nearly impossible longshot. Suddenly, though ... remember those "family issues" that led Baker to step out of the race last December? ... over the fax comes word of a secret Baker has been holding - his wife has been hospitalized a couple of times to be treated for depression. Josh takes the fax to Matt, telling him making it public is their only chance to stay alive for the nomination.

Matt: "I am not doing it!"

Josh: "I went to see Ernie Gambelli. Rather flip-flop on teacher tenure? Because we are one nail in the coffin away from dead."

Of course Josh just needed to bank on Russell doing it, as Will is all over using this information about Baker to try to sink his chances. Donna fights to be the voice of compassion:

Will: "It's Bartlet's MS all over again."

Donna: "We can't leak this, it's clinging to 18th century stereotypes of mental illness. Why not attack her for having consumption?"

Will: "It's not the depression, it's his failure to disclose it."

Donna: "Will, this isn't a quick hit on some 15-year-old piece of telecom legislation - it's a brutal character assault on a man's wife for an eight-hour story that'll be over by tomorrow night."

Will: "We're not trying to be judge and jury, we get it out there, let the delegates decide how important it is."

Donna: "Don't do this. The Vice President'll do it if you tell him to. Please."

Will: "Eight hours keeps us alive through another ballot."

Understandable, I guess, given how Will and Russell feel like they were double-crossed by Baker. So they leak the information, the news is all over Mrs. Baker's depression treatment and the Governor's hiding of it. The shot of the Bakers watching the coverage, with Dotty's out-of-focus turmoil and tortured embarrassment and Eric's stoic unspoken acknowledgement that he screwed up, is pretty emotional.

So we're back to two. With the President ready to arrive on Day Three of the convention, Leo insists it's time for Josh and Matt to step aside, to let Vice President Russell take the nomination and lead the way in November, to stop the bickering wrangling on the floor of the convention. Josh knows he's right.

Leo: "You done good, kid."

Josh: "The President?"

Leo: "Yeah. He's gotta put a stop to this."

Josh: "One more primary - we would've had it. Peaked a little late, I guess. (pause) He's not gonna do it just because I say so, Leo. He's his own man."

Leo: "And here I thought I found the last one."

Leo and Matt have a meeting, in the seats of the arena. It's never spoken out loud, never exactly defined, but the outcome is clear ... Santos must give in. He has one last request.

Matt: "Will I have the chance to address the convention again?" 

"Of course," Leo replies. It's the least they can offer for this unifying gesture. But, it turns out, Matt has a different idea in mind. We the viewers don't know it yet, but as he prepares to take the stage, with millions of Americans (including the President) watching on TV, he and Helen share a knowing look - a telling look, considering no one has seen this speech except these two, including Josh.

And Matt takes the spotlight, with the surprising statement, "I have been asked by people that I respect to take this opportunity to support one of the other fine candidates who have made this race with me, to help decide who our nominee will be.

"But I can't do that."

He goes on with a stem-winder of a speech, exhorting the delegates that they have the power to decide, not the party decision-makers, and then turns to the news of Baker's wife and her medical background being made public:

Matt: "Because we're all broken. Every single one of us. And yet we pretend that we're not. We all live lives of imperfection, and yet we cling to this fantasy that there's a perfect life, and that our leaders should embody it. But if we expect our leaders to live on some higher moral plane than the rest of us, well, we're just asking to be deceived."

Helen's smiling look at Josh after this turn of events is just ... golden.

The delegates are energized, the momentum is shifting, and President Bartlet reaches out to Josh. It's time to make a choice, to bring the power of the Oval Office down on the scales. The teachers' union chief is brought in to see the President himself, he sways his union members to back Santos, and the nomination is made.

But who will be Vice President? Leo, shuffling papers and finalizing the business of the convention before it wraps up, has a conversation with Josh.

Leo: "Hey, what are you doing here? You ought to be down on the floor, celebrating with your guys."

Josh: "We still gotta line up a VP."

Leo: "You ask Baker?"

Josh: "Yeah, he begged off. Doesn't want to put his wife through it."

Leo: "I guess Russell isn't on the short list."

Josh: "That was a nonstarter with the Congressman."

Leo: "Want me to help work up a list?"

Josh: "No, we got it narrowed down to the guy we want. I'm just not sure he's going to accept."

Leo: "You want the President to push your guy along?"

Josh: "I called the President. Said he'd kick the guy's ass all over the schoolyard if it came to that."

Leo: "So, who is it?"

Josh: "You."

Josh stands up and leaves. The stunned look on Leo's face is really something. Remember, back in Memorial Day we had flashbacks to President-elect Bartlet getting ready to take office, with Jed being so appreciative of Leo's guidance and support, telling him "It should be you, Leo. You, not me," recognizing Leo's political acumen while acknowledging that his past struggles with addiction probably made elective office impossible. Now, here he is, the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States. 

And as President Bartlet gets ready to speak, to introduce the Democratic ticket of Santos-McGarry, we see this unspoken moment between these two old friends.

Just terrific. I think it was Martin Sheen who said he described The West Wing as a love story between Jed Bartlet and Leo McGarry, and he has a point!

Then, to remind us that this triumph by Matt, Josh, and Leo is only the beginning of what's to come in Season 7, the episode closes with the Republican candidate, Arnie Vinick, watching TV coverage of the convention announcement and then standing to face his staff.

"Okay. Let's go win this thing."

Whew! What an episode!

Hold on - I haven't even begun to discuss the other story thread, the other plot line that's going to carry through Season 7 as well ... who leaked the existence of a Pentagon military space shuttle to Greg Brock?

With the astronauts in the ISS three days away from suffocating due to lack of oxygen, the President finally decides to launch the military shuttle to make the repairs to save the crew. While they'll try to do it in a manner that doesn't expose the existence of that shuttle to the public, one of the ISS crew members is a Russian cosmonaut, which almost certainly means he'll confirm that the spacecraft indeed exists.

Bartlet is furious over the national security leak that basically forced his hand in this decision, and demands the leaker be found.

President: "I want this leaker found by us. What about somebody at NASA? Kelwick, maybe!"

Kate: "No, sir, I can't imagine --"

President: "You don't have to imagine, 'cause you're gonna find out, you and Toby. I want to know who it is in this administration who thinks their opinion of how I should handle this situation matters more than mine. I want a name on this desk by Friday."

Kate and Toby are put on the case, and they join forces with the FBI to start combing through the list of prospective leakers. If you recall in Things Fall Apart, what we were shown definitely seemed to make us viewers lean toward CJ as giving the information to the press: she was the strongest voice for just sending up the shuttle to rescue the ISS crew; she was seen several times watching news coverage of the crisis rather pensively, as if she was considering something; and she's had a working relationship with Brock ever since Full Disclosure, when he definitely did her a favor by giving her an early look at his interview with John Hoynes. 

That gets reinforced a bit here in the Oval Office scene when CJ defends Brock, saying he'll never give up his source even if the government puts the power of the Department of Justice on him. But ... we don't know CJ is the leaker, not yet, it's not definite. In fact, in the DVD commentary, writer and producer John Wells says that at this point, as they wrapped up Season 6, they hadn't yet decided who the leaker was. They were still keeping their options open. That does make us wonder just exactly what the writers were thinking, though, with this late scene in Toby's office (and since Wells was the writer of this episode, gee ... do you have someone you're pointing fingers at or not?):

Kate (closing the door as she enters Toby's office): "It wasn't Kelwick."

Toby: "Hm?"

Kate: "From NASA. He wasn't the leak. Nobody over there was. Too many of the technical details were wrong."

Toby: "You didn't have to close the door to tell me that."

Kate: "No. The FBI thinks it came from inside the West Wing. They have a theory ... one you're not gonna like."

It's yet another season-ending cliffhanger, of sorts, to join the previous five years:

• Season 1: the shooting at Rosslyn in What Kind Of Day Has It Been, with the final line we hear "Who's been shot? Who's been shot?"
• Season 2: President Bartlet facing the press, about to answer the question of whether he's going to run again in Two Cathedrals (although strictly speaking, we know what his answer is going to be, so not exactly a cliffhanger). We are still awaiting the outcome of the coup in Haiti, however.
  
• Season 3: again, not quite a cliffhanger, as Bartlet approves the operation to kill Qumari defense minister Shareef in Posse Comitatus ... but we are waiting to see how and when the operation will become public and what the fallout from that will be.
• Season 4: Zoey's kidnapping and Bartlet's 25th Amendment relinquishing of his office in Twenty Five.
• Season 5: in Memorial Day, what's going to happen with the Israeli-Palestinian summit? Who's coming, how will the stakes shake out? Will Jed and Leo work out the conflicts being laid bare between them? And has Donna suffered life-altering complications from her emergency surgery?

For Season 7, we have not just the general election campaign to look forward to, and the decision of whether Santos or Vinick will be the next President, but also who in the West Wing committed a felonious breach of national security by leaking information about a top-secret military space shuttle to the press? 

Just one more season to go of this terrific television drama.

 

Tales Of Interest!
 

- Alex Graves does an outstanding job of directing this episode, from his choices of camera shots to the lighting to the composition. It's incredible, making his Emmy nomination for this episode well-deserved. Most of the episode is filmed with jerky, hand-held cameras, nervously darting from face to face and focus to focus. It makes us feel the frantic, uncontrolled sense of the convention careening to apparent disaster, with all the unexpected twists and turns and near-catastrophic ends to campaigns. Then, when things settle down and it appears the end has come for Matt, we have steady long shots and nicely composed two-shots with Leo and Josh and Leo and Matt. So very well-done.

 

The morning backlight, the powerful silhouettes ... nice.

The composition of this shot is just beautiful.

As is this one ...

And this one ...

And this is near perfection.

 

- The convention scenes, supposedly at the fictional "Mission Arena" (we see that name behind a concession stand) in San Diego, were filmed at the Honda Center in Anaheim, home of the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League. The aerial exterior shot we see, however, is actually the SAP Center in San Jose, home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks.

 

- When Leo asks Josh and Will how they're coming along with their vice presidential choices, both of them say they're working on it. In Things Fall Apart we saw Russell had already reached out to Governor Baker as his fallback if Matt turned him down, which he did. We'll find out later the Russell campaign is holding off on making that public for maximum effect, but we do see Josh and Will exchanging glances in the scene, since they both know what the plan is.

 

- The delegate count: early on we hear Josh say the Santos campaign needs 563 votes to get over the top (to 2162, which means there must be 4323 total delegates); that means they hold 1599 going into the convention. The Hoynes representative says he has "almost 1000" delegates, to which Josh replies "Nine hundred fifty-six is not almost 1000." These numbers, along with the 1677 delegates Will keeps telling us Russell holds, matches exactly with what we found out after the final primary in New Jersey in In God We Trust. This must mean there are 91 other delegates either uncommitted or pledged to other candidates (Josh mentions "stray Atkins delegates" at one point).

After Baker jumps in, in the ensuing frenzy Will explains that Russell has lost 536 delegates and gained 285 others; Santos has lost 236 delegates and gained none; and Baker has the 536 from Russell and 178 from Santos, with more states still expected to turn to Baker. At that point, then, Russell would have 1426 delegates and Santos would hold 1363; at the end of the second ballot we hear Baker has amassed 1341 votes (breathing down Santos' neck) and Hoynes is left with only 102. Adding those all together we once again get 4232, with still 91 out there not pledged to one of these four. That's if, of course, those original Russell/Santos numbers held through the second ballot, which isn't necessarily true since we don't see the entire day play out.

- One TV news screen has a weather bug in the corner saying Baltimore's high temperature is going to be 68 degrees with a low of 51. Remember, this is late July/early August; we saw Leo's countdown whiteboard telling us it was July 26 in Things Fall Apart, during the Republican convention the previous week; that means the Democratic convention is starting on Monday, July 31. Baltimore's record lowest high temperature for both July 31 and August 1 is 69 degrees, with 54 degrees the record low for July 31 in 1997 and 57 degrees the record low for August 1 in 1895. So while it's possible the 68/51 forecast is correct, it would be record-shatteringly cool for that time of year.

 

- As the first ballot is going on and we see the outside of the arena, the onscreen title tells us it's 8:47 pm. That can't be local time ... that would mean 11:47 pm EDT, and it's after that when the network TV people complain to Leo that "it's 9:50 on the East Coast" and they're going to cut away to local news (which, in fact, isn't until 11 pm in most East Coast markets, or 8 pm in San Diego). So, let's just say that first time we see onscreen is meant to be EDT, which means the view of the convention center we see was actually at 5:47 pm Pacific Time (and it looks rather evening-ish for 5:47 in July). When the campaigns are called in to tell them to take a break at 3:00 am "on the east coast," that means it's midnight at the convention.

- When Josh switches shirts with Bram so he can go talk to Ernie Gambelli, there's a nice little moment by Matthew Del Negro in the background; he sniffs Josh's days-old shirt and then drops it on the table instead of putting it on.

 

- When Matt is being introduced before his final speech before the delegates, we hear in the background that he's "a proud graduate of America's Air Force Academy." In Opposition Research we were told he graduated first in his class at the Naval Academy. As Matt was a Marine, the Naval Academy is more likely, although if he was already a member of the Marines before he applied to the school he could have attended the Air Force Academy.

 

- There are some stock footage crowd clips from actual political conventions dropped into this episode for atmosphere and background. Those are necessary when you listen to the DVD commentary with writer Wells and director Graves. Graves wanted 1000 extras for the convention scenes, but knowing they'd never be able to afford that planned for 500. The budget only allowed for 100 extras, so they had to be creative in making those 100 people look like tens of thousands. Unfortunately one stock footage clip they use right after Matt's final stirring speech shows red, white, and blue balloons beginning to drop. They would not be dropping balloons at that point; that would be saved until a nominee was actually determined and introduced. We get a continuation of that same shot later, with more of the balloons dropping, when Matt and Leo are taking the stage - that's when we'd see balloons.

Balloons for Santos' speech? I don't think so

Now that you're bringing on the nominees, now it's time for balloons

(Yes, I realize this is the exact same stock footage, just at slightly different times.)

- We can see the top of Gail's fishbowl on CJ's desk in an early scene, but the bowl itself is blocked by Toby's newspaper, so there's no way to tell what kind of decoration might be in there this time.

- Alex Graves was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, and the nod was very well deserved, in my opinion. That Emmy went to J. J. Abrams for the pilot episode of Lost.

- Why'd They Come Up With 2162 Votes?

In order to capture the nomination for the Democratic Party candidate for President, the nominee must have 2162 delegates for him or her. This convention episode is all about who will be the one to earn those 2162 votes.

Quotes    

Leo: "Enough! We'll flip a coin."

Will: "There are three of us. A coin only has two sides."

Leo: "Draw straws, pick a number out of a hat, I don't care."

So they turn to Rock, Paper, Scissors

----- 

Ned: "If Russell announces Baker as his VP how do we prevent a stampede to Russell on the second ballot?"

Josh: "By getting Hoynes to throw his support behind us."

Ned: "Why would he do that?"

Josh: "Only thing Hoynes would hate more than Matt Santos getting the nomination is Bob Russell getting the nomination."

Bram: "Santos - you hate him less."

-----

Leo: "One night of this is entertaining, two nights we look like idiots."

-----

Matt: "Did you tell Ned to offer New Jersey delegates federal jobs?"

Josh: "Did you hear the rumors about Baker's wife?"

Matt: "Do we know if these people are even remotely qualified - do they even have high school diplomas?"

Josh: "It's not violating any laws."

Matt: "Avoiding prosecution isn't the standard that I was shooting for."

 

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

• Another appearance by Dylan Clark, Hoynes' representative at the convention. He's played by Tim Kelleher (Thirteen Days, Independence Day, NCIS).
  

• The news anchor played by Ivan Allen (Sicario, Apollo 13) is back again; he's been an ongoing TV presence on the show ever since A Proportional Response. He's been seen on CNN, MSNBC, the series' onetime made-up news channel CND, and a local DC news station; more recently, as we see here, he's on the show's generic news channel.

• Bram (Matthew Del Negro) is back; we haven't seen him since he first appeared in La Palabra.

• New York delegate and head of the teachers' union Ernie Gambelli is played by Vincent Guastraferro (NYPD Blue, Spartan, State and Main, Wiseguy).
  

• Nancy pops up again, played by Martin Sheen's daughter Renée Estevez.

• Hey, look, it's Zoey! We did see her briefly in Things Fall Apart, with Charlie sneaking out of her room. Obviously she's staying with the First Family in the White House for the time being, and she's made the trip to San Diego for Jed's speech to the convention.

• Josh brings up the fact that Matt Santos won his home state of Texas in the primary; in Things Fall Apart I had the distinct impression that Russell took Texas. I think I misread that, though ... when Will, Josh, and the Hoynes representative are arguing over floor positioning of delegations in that episode Dylan Clark asks if they have something against Hoynes' home state (Texas) and Will says "The Vice President carried his home state" ... I misunderstood that to mean Russell won Texas, but he meant Russell won his home state of Colorado. I also completely missed Josh's reference to the Texas delegation being spirited and boisterous and Will's response, "And loud enough to be heard from the back of the room."
  

• Josh's remark about "stray Atkins delegates" reminds us of an Atkins who was another Democratic candidate first mentioned in King Corn, and was no doubt one of the "seven dwarfs" in Freedonia.

• The "indiscretions" Josh talks to Hoynes about brings to mind what caused Hoynes to resign the Vice Presidency in the first place in Life On Mars; his affair with a socialite where he tried to impress her with classified government information. We also know he's a serial adulterer, from the revelation he spent a night with CJ (Full Disclosure) to the news stories about dalliances with Senate staffers that led him to temporarily suspend his campaign in La Palabra.

• Donna brings coffee to Will; famously in her first appearance in Pilot we were told she had never before brought coffee to Josh until that day, when he was in trouble for what he said on Capitol Beat.
  

• CJ asks Toby to prepare two statements on the space station for the President; he asks, "You said a couple of statements?" to which she replies, "One if the President decides to save them, one if he doesn't." This should not be a surprise to Toby - the whole idea of having two speeches for differing outcomes of certain events has been discussed before, most movingly in 7A WF 83429 and The Dogs Of War - in that case, Toby himself explained to Will that they'd need two speeches ready, one in case Zoey was found alive and one if she wasn't.
  

• As CJ is heading to her interview with the FBI, Toby asks her if she should take a lawyer, to which she answers "I don't need a lawyer." This is almost word-for-word the conversation Sam had with Josh when Josh headed off to give his deposition to Les Claypool over Leo's rumored drug use in Lord John Marbury.
  

• A "Governor Baker" was first mentioned as a potential leading Democratic presidential candidate in The Hubbert Peak. Baker appeared in A Change Is Gonna Come when President Bartlet donated his 25th Amendment letter to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia; in the Oval Office he told Bartlet he was doing some early polling on his chances. Then, in In The Room, Baker made the surprise announcement he wouldn't be pursuing the nomination, for "family reasons." Baker was dipping his toe back in the race in Things Fall Apart, though, sounding quite receptive to Russell's overtures about a possible Vice President spot. Now, with the turmoil in the convention and no clear-cut nominee emerging, Baker decides to jump back into the race for the Presidential nomination - which blows up when word of his wife's hospital stays for depression become public. Was that the "family reasons" Baker used to get out of the race in the first place? Pretty ironic, I guess, that he didn't stick with his first decision, for his wife's sake ...
  

• Both Josh and Will are quick to tie Baker's hiding of his wife's depression treatment with President Bartlet's coverup of his multiple sclerosis. The MS was first disclosed to us in He Shall, From Time To Time ..., with the public announcement of his condition and the coverup playing out over the end of Season 2. The disease has not actually affected the President much (with the exception of Election Night) until he suffered an attack in A Change Is Gonna Come that extended through his China trip, and causes him to use a cane even now. 
  

• As Leo commiserates with Matt pondering the end of his run, he asks, "You ever think you'd get this far?" Matt replies, "Honestly, no, I didn't." This reminds me of Opposition Research when he admits to Josh he only agreed to run to get his education issues out on the table for discussion in the early primaries and then he expected he'd go back to Houston.
  

• CJ reminds the President how the Speaker forced him to nominate Russell as the Vice President to replace Hoynes because the Republicans knew Russell couldn't win the general election. We saw that play out in Jefferson Lives.
  

• To me, Matt's speech to the convention closely echoes what we heard Vinick say in In God We Trust.

Matt, in this episode: "But if we expect our leaders to live on some higher moral plane than the rest of us, well, we're just asking to be deceived."

Vinick, to the press in In God We Trust: "If you demand expressions of religious faith from politicians you are just begging to be lied to."

• Kate asks Toby, "You think Santos stands a chance against Vinick in the fall?" and Toby answers, "He's gonna get killed." Toby has been dismissive of Santos' chances ever since Josh first mentioned him as a potential candidate in Faith Based Initiative, when Toby asked if a military junta was part of Josh's nine-point plan.
  

• Leo's reaction to the Vice Presidential offer - and particularly the moment with him and President Bartlet before Jed takes the stage - reminds us of Memorial Day and the flashback to President-elect Bartlet telling Leo, "It should be you, Leo. You, not me."
  
  

DC location shots    

• None. See above for where the convention scenes were filmed.
  

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

• A cavalcade of network logos is seen inside the convention center: CNN, CBS News, ABC News, MSNBC, and NBC News.

• Early on we see a Diet Coke can and bottles of Aquafina water on the table in front of Leo and the candidates' teams.

• Annabeth says the networks will cut away from the convention to show Seinfeld repeats if they keep struggling to select a candidate.
  

• The front page of The Washington Post with a lead story about the ISS astronauts is clearly visible.

• There's a Nestlé ice cream vendor in the hallway outside the convention arena. It kinda reminds me of Will gazing longingly at his ice cream sandwich in the vending machine in King Corn.

The King Corn ice cream sandwich

• When Josh and Ronna are stopping by the concession stand in the hallway you can see a Samuel Adams beer tap. The set/props crew struggled mightily to turn those taps sideways and hide the logos, but they weren't completely successful.
  

• John Hoynes tells Josh that Larry King's booker keeps calling his delegates.
  

• Vice President Russell compares Baker's waffling on the VP offer to William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
  

• Leo is trying to keep the networks airing the convention on the first night when they're wanting to dump the boring stuff and go to local news; after Annabeth spills the word that a contentious and potentially damaging floor fight is coming with Baker's draft push, he says, "If you want to cut to Law & Order now, Susan, be my guest."
  

• The President, watching TV with Abbey, says, "It's a free-for-all. I think Aaron Burr's got 20 votes."
  

• Josh tells the head of the wavering New Jersey delegation, "You're not going to be left at the altar. You're gonna be wearing satin at the Elvis chapel."
  

• When Donna asks about his voice, Will says, "I feel like I just re-recorded Rod Stewart's back catalog."
  

• Donna brings Starbucks coffee to Will; there's a Panda Express box nearby.

• When Josh implies the New Jersey delegates could get government jobs under a Santos administration, he says most of the Interior Department will be humming Thunder Road - a song by New Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen.
  

Link To A Transcript Of The Episode

 

End credits freeze frame: The President and Leo just before Bartlet goes onstage to introduce the Democratic ticket.

 

 

Previous episode: Things Fall Apart

Next episode: The Ticket

Things Fall Apart - TWW S6E21

 

Original airdate: March 30, 2005

Written by: Peter Noah (5) 

Directed by: Nelson McCormick (1)

Synopsis

• The competing Democratic campaigns work feverishly to strike a deal and settle on a Presidential nominee to avoid chaos at the upcoming national convention. Charlie is caught sneaking around Zoey's room - by the President. And an oxygen leak on the International Space Station leads to a national security leak from the White House.
  

"Now that's the civilian shuttle."

"Sorry?"

Once again - and it should come as no surprise - as we hurtle toward the end of another West Wing season, we find ourselves swept along in a building torrent of events, leading us to what looks like another season-ending cliffhanger. We not only see the chaos of a brokered Democratic National Convention on the way, and the furrowed brow of President Father Bartlet considering Charlie's intentions towards his daughter, but the very serious likelihood of a national security leak coming out of the White House, from one of our very West Wing denizens.

 

There's a lot to take in here! First off, we have the continuation of what we saw in In God We Trust, a divided Democratic Party unable to settle on a candidate for President before the national convention. Both Vice President Russell and Congressman Santos are close to clinching the required number of delegates, but they aren't quite there yet - and former Vice President Hoynes is lurking as a kingmaker, or perhaps an option the party could "turn its lonely eyes to" if the convention stays deadlocked for too long. Attempting to avoid a chaotic, disorganized convention (especially as a reflection of the smoothly organized Republican convention we see going on during this episode), the top leaders of the Democratic Party - namely, President Bartlet and Leo - are anxious to clear up the uncertainty and get a candidate in place before the convention starts.

 

Russell wants to do that too. As the frontrunner, he feels he's holding all the cards, and he sends out a feeler to Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker about his willingness to join the ticket as the VP. Baker, you remember, was the leading candidate for the Democrats before the primaries began, but dropped out due to personal family reasons, leaving the race wide open.

 

Baker is receptive, but it turns out he's the backup plan. Russell and his team think the first choice would be for Matt Santos, the neck-and-neck second place candidate, to come on the ticket. Once Will floats the offer to Josh, Josh takes it to Matt, interrupting a little "personal time" in the bargain.

(I have to say, the show's continued portrayal of the Santos couple as a young, vibrant, loving couple who really dig each other is pretty neat. I like that they still canoodle and enjoy each other's company!)

This is a tough offer to turn down, especially as Helen stands firm with her opinion that Russell can't win, would be a bad President anyway, and if the primaries had gone on for another week, Matt would have clinched the nomination. Remember, this campaign was a long shot from the beginning, back when Josh traveled down to Houston in Impact Winter to see if Matt was interested, and back in New Hampshire in Opposition Research when Matt figured he was just in this for a few weeks to get the topic of education on the table. But now things are "getting real," as they say.

Matt: "Hard to say no to the vice presidency."

Josh: "Well, it's not what you signed up for."

Matt: "No one signs up to come in second."

Josh: "Are you kidding me?"

Matt: "We didn't."

Then the White House itself comes down on all three candidates - stop the bickering over the convention, about who has the better hotels or which delegations will be up front, and act unified. Leo also has a message for Josh; get Matt to agree to take Russell's offer.

Interestingly, when Josh and Donna cross paths in a hotel bar, the discussion goes to Russell's offer, and it turns out Donna has a different take from her boss:

Donna: "You want him to accept?"

Josh: "You don't."

(pause)

Donna: "I have concerns."

(pause; then rapidly)

Josh: "He's not hit-man enough."

Donna: "Too much voltage at the bottom of the ticket."

Josh: "Overshadows the nominee."

Donna: "Gets people wishing the names were reversed."

Josh: "People willing to wait til next time. (they smile at each other) How'd you get so smart about this?"

Donna: "I had a good teacher."

But the meeting is set up, Matt and Russell retire to speak alone in Russell's suite (where Matt also offers to flip a coin to see which man would get to run as the Presidential candidate, a halfway-serious quip Russell does not find humorous) ... until the meeting quickly breaks up with Matt striding out of the room and into the elevator.

Matt: "Mad at me?"

Josh: "No. (pause) Oddly."

Matt: "Disappointed?"

Josh: "Proud, I think."

Josh has to face Leo again, telling him Matt turned down the offer, which gets Leo more than a bit peeved - but there's nothing he can do about it. 

Leo: "Matthew Santos has had a terrific ride. Improbable, impressive - and over. This is a return to reality. He's Russell's Vice President."

Josh: "It's not gonna happen."

Leo: "You are going to do this for the President. For your party."

Josh: "I'm not. I don't agree with it. I told him to say yes - I was wrong. He's twice the man Russell is on his best day. Ten times. And Russell doesn't have that many best days."

Leo: "I'll go tell the President."

The Democrats are going to the national convention without a Presidential candidate, and it's probably going to be a mess. 

The lighter plot thread of the episode consists of Charlie, back to seeing Zoey (and sleeping with her, right there in the White House!), and Zoey's dad President Bartlet catching him pretty much red-handed in the residence. We first see Charlie getting a secret message from someone (it's Zoey) on his phone, then later that night in Zoey's doorway:

After Charlie says his goodnights, he happily heads down the hall - until he hears a sound from behind:

As a father, Jed is less then enthused about his daughter having relations practically under his nose (even though Zoey is a college graduate and turned 25 in In The Room).

President: "I think perhaps the best thing is for us to carry on as if this encounter hadn't happened."

Charlie: "Due respect - I'm having a hard time exactly imagining that."

President: "It's one in the morning, we both have to be at work in a few hours, and you're standing outside my daughter's bedroom. I say we give it a shot."

When Jed brings this up with Abbey later, it turns out she's known for a while - they kept it a secret from Jed because, well ... dads, you know? The President calls Charlie in to the Oval Office for a meeting about it, where Charlie ends up making his case for having a more open relationship with Zoey instead of sneaking around, which Jed misinterprets as Charlie getting ready to propose, which leads to ... some confusion about the issue, which doesn't really get cleared up. More to come, maybe.

Meanwhile, in the storyline that's going to play out all the way through Season 7, there are life-and-death consequences in orbit above the earth. There's an oxygen leak on the International Space Station, and if the astronauts can't stop it they will suffocate in three weeks. The NASA administrator comes by to talk with the President, but when Bartlet's not available he meets with Kate and CJ instead - where his slip of the tongue proves consequential.

CJ: "Can't a shuttle be pressed into service notwithstanding the review?"

Administrator: "One's missing half its wing assembly, the other's undergoing tile replacement. Now, we can try and speed up repairs ..."

Kate: "The concern would be losing the shuttle crew and the station crew."

Administrator: "Now, that's the civilian shuttle ..."

CJ: "Sorry?"

There's another shuttle, a non-civilian military shuttle, that no one without top security clearance knows about? Well, now CJ knows, or at least uses the administrator's slip to figure out, along with reviewing Pentagon space-related budgets and a chat with Toby.

Remember, Toby's brother David was an astronaut in the space shuttle program; back in What Kind Of Day Has It Been Toby and everyone else was on edge waiting to see if David and his crew were able to return from orbit safely when that shuttle had some reentry problems. Toby is already dealing with an emotionally fraught situation with his brother, who took his own life after being diagnosed with cancer (Drought Conditions), so he's a bit taken aback when CJ brings him up. She wants to know if David ever mentioned the existence of a military shuttle, or even hinted at such a thing.

Toby admits that, yeah, occasionally his brother might hint at lording some secret like that over him - one more bit of information for CJ to confirm her suspicions. Eventually she's officially brought into the loop with the President, Kate, and Secretary Hutchinson, but what seems to her a no-brainer (just launch the thing and go save three lives) isn't such a quick decision for the President. Not only would using the military shuttle on a rescue mission expose its existence, but one of the men on the ISS is a Russian cosmonaut, who would undoubtedly gather as much intelligence about the ship as he possibly could.

We get a lot of shots of CJ brooding in this episode, brooding over the fate of the astronauts, sitting alone looking at the TV as the decision to save them or not isn't being made, staring at the news as those ISS crewmen are slowly being suffocated. Finally, we get a dramatic revelation - Annabeth bursts into Toby's office with word of Greg Brock's upcoming New York Times story exposing the military shuttle program, making the whole secret enterprise open to the world. And apparently someone with knowledge of the shuttle, connected to the White House, has confirmed the information with Brock, giving him the certainty to publish ...

A scene which is immediately followed by another shot of CJ, sitting alone in the dark, musing over ... something. What are Peter Noah and Nelson McCormick trying to tell us? There's one more episode of the season to come - will we get answers, or is it cliffhanger time again?

 

Tales Of Interest!

- Previous season-ending cliffhangers included the shooting at Rosslyn at the end of Season 1 (What Kind Of Day Has It Been); the unanswered question to President Bartlet about his intentions to run again (although we realize what his answer is going to be, it's not quite a cliffhanger) at the end of Season 2 (Two Cathedrals); what the fallout will be for President Bartlet ordering the assassination of Sharif at the end of Season 3 (Posse Comitatus); Zoey's kidnapping and Jed's stepping away from the Presidency at the end of Season 4 (Twenty Five); and the invitations to the Camp David Mideast summit and Donna's recovery from surgery at the end of Season 5 (Memorial Day). We are not quite to season-ending cliffhanger territory yet, but the setup is here.

 

- Leo's whiteboard, first seen in 365 Days, serves as a countdown of the final year of President Bartlet's administration, leading us to January 20, 2007. The 178 we see here makes this July 26, 2006 - which fits for the ongoing Republican convention and the upcoming Democratic convention.

 

- There's little doubt the show is leading us to the conclusion that CJ is the person who leaked the information about the military shuttle to Greg Brock. Not only do those two have a professional history (going back to Full Disclosure when Brock gave CJ a heads-up on his interview with Hoynes), but the repeated shots of CJ considering something deeply and seriously as word of the ISS crisis goes on are designed to take us there.

- It was just the previous episode where President Bartlet called in Russell and Santos personally to read them the riot act about not attacking each other after the New Jersey primary when neither of them locked up the nomination. This isn't too much later, but the campaigns get called on the carpet yet again (along with Hoynes), this time to hear from Leo.

- Here's Gail's fishbowl, but I can't tell what's supposed to be in it.

- Why'd They Come Up With Things Fall Apart?

William Butler Yeats' poem The Second Coming includes the famous phrase "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold." His poem serves as an allegory about post-World-War-I Europe, evoking images of the Apocalypse and the return of Christ. So, therefore, the chaos and uncertain future being presented in this episode - in both the prospect of a brokered convention and the leak about the military shuttle - certainly illustrates the phrase, "Things fall apart."

Quotes    

Josh: "Boil your message down to the title of a bad TV show."

Will: "Careful, it was formative for many of us."

Josh: "Formative?"

Will: "Crush on the mom."

Josh: "Very Mrs. Robinson. Were you, eight?"

Will: "Eh, she seemed knowing."

Josh: "Eight kids."

Will: "Maybe not so knowing about contraception."

-----

Josh: "The best argument is, it sets you up as the consensus front-runner in either four or eight years. The nomination would be yours."

Helen: "Or you're so tainted by association when Vinick cleans Russell's clock you can't run for dogcatcher."

(Matt turns, looks at Helen)

Josh: "I don't think anyone elects dogcatchers any more."

Helen: "My dad ran for dogcatcher."

Josh: "Really?"

Matt: "No!"

----- 

Kate (coming up behind CJ and Charlie): "Hey."

CJ: "Is for horses. Thank you, Granny Cregg."

Kate: "You can take a girl out of the Midwest ..."

CJ: "As fast as her little feet can fly, or not so little."

-----

Sullivan (on TV, speaking at the convention): "My fellow Americans, the body politic is ailing."

Josh (watching at the hotel bar): "You're not going there."

Sullivan: "We have businesses paralyzed by overregulation."

Josh: "Tell me you're not going there."

Sullivan: "Our international profile is a shadow of our former strength."

Donna (coming up next to Josh): "Is he doing what I think he is?"

Sullivan: "Our foreign policy stumbling from one crisis to another."

Donna: "The MS, he's invoking the MS."

Sullivan: "... progressively falling apart before our very eyes."

Josh: "This is going to backfire."

Sullivan: "A Defense Department that's enfeebled ..."

Donna: "Maybe people won't get it."

Sullivan: "... so clogged with complications it's positively sclerotic."

Donna: "Okay, they'll get that."

-----

CJ: "Would he have been okay sacrificing himself for national security?"

Toby: "He would have insisted on it. (pause) But don't ask me what I would have insisted on."

 

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

• It's flashback time! Here's Michigan Rep. Darren Gibson (David St. James), who we first saw in Bartlet For America trying to out Leo's 1998 alcohol relapse during the hearings over Bartlet's MS coverup. We also saw him on MSNBC in The Dover Test ranting about the President's Gaza peacekeeping plan. It's so cool to have the same actor appear over different seasons to give us a feeling of reality and consistency.
  

• Governor Eric Baker (Ed O'Neill) reappears. First mentioned in The Hubbert Peak as the potential frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Baker first appeared in A Change Is Gonna Come when President Bartlet donated his 25th Amendment letter to the National Constitution Center, and again in In The Room when he announced he would not be running for President due to personal family reasons. Those reasons must not be stopping him from considering the VP spot, I guess.
  

• DNC chairman Steve Rorsche is played by Mark L. Taylor (Melrose Place, Saving Grace, Innerspace, Honey I Shrunk The Kids).
  

• Dylan Clark, Hoynes' representative at the meeting with Leo, is played by Tim Kelleher (Thirteen Days, Independence Day, NCIS, Dark Skies).
  

• I suppose she's still not all that excited about the prospect of becoming First Lady, but Helen instantly dismisses Russell's VP offer when Josh delivers it (remember, she was very reluctant about running at all in Faith Based Initiative, and leery about pushing too much and staying in too long in King Corn; she did agree to mortgage their house if need be before they won California in La Palabra, though, but that was to keep Matt in the campaign until Texas). Also remember Josh and Matt seemed to consider a VP offer totally out of reach in Opposition Research, yet here they are, and they're not instantly leaping on board (although with good reason, "too much voltage at the bottom of the ticket" and both of them recognize Russell can't beat Vinick).
  

• Kate makes a remark about taking "a girl out of the Midwest" when talking to CJ. As we saw in The Long Goodbye, CJ is a native of Dayton, Ohio.
  

• Ray Sullivan's thinly-veiled remarks on President Bartlet's weakness (pretty much explicitly bringing up his multiple sclerosis) is based on Jed's health arc that began in He Shall, From Time To Time ... and came front and center at the end of Season 2. The disease really had little impact on the President (except for Election Night) until A Change Is Gonna Come, and has been an important factor since then.
  

• Josh and Donna's conversation makes us think about their long history together, from Pilot when Donna brought Josh coffee for the first time (as he was facing his potential firing for something he said on TV) - or even from the first time she shows up in New Hampshire and just starts answering phones in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part II. When Josh asks her how she got to be so good at political strategizing, she responds, "I had a good teacher," by which she means she learned it all by watching Josh work.
  

• Charlie and Zoey first met in The Crackpots And These Women, and began dating shortly after. Their relationship was the motivation for the Rosslyn shooters in What Kind Of Day Has It Been/In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen, although Zoey pretty much disappeared after The Midterms. She returned for Holy Night, now in a relationship with the skeevy French royalty Jean-Paul; Charlie pledged to fight to get her back the rest of that season, especially in Inauguration: Over There, and was particularly distraught after Jean-Paul's drugging of Zoey was a factor in her kidnapping in Commencement. They seemed to be quite friendly in Abu el Banat; Charlie was trying to rekindle their relationship in The Hubbert Peak, and it must have worked as he was sitting next to Zoey at her birthday party in In The Room, and now they are in a full-fledged physical boyfriend-girlfriend thing that Charlie wants to move even further forward with.
  

• In the meeting with Annabeth we see the usual reporters Chris, Steve, and Greg Brock. In addition there's the female reporter played by Joyce Guy I first remember from Access (but she's actually credited for five appearances before this, back to Constituency Of One).
  

Chris

The reporter billed as Charlayne and Steve

Greg Brock

• A quick shot of Nancy ushering Leo into the Oval Office. Played by Martin Sheen's daughter Renée Estevez, Nancy is credited for appearing in 44 episodes.
  

• The Jed Bartlet jacket flip appears. Martin Sheen's left shoulder was injured at birth, making it difficult for him to lift that arm above this shoulder, so he developed this method of putting on jackets.
  

• When the campaign representatives are fighting in front of Leo, we hear Josh asking for the California delegation to be up front, reminding us that Matt won the California primary in La Palabra; we also discover Russell won Texas, Hoynes' and Santos' home state, which is a bit interesting considering the importance Matt put on staying in through the Texas primary.

EDIT: I completely messed up the Texas reference. Josh is pulling for Texas to be up front ("spirited, boisterous") because Matt won his home state; it's Will who's dismissing them to the back. And Dylan's remark about disrespecting Hoynes' home state (Texas) followed by Will saying, "The Vice President won his home state" means he's referring to Russell's home state of Colorado, not Texas. So I read that totally wrong.
 

DC location shots    

• None, although there are several establishing shots of the White House used in this episode. In case we forget where we are, I guess ...

 

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

• Josh says about the Ohio governor's speech at the Republican convention, "It's Lincolnesque - boil your message down to the title of a bad TV show." By which he means ...
  

• Eight Is Enough, which is part of the chant Governor Reed starts at the convention and was an ABC TV show from 1977 to 1981 (although as Will says, it wasn't exactly bad).

Gov. Reed (on TV at the convention, leading the chant): "What say we?"

Leo (watching TV with Charlie in his office): "Would eight, perhaps, be enough?"

(We hear the convention goers shouting "Eight is enough!")

Charlie: "Uncanny."

Leo: "Psychic."

• Josh then goes on to compare Will's attraction to the mother in the show with Mrs. Robinson, from the 1967 film The Graduate.  
  

• There are cans of A&W soda and Diet Pepsi on the table in Matt's suite.

• Ronna says guys Josh's age have a thing about (Bob) Dylan when he says something about "if wishes were horses." Josh and Matt turn that back on Ronna:

Josh: "And yes, I believe, that somewhere in the back of his deeply deluded political mind he imagines, 'Deadlocked Convention.' A nation turns its lonely eyes to Hoynes."

Matt (to Ronna): "Simon and Garfunkel."

• There's mention of last week's Time cover (exploding donkey, Dems in disarray). The MSNBC logo appears, and Annabeth says Brock's story on the military shuttle will appear in the New York Times.

MSNBC

• President Bartlet mentions Wernher Von Braun's autobiography, I Aim For The Stars. And then added Mort Sahl's joke that the title should have continued, "Only sometimes I hit London."
  

• CJ makes a quip about Grand Ole Opry broadcasts in the Situation Room.
  

• A Dunkin Donuts coffee cup is seen on the table with the reporters and Annabeth. 

• Leo compares the chaos of the upcoming convention to professional wrestling, then mentions how nobody runs out and votes for the "the loudmouth in a leotard," to which Josh responds, "Outside of Minnesota." This would appear to be a reference to former professional wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura, who was elected governor of Minnesota between 1999 and 2003.
  

• CJ exclaims to Leo, "This is Alice in Wonderland" as she's talking about the refusal to use the military shuttle to rescue the ISS crew.
  

Link To A Transcript Of The Episode

End credits freeze frame: Donna, Russell, Santos, and Will all reacting to Josh's joke about "three feet on the floor at all times."

Previous episode: In God We Trust

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