Constituency Of One - TWW S5E5

 

Original airdate: October 29, 2003

Teleplay by: Eli Attie (9)
Story by: Eli Attie and Michael Oates Palmer (3) 

Directed by: Laura Innes (3)

Synopsis

• Josh gets in trouble when his strong-arm tactics cause a Senator to switch parties. Amy gets in trouble by using Abbey's name to change the CDC budget. CJ gets in trouble when she tries to stand up to Leo's tampering with EPA documents. Will doesn't get in trouble, really, but Toby is less than pleased when Will decides to work for the Vice President.

"You're leaving the party be ... this is -- 'cause of me?" 

"I'm not leaving 'cause of you. But you made it a whole lot easier."

We've got trouble, folks. Right here in DC city.

Everybody is feeling a bit too powerful, a bit full of themselves, a bit too eager to push the limits. Leo is tampering with independent EPA reports. CJ is practically throwing him under the bus for that in front of the press. Vice President Russell is trying to poach Will away from the West Wing, while at the same time Toby is fighting to move up into a real policymaking position while leaving the speechwriting to Will. Amy is taking advantage of the First Lady's popularity to fund one of her domestic violence prevention priorities, to the detriment of the rest of the HHS budget. And then there's Josh ... Josh, shaking his head at a newspaper profile recognizing his power on Capitol Hill while at the same time ruthlessly using (abusing?) that power to embarrass a Senator for holding up military promotions.

And for at least a couple of these folks, their overstepping of the boundaries just ends up blowing up right in their faces.

Toby and Will open the episode, working deep into the night on the mind-numbing task of developing a message calendar for the administration, trying to control the agenda and thereby stay ahead of every day's "emergency of the day." Will is stunned when Vice President Russell tells him he wants to hire him away from Toby, to give him a post as Russell's chief strategist. This is tempting to Will, especially considering the funk in which Toby has put the communications office - the notion of taking an empty suit like Russell and building him from the ground up, to drive the narrative of who should be the obvious nominee to succeed President Bartlet in a few years, is a tremendous opportunity.

Toby does not see it that way. As he did in Han, he goes to Leo and asks for the opportunity to take over more responsibility, to step into a position where he can help set the policy, rather than just communicate it to the public. Leo again puts him off, pushing for that message calendar, and Toby's frustration boils over at Will.

Toby: "You're not considering it."

Will: "The clock's running out."

Toby: "You are not considering it."

Will: "How many months are we going to spend making calendars?"

Toby: "You think I want to be making calendars? You think I like being in a PR dogfight with Congress, writing banner copy for photo ops?!"

But Will gets to the point of countering Toby's argument pretty directly.

Toby: "Russell's an empty cowboy suit, you work for the leader of the free world."

Will: "I work for a guy who works for a guy who works for the leader of the free world."

Near the end of the episode Toby begs Leo again, passionate about where he wants to take the administration, using the ambitious goals of previous administrations in his argument: 

Toby: "Where's our hundred days? Where's our Great Society? Where's our New Frontier? Somebody's got to do what we came here to do. Those jobs aren't coming back. We lose or cave on every battle we have with Congress, and we have a calendar - not a plan."

But it's too late.

Leo: "Will's going to work for the Vice President."

Quite the change in the overall story of The West Wing as Will, an eager young campaign manager who directed the election of a dead candidate in Election Night, then excitedly jumped into the Bartlet communications office in Arctic Radar before getting stunned speechless (or, actually, hearing-less) with an actual job offer in Inauguration: Over There, is now giving up his White House office to work for what's seen as a weak, politically vulnerable Vice President. 

CJ and Leo find themselves in a bit of a tiff ... again. CJ is facing questions from the press about an EPA report that differs from a draft version, in that some paragraphs critical of coal are missing. The press wonders if the White House had something to do with the change, and Leo, well ... 

CJ: "What midlevel lackey tampers with an independent report?"

Leo: "You're looking at him."

[...]

CJ: "We have to do a total mea culpa. Make this a one-day story."

Leo: We're not culpa-ing anything. 'The report will reflect administration views.'" 

CJ - who we know has the skills and ability to tap-dance around any press questions and handle it the way Leo wants it handling - ends up blowing it.

CJ (to the press): "If there was interference with an independent report, that was obviously a mistake."

And that gets her called on the carpet with Leo, as he demands she put out a statement under her own name taking back the "mistake" comment and reemphasizing that the final EPA report reflects the administration's position.

CJ: "You don't want me to do that."

Leo: "I do."

CJ: "That's saying I wasn't speaking for this White House."

Leo: "You weren't."

And finally, after she does release the statement and gets a bit more background explanation from Leo, we end up with what I think is a stunning quote that totally reverses almost everything we've learned about Leo and the Bartlet presidency since 1999.

Leo: "I'm not apologizing to you. I'm telling you my thinking as a courtesy. But you work for me. When I make a decision, that's the decision. If you can't back it up, don't go in the briefing room."

CJ: "We're here to serve the country."

Leo: "We are the country." 

"We are the country"? This is not at all a reflection of the West Wing style we've seen from these folks before. This a totally new direction, a radical swerve from "serving the people" to "we know what's best and they'll like it."

There's ongoing tension from the Jed/Abbey situation echoing through the halls, after Abbey took Zoey and departed to New Hampshire in Jefferson Lives. Abbey blames Jed and Leo's secretive decision to kill the Qumari Defense Minister (Posse Comitatus) for creating the situation leading to Zoey's kidnapping (Commencement). Now the President is on his own in the residence, and he's got a little resentment of his own building up over his wife's attitude.

President (in the kitchen of the residence): "I want a CIA briefer here in person every morning. Why'd I get this on paper?"

Charlie: "You never have briefers in the family quarters, sir. Your rule is --"

President: "That was Abbey's rule."

And that resentment ends up boiling over when Amy uses Abbey's name (and popularity) to rewrite the Health and Human Services budget. In Jefferson Lives we saw Amy's concern over cuts to the CDC violence prevention budget; here, with Abbey's popularity running high in Congress, she takes the opportunity to call congressmen on Abbey's behalf, causing even Republicans to jump in and restore the funding. And then not only are the cuts restored, but the spending increases to over double the original request. This wouldn't be much of a problem, except - increasing that particular pile of money means huge cuts to other CDC priorities, like programs to combat bioterrorism and pandemic response.

President Bartlet figures out how this is happening, and he pays a visit to Amy's office.

President: "How many calls today?"

Amy: "Sir?"

President: "The First Lady, how many calls did she make to members of the subcommittee today?"

(Amy is silent)

President: "No calls. She's hiking in the White Mountains. She made no calls, you made them." 

And now he lashes out as his anger at Abbey finds a target.

President: "My wife is not a budget appropriation. She's not a line. Don't put words in her mouth. Don't treat her like she's your blank checkbook."

(He turns to leave)

Amy: "Due respect, sir, it's what she'd want."

President (forcefully): "She has to be here to want things ... and you don't have to be here at all." 

 Did she ... just get fired?

Turns out no, she wasn't, but she begins to see that maybe this isn't the right place for her to work at all. She goes to Josh, desperate to tell the story of what happened, to look for his support and consolation - and this is where the two major plotlines of this episode start to come together.

Back to the start: Josh's day - his birthday, by the way - begins with a Washington Post article lauding him as Bartlet's point man on Capitol Hill, the "101st Senator" who can bend Congress to the President's will.

Josh is outwardly upset at the article - claiming the staffers don't trumpet their individual successes in public - but inside I think he feels a bit of barely self-contained pride. The quip to Donna about saving a copy for his mother is evidence, as well as the memory of the previous episode when he leaned on Rep. Theile for his vote to confirm Russell as VP (a vote Theile eventually did cast, but it wasn't because of Josh - and Josh doesn't know that). Things don't get much better when - in an obvious homage to a part of the story saying Josh once sent a dead fish to a congressman - a fish wrapped in newspaper appears on Josh' desk.

With the glow of all that attention fresh, Josh is ready and willing to use his heralded influence when news breaks of military promotions being secretly put on hold by a Senator. Josh quickly figures out it's Idaho Senator Chris Carrick, who is a Democrat yet still often a thorn in the administration's side (there's a couple of mentions about the administration losing a vote on a stimulus package a week ago, with Carrick being one of the No votes). Josh heads out to use his persuasive skills at the Senator's office (where a bowl of potatoes reminds us he represents Idaho).

There we find out Sen. Carrick has a reason for holding up these promotions - he wants an anti-missile missile system built in his state, a program he was promised by ... a previous President?

Josh: "No, let's talk about what you're going to do for our underpaid, underpromoted fighting men and women." 

Carrick: "Not a damn thing until I get my launcher."

Josh: "And when were you promised -- "

Carrick: "Seven years ago."

(pause)

Josh: "Under the last President?"

Carrick: "Right."

Josh: "Okay, uh, a bunch of things have fallen by the wayside since then, like communism."

Not only that, but the anti-missile system doesn't work and the Pentagon doesn't want it anyway. Carrick refuses to budge.

And now we begin to have these two plotlines merge, with Amy going too far to fund her priorities and getting slapped down by the President, and an overly confident Josh arm-twisting a vulnerable Idaho Democrat, mostly just because he can.

Amy's hope of consolation from Josh is dashed, as Josh has discovered the Post article (and the dead fish on his desk) were all Amy's doing. She thought it would make a nice birthday present for her boyfriend; he's offended because she doesn't seem to know the rules of how the West Wing works.

Josh: "We don't glorify ourselves. How is the President going to feel when I've got better press than him? How's every punk congressional staffer going to feel when I'm taking victory laps the week after losing a key vote?"

Amy stands firm - even calling out the staff's dedication to the President as "a messianic cult," which seems a bit much to me - and eventually spills the fact that she thinks she was fired by the President. Josh immediately tells her to apologize, to say she was wrong and save her job - and then he rushes away from Amy, as word of Carrick doubling down and putting holds on even more promotions arrives, their conversation dropped right there mid-very-important-topic.

Josh strides out of his office, taking Carrick's move as a personal challenge, and ups the stakes himself by calling the press to expose the Senator as the man behind the hold, embarrassing a conservative Democrat from Idaho as not supportive of America's military men and women.

Meanwhile, an abandoned Amy is called to the Oval Office, where the President somewhat grumpily admits he hasn't fired her. Amy, though, is starting to see the reality of what's happening, not only professionally, but also personally.

Amy: "I think it's best for me to leave, sir. What I did today, lobbying, prodding, prying money out of that HHS subcommittee, that's what I'm good at. I wasn't made to serve at someone else's pleasure. I don't think my staying would please anyone anyway."

And a final remark that not only applies to Amy and Josh, but also Jed and Abbey:

Amy: "This building's not very conducive to relationships, sir." 

Josh is surprised when he learns Senator Carrick has come to the White House in person. Josh's public calling-out of Carrick has had the desired effect, he's going to release the holds and let the promotions be awarded. Our story threads come together as a distracted Josh comes to meet Carrick in the Roosevelt Room.

Outside the door, Amy has her things and is leaving, perhaps for the last time, her discussion with Josh unfinished, maybe forever.

Josh's gaze is at the door, even with Senator Carrick seated right in front of him.

But Josh is grateful for the Senator's release of the promotion holds, and is ready to continue with business as usual - until Carrick slides a letter across the desk:

Josh: "What's this?"

Carrick:  "It's my letter of resignation from the Democratic Party."

Josh: "Come again?"

Carrick: "I'm running as a Republican in my next election."

Josh is first flustered, but then the reality of this party switch in a divided, Republican-controlled Congress begins to sink in.

Josh: "We can't win back the Senate without Idaho. We can't pass the tax bill, the new stimulus package ... (realizing the true ramifications, desperately) - I'll get you a meeting with Fitzwallis. A meeting with the President."

To no avail. Josh's overbearing pressure on Carrick has gotten the military promotions to go through, but at a terrible cost - the loss of a Democratic Senator, losing the chance at winning back control, and losing immediate prospects of passing any significant legislation. It's a disaster of epic proportions, and it's directly on the shoulders of Josh.

"You're leaving the party be ... this is -- 'cause of me?"

"I'm not leaving 'cause of you. But you made it a whole lot easier."

A stunned Josh wanders into the hallway, blindly holding the envelope in front of him. Margaret leads him to the Mural Room to meet Leo ... but of course, it's a surprise birthday party for Josh.

Note the "dead fish" cake.

One he can't possibly enjoy.

Tales Of Interest!

- Timelines! We know Jefferson Lives was on the Fourth of July. Han, where Russell's VP confirmation got through Congress, couldn't have been a whole lot later than that - the entire reason Bartlet caved to the Republicans and their list of candidates was to avoid a drawn-out fight, to get the office filled quickly. (The only time this happened in reality, in 1974 with President Gerald Ford's nomination of Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President, the process took months - but both Republicans and Democrats had issues with Rockefeller and drug out the process, which would absolutely not be the case here.) So if the confirmation process took six weeks, say, Han would have been mid- to perhaps late-August.

We appear to be in September here, I'm guessing, and that guess comes mainly from Toby's message calendar white board. It's clearly labeled "Fall Message Calendar," and the month outlined on it starts on a Wednesday. In 2003, October started on a Wednesday. Since this calendar is being set up for future planning and not the month we're actually in, this episode is probably set around mid-September.

This means quite a fall in job approval ratings for President Bartlet, which were near 70 percent or better on the Fourth of July, and now have dropped below 50 percent a couple of months later. I guess the economy really must be heading for a recession - er, I mean "bagel" ...

- There are some very noticeable changes to how some of these characters act, at least in comparison to what we've learned about them over the past four seasons. This is understandable, I guess, when you take into account the John Wells showrunning team taking over for the departed Aaron Sorkin, who had almost total control over the teleplays - but it's still striking. I've talked before about the Jed/Abbey dynamic, how during the Sorkin era their disagreements were more of an active, vibrantly charged conflict between equals but now in Season 5 Jed is a mopey, guilt-ridden husband meekly accepting the passive-aggressive barbs thrown his way by Abbey. But specifically in this episode:

• Will and Toby bonded deeply over their love of language and writing and the responsibility and legacy of speaking for the very President of the United States when their paths first crossed. Remember in Arctic Radar, when they exchanged drafts of the inaugural address, and they were both impressed by the other's writing? Toby said, talking about the awesome history of inaugural addresses, "I really thought I was on my way to being one of those guys. I thought I was close. Now I'm just writing for my life and you can't serve the President that way. But if I can't write ... I can't serve him at all." Now, he wants to step back from writing to try to play a bigger role in setting overall policy, to hand off his writing responsibilities (that basically defined him for four years) to Will and become a Bartlet policy wonk. That's quite a change in motivations.

• Will, similarly, is shifting from his adoration of working in the West Wing (remember when he had an artificial border he couldn't cross, before he was given Sam's office and, eventually, an official White House job?) to moving across the street to a (kinda) lower-status job with the Vice President. This one I could maybe see as an organic character development - Will is tired of the mind-numbing busy work of helping Toby make calendars, and he sees the chance to take a party hack like Bingo Bob and build him into the presumptive 2006 Presidential nominee, perhaps riding this new job into a fresh 8 years in office. So that can make sense, for a young ambitious fellow like Will Bailey.

• Leo's tampering with the EPA memo seems totally out of character for him, even if he's just making the report "reflect administration views." You'll remember in Manchester, when Josh wanted to exert some pressure on the FDA to hold off on their press release approving RU-486 until after President Bartlet announced his candidacy for re-election, Leo was the one that forcefully told him the White House could not interfere with independent decisions by other government agencies. Now it's Leo who's axing paragraphs out of EPA reports to protect the coal industry. Hmmm.

• Then there's CJ. She's been one of the moral voices of the staff for a long time, so this is nothing new - but this makes the third episode in a row where she's poking back against administration actions (in Jefferson Lives she was pressing for more answers about the reasoning behind the Shareef assassination; in Han she pushed for granting asylum to the North Korean pianist, against the eventual decision of the President; and now she's practically throwing Leo under the bus for his tampering with the EPA report). These can be reasonable positions for CJ to take, but "I'm shaking my fist at these bad decisions!" shouldn't be the only reason for CJ to be in the story.

• I'll also add I was disappointed in how CJ dealt with that issue, at least in front of the press. She doesn't have to agree with the decisions made in the Oval Office, but she can't openly scoff at them either. As Leo told her, she had the line - just keep repeating "The final report will reflect administration views" and be done with it. Who cares if a reporter has copies of both the draft and the final report? Drafts are just that, drafts, subject to change and revision. We've seen CJ as a cool, calm professional far too many times to see her lose it under these questions. Think back to The Women Of Qumar, with an issue that was far more personal and important to CJ than this one, and how she was able to smoothly handle the press without her personal views coming through. Now, to have her blurt out, "If there was interference with an independent report, that was obviously a mistake" in front of the press like that - well, much like how Toby and Will should have been justifiably fired for writing (and not deleting) their scorching description of Bob Russell in the President's speech in Han, CJ should probably find herself eased out of her position for contradicting Leo and, by extension, the administration itself. (That said, we had the whole "keep CJ out of the loop with this India/Pakistan thing because she might spill it to Danny Concannon" in Lord John Marbury; that was finally put to bed in What Kind Of Day Has It Been. We also saw CJ offer to resign after misspeaking about the President being "relieved" to focus on a military operation in Haiti rather than his MS in Manchester Part I. But those were different situations - the CJ we've gotten to know over four years should have been able to brush off questions about the EPA report without breaking a sweat, then later take Leo to task for his tampering in private.)

- Gail's fishbowl gets two different decorations in this episode. We first see what looks like a mini-White House:

And later a color-coded calendar page, much like the one Toby is trying to create:

Someone (Carol?) was pretty busy in CJ's office, considering this was all the same day.

- The third West Wing directing stint for Laura Innes, best known for her role as Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER. There's actually quite a pipeline of former ER performers working on The West Wing, which I guess makes some sense as John Wells was a producer of both shows.

- Why'd They Come Up With Constituency Of One?

Josh tries to explain to Amy why they don't take victory laps over their successes in this White House:

Amy: "It's not the code to look strong to your constituents?"

Josh: "The only constituency that matters in this building is the constituency of one - the guy in the round room, and that's who you and I work for."

Quotes    

Russell: "Oh, I have to work longer hours. I'm playing with a handicap."

Will: "Sir?"

Russell: "Spare tire on the automobile of government. Heartbeat away from having a heartbeat. The story of the two brothers."

Will: "The two brothers?"

Russell: "One went to sea, one became Vice President - neither was heard from again." 

-----

Josh: "It's an embarrassment. You should be stealing everyone's copies before they can read it."

Donna: "And burning them on the South Lawn?"

Josh: "I'm serious. ... Save one for my mom." 

----- 

Toby: "Who's Ben?"

CJ: "A guy I lived with for six months."

Toby: "I didn't know you lived with a guy named Ben."

CJ: "There's a lot you don't know about me."

Toby: "Like what?"

CJ: "Well ... that's about it, really." 

Toby: "You don't want his calls?"

CJ: "Well, if I take his call, of course it would be great to hear his voice - he has this low, husky radio voice - and we'd be swapping memories and old jokes and pet names and then it's the frisky little e-mails and pretty soon it's, you know, the weekend in Little Washington and the late-night phone calls and that's when we begin to get on each other's nerves, cause we get on each other's nerves. He has this thing where he twirls his hair and ... Anyway, the bloom's off the rose and I don't call as much and it's the guilt and the cherchez la femme and why-didn't-it-work-out-the-first-time and it's ten years til we talk again."

Toby: "That was like a bad romantic comedy in fifteen seconds." 

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

• The recalcitrant Idaho Senator Chris Carrick is played by Tom Skerritt (Alien, Top Gun, Contact, Picket Fences).

• Nancy is back, played by Martin Sheen's daughter Renée Estevez.

• Finally, one of our regular reporters besides Katie. Here's Mark asking a question at CJ's briefing:

• The discussion between Toby and Will about not scheduling events on Fridays reminds us of Take Out The Trash Day.

Josh (from Take Out The Trash Day): "Any stories we have to give the press that we're not wild about we give all in a lump on Friday."

[...]

Donna: "Why do you do it on Friday?"

Josh: "Because no one reads the paper on Saturday."

-----

Toby (from this episode): "Fridays don't count."

Will: "Why not?"

Toby: "No one watches the Friday evening news. No one reads the Saturday papers. No Presidential events on Fridays."  

• Will is seen using a pager when he's summoned by the Vice President's office. While pagers were falling out of favor by 2003 (Motorola stopped making their model in 2001), the increased reliability and security they provided over cell phones meant they continued to be used in some situations, perhaps including White House staff.

• Russell refers to Will and Toby's disastrous VP introductory speech (joke! It was supposed to be deleted!) which appeared on the President's teleprompter in Han.

• Referring to the First Lady as a "sensitive topic around here" and the President's biting "She has to be here to want things" goes back to Abbey's resentment of Jed and Leo over Zoey's kidnapping and her leaving the White House for New Hampshire (playing out over 7A WF 83429 through Jefferson Lives).

• The violence prevention funding in the HHS bill was first mentioned in Jefferson Lives, when Amy pushed Josh to help her get a 65% cut in funding restored.

• Toby wonders why the President is dragging his feet on naming a new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Admiral Fitzwallis told Leo that he's planning to retire in The Dogs Of War.

• The President says the Chief Justice is "losing it" after mistaking a moot court competition at NYU for the actual Supreme Court. In Inauguration: Part 1 and Inauguration: Over There we discovered the Chief Justice was writing some of his opinions in verse, causing a bit of alarm over his mental state.

• Josh tells Donna the story of his 7th birthday, when he felt left out by the clown at his party paying more attention to his sister. In The Crackpots And These Women we learned Josh's sister died in a fire when she was babysitting her brother, and Josh still carried survivor's guilt over running out of the house. Apparently, then, this fire happened sometime after Josh turned 7.

• Ryan says it was his "great-great-great grand-dad" who tried to annex Cuba, meaning President Franklin Pierce. When he introduced himself in The Dogs Of War, he said the President was his "great-great grandfather." Even though he's added a generation here, he's still about two generations shy (Pierce died in 1869) and Franklin Pierce left no descendants anyway.

• Josh makes a reference to "Triplehorn" as the Minority Leader. We saw Senator Triplehorn as the Democratic Minority Leader first in Swiss Diplomacy, and he also appeared in Twenty Five and Jefferson Lives.

• Amy's end-run efforts to get violence prevention funding back in the HHS budget - using Abbey's name for political capital even though she's not directly involved - reminds us of Abbey's words in Jefferson Lives:

Abbey: "Amy, you're going to have to handle things for me a little while longer."

Amy: "I know. Do you want me to --"

Abbey: "I trust you. That's why I hired you." 

• There's a neat little visual composition near the end, as Josh and Amy are having their deeply important conversation until Josh heads off to publicly call out Senator Carrick for holding up the military promotions. Amy wasn't nearly done with her discussion, and as Josh heads out, Donna takes a moment to see Amy leaning ruefully on Josh's doorway.

If anything, this calls to mind the suspenseful buildup to Zoey's kidnapping in Commencement, with the driving, throbbing music of Massive Attack playing and Amy and Donna working on a travel issue over a campaign donor, with a drunk Amy asking Donna, "Are you in love with Josh?" A rather meaningful and important question, a moment loaded with portent and secrets ... and a moment that was totally forgotten and dropped once Sorkin left the show. 

• WHAT'S NEXT - The President gives a brusque "What's next?" to Charlie inquiring about his daily schedule, after gruffly dismissing the rule against personal briefings in the residence as "Abbey's rule."

DC location shots    

• None.

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

• Toby describes politics as "What have you done for me lately, and where's my year's supply of Turtle Wax?"

• The storyline of Josh sending a dead fish wrapped in newspaper to a congressman is based on an actual event. Rahm Emanuel (a senior adviser and enforcer for President Bill Clinton who, many think, served as the model for the character of Josh Lyman) once sent a dead fish to a pollster he was upset with.

• Amy compares Josh's title as the 101st Senator to being the fifth Beatle, so the Beatles exist in this universe.

• A couple of The Godfather references: CJ hails Josh as the "Jewish-Connecticut Corleone," and Amy scoffs at Josh's warnings of her going outside channels to get her violence prevention funding by saying, "Am I going to come back from Mass and find a horse's head on my desk?"

• The publications that are specifically mentioned are Jane's Defence Weekly (in which Toby sarcastically says he's still trying to get a writeup) and the Washington Post.

• President Bartlet says James Madison never had to use a message calendar; Ryan Pierce says his great-great-great grand dad (Franklin Pierce) tried to annex Cuba, which isn't quite true.

• President Bartlet, talking about the cuts to the HHS violence prevention budget, says, "Republicans gutted it, cause 'domestic abuse isn't a public health issue,' as if spousal abuse were part of the Atkins diet." The Atkins diet not only exists, but in an odd coincidence, former West Wing castmember Rob Lowe appears in their ads.

• Josh and Ryan have a back-and-forth about being backstage at a (Rolling) Stones concert.

• Josh says Senator Carrick "makes Machiavelli look like a social worker." (Might I also add, in that same conversation he says Carrick has voted with Republicans for five years, and that he takes everything he's given and "screws us every time." Is it really that much of a loss for him to switch to the GOP?)

• CJ jokes about getting a decent table at The Palm when the press asks about Josh's favorable coverage in the Post.

• The C-SPAN logo makes an appearance as Leo fumes at CJ's quote in the briefing ("Margaret!").

• In the background we can see cable newsman Bill Hemmer, currently an anchor with Fox News, but he was on CNN at the time of this episode.

• Josh mentions the writers Shakespeare and Hemingway as he scoffs about the programs approved to keep Carrick happy.

• Amy keeps a bottle of Mylanta on her desk.

• As Toby and Leo argue over the stagnant drifting of the administration, we get references to FDR as well as his New Deal, LBJ's Great Society, and Kennedy's New Frontier.

End credits freeze frame: Everyone greeting Josh at his surprise party.

Previous episode: Han

Next episode: Disaster Relief

Han - TWW S5E4

Original airdate: October 22, 2003

Teleplay by: Peter Noah (1) 
Story by: Peter Noah &  Mark Goffman (3)  and Paula Yoo (3)  

Directed by: Christopher Misiano (16)

Synopsis

• A North Korean pianist's request to defect puts the Bartlet administration into a diplomatic dilemma. Josh's already outsized opinion of his powers of persuasion gets an unwarranted boost, which could lead to trouble down the line. Toby and Will mistakenly air their misgivings over the new Vice President right there on the President's teleprompter.

"It's what this country was built on - everyone's from somewhere else, someplace less free. That's my argument." 

Okay, this is more like it. For the first time in Season 5 it feels like a West Wing episode, with a prickly moral dilemma, some real Joshy arm-twisting of a reluctant Democratic congressman, and some pretty darn good writing. Even if some of this territory is kind of rehashed (Shibboleth, anyone?), it's still welcome to see. I think a big part of what helps is moving on from the Zoey/Abbey/family drama storylines and back into exploring some big-picture political and moral challenges. Peter Noah's first credited West Wing teleplay is also pretty good, with a nice amount of humor scattered through the episode (kudos also to Mark Goffman and Paula Yoo for their contributions - Goffman and Yoo both joined the writers' room at the beginning of Season 4, with Goffman earning credits on College Kids and Red Haven's On Fire and Yoo with story credits for Process Stories and The California 47th).

The complications begin when a heralded North Korean pianist, Jai Yung Ahn, appears at the White House for a cultural visit. As he's meeting the President for a photo op in the Oval Office - giving Jed a great opportunity to try out some comic lines about his piano-playing youth - he offers a signed CD of his work. Except, it's not a signature he leaves on the sleeve:

Of course, this would normally be a no-brainer decision, but we discover that the United States is in secret negotiations with North Korea in an attempt to stop them from selling nuclear weapons technology on the open market. The fear is that embarrassing the North Korean government by granting asylum to one of their artistic heroes would cause them to abandon the talks, sell nukes to Islamic terrorists, or perhaps even worse.

Barrow: "It's the most unpredictable regime in the world. Walking out on the negotiations could be the least thing they do."

Leo (scoffing): "They'd shell Seoul over this?"

Barrow: "You wanna find out?" 

CJ, once again, finds herself in the position of fighting back against the idea of the US doing the expedient thing, and she pushes for taking the high road and doing what's right instead. We saw her take the same path in The Women Of Qumar, fighting with Leo and Nancy McNally while calling out the government's military cooperation with a regime that openly mistreated women and girls; and just in the last episode we saw her questioning the administration's moral position over the killing of the Qumari Defense Minister in Season 3, sitting in her office alone stewing over the issue during the Fourth of July fireworks.

CJ is right, of course. Granting Jai's request to defect not only is the right moral thing to do, it's actually against United States law to deny it. However, the fact he didn't make his request in public gives the administration cover to keep it a secret, and thereby make it possible to send him back to North Korea in order to keep the diplomatic negotiations going. Showing up to make that argument is a new recurring character, Undersecretary of State Ted Barrow, who makes no bones about the fact that he thinks geopolitics rule supreme over morality or, well, pretty much everything else, and he won't stoop to politeness to make that point:

Barrow: "They are making plutonium, they can get it onto warheads, and their best customers are the people who hate us. Why are we still talking about this?"

Mike: "I don't see how we can get past the legal issues."

CJ: "I don't see how you can send someone back to the bleakest place left on the planet after he tells you he doesn't want to go."

Leo: "CJ --"

Barrow: "It's not that bleak. The DMZ is beautiful; it's like a nature preserve. Endangered Black-faced spoonbills, Amur leopards ---"

CJ: "What's your point?"

Barrow (bitingly, not a little rude): "That I know more about this than you do."

 The decision is made; the President can't openly grant Jai's request. During a rehearsal, Bartlet himself meets with Jai, hoping to sneak in a discussion behind the backs of his government minders - and also hoping Jai can gather enough meaning from what Bartlet tells him to find another way to get what he wants.

Jai: "I try to stay, you arrest me?"

President: "No."

Jai: "You give me back to them."

President (emphatically): "No. Freedom means choice. You must decide which is the most responsible choice."

Bartlet is trying to fight his way past the language barriers to let Jai know his choice - if he makes his request in public, or to anyone outside the White House, the United States would be bound to accept it. But by trying to defect in secret, he's giving the administration an out to sidestep the issue.

At the climactic concert, it's not certain whether Jai has understood Bartlet's coded message. After he plays, he stands up ... and it looks like perhaps he's going to make the choice for freedom.

Jai: "Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to ... (long pause) I wish to ... (longer pause. He exchanges looks with the President) I wish to ... (he sighs) ... thank the President, the American people for this opportunity. I wish it be start many exchanges and improve relations between our countries."

He bows, obviously in mental turmoil, then exits with his handlers, heading back to North Korea. 

Finally, the kicker. As President Bartlet tries to relax back in the Oval Office, his mind racing over missed opportunities, he tells CJ that the negotiations with North Korea are on hold, niggling complaints over the sizes of flags caused the Koreans to walk out, and denying Jai's request to defect turned out to be all for nothing.

Being President really is a tough job to have.

But at least he's finally going to have a Vice President! After John Hoynes resigned the office in Life On Mars after news of an affair (and his pillow talk involving classified information) became public, the office of VP was unfilled - which became a problem after Zoey was kidnapped in Commencement, causing Bartlet to use the 25th Amendment to step away from the office temporarily. With the Presidency being held by the Republican Speaker of the House in that period, the search for an actual Vice President became even more urgent. And as we saw in Jefferson Lives, the Republican-led Congress flexed its muscles to tell the White House they couldn't have the guy they wanted (Secretary of State Berryhill) without a fight, but if they wanted to get a VP quickly they could choose from a few weak pre-approved options. Which led us to Colorado Rep. Bob Russell being chosen, on the Fourth of July - and now, after what must have been some routine confirmation hearings, the House and the Senate are voting to confirm Russell to the post of Vice President.

Josh is on the warpath against Rep. Theile of Rhode Island - he's come out publicly against the decision, and if he's the only vote keeping the Russell confirmation from being bipartisanly unanimous, Josh thinks it'll embarrass the White House while elevating Theile in the news cycle. Which, again, ends up embarrassing the White House by keeping Russell's lack of qualifications firmly in the spotlight.

Theile is called to the White House and Josh is ready to use his usual strong-arm tactics to threaten him into changing his vote (we've seen Josh do this as far back as Five Votes Down, when he threatened Rep. Katzenmoyer with a primary challenge, ending his threat with "President Bartlet's a good man. He's got a good heart. He doesn't hold a grudge. That's what he pays me for"). This time, though, his threats aren't working.

Because Theile is using the White House's own position on Russell against them.

Theile: "My petty animus is that Russell's not good enough. Which is exactly what you've been saying to each other round here ever since his name was announced. You think I don't know how you got rolled on Berryhill, or forced to settle for this party hack? You've put someone second-rate next in line to a President with a serious health problem. You wanna talk about embarrassment? Be embarrassed about that."

Ryan Pierce, Josh's intern who talked Josh into sitting in on the meeting, takes it all in.

 And later, Ryan - who has some family connections with quite a few members of Congress, including Theile - puts in a call to the Congressman.

What happens with that call, we don't know, but Theile ends up voting for Russell's confirmation and it does sail through unanimously. Josh, somehow, thinks it was his doing ... and we're going to see the self-assurance and hubristic confidence Josh has in his own abilities nearly bring him to ruin in the near future.

But that's yet to come. Theile's comment about the White House's opinion of Russell is echoed in the Communications Office. Will is writing remarks for the President to make for his introduction of the new Vice President, but he can't find a "lofty" enough voice to make the speech soar for the President.

President: "Loftier. If I don't sound enthused, how do we expect the country to get excited about this guy?"

Will: "Yes, sir."

President: "You're not very excited about him?"

Will (stammering): "Oh, no, I mean ... sure ... I mean, I'm not ... not excited about him."

President: "What you sounded like just then, is how this reads." 

Will comes to Toby, admitting he can't seem to find enthusiasm for the guy, but Toby has his own issues. He wants to get involved in not just publicizing administration policy, but be part of crafting and shaping the policy. He goes to Leo to try to change direction in his role, but Leo - understandably caught up in the diplomatic intricacies of North Korea - doesn't have the time to devote to Toby. Plus, the President himself asks Toby to help Will out.

Which leads to a frustrated Toby and a Will with writer's block bouncing lines off each other as they unmercifully roast Russell and his complete lack of political heft and suitability for the role of Vice President. Toby throws out scathing lines:

 As Will gleefully adds his own, typing them madly into his draft remarks:

All in all, it's pretty devastating:

Toby (dictating to Will): "In a triumph of the middling, in a nod to mediocrity, and with gorge rising, it gives me great nausea to announce Robert Russell - Bingo Bob himself - as your new Vice President."

Will (typing): "This lapdog of mining interests is as dull as he is unremarkable."

Toby: "As lackluster as he is soporific --"

Will: "Good."

Toby: "This reversion to the mean --"

Will: "This rebuke to the exemplary --"

Toby: "Gives hope to the millions unfavored by the exceptional --"

Will: "Yes."

Toby: "The Vice Presidency, being famously once described as not being worth a warm bucket of spit - let's now hock a big loogie for Bob Russell. Not the worst. Not the best. Just what we're stuck with."

We see the words being typed on the computer screen, and then, as they settle down to work ... apparently they never get deleted.

 Which is just inexcusable. Because, naturally, that's the copy of the speech that gets loaded in the teleprompter, and as President Bartlet makes his introduction of the new Vice President in the Rose Garden, he sees this:

Gamely, the President shifts gears and muddles on, creating his own speech out of thin air.

Russell notices the change in tone, and he looks over and sees the prompter screen.

And Will and Toby also realize instantly what has happened - and if this was real life, their White House careers would be over so fast ...

But for some reason, President Bartlet doesn't fire them on the spot for ruining his VP introduction speech, and Russell's visit to Toby's office doesn't turn out to result in pink slips, either.

Russell: "I'd like a copy."

Toby: "There are no copies, we've shredded ..."

Will: "Wiped hard drives ... we're considering putting out our own eyes."

Russell: "Find one. Send it to my office. I thought it was hilarious." 

Toby: "Uh, hilarious, sir?"

Russell: "I know my public profile, my political persona. I'm just glad to see there's such a keen awareness of the scale of the job you've all got ahead of you. I'm part of the team now, which makes all this pretty much your problem. Good luck with it." 

I'll add a little mention of Josh and Amy - Amy started flirting with Josh in The Women Of Qumar, they were dating by Dead Irish Writers, then when a policy dispute over welfare spending caused Josh to pull some triggers that got Amy fired in Posse Comitatus they broke up. Their paths crossed again in College Kids and The Red Mass, then after Amy was hired as Abbey's chief of staff in Red Haven's On Fire and they were working in the same building, well ... fireworks definitely happened in Jefferson Lives, and now even Ryan can see there's something happening.

 

Ryan: "So what's the deal there? Boyfriend/girlfriend? Friends with privileges?"

Josh: "What?"

Ryan: "Something's going on."

Josh realizes he and Amy haven't really defined what they're doing together, and during the piano concert he has a little heart-to-heart with her.

Josh: "It's like what CJ said today about the economy; by refusing to put language to it we're trying to pretend it doesn't exist, but it's something ... even if we don't know what to call it. I just think it's time to start thinking about a language plan for whatever it is we're doing, too."

Oh, yeah, there's also talk about a looming recession, and whether or not the administration should do anything about it (or even make a public acknowledgement of the "bagel"); Donna's aunt and uncle from Wisconsin visit, causing Josh to think about cheese jokes and Donna to run on about diets and how choosing from them all in moderation is the best approach (an approach the President mirrors with his opinion over the best way to deal with the economy); and proposed message calendars. But the bottom line is the administration choosing the smoother expedient path over the harder, tougher trail - something we just saw in the last episode with the Vice Presidential decision and something we are no doubt going to see more of.

 

 

Tales Of Interest!

- We're back to Stockard Channing not appearing in the opening credits, since she doesn't appear in the episode.

- There's a good old traditional West Wing walk-and-talk early between Donna and Josh.

- I really don't think President Bartlet would have made the choice he makes here about Jai's asylum had Aaron Sorkin still been running things. The nuclear negotiations are delicate, true, and the consequences of angering the North Koreans by allowing Jai to defect would be serious (although, attacking South Korea? Really?). I think the Bartlet we knew from previous seasons would have been more, I don't know, empathetic - more anxious to help a desperate freedom-seeking soul from a tyrannical country. And he definitely would have come up with a smarter plan to help Jai succeed than the stilted "freedom means choice" code words he tried to convince him with. Just tell him, "All you have to do is tell somebody, anybody, besides me that you want asylum and we have to give it to you."

- We don't know what Ryan has that changes Rep. Theile's mind, but it must be pretty powerful. Theile isn't just standing up to what he sees as the White House's surrender to the GOP, but he's also bucking his own party leadership. Remember what we saw in Jefferson Lives - the Democratic congressional leadership also giving a thumbs-down on Berryhill and agreeing with the list of mediocre candidates provided by Speaker Haffley. It's probably easier for a congressman to stand up against a President (even with a ruthless grudgeholder like Josh) than it is to go against your own party in Congress.

- Gail's fishbowl is seen in passing as CJ listens to the CD in her office, but there's nothing in particular seen inside it (other than Gail, of course).

- Why'd They Come Up With Han?

Jai Yung Ahn tells the President there's a Korean word, "han" - then he plays a melancholy piece (Chopin's Prelude in E Minor) to try to explain it. The President later tells CJ he's looked it up.

President: "There is no literal English translation. It's a state of mind, of soul, really. A sadness; a sadness so deep no tears will come. And yet, still, there's hope."

That's a fairly good definition - the word may also be described to mean "an internalized feeling of deep sorrow, resentment, grief, regret, and anger." 

In any event, it fits the emotions Jai must be feeling when he's told the President can't accept his defection.

Quotes 

Leo: "Why they're a rogue state."

CJ: "Rogue state ... makes them sound raffishly charming. Should be thug state. Psycho state."

Leo: "We'll ask the UN to re-designate."

CJ: "Punk state, that's what they are, a bunch of punks."

Leo: "Bunch of punks, with what could be six nuclear warheads."

CJ (to press in hallway): "In a minute, everyone."

(press murmurs their thanks)

CJ (to Leo): "Okay, you could obliterate Australia, but you know what, you're still just a punk."

Leo: "Good opener. Use that." 

-----

Josh: "Congressman Theile needs to come over before the VP confirmation vote."

Donna: "Which is noon?"

Josh: "Senate's noon; the House votes at four. Get him in after the Punch and Judy show."

Donna: "The citizenry would be comforted knowing that's how you refer to the President's economic advisers."

Josh: "The citizenry doesn't have to sit in a room with them."

-----

Donna: "I'm taking my aunt and uncle from Wisconsin, who are perfectly nice people, on a tour of the White House later today, and I'd rather not go through an entire morning of cheesehead jokes, which are beneath you anyway ..."

Josh: "You know what's the state bird of Wisconsin? The Muenster. The state motto? Live brie or die. It narrowly beat out you can have my wheel of cheddar when you pry it out of my cold, dead, stinky fingers." 

----- 

CJ: "If we don't allow this defection, if we blithely exploit this young man's ignorance, then I don't know who we are any more."

----- 

President: "We cancel the concert it's a red flag. I told him freedom means choice; my choice is to trust in his decision."

[...]

Leo: "It's a crapshoot."

President: "The negotiations are a crapshoot. (considering, smiling) The whole damn job's a crapshoot."

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

• It's the first appearance of Ron Canada (Dallas, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Boston Legal, Wedding Crashers) as Undersecretary of State Theodore Barrow. Barrow and his gruff, overbearing, egotistical self will make several more appearances over the rest of the series.

• Associate White House Counsel Mike (who will later get the last name Wayne) is seen in the meeting with Barrow, Leo, and a guy from Immigration. Played by Benjamin Brown, we saw Mike in Privateers, where he explained to Josh and Toby that their friend couldn't get whistleblower protection for the misdeeds of his chemical company.

• One of the regulars, Washington Post reporter Katie, is seen in CJ's press briefing. We haven't seen the other usual members of the press corps (Mark, Chris, Steve, Danny) for a while.

• When Jai Yung Ahn's words as translated as "All glory flows to our Dear Leader for whom he wishes long life and good health," President Bartlet jokingly responds, "Next time he's overseas it'd be nice if Yo-Yo Ma said that." The famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma has performed at the Bartlet White House at least twice, first (offscreen) in The State Dinner and then actually appearing in Noël (with Donna famously yelling, "Yo-Yo Ma rules!").

• Leo tells Toby (referring to Will), "The President loved his Zoey speech," which is a direct reference to the speech given after Zoey was rescued in The Dogs Of War. It's also a passing reminder of Zoey's kidnapping, rescue and recovery, a storyline running from Commencement through Jefferson Lives.

• Ed and Larry make an appearance in the economic advisers meeting, as well as the informal policy (from Josh) to call a recession a "bagel" (the notion of not using the word "recession" was first mentioned in Swiss Diplomacy; the idea of calling it a "bagel" instead happened in 7A WF 83429).

Ed (or is it Larry?)

Larry (or is this Ed?)

• We are reminded by Leo that President Bartlet holds a Nobel Prize in economics. That was first mentioned in "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" - although there actually is not a real Nobel Prize given in the field of economics, but a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences has been granted since 1969.

• CJ's moral reservations about the political maneuvering to try to sidestep Jai's asylum request reminds us of her personal questions over the administration's killing of Abdul Shareef that we saw in Jefferson Lives. We can also recall CJ's stances for doing the right thing instead of the profitable thing in The Women Of Qumar or The Indians In The Lobby or, well, many other episodes.

• Also, asylum seekers causing diplomatic/geopolitical problems for the Bartlet administration, as well as an outside-the-box solution, was previously seen in Shibboleth. In that episode it was Chinese Christians attempting to flee to America, with the United States facing trouble from China if they let them stay (but found a work-around by instead allowing them to "escape" federal detention). 

• The announcement of Russell as the new Vice President ties up the thread going back to Life On Mars when John Hoynes resigned the office. Russell was actually chosen as the replacement when a list of candidates was forced on the administration by Republican House leadership in Jefferson Lives, which was on July 4 - we don't know how long it's taken for Russell's confirmation to get through Congress (the vote on which happens during this episode) but considering the frenzy of the White House to pass up a fight over the guy they really wanted to get the office filled right away, it can't be too long after Independence Day.

• Leo's suggestion to Toby that he come up with a message calendar isn't the last time we're going to hear about that.

• Toby is still relying on his old rubber ball as a tool to help him think (or to get the attention of his co-workers). His Spaldeen was first seen in Ellie, and then most famously in 17 People.

• Donna fixing Josh's bowtie is getting to be a West Wing standard, and it's always pretty sexy. I think the first time she did it was in On The Day Before, as he was trying to look like Tony Bennett.

DC location shots    

• None.

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

• Already mentioned above, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma is specifically named (obviously a favorite of President Bartlet).

• The President compares a legislator on the phone to John C. Calhoun, who served as a Representative, a Senator, Vice President, and Secretary of State and of War during the 1800s. 

• The composers Schubert, Chopin, and Bach are specifically mentioned. Musical works that are referred to include Beethoven's Apassionata and Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as Chopsticks (or The Celebrated Chop Waltz).

• Pieces performed in the episode are all Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Opus 52 is the rehearsal piece; Prelude, Opus 28, No. 4 is what Jai plays to explain "han," and the performance piece is Etude, Opus 10, No. 12 "Revolutionary."  

• Leo is drinking a Diet Coke.

• Toby uses the phrase, "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" from Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

• The discussion about Presidents who don't know the price of milk recalls the story of President George H.W. Bush expressing surprise at the price of milk while seeing a demonstration of grocery store price scanners in 1992. While the story probably wasn't accurate (Bush was actually marveling at the technology, not the price of milk), the public impression of politicians being out-of-touch with citizens' everyday lives survives three decades later. The "asking politicians the price of milk (or bread)" question has been a consistent reality check from the press in both Britain and the United States since then.

• Josh compares Ryan to the comic book character Richie Rich.

• Toby's mention of the Vice Presidency "famously once described as not being worth a bucket of warm spit" is meant to recall John Nance Gardner, who was Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt for FDR's first two terms. Gardner's actual quote (perhaps to Lyndon Johnson) was that the office was "not worth a bucket of warm piss," but the oft-used line was cleaned up for public use.

• Hey, it's Ginger! Haven't seen her around the Communications office for a while.

• Jai Yung Ahn is seen playing a Yamaha piano. You might expect something like a Steinway to be used for such a performance, but perhaps the North Korean Jai is more familiar and comfortable  with a Yamaha.

End credits freeze frame: The Oval Office photo op with President Bartlet and Jai Yung Ahn.

Previous episode: Jefferson Lives

Next episode: Constituency Of One