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Shrug interrupts again, to object to the description of the campaign and the country being Jed's. Connie thinks that's okay. Shrug thinks people don't hear that well. Sam says there's nothing wrong with the hearing of the people that are going to be at the speech. Connie, whose sole job it seems to be to interpolate Shrug's comments, explains that Shrug isn't talking about people's auditory capabilities, but rather the fact that people don't take that statement well. In any event, she disagrees. Josh sees the snake now, too. Toby feels Jed's well within his rights to claim to be the leader of the campaign and the country, since...well, he is. Bruno and Leo wander in. Shrug feels this points the pundits toward the MS. Bruno thinks the cat's out of the bag with regard to the MS. Jed: "Does somebody here have MS and they haven't said anything?" Given the lack of honesty he's shown the staff, not to mention the long-overdue apology they're owed, this doesn't come off as terribly amusing. Josh and C.J. are both regarding the snake (which never appears on camera) with some trepidation; Josh points out, "Seriously, that's a pretty big snake." They both start edging away from it. Jed returns to his speech: "'But I am not satisfied...' Indeed, Leo, I am close to taking my own life with a wheat thresher." That would be a pretty fugly way to go. My paternal grandfather lost his left middle finger in a grain thresher, and that was unpleasant enough. Leo says, "Bruno?" Bruno, who seems to be generally channelling Al Pacino for this role, states, "Listen up, I've been thinking...it might not be such a bad idea for me to lock you all in here and set the place on fire." He pauses. "We have forty-eight hours before we kick off this campaign. We will work hard, we will work well, and we will work together, or so help me, mother of God, I will stick a pitchfork so far up your asses you will, quite simply, be dead." No one is terrified, or even remotely scared -- not even Sam, who's been known to issue threats to "bust [someone] like a pi�ata." Let's just put it this way: writing credible threats is not Sorkin's strongest suit. C.J. pretends to take this in seriously, but has far more pressing concerns, what with the snake and all. Jed puts his glasses back on and concludes: "And so with pride and purpose, I hereby announce my candidacy for the Presidency of the United States!" Roll them credits. I can't help feeling there was a snake-in-the-grass crack that was missed here.
The title card informs us that it's four weeks earlier. Jed ambles into the bedroom after the meeting about Haiti in which the Alpha-strike formation plan was agreed upon, and heads for the bathroom. He doesn't see Abby sitting up in bed reading; she's kind of blocked by the curtains tied to the post of the canopy bed. But only kind of. It's a big room, but it's not that big. I suppose he's got lots on his mind. You know, apart from his crumbling marriage. Anyway, she calls out to him. He comes back out of the washroom, genuinely surprised to see her there. Either that, or Jed Bartlet is as good an actor as Martin Sheen. She asks what's going on; he tells her what they decided to do about Haiti. As he goes back to wash his hands, she asks whether it will work. There's some minor miscommunication until he comes out and says that he doesn't know if it will work; they'll see. Abby comments that "C.J. got beaten up pretty good in the briefing room." Jed kind of shrugs it off. Abby suggests benching C.J. for a few days, at least on Haiti. He keeps going in and out of the bathroom, so she has to keep repeating herself. Jed says it's up to Leo. Abby suggests using Peter or Nancy or someone from State. Jed reiterates that it's Leo's call. As he's turning his cuffs back down, he tells Abby, "I'm sorry, I can't get into our thing tonight." They're not really looking at each other; she's lying in bed looking more or less straight ahead of her; he's doing stuff around the room and kind of talking in her direction without really looking at her. Their tone is civil, revealing less strain than is actually there. Abby points out that two days ago, he said he had plenty to say. Jed says he does, and that's why he can't get into it; he adds that he has some reading to do. She says, "That's all right." He says, "All right, I'm going in the study." She says "okay" in as light a way as she can. At the door, he says, "Abby, you were lying down when I came in. I didn't see you." She says she believes him. He leaves.