By LTG
You know how these recaps are usually really long because I include lots and lots of dialogue? Well, fuck that. There's a ton of dialogue in this episode, but it's just not worth repeating. Because it's crap.
A fucking subtitle tells us that it's Monday morning. Leo walks through the darkened and seemingly empty West Wing while a wet snow falls outside the window. He sits at his desk, picks up the phone, dials, and then asks for "Jorge, por favor." Leo starts speaking Spanish while some Spanish guitar plays in the background. Strum strum strum. I think I see Zorro hiding behind a curtain.
Jed, his cane, and a Secret Service agent are walking down a hallway while Leo continues to speak on the phone. Strum strum strum. The Queen of Swords and Marta are climbing through a window.
Leo wraps up his call, saying "Gracias, Jorge. Hasta luego." Strum strum strum. Leo looks at the, how you say? Ah, yes, whiteboard, which now reads "330" at the top. For those who are curious, there are four columns on the board. The one labeled "health care" has a lot of stuff written in it. There's also one labeled "race," which has a couple of items. The two columns labeled "Latin America" and "drug policy" are empty. There are some additional notes at the bottom, which I can't make out. Leo gets up and walks over to the board, erases the "330," and replaces it with a "329." At that moment, Jed limps in and asks Leo if he knows what time it is. And then he answers his own question, telling us that it's "a little after 5 AM." Leo apologizes for calling Jed so early, and Jed complains about "the gauntlet" (by which he means "gantlet") he had to run in the Residence to get out so early. And then Jed picks up a book sitting on a side table and starts reading aloud: "The world breaks everyone, and afterwards many are strong at the broken places, but those that will not break, it kills. It kills the very good, and the very gentle, and the very brave impartially." Leo talks about what a son of a bitch Hemingway was, and Jed wants to know what the hell that has to do with Leo calling him at 5 in the morning. Leo tells Jed that he's been on the phone and that "there's a rumor about Castro." Jed doesn't see what the big deal is. Leo starts blathering about talks they've been conducting with Cuba and how he wants them to achieve some results before the end of Bartlet's second term. Now Jed wants to know what that has to do with Hemingway. Dude, make up your mind. Either you want to know why he's reading Hemingway or you don't. Leo tells him that it's been ten years since he read all of Hemingway. Apparently, he read Hemingway's complete works in the thirty days that he was in rehab. Which, as we all know, was actually twelve years ago, not ten. I don't know who's a bigger hack -- John Sacret Young for writing this crap, or John Wells for putting it on the air. Leo tells Jed that he has an idea. Strum strum strum. I have a sudden craving for fajitas.
Margaret walks into Leo's office, which is empty. Since he's not there, she turns around and walks right out. The strumming continues. Margaret runs into Charlie in the hallway, and they start dancing the flamenco. Okay, they don't, but they might as well. She asks him if he's seen Leo, and he tells her that he saw Leo packing up a few hours ago. But he doesn't know where he went.
Leo is admitted to a large hacienda. There's tropical foliage behind him. Strum strum strum. Ricardo Montalban is walking down the corridor, looking for some rich Corinthian leather. Leo is greeted, in heavily accented English, by a guy who asks him how his trip was. Leo tells him that it was fine, except for the boat ride. The guy welcomes Leo to the house of "Señor Ernesto Hemingway." Strum strum strum.
C.J. enters the Office of O, followed by Charlie. Jed is sitting at his desk, and Debbie is handing him some papers to sign. Jed looks at his watch and tells Debbie that it's 7:53. She looks at her watch and tells him that it's actually 7:49. They argue. She accuses him of cheating. C.J. tells Jed that the report he wanted to see was last in the possession of Leo. Jed tells her that he's been expecting her, and that he and Debbie had a bet on how long it would be before someone came to ask where Leo was. C.J.'s a bit confused. Jed tells her, "Who knew he was such an Ernest Hemingway fan that he'd drop everything and go and visit Hemingway's house?" Charlie wants to know if he's talking about the house in Idaho or in Key West. Jed tells him that he forgot to ask. Strum strum strum. Speedy Gonzales runs by in the background.
Back in Hemingway's hacienda, Leo and his host are conversing in subtitled Spanish. Leo is excited to be in the house, which his host tells him has not been well-maintained. There's a close-up of Hemingway's typewriter.
Leo and his host walk into another room. A voice asks if Leo admires Señor Hemingway, and he says that he does. And then his host introduces Leo to "El Presidente de Cuba." A Fidel Castro impersonator is sitting in a shadowy corner. He's got a cigar in his hand. Leo bows slightly. Strum strum strum. I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Credits.
Charlie walks up to C.J. in a West Wing corridor and says, "The bug people are coming today." A fucking subtitle tells us that it's Tuesday morning. The strumming, at least, has stopped. Charlie tells C.J. that there is fear that there are termites or ants in the White House, and that two different companies are coming in to do some tests. There's some bug talk. C.J. asks Charlie to keep the bug people as far away from her as possible. They've arrived at Leo's office, which is still empty. C.J. asks Charlie if he ever saw Leo reading Hemingway. Charlie gives product placement to a bunch of authors, but says he never saw Leo with any Hemingway.
In the Sit Room, Kate is hearing from some military and spy types that there is a rumor about Castro's health. I should have raised this back when we almost invaded Canada, but why is she running the show down there? Kate thinks the rumor is not very credible in light of the fact that its source is Miami. C.J. enters the room and Kate tells her that there are reports that Castro is seriously ill. Kate points out that the rumor might just be a cover for some kind of secret operation in Cuba. C.J. looks at Mr. CIA, who tells her that the CIA no longer engages in those kinds of activities in Cuba. Kate seems pretty unimpressed with his protestations of innocence. C.J. tells them to find out whether the rumor is true. And to demonstrate what I'm saving you from by not repeating much dialogue, here's a typical example from this scene: Kate says, "Miami, south Florida, south Florida, Miami. It's Chinatown." And the words really aren't given any help by the context.
In Debbie's office, Jed is pointing out that he still hasn't collected his winnings. She thinks that he must mean her winnings, since he's a big cheater. C.J. walks in and tells Jed that there's a rumor about Castro's health. Jed tells Debbie, "Let's pull up the drawbridge for a couple of minutes." She tells him that she'll do that, and that she'll also garnish his wages to collect her money.
In the Oval, Jed walks over to the fireplace, grabs a lighter, and bends down for just a second. Faster than you can say "the Human Torch," there's a cheery glow coming out of the fireplace. Do you think there's a gas fireplace in the Oval Office? Or one of those instant logs you can buy at the grocery store? Because otherwise, I have no idea how you light a fire so quickly. Jed think that there are always rumors about Castro. C.J. tells Jed that NSA thinks the rumors might be a cover for something more, and Jed tells her, "That's exactly what Leo said." C.J. wants to know what the hell is going on. (Join the club, sister.) Jed apologizes for keeping C.J. in the dark, and then tells her that for the last year, they've been engaged in secret talks in Canada with representatives of the Cuban government, and that Leo has gone to Cuba to meet with Castro. C.J. wants to know what Castro has said, and Jed tells her that he's still waiting to find out. And then C.J. asks him if he'll bother to tell anyone else once he knows. And then Jed gets all pedantic and tells some bullshit story about JFK getting Pierre Salinger to buy him a bunch of Cuban cigars just before he announced the embargo of Cuba. And really, what did Pierre Salinger or JFK do to deserve getting their names dragged into this steaming pile of crap? Jed's story makes it clear that he thinks the embargo is anachronistic and should be thrown out. C.J. points out that if the talks become public, Cuban-American voters in Florida will freak out. They agree that this will cause problems for Democrats in the state. C.J. wonders if the country is ready, and Jed pretty much tells her that he doesn't care -- he's ready, and that's all that matters.
C.J. runs into Cliff in the hall. He asks her if she wanted to see him, and she responds, "I find that highly improbable." He tells her that he's been there three weeks, and asks her to take him off the bench. She tells him that someone named Senator Framhagen called the President, and that he's being passed down the food chain to Cliff. By now they've arrived at C.J.'s office. Cliff thinks it's pretty obvious why nobody else wanted to see Framhagen, because while he's "brilliant," he's also an asshole. And a big drunk. Hmmm. Based on how this episode is making me feel, I think I could play the part of Framhagen. And then C.J. sends Cliff off to meet with this charmer.
In the Mural Room, a guy in a plaid flannel shirt is examining the woodwork with the aid of a small flashlight while Charlie looks on. Mr. Flannel tells Charlie that they have all the signs of subterranean termites. And then we get some more of Mr. Sacret Young's genius dialogue, as Mr. Flannel says, "You know, these fellas outnumber us a thousand-to-one. Pile all them up, and all us up, ten times the weight of all the folks in the world." Let's see, a little quick math...divide by a thousand, multiply by ten...AAAARGH! Run! Giant one-pound termites! Flee for the hills before you drown in the rising tide of crappy writing! Mr. Flannel tells Charlie that the termites probably swarmed in through a crack he saw in a window outside that "weird round room [that] looks over the Rose Garden." Just in case we don't get the joke, Charlie points out that he's talking about the Office of O. Mr. Flannel is amazed at how many folks appeared when he approached the Oval. So security at the White House is approximately as good as it is at the Everson Art Museum in Syracuse? Got it. Mr. Flannel finds some evidence of termite infestation and he pulls out a small tool with which he seems to want to poke a hole in the wall. Or maybe he was just getting ready to club one of those one-pound termites. Charlie stops him before he does irreparable damage to the mural for which the Mural Room is named. Mr. Flannel asks Charlie how many rooms they've got, and seems surprised to hear that it's one-hundred-thirty-five. As Mr. Flannel grabs some tools from his case, he tells Charlie that if they decide there's a problem, he'll use some underground bait stations to destroy the colony. He revs up his drill and walks out of the room, with Charlie close behind. I don't want to spoil you, but week Charlie is going to work with the White House groundskeeper to go after a particularly clever gopher.
Cliff peeks through a partially open door, where he sees an assistant wake up Senator Framhagen to announce that Cliff is there. The assistant strikes me as particularly, I don't know, flouncy as she walks into the reception area and tells Cliff that the Senator will see him.
As Cliff walks in, Framhagen asks him what he'll drink, and Cliff tells him that he'll take a Diet Coke. Framhagen tells him that's a pansy-ass Georgia drink, and that in Florida they drink orange juice. The Senator apparently has some fresh juice flown in every week. Someone should tell him that you can buy it at the grocery store. Even in D.C. Framhagen is played by Brian Dennehy, by the way. I hope they paid him a shitload of money for this role, because he's certainly not in it for the artistic challenge. Framhagen offers to "inject" Cliff's drink with something if he'd like. Is he flirting? Framhagen seems a bit put off that the White House sent Cliff to meet with him. A woman comes in and puts a glass of O.J. in front of Cliff, and Framhagen asks her to freshen up his glass as well. As she leans across the desk to get his glass, Framhagen pretty much buries his face in her bosom. After she leaves, Framhagen tells Cliff that she's a "sashaying piece of pulchritude." He goes on to clarify that he's "talking about smart pulchritude around here." Framhagen asks Cliff if he knows why he's there, and it's pretty clear that he doesn't. Framhagen tells Cliff to go back to the White House and tell them they'd better send somebody who knows something about the Castro rumor. He starts reminiscing about how he could talk with Leo when he was Chief of Staff, apparently on the basis of the fact that they used to "bend [their] elbows together, right in this room, down home, back when." Over yonder, back in the day, over the river and through the woods. Framhagen mentions "that NSA gal," and Cliff repeats, "'Gal'?" It's a colloquial term for a woman, Cliff. Try to keep up. Framhagen says that a couple of years ago, when that "gal" was in Florida, "that would be some serious pulchritude. She's a buttoned-up babe now." Again, Cliff repeats, "'Babe'?" Somebody get this guy a slang dictionary. Cliff finally realizes that Framhagen is talking about Kate. Did he really think the Senator might be calling Nancy McNally a babe? I mean, she's hot, in that "I can destroy the planet before lunch" kind of way, but definitely not a babe. And then Framhagen tells Cliff that if the White House is contemplating softening the Cuba embargo, he'll make sure it goes nowhere. Cliff leaves the office. Commercials.
Margaret lets Cliff into C.J.'s office, where he talks about how awful his meeting with Framhagen was. C.J. asks what the Senator wanted, and Cliff tells her that he doesn't really know, but that it seemed to have to do with Castro and rumors about his health: "I gather he was wondering if the White House was behind it, or part of it, or up to something." Cliff tells C.J. that Framhagen suggested that he speak to Kate, and C.J. thinks that makes sense in light of the fact that she's the Deputy National Security Adviser. But Cliff thinks it's more than that: "The Senator just sort of indicated, between refills, something other than that...more." You mean that part where he kind of implied that he had carnal knowledge of her? C.J. calls out for Margaret to get Kate, and then Cliff asks if C.J. is sending him back to the bench. She tells him, "This is disgraceful. I'm actually starting to like you." As Cliff leaves, Margaret enters and tells C.J. that Kate is gone for the day. Man, it must be nice to have a job where you can leave whenever you feel like it. Oh wait, I have one of those. Never mind.
Briefing room. Reporters are asking Toby all kinds of questions about Castro, and it's clear that he has no information to share with them. The only interesting piece of information to come out is that Bingo Bob is staking out a pro-embargo position. At one point, a reporter starts to ask a question about the fact that Cuba has taken the place of East Asia as the destination of choice for "pedophiles and sex tourists." Toby cuts him off, saying "No, I can't issue you a visa." Heh. Most of the questions start to be about positions being taken by candidates, and Toby tells them that he's not there to discuss the campaign. We leave the briefing as a reporter starts to ask a question about Framhagen.
Kate walks into a bar. I wish I could say that was the start of a joke, but it's not. Except to the extent that this entire episode is a joke. She sees a man sitting at a table against the wall and walks up to him. He stands up and says, with an indeterminate Latin-American accent, "She's a blonde now." She tells him that she wasn't going to come, and he wonders if she would really "stand up a former CIA compatriot, after all these years." Dude, way to maintain your cover. He starts to reminisce about their days of "splendor in the grass," and she cuts him off: "What do you want, Andy?" He tells her that they are no longer running "off the reservation ops," and there's "no more messing with elections." But, he tells her, their assignment is still the same. He goes on to warn her that it would be a mistake for the White House to try anything with Cuba. She asks him what he's talking about, and he tells her about Leo's trip to see Uncle Fidel. She denies any knowledge of the trip, and he thinks she's just maintaining cover. And then she says, "Oakland, northern California, northern California, Oakland. It's Little Saigon."
Kate accosts C.J. in a crowded White House corridor. A fucking subtitle tells us that it's Wednesday morning. Kate asks C.J. why nobody told her about Leo's trip to Cuba. Again, I love how these superspies maintain secrecy. C.J. wants to know how Kate found out about the trip, and Kate doesn't exactly answer the question. C.J. demonstrates her own chops as an interrogator, throwing Kate off-balance by asking her about Framhagen and why he would bring up her name in relation to Castro's health. Kate mentions that she met Framhagen when she was posted in Florida in 1995. And then she warns C.J., "We don't want to get stuck in the muck down there again." And then she says, "Providence, Rhode Island, Rhode Island, Providence. It's Koreatown."
C.J. joins Jed and Leo on the verandah outside the Office of O, and Leo gives them an update on Castro. Apparently his health is good, he can talk forever, and he wants to maintain the secret bilateral talks. Leo also claims that he still smokes cigars. Some forum posters have called BS on this, pointing out that Castro publicly gave up smoking, but in light of all the other offenses committed by this episode, I can't really get excited about that one. C.J. tells them both that there are many rumors flowing about Castro, and Jed tells the two of them to figure out what they would say if they had to go public about the meeting. He wants it by the end of the day.
C.J. walks into Margaret's office and asks her if "they" are there. She then asks Margaret to get Kate's personnel file while C.J. is in her meeting. Margaret tells her that she can't get it because it's top secret, which is above Margaret's security clearance. She can only get it with a formal letter of request, signed by C.J. C.J. tells her to write the letter and forge her signature: "You can do the President's." As C.J. starts to walk into her office, Margaret tells her that Jed's signature is easy to copy, but that C.J.'s is much harder. C.J. walks back over to Margaret's desk as Margaret talks about all of the difficult aspects of C.J.'s signature. C.J. asks her what it all means, and Margaret rests her head on her hand and says, "You're concealing something." C.J. asks if Margaret is "a counterfeiter, some handwriting analyst," and Margaret says that her great uncle was after the Civil War. "Great uncle" would be the brother of one of Margaret's grandparents, and I seriously doubt that any of them was alive right after the Civil War, let alone old enough to be of an age to be a counterfeiter. I guess it's possible that Margaret just left off a "great." In any case, there's no way Margaret would have met one of her relatives who was alive one-hundred-forty years ago, so I'm not sure why it's relevant that her ancestor was a counterfeiter. C.J. cuts off the description of Margaret's family tree and tells her to write the letter.
C.J. enters her office, where Cliff and Toby are waiting for her. She asks for an update. Cliff thinks that the rumors about Castro's health provide some kind of cover for continued denial of Leo's meeting. In the event that fails, he thinks they can rely on the support that exists in the House for eliminating or softening the embargo. Toby sees some nutjob Congressman from Florida on C.J.'s television, introducing Bingo Bob at a rally. Apparently, the guy is a convicted felon whose only campaign issue is to be tough on Cuba. C.J. asks Toby to call Josh and Donna "to take the temperature in the campaigns." Toby leaves to make the calls.
Charlie is back in the Mural Room, meeting with a couple of other bug people. They ask him if the exterminator has already been there. They flash a bunch of photos of different bugs at Charlie. It turns out that they are entomologists, and their main goal is not to kill bugs but to study them. They think the bugs eating the White House can shed some light on the history of the building. One of them refers to "Abigail Adams and the War of 1812." Oddly enough, Charlie does not correct them by pointing out that Dolly Madison was actually the First Lady when the White House was burnt during that war. Man, I could really go for a snack cake right about now. These guys are supposed to be "funny" and "quirky," but they just make me miss Gil Grissom. At the end of their speech, Charlie laughs, but nobody else is laughing. And I mean nobody. Again, I don't want to spoil you, but you will not want to miss Charlie's storyline in two weeks, when he'll help reseal the White House driveway.
And now we arrive at the only good scene of the episode. Margaret, wearing a long purple and pink overcoat with purple gloves, strides down the corridor with a briefcase in her hand. She marches into C.J.'s office, and when C.J. asks if she "got it," Margaret says, "They checked my clothes, patted me down, searched my shoes -- my best shoes -- practically x-rayed me." C.J. points out that they didn't subject her to a personality profile, and Margaret looks grim as she says, "That didn't even occur to me." I would much rather see the adventures of Margaret the spy than I would Kate. With a loud click, Margaret opens the briefcase and hands Kate's personnel file to C.J. Margaret closes the door on the way out. C.J. starts looking through the file, and finds that virtually every page contains some blacked-out information, and that sometimes entire pages are blacked out. Cut to a camera outside C.J.'s window -- so now Kate's the spy who came in from the cold? Whatever. Commercials.
C.J. continues to read Kate's file as mysterious spy music plays. Charlie enters her office. Again, I'm impressed with how well they protect top-secret documents. Charlie is there to tell C.J. about the two options for dealing with the termites. Charlie actually seems interested in letting the entomologists study the bugs before killing them, but C.J. tells him to "just kill the damn bugs." Don't miss the season finale, when Charlie will help reshingle the roof.
Toby's on the phone with Donna. Of course, he has her on speakerphone, so he can help keep the whole Castro trip a secret. He's trying to find out what the campaigns are thinking about "the Castro thing," but there are so many people shouting around her that she can't hear him. So the conversation is basically "What? I can't hear you?" followed by "What did you say? Speak up?" Scintillating. In the middle of his call with Donna, Toby puts her on hold and switches over to Josh. Josh is at a rally for Santos and can also barely hear Toby. The first thing Toby says to Josh is, "We're not talking to each other." I know some people have taken this as a callback to the big fight they had a couple of weeks ago, but I think that's giving Mr. Sacret Young too much credit. I think Toby's just referring to the "top secret" nature of the phone call. Again, the basic tenor of the phone calls is, "What? Could you repeat that?" After a minute, Toby switches back to Donna and still can't hear her, and when he gets back to Josh, the connection has been lost.
Leo enters C.J.'s office and tells her that he needs to apologize for having kept her in the dark on the whole "secret talks with Castro" thing. C.J. tells him that he really does need to apologize, and then she tells him about Cliff's meeting with Framhagen, which led to C.J.'s examination of Kate's personnel file. Apparently, Kate got around. And not just in the "did she or did she not sleep with Will" sort of way. There are blacked-out pages in her file from when she was in Africa, Kosovo, and Iran. And apparently there's a reference to Leo in the file, from when Kate was in Florida in 1995. Everything is pretty much blacked out, and C.J. asks Leo to tell her what was going on then. He tells her that he was attending a meeting of veterans of the Bay of Pigs. Okay, so now Leo is a veteran of the Bay of Pigs? He tells her that it was a meeting of veterans from both sides, for the first time. Apparently, Leo thought that this meeting could turn into a precursor for talks with Cuba. He tells C.J. that there was also a recount under way for the nutjob member of Congress Toby was ranting about earlier. And then Leo claims to have been Secretary of Labor in 1995. Which...no. It's well-established that Bartlet was preceded by a Republican, whose term would have lasted from January 1995 until January 1999. Or, in the fucked-up brain of John Wells, from January 1994 until January 1998. In either case, Leo was not the Secretary of Labor in 1995. Leaving behind the tattered remnants of continuity, Framhagen showed up at this Bay of Pigs veterans meeting and he and Leo left the meeting and got drunk. And apparently, by the time Leo got back to the meeting, it had all fallen apart and hope for peace with Cuba was dashed. And that's when Leo took a vow that he would do something to make it all right again. Puh-leeese.
Crowded bar. Kate's old CIA buddy is knocking back a drink. Kate joins him, and he tells her, "A cigarette, a lighter, and the password, and we'd be back ten years." He asks her if she misses being undercover, and she tells him that she misses "the excitement, dressing up and down, disappearing into character..." He starts to talk about her ex-husband, who is still "down there." But she cuts him off and asks why she called him again. He tells her that he wanted to apologize: "I knew back then what was going on. What it was doing to you. I should have protected you better." She tells him that it's too late now and it was too late then. Too late for what? Damned if I know. And then Andy drops it on her that he's doing the twelve steps, and he's at step nine, the part where he has to make amends to the people he's harmed. If John Sacret Young ever gets to step nine, he had damn well better call each and every person who sat through this episode. 'Cause he's got some serious apologizing to do. Kate thanks Andy for the apology, and then he warns her that the story about Leo's trip is about to break. And then she says, "South side, Chicago, Chicago, south side. It's Little Italy."
Kate walks through the West Wing, pulling off her black leather gloves. More fucking spy music plays in the background.
Kate walks into C.J.'s office and plops down in a chair. Kate talks about how she never imagined that she would work in the White House, and that she had a crappy childhood. C.J. asks her what's going on, and Kate tells her, "Tomorrow morning, Cuban-American factions are going public with Leo's visit to Cuba." Commercials.
Jed walks into the Office of O. A fucking subtitle tells us that it's Wednesday night. C.J., Toby, Cliff, Kate, and Leo are assembled, waiting for him. As everyone sits, C.J. tells Jed that news of Leo's trip will break the day. C.J. suggests that they could spin it by claiming that all they did was listen to what the Cubans had to say, but Jed doesn't want to go that way. Toby points out that they have to think about the impact on the South Carolina and Florida primaries. Apparently, news about Fidel Castro has strange time-altering properties, seeing as how the South Carolina primary already happened. Also, I don't get the concern over the primaries. I mean, who cares if Cuban-Americans don't vote in the Democratic primary? It's not like it means anything if more of them vote in the Republican primary than in the Democratic primary. (I understand concerns about the general election, but fear that "the Democrats" will be hurt in the primaries seems illogical to me.) Cliff points out that Russell will find a way to turn the meeting to his advantage, in light of his strong anti-Castro history. Toby thinks that Santos probably hasn't decided how he would respond. Jed asks Cliff how Vinick and Walken (the Republican candidates) will respond. Cliff tells him that Vinick probably agrees with Jed, but won't say anything, and Walken will come out swinging. Leo tells Jed that he should look past politics and campaigns. Jed asks, "It's here, isn't it?" What's here, you ask? Why, according to Leo, it's a cliff. Jed asks C.J. and Toby what he should do, and they both think he should jump. Jed tells them to get him some airtime as soon as possible. Toby tells Jed that he thinks they should let the candidates know what's happening. Debbie walks in and tells Jed that Bingo Bob is still waiting, but he tells her to get Vinick on the phone first, and then Santos, and then he'll see the Veep.
Framhagen is in his office, pouring some clear liquor into his orange juice. Leo walks in, and Framhagen thanks him for coming over. Then Framhagen holds up the bottle and asks if Leo wants to join him. Leo declines, and Framhagen claims to have just been fooling. But I don't believe him, especially when he admits that he wishes more people in the government did drink. Leo asks him how he discovered the trip, and Framhagen lists a number of ways he could have found out. Framhagen keeps talking about the wonders of alcohol while Leo ignores him and talks about the fact that the pro-embargo stance is no longer the sure political winner it once was. Framhagen finally gets to the point, telling Leo, "It's too late for the Bartlet administration to go legacy shopping in Cuba." Didn't they already spend all their legacy shopping money in the Middle East? How much more legacy do they need? And then they have a debate. Point: Castro is bad. Counterpoint: Embargoes don't work to erode dictatorships, but engagement does. Leo tells Framhagen about the minor changes that they're actually proposing. (Minor, because the actual embargo is codified in U.S. law and can't be modified solely by the President.) After a nearly interminable debate, Framhagen stands up and tells Leo that whatever the Bartlet administration does will just be undone in a year, because any action to weaken the embargo will cause the Democrats to lose Florida in the presidential election, and therefore to lose the election. Leo mentions 1995, and Framhagen asks him what he's talking about. It turns out that Framhagen was somehow involved in swinging the results of the recount in the Congressional election that year. Framhagen mentions the fact that he and Leo got plastered together. Framhagen tells Leo, "We were close once, back then." Leo responds, "No, Senator, we just drank back then. We were never close." And with that burn, Leo leaves the room.
Kate sits alone in the empty Sit Room. Leo comes in and tells Kate that he's been looking for her. She tells him that Jed is going on the air any minute, and she wanted to watch from the Sit Room. He sits down, and starts to ask her about what she was doing in Miami in the '90s. She confirms that she was there, but doesn't say much else. He says that he was there for a few days in '95, but that he doesn't remember much about it: "Led me to lock myself away for thirty days, dry out." Which is true except for the fact that it happened two years earlier. He tells her that he thinks the fight over Cuba is worth it, and she responds, "There's gonna be hell to pay tomorrow." If we see the tiniest sign of fallout from this episode before the end of the season, I will eat my hat. Leo thinks that if he could have gotten something done ten years earlier, Jed would be spared the need to fight the same battle now. Kate cuts him off, saying, "The CIA would have never let the embargo go away then. They're against ending it now." So, what? They would have assassinated Leo back in '95? He asks her what she thinks, and she tells him that she supported the embargo in '95, but that she's not sure what she thinks anymore. Leo gets up to leave, but before he goes he asks her, "Did we meet back then?" She asks him if he remembers her, and he doesn't. And then he asks her if she remembers him. Strum strum strum. And...flashback!
The worst subtitle ever tells us that it's "Florida, 1995." Because there's no way we would have figured that out on our own. We could not possibly have guessed that the scene of Leo getting smashed would take place in Florida in 1995. Certainly not after all the discussion in this episode about how Leo got smashed in Florida in 1995. And I love how this flashback takes place just somewhere in Florida. Kate leans against a car in a parking lot. She's holding a cigarette and wearing the worst wig in the history of television. It's long, straight, and brown. She's also sporting a black eye. There's the sound of a bottle being knocked over behind her, and she turns and sees Leo staggering toward her. Strum strum strum. I think I see Selena sitting behind the wheel of one of the cars. Leo stumbles over to his car, which happens to be right to Kate. She asks him where he's going, and when he falls down again trying to get into his car, she tells him that she'll drive. She loads him into the passenger seat and then climbs into the car herself. She asks him where he's going, and he tells her that he wants to ride off into the sunset. She points out that they missed it, and when he asks her what happened to her eye, she tells him, "You should see the other guy." She's able to get him to mutter the name of his hotel. He tells her that he'll remember her, and she tells him, "No you won't....But I will." And then Kate says, "Baltimore, Maryland, Maryland, Baltimore. It's Federal Hill." Strum strum strum. Yo quiero Taco Bell.
So, anyone have any theories about what the fuck happened in that scene? Leo was clearly leaving his binge with Framhagen, but what was Kate doing there? Was she supposed to make sure Leo was out of the way while the meeting of Bay of Pigs veterans was disrupted? Did she have some connection to Framhagen? Was she supposed to kill Leo? Did she slip him a mickey to get him extra-drunk? And where did the black eye come from? Her husband? Andy? Framhagen? Fidel Castro? In nineteen pages of discussion of this episode in the forums, I haven't seen one explanation that fills in all the gaps. If you have a theory, please don't send it to me -- send it to John Sacret Young, care of NBC. He clearly needs your help finishing his plots.
Back in Leo's office, he listens to Jed deliver his address on Cuba. It is, by the way, the worst speech we have ever heard Bartlet deliver. Toby is clearly being overworked. We see shots of Jed delivering the speech, C.J. watching him deliver it in the Oval Office, and Kate listening in the Sit Room. The camera slowly backs away from the window of Leo's office as the snow falls down. Fade to black.