Manchester, Part I

Shout-out to Sean C.

Previously on The West Wing: There's a political crisis in Haiti; Mrs. Landingham was killed by a drunk driver; Bartlet concealed his MS, in order to get elected; everyone wants to know if Bartlet's going to run again. Because, you know, it's not utterly obvious.

I guess we're doing the widescreen thing this season.

The show opens by overlapping with the last scene of "Two Cathedrals," this time focusing purely on C.J. in the Briefing Room and without the Dire Straits song and the procession of "the guys" toward the Briefing Room. Jed answers the question that has been hanging over his head all summer, about whether he will seek a second term: "Yeah. And I'm gonna win." Camera flashes and lightning conflate on Jed's face as the scene fades out.

It's night. In a limousine, the driver tries to get the attention of C.J., who's sitting in the back, completely zoned out. She finally jolts out of her daze and he tells her, "We're here." She unbuckles herself and gets out; we see that she is beside Air Force One. Title cards inform us that it is four weeks later, and that we are at Andrews Air Force Base. She takes her luggage and walks toward the plane. Nearby, POTUS is getting out of his limo when Ron Silver comes up to him and says, "Mr. President, I've got a new section..." POTUS greets him with a friendly "Bruno!" and tells him to give it to Leo as he zooms off. Bruno looks aggrieved. We hear a man (whom we soon find out is named Paulson) having a conversation with C.J. as they eventually walk into the scene. She's assuring him that the speech is written, and that they're just ironing a few things out; he must be a member of the media. Paulson's not talking about that; he's trying to tell her that he's learned the FDA is ready to "pull the trigger" on mifepristone (RU-486, an abortifacient drug which in low doses can also be used as a method of emergency contraception within five days of unprotected intercourse). C.J. points out that since the FDA is an independent agency, she "could get in trouble for even knowing what [he] just told [her]." Paulson insists, "No, it's non-proprietary information delivered by a non-governmental person. You're fine." She says she'll ask one of her fourteen lawyers about that. Poor C.J. She wants to know when they're going to announce, and the reporter tells her that they're doing it on Monday. She stops and stares at him. He adds, "Right before his speech." C.J. looks like if she were less tired, she'd be more upset. She thanks him and he takes off.

C.J.'s standing at the bottom of the stairs into the airplane as Josh comes bounding up and tells her, as they climb the stairs, "There are now seven different drafts of the speech. The President likes none of them. Toby and Doug can't get together. Sam and Doug can't get together. Leo and Bruno can't get together." C.J. tells Josh she's got to talk to him; Josh keeps going on about the speech, telling her to tell anyone who asks that it's done. Which is what she's been doing. They're inside the plane now and she pulls him aside to tell him the news about the RU-486 announcement. When Josh hears it, he says, "Come on!" in a fairly whiny way. He asks, "You didn't take care of this?" How was she supposed to take care of something like this? She says, "I told all departments 'no news on Monday -- we get the cycle to ourselves.'" She reminds Josh that the FDA is an independent agency. He asks, "So we're kicking off our campaign on the same day...Perfect." She tries to apologize, and Josh kind of talks over her, saying, "Yeah, I'm also not wild about pictures of the President getting on the plane without his wife." C.J.: "I can't computer-generate images of the First Lady." Josh asks whether Dr. Bartlet's arriving in the morning. C.J. says she is and that they'll do some pictures then. Josh says he's going to call Gail Trent to try to confirm the FDA thing, and that maybe they want to postpone. C.J. asks why; as Josh walks upstairs, he suggests, "I don't know, maybe he's got laryngitis or something."

As C.J. walks along, a new character appears, a bald fellow I'm pretty sure we haven't seen before. The actor's name is Evan Handler, and it's funny, one of the first things I thought when I saw him is that he could play one of the Three Stooges really well, and I didn't know until I looked him up on the IMDb that he had. Weird. Anyway, he's playing Doug, but we'll be referring to him frequently as Shrug, in honour of another role he played in a short-lived television show that I saw five minutes of once and was not impressed with. But I like the sound of "Shrug," and the fact that it rhymes with Doug. C.J. starts to give Shrug the spiel about the speech being done; what he wants to know is, "What's Toby's problem with me?" C.J. doesn't know what Shrug means. Shrug insists that Toby has a problem with him, and says he's trying to figure out what it is. C.J. tells him not to worry about it. Shrug points out that he has a job to do this weekend and that Toby's making it harder. C.J. starts to disagree and then sees someone she wants to talk to: "Connie!" She leaves Shrug, who looks dismayed, and walks up to another new character. I'm kind of wondering at first if this might be a new assistant for C.J. Because, where's Carol? She sometimes comes along on these Air Force One jaunts. Connie points out that the plane has a communications centre, a conference room, an operating room, offices, and an apartment: "This is a nice ride." C.J. gives Connie the official story about the speech. Connie's got it. As C.J. walks toward the seating area for members of the media, Connie gestures with a little box, saying, "M&Ms with the seal of the President." One reporter asks when they can see an advance copy of the speech; C.J. assures her, "Very soon." In answer to another question, C.J. assures them that the speech is done and that they're just ironing a few things out. Another reporter asks, "Toby and Sam don't have any problem with Bruno's people?" C.J. insists that everybody's getting along just fine, when naturally, just behind her, a door opens and Sam comes out having a hissyfit: "This thing reads like an Andy Williams special!" He throws a sheaf of papers into the air and barks, "We're starting all over again with a white piece of paper!" He storms off. C.J. calmly announces, "I'm going to take my seat now."

C.J. goes off to her seat as the pilot announces they'll be arriving in New Hampshire in approximately one hour and ten minutes. He adds that they anticipate a smooth flight. C.J. snorts softly and drops her head back on the seat. And we have liftoff for Season Three. (I'm trying to pretend last week never happened.) The credits have some new shots in them, and they now include Stockard Channing. The order is: Rob Lowe, then everybody in alphabetical order, followed by Martin Sheen at the end.

Now we're back at the White House on the night of the re-election announcement. Throughout this episode, the story shifts back and forth between that night and the trip to Manchester four weeks later. We see footage of Jed's announcement playing on the news on a TV set outside the First Bedroom. Jed slowly walks up to the door and braces himself before entering. Dude, one word: Kevlar. Look into it. He opens the doors and leaves them open; he says, "Abby?" A Secret Service guy closes the doors behind him as Abby replies, "Jed?" She's sitting in a wing chair with a drink, and I'm guessing it's not the first of the night. Jed starts to say, "Listen," but she interrupts: "You missed it. It was incredible. It's all over the news. This crazy man got up in front of millions of people and totally screwed his wife." Jed quietly says, "That's funny, because that's sort of what I did." She says, "You can't think this is funny." He says he doesn't. She adds, "You can't think this is a joke." He walks over to the TV and turns it off, swearing he doesn't think it's a joke. She says that there are ways of getting out of this. He agrees. She starts to suggest that since he buried Mrs. Landingham this afternoon, he couldn't possibly be expected to make decisions of this nature, but Jed interrupts a bit and she jumps tracks, suggesting that he let some time go by and then say he's consulted with his doctors and his family and she keeps rambling but Jed gently informs her, "I'm running again, Abby." She looks stricken and just stares at him. She says, "Yeah?" She's way less wound up than I would have expected. Or than I would be if Frink did this to me. He says he has a lot to say. She replies, "You and me both." He nods. She tells him to go ahead and say what he has to say. He explains that he can't right now, since he has to be briefed on an evacuation plan for Haiti. She apathetically accepts this. He asks whether she'll be up later, like around 3 or 4 AM. She asks, very calmly but with the exact right amount of peevishness, "Am I usually up at three or four in the morning?" Jed acknowledges that she usually isn't. She replies, "Then let's assume I won't be tonight." He leaves, and she sits in the chair looking kind of small and sad and serious and defeated.

The title card tells us we're in Manchester, New Hampshire. It's raining tonight, too. Josh and Donna drive up: Donna's driving, Josh is co-pilot. Josh tells her the hotel is up on the right. Donna asks, "What's mifespristone?" Josh replies, "A pill that will abort a pregnancy up to forty-nine days." Donna realizes that it's the drug known as RU-486. She asks, "And the FDA's approving it?" Josh confirms this. Donna sings, "Hallelujah!" as she parks the car. Josh says, "See, I think you're thinking that somehow this pill means more sex for you." [Deborah to herself: don't go there, don't go there, just don't. No, really: don't. And don't go there, either. Sitting on hands until the feeling passes....] Donna snipes that it wouldn't be possible to have less sex. Actually, she explains that she's thinking it's a great medical advancement for women. Which it is. She asks, "You didn't think I'd be for it?" Josh says, "Of course you're for it. I'm for it, the President's for it, everybody's for it: just not on Monday." They get out of the car. Donna asks why not. Isn't that fairly obvious? Josh explains that it will get folded into their news cycle when they want it to themselves, and "it will give the pro-lifers something to scream about." He also points out that it will look like they screwed up, and the press will write a story criticizing their process instead of focusing on the issues. They're in front of a nice old stone building. Donna asks, "Isn't this one of our issues?" Josh: "Not on Monday." He says he'll check in. Donna turns and mumbles to herself: "Sure, I'll get the bags." One of these days, Josh is going to make a sexist comment (however slight) to the wrong woman and be much sorrier for it than C.J. and Donna ever make him feel.

Inside the bar where several scenes will take place tonight, Shrug's ordering an Absolut martini on the rocks. This whole episode is a big shout-out to those of you who are always begging to see the staff in casual clothes more often. I don't actually care that much one way or the other, but it's nice for a change. Shrug asks the bartender whether it's always this crowded; she replies, "Only when the circus is in town." Toby comes up to the bar and sits down two seats away from Shrug; there's a waiter standing between them. The bartender says, "Toby Ziegler, what'd you bring me?" Toby says, "M&Ms from Air Force One, Lois." She knows his drink is Jack Daniels, and Toby says, "Yes, please." The waiter leaves, and Shrug and Toby-wan look at each other uneasily. Shrug: "Did you, uh...?" Toby says he's read it. The music is loud so they also have to be. Shrug says that it was just to demonstrate that an apology can work. Toby says Jed's not going to apologize. Shrug wonders what Toby thought of the rest of the speech. Toby informs him that they're starting over. Shrug moves over to the seat to Toby. Shrug says, "Toby, if he doesn't apologize on Monday, we're going to spend the fifteen months being asked why. Then, when he does, it's going to be because he had to. There are moments, and when they're missed..." Toby interjects, "I've done this before." Shrug says, "Like Haiti." Toby says, "Don't talk about military strategy in a conversation like this." He gives a symbolic glance over his shoulder. Shrug persists: "If the table had been set right and he'd been able to invade..." Toby replies, "You want to speak up? I'm not sure the entire White House press corps heard you." Lois arrives with Toby's drink; he takes it and leaves. Lois asks Shrug, "You guys friends?" Shrug says, "Yeah," as he looks over his shoulder in the direction Toby went.

Back to revelation night: Toby walks over to Leo's office to tell Leo that Joey's doing another poll. Leo's enthusiastic about that because the first poll was bogus and...well, you know all the reasons. We've been through them several times now, as Toby tells Leo. Toby asks where POTUS is; Leo says he's in the Residence. Toby asks about FLOTUS. Leo says, "You know, I think with everything on our plates, we don't need to be marriage counsellors right now." Toby replies, "No, we should, 'cause you and I would be really good at it." Now that made me laugh. But I also felt kind of sad for them, too. Toby leaves, and Margaret comes in to let him know that someone's ready for him. Leo says, "Here we go."

Nancy's standing in the situation room staring at a radar screen and listening to radio communications. Leo comes in and she tells him, "Leo, we'll hear Rattner from Port-au-Prince completing each phase of the operation." Leo asks where they are; a guy tells him both Cobras are in position. I miss Fitz. Does John Amos have some other gig or something? Leo asks how long it takes; Nancy says they'll start taking personnel in forty seconds. Another guy tells Leo, "They ready the two pairs of Cobras over Bazan's troops to secure the landing. Then we pick up the fifty-three Americans and Dessaline." Leo adds, "And haul ass to Paris?" Nancy says, "Yup." And then quietly, to Leo: "How you doing?" Leo replies, "Not bad." He asks her the same. She says, "Not bad. Wish I could have been at the funeral." Leo acknowledges that she had her hands full. Nancy says, "I was proud of our boy. How's the First Lady doing?" Leo says, "Let's not do that right now, hmm?" Apparently the whole White House knows about the deal. Nancy and Leo and everybody watch the screen; the room is quiet since there are no communications coming in. After a moment, Leo remarks, "This silence makes me crazy." Nancy is calm and resolute. Leo looks angry and tense. After a few more moments of quiet, he bursts out, "Come on!" He checks his watch. I don't know about anyone else, but for me these types of scenes have more power since the events of September 11th, and I suspect they might for others, too. Finally, a pilot communicates that all personnel have been secured. Everyone smiles and there's a little bit of clapping and congratulating; everyone is relieved. Suddenly a pilot communicates that they're being fired at from inside the building across from the embassy. The mood turns very serious again as they hear not only the pilot's description of what's going on, but also what sounds like gunfire mixed with the sound of the propeller. One of the Cobras is smoking from the tail and has been hit in the cockpit. Cobra One indicates that he has some injuries, but they're going to try to make it back to Paris. Cobra Two indicates that he's engaged with a squad of HNP troops with several light machine guns. He says he's engaging with twenty-millimetre and 2.75 rockets. There are lots of sounds of weapons firing. Then a bit of silence, then the pilot announces "Target neutralized. Returning to Paris." Everyone relaxes a bit. Leo quietly says, "All right. Well, we're in it now."

Back at the bar, we cut to a shot of some videogame featuring a military combat theme; there's a helicopter whirling around after being shot out of the sky. The music playing is "Don't Rock the Boat." The shot swings around slowly to land on C.J., who's sitting at a table with Sam. She's regaling him with details from the hotel brochure; he's trying to work on the speech. She says, "Our hotel is located just a few miles from the site of John Goff's Mill. 'Hunter John, as he was called, was granted the land as a reward for his services to the colony in the French and Indian Wars.' Let me tell you something: we don't do that enough anymore." Sam reads from the speech: "I seek re-election to the Presidency not because of its glories but because of its difficulties." Oy. That's weak, dude. Sam wonders whether "challenges" is better than "difficulties." It is, but it's not going to fix that sentence. C.J. agrees, and goes on reading from the brochure. Sam muses, "Is 'challenges' going to make us think that one of the difficulties is that he's got MS?" C.J. replies, "It makes us think that he's up for a challenge." Sam agrees. Toby comes up and asks C.J. to play some pool. She says she doesn't know how. I find that surprising for someone as sharp as C.J. Toby says, "Then you want to play for money?" C.J. says, "Sure." I hope she's lying about not knowing how. They walk toward the pool table. In reference to her absorption in the brochure, Toby asks, "What are you doing?" She says she's drawing inspiration from the strength of the Goff family. She goes on about the generations of the Goff family of millers. She relates that in 1845 when Theodore "Ody" Goff was proprietor, the mill burned to the ground. She looks bummed and says, "Well, that totally blows." Step away from the brochure, C.J. It's not helping your state of mind at all. She grabs a pool cue.

Suddenly, we whiz over to the Briefing Room, where C.J. is fielding questions about the Haiti mission from a very wound-up bunch of reporters, probably early in the morning of the day after the funeral. Between Mrs. Landingham's funeral, the MS revelation, the announcement that Bartlet will run again, and the Haiti thing, I think everybody's had a pretty long twenty-four hours, but I have particular sympathy for C.J. As it turns out, she's going to need it, too. She tells them that the operation was launched from the deck of the USS Enterprise about sixty miles off the coast of Haiti, and that if they need more military details, she will have to refer them to the Pentagon. A reporter asks whether the President was briefed on the evacuation after the press conference; C.J. says he was. The reporter asks about POTUS's state of mind; C.J. replies, "His state of mind was he's Commander-in-Chief." Another reporter pipes up: "I think the question was, was he physically and emotionally prepared to make a life-and-death decision after what he'd just been through?" C.J. responds, "He'd been through a TV interview and a press conference. The President finds you all annoying but not prohibitively debilitating." Hee. They keep badgering her. A third reporter says, "The President had just announced an elaborate plot to conceal a life-threatening illness from the American people..." Way to get just about everything wrong, dude. C.J. impatiently reminds them that MS is not life-threatening and that there was no plot. Where's Danny, anyway? I know, I know, they were probably already over budget with all the guest stars on this ep, but it's the sort of scene where I'd expect a shot of Danny looking at C.J. with his usual mixture of pity, sympathy, suspicion, admiration, and yearning. C.J. takes another question about when the President told her about his condition; she says it was a week ago.

We switch from shots of C.J. in the room to shots of her on a monitor in the area where Donna's office is. C.J.'s asked whether POTUS told her himself; she says Leo told her. Someone asks why Bartlet didn't tell her. C.J.: "Because Leo McGarry told me." We see Josh watching the monitor; Joey and Kenny arrive. Joey has a new, shorter, bouncier hairdo. Joey asks how C.J.'s doing; Josh says it's getting away from her a little. Joey says they're making C.J. the story. Josh knows; he says he wanted to ask Joey about something. He says that the Justice Department needs another $30 million to fund its suit against Big Tobacco, and the Bartlet administration wants them to have it. Josh says the Appropriations Committee won't bring it to a vote. Joey asks if Kalmbach is the chairman. Josh says he is, and that he wants to turn up the heat by sending out a press release. Joey inquires as to whether it's incendiary. Josh says it is, calling them well-fed members who are lining their campaign war chests and being complicit in hundreds of thousands of negligent homicides. Joey says, "Nice." He says they didn't send it out yesterday because of all the other things going on, but that he wants to leak it in a couple of days; he asks her what she thinks. She hesitates for a moment and then says, "Yeah, that's really stupid." Josh asks why. She replies, "Because offense makes people play defense." Josh says, "I'm raising the profile to bring public opinion down on him. Play defense with that." Joey argues, "Congress appropriates the money. You're not going to get it by pissing off the appropriators." Josh mutters, "Aw, watch me." Joey comments, "Thanks for asking for my opinion." Josh says, "No sweat," and goes back to watching C.J. on the monitor, where she is saying, "I'm not answering that." When she starts to explain why not, there's an edge in her voice that betrays the loss of control she's feeling. Josh says again that it's getting away from her, and takes off in the direction of the Briefing Room. The camera zooms in on C.J.'s face on the monitor as a reporter says, "Hang on. You need to be able to distinguish between the things we're supposed to know, and the things we're supposed to know and you don't." Dude, I think your seating assignment on Air Force One just changed for the worse. Allison Janney is doing a fantastic job of portraying C.J. under fire here (and throughout the show). She states that the Pentagon briefing is scheduled for three this afternoon, and that she will keep them posted on the changes. She makes a gesture with her hands that would seem to indicate no more questions, but she doesn't leave the podium and doesn't say anything conclusive, so we can't be sure whether the briefing ends here.

Back at the bar, Toby takes a shot on the pool table. He stands up and tells C.J., "Leo talked to me, you know..." C.J. doesn't seem to hear him, or maybe she's playing dumb: "Hmm?" He repeats himself. She's all, "Yeah?" She has a look on her face that's a combination of defiance and nonchalance, if such a thing is possible. Toby says, "Yeah." He's trying to be nice and supportive, but C.J.'s not having it: "About what?" Toby just bends over and takes his shot. He misses and tells her it's her shot. She reaches down and with her hand, pushes the nearest ball into the nearest pocket with as little oomph as possible. She explains, "Strategically, I felt that was the wise thing to do." One gets the feeling that she's probably talking about more than the game. Toby tries again: "Leo talked to me. I know what you're thinking about doing." I hear the sound of fans everywhere shrieking "No!" Or maybe that was just my brain. She doesn't look at him, and kind of shrugs. But it's so much more than a shrug; it's the kind of gesture that you can't really describe in words but which a great actor like Allison Janney can do so much with. She takes another ball and sends it rolling across the table into the pocket at the opposite corner. She just looks at Toby.

After some words from our sponsors, a lot of people are in the Oval Office for a meeting about Haiti. Josh is there. So is Toby. POTUS enters, asking, "We're talking about a display of force?" Nancy replies, "Yes, sir. Bazan sees what he's up against." And that is? A bigwig in uniform says, "We can buzz Port-au-Prince with an Alpha-strike formation: five F-18 fighters." Nancy says that will get Bazan's attention. Josh asks, "Isn't is possible that they could shoot at us again?" Someone responds, "We'll fly an E-2 Hawkeye with a radar dome." POTUS asks whether it picks up weapon signals. It's confirmed that they would know before the formation reached Port-au-Prince if they were in danger. POTUS asks, "Peter, State's exploring the effectiveness of immediate sanctions?" Peter says they are, but that they've been down that road with Haiti before. Josh adds, "With terrible results that hurt the wrong people." Something sanctions seem to do all too often. Iraq, anybody? Nancy states, "And not to pile it on, Mr. President, but we have reports of twelve separate incidents of cutters intercepting Haitians off the Florida Keys. If we stretch out the resolution..." POTUS completes her thought: "We'll have a refugee crisis." She says, "Guantanamo Bay." POTUS silently considers options; everyone waits patiently. POTUS tells them to get a message to the Canadian Prime Minister (I sense Jean Chrtien pumping his fist and yelping, "Woohoo! Le shout-out!"). POTUS says the message is that they intend to restore Dessaline, and that the Canucks should tell Bazan that if he doesn't shove off, they're willing to take military action. He says that in the meantime, he's willing to consider the fly-by. Nancy asks, "And if the fly-by doesn't work?" Jed sighs: "Now you're just bugging me." He dismisses them. Toby and Josh hang around as everyone leaves. They discuss the fact that if they end up invading Haiti, it's going to be perceived as politically motivated, as though they welcomed the opportunity to distract attention from the MS issue and to portray strength in the Commander-in-Chief. POTUS mutters, "You think it's a sign of strength to invade Haiti?" Josh starts to explain, "I meant..." Jed points out, "Missouri could invade Haiti." Jed says that sanctions aren't going to work: the Haitian National Police would make a killing on the contraband. He continues: "Dessaline was democratically elected and instead of sitting in his office, he's sitting on the USS Enterprise. To say nothing of the fact that they shot at us, and you don't get to do that." That line is so much heavier now than it probably felt when they filmed it. Charlie comes in to hustle Jed off someplace, and Jed leaves, saying, "I'm late." As they leave, Toby says, "Everybody's tired." Josh says, "You know, at some point, we're going to have to check the First Lady's temperature." Toby: "Okay, you first." Josh: "Yeah." Toby says, "On Haiti, tell your people to be careful with public posture: not to say or do anything that could taint any of the options." Josh: "Nobody wants to invade, nobody wants to contemplate invading 'til we've exhausted diplomatic options."

Back at the bar, Toby asks Charlie -- who's wearing a shirt and tie, although they're loosened -- whether he wants to play pool. Charlie asks, "Aren't you supposed to be writing?" Toby says, "I am writing." Charlie takes a sip of beer and comments: "I don't see any paper." Hey, writers are always writing, paper or no paper. At least, I'm always writing stuff in my head. Doing the dishes, painting a wall, watching television, even while reading and often while talking to people, I'm writing in my head. Hell, sometimes while writing something on paper or screen I'm still writing something else in my head. It's annoying sometimes, but I can't seem to stop. Toby recites, as he chalks his cue and drinks his Jack Daniels: "We can sit back and admit with great sensitivity that life isn't fair, and the less-advantaged are destined to their lot in life and the problems of those on the other side of the world should stay there, and our leaders are cynical and can never be an instrument of change, but that, my friends, is not worthy of you. It's not worthy of a President. It's not worthy of a great nation, it's not worthy of America." Go Toby-wan! It's not stupendous, but it's a hell of lot better than what Sam's churning out over there. He adds, "Paper's for wimps. Wanna play?" Charlie: "No." Toby says, "I understand if it's 'cause you're scared." Charlie says he's not. Toby keeps needling: "I'm saying, if you're scared chicken, I understand..." Charlie asks, "You got twenty bucks?" Toby does. Charlie tells him to put it on the table as he grabs a cue. Toby generously offers Charlie the break. Charlie replies, "You give me the break, you're not going to need that stick." My bet's on the kid. The camera angle is opposite the balls as Charlie leans over and takes his shot. As the ball formation explodes, the scene changes.

I believe it's still the day after the funeral and the press conference. Babish finds Charlie and asks to speak to him for a moment. They go into the Mural Room. Babish begins by mentioning that today POTUS will direct the Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor, and asks whether Charlie knows what that means. Charlie says he does. Babish remarks that he'll need a lawyer. Charlie doesn't think so. He thinks he'll be fine. Babish says he will be asked about everything he's seen and heard since starting his position there. Charlie says he can answer truthfully. Babish explains that the prosecutor will then call him back in a month and ask him all the same questions, and that if his answers vary even slightly, he can be prosecuted for perjury. Charlie says, "Mr. Babish..." Babish says, "'Oliver''s fine." He asks Charlie, "Are you prepared to describe every conversation you ever had with the President? Whether he asked you for an aspirin? Whether his hands quivered? Are you prepared to answer questions about your relationship with his youngest daughter?" Like, are they actually still having one? I'm just wondering. Babish states, "This is NFL football." The reality of it is starting to dawn on Charlie. He asks when all this will happen. Babish doesn't know, because Grand Jury investigations are secret. Charlie asks, "So they can just knock on my door one morning?" Babish confirms that that is exactly what they will do. Charlie says, "How much? You know...how much do you think?" He's wondering just what this is going to cost him. Babish lays it on him: "Assuming you did nothing wrong, saw nothing wrong, and heard nothing wrong...about $100,000." Charlie takes this with obvious gravity but way less emotion than I would have expected. (I'd like to see Charlie lose it, just once. Just to see what that would be like. I have a feeling that we might, this season.) Kudos to Sorkin for including this point: I think it was very responsible of him. I have heard that many Clinton staffers were more or less driven into extreme debt, poverty, even bankruptcy by the expense of hiring lawyers to protect and defend themselves during Monicagate. I'm not sure why, when a President acts illegally, immorally or unethically, to the degree that his staff end up subpoenaed, that the burden of legal expenses should fall on individual employees. That strikes me as absolutely outrageous. With all that all these hardworking people (who work twenty hours a day and have no lives to speak of), have to deal with: having been lied to; most of them having had only a week to deal with the truth; having Jed's decision to run again sprung on them when they had been told otherwise; the possibility of losing their jobs if Jed's impeached or if he resigns, in addition to having the Bartlet administration excoriated by both the media and the Grand Jury, and possibly watching their careers go up in flames completely...to add to all this the crushing financial burden of legal defence for choices they had no part in making...well, let's just say, I'm not sure if POTUS can be my boyfriend any more. (Sniff.) He had no right to put others in such terrible positions.

Charlie sends the last pool ball into the pocket and puts the forty dollars in his own pocket. Toby says, "Nice game. It was fun to watch." That'll learn ya. Maybe Charlie can pay his legal bills by hustling pool. His government salary sure isn't going to cut it. As Charlie starts to go, Toby asks about what's going on with the First Marriage. Charlie chides him, "Toby." Toby apologizes. Charlie explains that he can't do his job if Jed thinks he has to be sent out of the room every time things get ugly. He doesn't actually say "things get ugly," but it's what he means. Toby-wan should know better. Toby says, "You know what? It's a typical marriage. I've been there." Charlie comments, "Well, I haven't, but he's the President of the United States, so my guess is no, it's probably not a typical marriage. I'll see you later." Toby sits on the pool table and sighs. He rolls a ball into a pocket. And we've got another commercial break.

Josh, Donna, Connie, and Margaret are sitting at a table in the bar eating and reading papers. Josh is complaining that Donna says she didn't want any food, and now she's eating his. Donna says, "You'd kind of think you'd have learned it by now." He asks whether she's eating the rest of the sandwich; she asks, "Are you?" He has kind of an oddly constipated look on his face. By way of answer, he takes a big bite. Bruno comes up; he's not in casual clothes like everybody else. Bruno asks, "Where is he?" Josh asks, mouth full of food, "How are you doing?" Bruno: "I don't care. Where is he?" Hey, way to make friends and influence people. Margaret says, a bit testily (not that I blame her): "Leo's on the phone." Josh wonders what the problem is; Bruno sighs and sits down. He opens a file folder and reads, "'Our economy may be stronger, yet there are Americans who work longer for less pay and less dignity. Our crops may feed the world, yet there are children whose stomachs ache with the pain of hunger.' Yes, it's midnight in America." There's quite a bit of sarcasm in his delivery of the last line. Josh says that he's not sure you can say that "stomachs ache with the pain." Connie says you can, but that it's bad. She's right. Connie tells Bruno she ran into Sam earlier and that they'll talk tomorrow. Okay, clearly she's with Bruno's camp and not a replacement for Carol. Connie wonders whether the kitchen is still open. Donna starts to offer Connie some potato salad that she's not planning to eat, but Josh grabs it and says that he's eating it. Shrug comes over to complain about the speech; before Shrug can even quote the offending lines, Bruno's saying, "I know, I know." Shrug: "'Let us shine a light on dark places in America: places where all hope has been banished, places where our founders' dreams are yet to be redeemed.'" That's pretty terrible. Sorkin's doing a good job of painting himself into a corner here. If the campaign announcement speech is going to be part of the second half of this opener, and I can't imagine that it wouldn't, it's going to have to be brilliant since he's spent so much time harping on how lousy everything is that's been written so far. But it's not like Sorkin hasn't written great speeches before, so he'll probably pull it off. Bruno adds, "And then let us kill ourselves and move to Pakistan." Um. I wish you could all see me here with my face in my hands, rubbing my eyes and dragging my fingers down my face, trying to figure out how the hell to take that line. I decide just to not go there. Leo arrives and asks, "Why are people here? I came to the bar to have some privacy." Sounds like...an odd plan. Bruno complains, "Leo, I am reading things that would make the cast of Up With People sit down on the floor and cry." Leo assures them that they'll work tomorrow. He asks Connie, "What are you two doing here?" As she starts to answer, Leo interjects, "Tomorrow." Josh takes a quick swig of beer and then follows Leo through the bar, to tell him about the RU-486 announcement. Leo asks if he's confirmed it; Josh says that he has, as well as he can. He's been at it most of the night. Josh wants to go through back channels to try to get them to put it off; Leo tells him not to. Josh says that they have to consider postponing the speech, then. Leo says he's going out to see POTUS first thing in the morning, and that he'll talk to him.

Back in the Roosevelt Room, Joey's brought the staff some preliminary numbers, representing opinion gathered within the first sixteen hours. She certainly is good at pulling stuff together quickly. In answer to the question, "How much faith do you have in President Bartlet?" Sam reads that 21% say "Great deal"; 24% say "Somewhat"; 15% say "Only a little." Larry (I think) concludes: "'Not at all:' 38%." Sam points out that they have 44% in the top two boxes, which is better than they expected. In answer to the question, "Do you feel he's able to physically perform his duties as President?" it appears that 39% of those polled felt that he "Probably did not" or "Definitely did not." Joey indicates that that number will go down as they educate the public about MS. Josh asks what the bottom line is; Joey replies, "For an incumbent to have any chance at all at this point in the calendar, he needs 40%." If the election were held today, it's 41%. Larry reads, "Forty-one percent would re-elect him, 37 [%] would elect a new person." Ed adds, "Twenty-two percent don't know." Sam says Jed's in the ball game. Josh says he'll set up some meetings for tomorrow and they'll examine the final numbers for this set and make some decisions.

Sam pedeconferences with Josh as he leaves, mentioning that Sam was talking to Toby earlier about the fact that POTUS hasn't apologized. Josh doesn't know what to say about that. Josh asks Sam about the press release he wrote about the appropriations for the tobacco suit, and what Sam would think about Josh leaking it to the subcommittee. Sam says he wouldn't do it. Josh thinks for a moment and says, "I'm doing it." Sam just says okay, and goes back to his concern: "So you don't think we're going to get hung with the apology?" Josh tells him to hang on, as he turns up the television to hear what C.J. is saying in a press briefing, possibly the same one she seems to have been in all day. Probably a new one, but I'm sure, to her, it seems like it will never end. Toby's watching from the office area at the back of the room.

C.J.'s talking about the move in Haiti, the fly-by. A reporter asks whether the President has spoken to the families of the injured Marines. She says the President has expressed his gratitude and his concern both to the Marines and to their families. Another reporter wants to know whether they (the Marines and/or their families, I guess) expressed concern for the President's health. C.J. says that the President's health is not a matter of concern, and that the conversations focused on the contributions made by the Marines to national security. A reporter named Mark asks about the reports of Coast Guard cutters intercepting Haitians off the Florida Keys; C.J. says they are being considered economic refugees and being diverted to Guantanamo Bay. A reporter named Carl asks, "Does this mean that the President can't afford to spend his own political capital right now by accepting mass numbers of refugees?" C.J. says that's not a factor. You can see the mounting tension in her shoulders. From time to time, she fidgets with her notes, and the sticky notes thereon. She tries to take a question from someone else, but Carl persists, asking, "Do you think the President's political problems make it more or less likely that he will order an invasion?" C.J. repeats that that's not a factor. He asks yet another question: "C.J., would you say the President's situation makes it harder for him to focus on the situation in Haiti?" She takes off her glasses and says, "To be honest with you, Carl, I think the President's relieved to be focusing on something that matters." Yow. The room goes astonishingly quiet except for the sound of cameras. Toby's mouth hangs partway open and he raises his eyebrows as he takes this in. C.J. knows right away how badly she's screwed up, if for no other reason than that you would have to say something really out of line to strike this crowd dumb. C.J. weakly tries to fix the mess; without looking at the reporters, she says, "Obviously, what I meant to say was --" Carl interjects, "Excuse me, did you just say 'he's relieved'?" C.J. starts to try to cover herself again; every reporter in the room is clamouring. She never looks up.

Toby leaves the room and runs into Sam in the hall, saying, "I don't believe it." Sam says, "You saw it?" Sam looks slightly ill. Toby says he was standing right there. Sam says, "'He's relieved'...that he might have to send troops in battle? 'He's relieved'...that he might have to put American lives at risk and kill Haitian civilians because it takes his mind off having lied to the electorate?" They round a corner as a door suddenly opens and C.J. comes out; she was headed for her office, but when she sees them standing there she turns around in the other direction. They can see how very upset she is. Toby gently says, "C.J..." She's more upset than I think we've ever seen her on the show. She's furious with herself but she's not crying. Yet. She shouts, "Just...just don't say anything for a...just don't...don't say anything for a...." She puts her hand to her head. You can't help feeling excruciatingly bad for her. She bangs the wall with her hand and yells "Dammit!" and then walks away between Toby and Sam. They wisely say nothing.

In Leo's office, Joey and Kenny are there snitching on Josh about his intention to leak the press release. Joey thinks that Josh is letting his emotions and (she dares say) his ego drive his decision in the matter. Margaret comes in with a message for Leo, which he reads; he then takes off his glasses, shakes his head, and says "Holy hell." The camera focuses on Kenny's hands signing this. I get the feeling that what he signed doesn't literally translate to "holy hell."

We see Josh heading toward C.J.'s office, but she storms in there before he does and slams the door. Josh stops short and changes direction. He runs into Toby and Sam and starts ranting about the same thing Sam just did. They run into Leo, who's just come barrelling out of his office. He asks what happened. Josh tells him. Sam qualifies the story with the fact that there was a "ramp-up." Leo's naturally irate. "'Relieved'?" He starts walking back to his office; they follow. Now that Leo's apprised of the situation and fully enraged, the rest of them turn their attention to damage control. Toby says they can argue that she misspoke. Josh suggests that they can claim she meant to say that the President realizes that he's focusing on something that matters. Toby suggests "reiterating." Sam complains, "I like 'something that matters,' like finding out the President lied doesn't matter." Leo slams shut the door between his office and the Oval Office. Then he slams the main door to his office. He yells, "What if he has to invade? It's gonna look like he ordered a military operation to cover up..." True, but it's not like the media wouldn't have implied that anyway, if not come right out and said it, in the absence of C.J.'s gaffe. Toby explains that she can go back, she was tired. Leo hollers, "C.J. doesn't misspeak!" Josh says she just did. Leo demands, "If she misspoke, why didn't she clean it up in the Briefing Room? I mean, come to think of it, why didn't she clean it up in the Briefing Room?" Our Sam is loyal to a fault, as always: "She actually is tired, Leo. We all are." Leo roars, "Well, why don't we go with that, Sam? Why don't we go out and say we're all tired? The President's tired. Complications due to MS." Sam counters, "We haven't had much time..." Leo sharply interjects, "You had a week. How much time do you need?" Sam snaps: "Some of us have had more time than others!" Yikes. Very well done. Leo just stares and no one speaks. Leo walks over to his main door, opens it and asks Margaret, "Is he alone?" She says he is. He turns to the three guys and says, "Come up with something." He goes into the Oval Office.

We see a car driving down a long farm driveway, past a guardhouse. It's a beautiful, large piece of land with lots of trees. The car stops; the guards see that it's Leo, and wave him through. We see Jed leaning on the back of his pickup, drinking coffee and smoking. He's wearing jeans and a polo shirt. Leo's chauffeur pulls up close to where Jed is standing and Leo gets out. He says, "You live in the middle of nowhere, you know that?" Sounds good to me. It's kind of weird to see them outside, in daylight, in a rural setting. I like it, though. I like changes of scenery. Much as I love the set on this show, and as great a job they do of exploiting its possibilities, it can get a little claustrophobic at times. Jed replies, "Awasiwi Odanack.' It's a Abenaki phrase that means..." Leo completes the sentence with him: "...'beyond the village.'" Jed asks whether Leo wants coffee; he doesn't. He asks what's happening. Leo tells him about the FDA announcement. Jed takes a another drag on his cigarette and says, "Yeah, all right." He wanders over into a nearby fenced-off area. Leo follows him, suggesting they postpone the speech. Jed asks why. Leo says, "You've got laryngitis." Jed replies, "Yeah, I know, I mean, why?" Leo starts to talk about it getting wrapped up in the news cycle. Jed knows. He figures it's one news cycle. Leo contends, "Plus it gives meat to the right...lets the press write a process story. Right out of the gate the Bartlet campaign is pandering and bumbling and performing abortions in the Rose Garden." Jed: "Screw it and screw anybody who writes that story." Leo adds, "Plus, I have a hunch the first round of subpoenas will be handed down this week." Jed says, "You have a hunch? Of course the first round of subpoenas will be handed down this week. If we announce in two weeks, that's when the first round of subpoenas will be handed down! Screw it! It's game time. Let's go!" Leo just stares at him. They've walked across a large lot by now, and come to another fence. On the other side of it are quite a few cows grazing near a large pond. It's a pretty honking piece of property. Leo remarks, "This is a nice piece of land. It'd be better without the floodlights and the metal detectors, but..." Is he trying to talk Jed out of running, now? Jed agrees. They both lean on a fence, looking out ahead of them toward the cows. Leo asks, "Abby and the girls are getting in this morning?" Jed and Leo turn to face each other, still leaning on the fence. Jed asks how everyone is doing; Leo says they're fine. Jed asks, "How about C.J.?" Leo just stares and says nothing. Jed only looks at Leo long enough to get the idea and quietly says, "All right." After a moment, he says, "Laryngitis?" Leo shakes his head slightly and says, "I don't know." Jed proposes, "We could just say I have MS." Leo quietly acknowledges the comment and looks off into the distance. Jed says, "Leo?" Leo looks at him and replies, "Yes, sir?" Jed: "I'm running for re-election and I'm going to win." Leo just looks at him. They both turn back and lean on the fence, saying nothing. The scene closes with a shot of the farm, with them off in the distance, leaning on the fence, not particularly close together, but side by side.