OTH: The West Wing- "Ellie" / "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail"
Drinking game- take a shot every time C.J. says she quits.
Season 2, Episode 15
Aired February 21, 2001
Directed by Michael Engler
Story by Kevin Falls & Laura Glasser, Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin
Synopsis: Millicent Griffith (Mary Kay Place), the current Surgeon General, suggests on a chat session online that marijuana should be decriminalized, a position that the White House currently opposes. President Bartlet is currently in Tokyo with Leo, so Josh is asked to meet with Dr. Griffith, who he asks to resign, a request she denies unless the President personally asks her to. This becomes even more complicated when C.J. learns that Danny received a comment of support for the Surgeon General by Eleanor Bartlet- the President’s middle child. As Jed, Leo and Charlie return from Tokyo, the President finally learns about his daughter’s note and storms off to the White House in a furious manner, demanding that Danny have his credentials suspended. C.J. manages to save Danny’s integrity by informing the President that Eleanor called him and not the other way around. The President demands that his daughter comes as soon as humanly possible for her, and she arrives the next day. By car, as Ellie is only 45 minutes away at John Hopkins, which her father is quick to remind her. President Bartlet asks why she would break through the intentionally strict guidelines he set to protect his daughters to speak to a member of the press, when she stands by her ground, stating that Dr. Griffith was speaking openly and accurately about how marijuana is less dangerous than other drugs, and that it would be wrong for him to fire her. He can’t say anything, but asks if she will be willing to stay for the evening, which she agrees to. Ellie’s arrival and her comments recall past wounds from the President, who has always felt the least supported by his middle child. When Dr. Griffith comes to hand in her resignation (which she agreed to after meeting with Leo), Jed asks her advice as we learn that Millicent is a family friend. She suggests that Ellie has always been afraid of him and is more loyal to her mother as opposed to how Zoey and Liz (the oldest, who we haven’t met but is named this week) are daddy’s girls. He appreciates the perspective and declines her resignation, as President Bartlet races to catch the rest of tonight’s movie and spend time with his daughter.
Also happening, Toby meets with his ex-wife, Congresswoman Andy Wyatt as they discuss his intention to bring a senator onto the Blue Ribbon Commission. That story doesn’t really go anywhere, however, nor does President Bartlet’s unlegislated attack of a controversial movie.
I believe it’s been mentioned that Jed and Abbey Bartlet have three daughters. In the show’s pilot, President Bartlet mentions a granddaughter who received a particularly disturbing omen from a radical religious group, but we haven’t heard mention of grandchildren since, while Zoey is the only daughter seen. Before today.
I don’t tend to love when series do soft retcons like establishing characters who are meant to be important with no precursor beforehand, like how Surgeon General Griffith is supposedly a good enough friend of the Bartlet family to know why Ellie, the middle child, doesn’t bow down to her father the same way her sisters do. But why have we never heard of her before?
This is one element I don’t love, but the idea of one of President Bartlet’s children struggling to connect with their highly influential father does strike a chord with me, as it allows Jed to exhibit a somewhat rare character flaw. While he’s usually the most charismatic person in the room and can light up anyone who speaks to him, no one is universally liked, and that limitation has to appear somewhere. That it comes from his own daughter is all the more interesting and heartbreaking.
Still, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Martin Sheen arguably does too good of a job portraying the President as tough, albeit loving. He’s not afraid to show off his power with Zoey, yet with middle child Ellie, he knows to stop short, yet it still isn’t enough. This appears to frustrate Jed a little, who thinks the world of his daughters, but just can’t get her to feel the same for him as his bookend girls do. They’re able to have a cute moment watching one of Hitchcock’s more middling features, but that distance will likely still remain as Ellie returns to John Hopkins.
All of this over the argument of marijuana’s relative medical harmlessness. With weed becoming increasingly legal in the states, it does read as humorous to see this be a nonstarter twenty-odd years ago. Everyone needs to chill out and smoke a bowl.
The rest of the episode is standard West Wing fair, with even the return of Toby’s ex-wife doesn’t shake things up the way you’d expect (frankly, Toby had better chemistry with Felicity Huffman’s character a few weeks ago). That isn’t necessarily a problem, as the show remains highly entertaining, but the material that really stands out is Jed’s family matters.
Season 2, Episode 16
Aired February 28, 2001
Directed by Jessica Yu
Written by Paul Redford & Aaron Sorkin
Synopsis: It’s Big Block of Cheese Day- the one designated day where each member of the senior staff meets with a smaller clause that they normally wouldn’t schedule an appointment for- and Leo is raring to go. Donna has her own slice of cheese to attend to as she meets up with her old university buddy Stephanie Gault, who asks to meet with Sam. It turns out that Stephanie’s grandfather worked for the White House during FDR’s administration and was tried for espionage and arrested for six months for treason in suspicion of being a communist spy. As her father is dying, Stephanie hopes to appease his life’s goal by earning a belated pardon for her grandfather, and she comes to Sam knowing that he’s the most likely to convince the President of such a case. It doesn’t help that Sam wrote his thesis on Daniel Gault and sent her father a portion of it. While Sam is having a rough week, recently learning that his father has had a long-standing affair with his mother, he agrees to look into it, but notes that this will be a long and laborious process, although Stephanie insists that her father will be happy that any work is done. A meeting with FBI Special Agent Casper, who remain uncomfortable with this period of history, confirms this, but the truth truly unfurls when Sam is asked to meet with Chief of Security Nancy McNally, who gives Sam a classified NSA file on Gault to prove that he was, indeed, working for the Soviets as a secret agent coded Black Water. Sam meets with Donna and Stephanie, intent to tell the truth, but Donna advises Sam to not let Stephanie loses hope. He scoffs at the idea and goes to tell Stephanie about her “father”, but Donna reminds Sam that he means grandfather, and he recognizes the error of his mindset. Sam tells Stephanie that they weren’t able to receive a pardon this time, but to try again at another point.
Toby, meanwhile, is asked to speak at a protest being held that week, but he’s bombarded with insults and personal questions, so he refuses and reads a paper instead, when he makes nice with the security officer asked to stand with him. As for C.J.’s slice of cheese, she meets with a geography coalition who asks for the President’s approval to change from the Mercator Projection Map to the Peters Projection Map, noting how geographically accurate it is in comparison.
The title comes from Don Henley’s “New York Minute”, which is played over the episode’s opening and closing scenes. As we’ll continue to see, the crew likes their 80s rock just fine.
Big Block of Cheese Day was a highlight from the previous season, so its return is welcome even if we don’t see too many projections this time, instead focusing on Sam’s fruitless quest to validate an undercover agent. While I do appreciate when the show embraces its silly side, this isn’t a detriment, as I think the story turns out lovely.
In fact, “Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going to Jail” may have some of Rob Lowe’s best acting in the episode to date, as it allows Lowe to express his range in a manner not seen before, combining anger with empathy as Sam struggles to do right by Stephanie’s family. The narrative reason behind his frustration makes sense, recalling Sam’s disappointment with his father, and Lowe plays this well while keeping the memory of Sam’s past, studying Daniel Gault, is recalled.
Lowe does terrific things with his work during the episode, especially at the end, when he’s confronted with how he’s been acting. It’s strong character work and helps to keep Sam in the spotlight as he’s being slowly pushed away for more electric characters. It’s not even that Josh and C.J. are that much more exciting or that Bradley Whitford and Allison Janey give their all each week or that they have fun characters to play off of like Donna and Danny, but it’s all of this that Lowe and Sam don’t necessarily lack, but struggles with in comparison. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that Sam was meant to be the face of the show.
C.J. and Josh do have their own chunk of cheese to deal with, that being the ongoing debate with the Mercator and Gall-Peters projection maps, which the geographers in favor of the latter make a worthwhile case in favor of… at least until they flip the countries over and confuse everyone in the room. Myself included. But this is why Big Block of Cheese Day is so memorable, sometimes the cheese smells funny.
Toby also has an interesting subplot, where he plays his hand with unruly protestors. The episode frames the students who are boycotting Toby to be overzealously eager to shoot down… whatever it is they’re protesting against (something about free trade), while he pays no mind. Part of me doesn’t love seeing excited young folk treated so trivially, but my own experience with left-leaning wannabe activists makes this ring all too true, how so many of these people don’t know what they’re fighting for or how to fight properly. Toby has the right idea, pulling out a paper until it’s time for him to be escorted away.
The aforementioned Don Henley bookend is a further nice touch to make the episode feel memorable, a nice touch from Academy Award-winning director Jessica Yu’s first time on the job. This is The West Wing that I love and want to remember.
Presidential Records:
I noticed that I scheduled this for Thursday instead of Wednesday as usual, which is just an error on my end. Enjoy!
It’s always slightly cathartic when C.J. proves to be the smartest person in the room, like when she tells her Ivy League graduate coworkers that they have a clock telling them what time it is in Tokyo in the room they’re in.
“I’ve gotta hand it to you guys, you pulled off a political first. You managed to win me the support of the Christian right and the Cheech and Chong fan club in the same day.”
So his daughters are Elizabeth (Liz), Eleanor (Ellie) and… Zoey? Kind of broke the streak with her.
Prince of New York sounds interesting, but I think that I would also pick Dial M for Murder over it.
This week in Wacky Margaret- when she has a moment with the Surgeon General, she asks about cancer being hereditary in white rats.
Next (Other) Week: A timely filibuster couldn’t be any more timely, and one of the senior staff discovers the President’s secret. At least one member, any way.