OTH: The West Wing- "The Crackpots and These Women" / "Mr. Willis of Ohio"
Gonna keep these brief.
Season 1, Episode 5
Aired October 20, 1999
Directed by Anthony Drazan
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Synopsis: Leo has a penchant for making up odd holidays at work, and today is now “Big Block of Cheese Day”, where he insists that the staff meet with fringe interest groups that the White House otherwise ignores. I’ll largely skip over recapping them here, but it’s worth noting that Josh gets to sit this meeting out as Jonathan Lacey from the National Security Council wants to meet with the Deputy Chief of Staff. Mr. Lacey gives Josh a card that has his information, which will grant him access to a special chamber that will protect him from a nuclear fallout, which is an offer that the rest of the White House staff isn’t offered. Only the President, Leo and Josh. While he tries to figure out why he got the invite over everyone else, President Bartlet is being briefed on his upcoming press statement by his staff. He answers a couple of questions about the economy, but tries to shoot down Toby’s insistence on asking about the recently-passed gun control bill, not liking that the Communications Director is starting to insinuate that the bill is too softball, which inevitably leads to a shouting match between Toby and the President. Leo calls the meeting off and leads Bartlet to the Mural Room to meet with his economic staff. Before their meeting really gets cooking, the President receives a note that Zoey, his youngest daughter, is coming to town, so he calls the meeting off and calls his staff into the Oval Office for another quick meeting, first to invite everyone over for his famous chili, and also to resume their business from earlier. Mandy takes the opportunity to suggest a trip to California to meet with Hollywood elites, including a big name director who’s a big supporter of the President, to discuss this upcoming bill, but Toby shoots it down. Violence in the media and the comparative quality of this director come up, but doesn’t amount to anything. Josh, who is still guilt-ridden over the discovery of his exclusive bomb shelter invitation, meets with his therapist in the middle of the day. Here we discover that he isn’t just guilt-ridden over said invitation, but memories of his late sister Joanie keep coming back to him, and his therapist brings up that for as often as he’s talked about her, Josh has never explained how she died. He finally gets it off of his chest- one night, while Joanie was babysitting him, a fire started (Josh was too traumatized to remember how), and while he ran out of the house, Joanie wasn’t able to and burned alive. Yikes. Back at the White House, Mandy heads over to Toby’s office and attempts to give him some kind words, where she states that she’s grateful that the President ultimately went with him over his first choice. You do not tell a man as riddled with anxiety as Toby Ziegler this, and he is not resting anytime soon. That evening before dinner, while blasting “Ava Maria” (Joanie’s composition of choice as a child), Josh meets with C.J. and tells her about the recent invite he’s received and the remorse he has that she, Toby and Sam weren’t offered the same. C.J. insists that Josh has nothing to worry about, since his line of work will be needed more than theirs after a fallout, but she appreciates his sincerity. Still, when he meets with the President and Leo later, Josh declines his invite, suggesting that he would rather be with his colleagues during the event of a fallout rather than part of the big kid’s table. Bartlet also gives Toby a heartfelt moment, when he admits that Toby wasn’t his first choice, despite Leo and Josh’s insistence, but he’s grateful every day, even today, that fate worked out the way it did and he’s on the team. The episode ends on a positive note, with Bartlet giving a nice speech and enjoying his daughter’s presence.
Huzzah, it’s Elisabeth Moss! Well before Mad Men, The Handmaid’s Tale, and her weird-ass Scientology beliefs, she’ll have a recurring role as Zoey Bartlet, the youngest of the President’s three daughters. And she’s fine, this never becomes the most substantive role. She’s a long way removed from Peggy Olson… although I won’t lie, I love the meet cute she and Charlie have in the kitchen.
Actually, the whole episode is pretty cute, offering us a slightly different form of comic relief than we’re used to with the fringe groups that the staff meet with. Even those, which include Sam’s encounter with hardcore UFO believers and C.J., who meets with a coalition requesting a ridiculous amount to build a wolves-only highway, are ultimately met with less scorn than implied, as the two staff members eventually ponder over their meetings and try to find them halfway. The joke switches from being on them to the crew being fairly supportive… and why not?
The crackpots in the title are pretty obvious, they’re meant to represent the fringe interest groups that the staff meet with, but the women involved come from a monologue by Bartlet at the end, where he highlights some of the ladies on his payroll. This feels like the same kind of lame olive branch that the ladies team-up scene in Avengers: Endgame aimed for and failed to live up to, considering Sorkin’s similar difficulty making his female characters hold their own. I will concede that this scene does offer some worthwhile development for Mrs. Landingham, a character who clearly matters to the President but has largely stayed out of the plot thus far. I, too, feel sorry that she lost her sons in ‘Nam, and is just as surprised as the President that she continues to work for the government without missing a day.
Tony Drazan, a respected director, albeit one with a slight filmography, took over directing duties for this week, and keeps the pacing exceptionally tight as Sorkin does his best to flesh out some of the characters beyond Mrs. Landingham, giving us a look into the psyche of Josh and Toby. The latter’s meeting with the President near the end is probably my favorite moment for his character thus far, and allows both Richard Schiff and Martin Sheen to show off some of their strongest nuances. Meanwhile, I like seeing how Josh’s mindset makes him struggle to consider his invitation. Here’s a well-meaning man, full of guilt and anxiety, which ultimately makes his decisions for him. I can relate.
And it makes for a pretty good episode!
Season 1, Episode 6
Aired November 3, 1999
Directed by Christopher Misiano
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Synopsis: After a hearty night of playing poker with the President that ends with a security warning, Leo calls his staff into his office the following morning to discuss their upcoming appropriations bill, which is three votes short of passing. Mandy, Toby and Josh stage a meeting with the two senators on the fence, plus the widower of a late senator who is sitting in her office until someone more qualified to take the position is elected, in hopes of swaying them to change their decision. Before their meeting, we stop by the Oval Office where President Bartlet discovers that the security threat last night came from a woman with a gun who was on the hunt for his daughter, Zoey. He’s disturbed but tries to keep a cool face. We then see the meeting mentioned above take place, with the two senators and the titular Mr. Willis being informed of the situation- the one thing keeping this vote from passing is a prohibition on sampling for the census, and the meeting will go on for as long as necessary until a decision is made. The senators roll their eyes, as this is a three-day weekend and they have flights that they might miss, but Mr. Willis is willing to stay for as long as necessary. Just when Toby really starts cooking, his tag-team partner is taken away when Donna has to send Josh over to the Oval Office, where the President personally requests that he takes Charlie out to a bar tonight, to ease his tensions. Josh agrees, and as soon as he’s invited, Zoey Bartlet and Mallory O’Brien, the daughters of Josh’s bosses (Mallory stopped by to return some of her dad’s things, and inform Leo that Jenny will not be won back easily), beg to invite themselves out. Josh reluctantly gives in, and even promises to invite Sam at the request of Mallory. Josh finds Sam, who’s spending the majority of the episode lecturing C.J. the cons of the census vs the benefits of sampling, and ends up inviting the both of them. Back at the meeting, Mandy and Leo fight for the benefit of sampling, bringing up reports that Black citizens are wildly unreported and white citizens are wildly overreported for the census, and that sampling will be a more beneficial way to handle things, for much cheaper, as well. This isn’t swaying the two senators, but Mr. Willis, an eighth grade history teacher, thinks their arguments are sound and agrees to go with them on his late wife’s behalf. It turns out that this is the only vote they need, and now the bill can be passed. Toby asks Mr. Willis to stick around and asks him what changed his mind, when he says that Toby did, as he made good points, a rarity when a strong case takes a back seat to reasonable arguments. Even when Toby suggests that he may have left out some key details, Mr. Willis (or Joe) says that he doesn’t mind, but that he’s grateful to have this one experience in the White House, but doesn’t intend on continuing his wife’s legacy any further. Later, Leo meets with the President and tells him what he’s been trying to say all day, informing Bartlet of his separation with Jenny. Jed is upset to hear about this, furthermore so that this happened two weeks ago, and he also doesn’t like hearing that Leo’s schedule was a key factor to the separation. All he can tell his Chief of Staff, and his close friend, is to fix it.
We then see Josh, Charlie and their party at the bar (including an only 19-year-old Zoey) and while they’re having a good time, C.J.’s drink is forgotten on their next round. Zoey goes up to the bar to get it for her, leaving her panic button behind, which immediately calls Secret Service over for her protection. While the group is spending their time analyzing how much of a good time Charlie is having, he notices something going on with Zoey at the bar. A couple of douchey (likely frat) guys aren’t leaving her alone, and he comes over to check up on her. These guys don’t realize what’s going on, as they berate racist and homophobic remarks on Charlie. This starts getting more attention from the bar, so Sam goes over to check up, while Josh presses the button and follows suit. Before a fight can occur, a group of Secret Service men arrive and take the men outside. Everyone returns to the White House, where President Bartlet asks Zoey to tell her side of the story, which is the same as what he’s previously been told. Bartlet increases her security, even demanding that she goes to classes in the spring with friends, but she doesn’t quite grasp the situtation. As far the President and Secret Service are concerned, his assassination isn’t the nightmare scenario, but rather Zoey being kidnapped and Bartlet needing to make an impossible trade is, and he’ll be damned if he lets that happen. He sends her away to speak to Josh, with whom Bartlet seems more annoyed that Josh took his underage daughter to a bar than anything else. Josh apologizes for that, but assures him that Charlie didn’t flinch when he went to Zoey’s aid. That settles it, as the President calls in Charlie, along with the rest of staff, for another round of poker.
If you had the most enviable position in the world and had access to the strongest and most certified security in the free world, wouldn’t you use every advantage at your finger tips to protect your children? I don’t blame Bartlet for the amount of attention he guarantees his youngest, especially when he reminds Zoey, and by proxy the audience, of the unenviable position he would be in if she was captured. He’s right, being the President makes him a giant target, but being the President’s young daughter is basically wearing that target as a T-shirt.
Bartlet’s “nightmare scenario” speech is a little on the nose, but it brings the point to the front and center, that while being the President is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination, being a part of his family can sometimes be even worse. For him and for them.
The last act sticks out for me in “Mr. Willis from Ohio”, but so does the title character. If anything, in such a heavily partisan climate, it’s refreshing to see someone who is willing to listen to reason and vote based on the information they receive, rather than to stick to their biases. Toby clearly agrees based on how moved he appears at the end, and I would be too.
Television veteran Christopher Misiano handles direction this week, whose work we’ll see plenty more times in OTH, both here and on ER, and he does a fine job of bringing Sorkin’s words to life, about as well as everyone else in the director’s chair thus far. What can I say, I’m light on words and the show continues to look fine.
Presidential Records:
It’s fun to see a couple of actors who will later play iconic characters on other NBC shows appear this week. The first episode has Sam Lloyd aka Ted the lawyer from Scrubs and Nick Offerman, the once and forever Ron Swanson, alone. Of course, his future wife Megan Mullally was about to become an Emmy winner for her work on the channel’s Will & Grace this season, but I’d also note that Bradley Whitford was likely selected to play Josh Lyman due to his scene-stealing performance from a particularly iconic episode of ER a few years back, so it all comes together.
And of course, I’d be remiss to mention that Rodney Grant from the cold open was played by real life basketball player, and future Michigan Wolverines coach Juwan Howard. Damn right the President won his game.
How do people die from a vending machine?
I love how 1999 this show feels sometimes. Donna wants a DVD player, which costed as much at the time as a Nintendo Switch does today. Since this episode aired, we’ve gone from DVD players becoming nearly as cheap as the DVDs you play them on, to them becoming available everywhere, to computers no longer offering disc ports. My last two laptops don’t have them, for instance.
“The nightmare scenario is you getting kidnapped.” Save this note and hold onto it for a few years…
Speaking of 1999- $12.95 for three sandwiches. Today, that can barely buy you one plus a drink, maybe chips if you’re lucky or pick one of the cheaper sandwiches…
Next Week: A hurricane interrupts an important meeting for the President, and strife arrives between the President and Vice President. *Squirrely Dan voice* Allegedly.