OTH: The West Wing- "The Leadership Breakfast" / "The Drop In"
Gonna knock this one out quickly.
Season 2, Episode 11
Aired January 10, 2001
Directed by Scott Winant
Story by Paul Redford, Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin
Synopsis: Josh and Sam are setting up a fire in the Mural Room as the White House prepares for the Leadership Breakfast, a White House tradition where the heads of both parties have a bipartisan breakfast meeting before the start of a new session of Congress. Unfortunately, the fireplace flue has been welded shut for over 100 years and is not set to handle a fire, which causes a disruption at the White House. That’s how you start an episode.
Unfortunately, the Leadership Breakfast is a fluff affair where heavy political matters are largely left aside so both parties can appear friendly and eat pancakes, so certain pieces of important legislature need to be left ignored for the time being. There are other pressing matters, like where the Majority Leader will be seated for breakfast, and where both parties will have their post-breakfast press meetings. Majority Leader Chief of Staff Ann Stark (Felicity Huffman) is adamant about the Majority Leader having their press statement on Capital Hill, and wants C.J. to have hers at the same location, which she disapproves with. Toby, an old friend of Ann’s, asks to meet her for breakfast, where she makes her case as to why she should meet at the same location as the right. While she doesn’t allow Toby to make his way through any of the heavy issues he’s interested in pushing, she agrees to talk to the Majority Leader about discussing the minimum wage bill, which Toby confirms they have the votes on, if he’ll ask C.J. to speak on Capital Hill. C.J. isn’t happy with the arrangement, but she has no choice but to accept it as a demand from Toby. On the morning of the breakfast, C.J. is watching the Republican side’s press meeting from her office and notices that the Majority Leader is MIA, reportedly due to a soar throat. She realizes that something is up, that Ann is likely withdrawing him to retaliate, and she’s proven right when a reporter, one we see Ann beg to be called from the other side of the White House, ask about the minimum wage bill, noting that he has a quote from a “personal aide to the senior staff” that they have the votes. Toby is watching in his office and notices the trick that was played, but before he can say anything to C.J., she calls off her Capital Hill meeting and asks the press to meet in the Press Room. Leo has the staff meet in his office, asks what happened, and advises everyone to come up with a way to combat this. They decide to have C.J. counterattack the Majority Leader at her briefing, asking why he wasn’t on Capital Hill when he was clearly at dinner. As Ann watches this in her office, Toby meets with her and without having it come out of her mouth, he realizes that the Majority Leader intends to run for President come 2002. He tries to meet with President Bartlet that evening, but misses him as he retires. Instead, Leo and Toby discuss Toby’s realization and begin their plans to reelect President Bartlet.
There’s nothing quite like a game of political chess, is there? While I do tire of Sorkin’s eccentrics in his screenplays, he knows how to keep things interesting with two opposing forces, and this botched attempt at bipartisanship gives him a good opportunity to do so.
The MVP of “The Leadership Breakfast”, however, might just be Felicity Huffman. The former Sports Night star and future Desperate Housewives Emmy winner is a perfect fit for Sorkin’s dense yet tight dialogue and her Ann Stark a perfect foil to Toby’s articulately pretentious self. Surprisingly, this remains Huffman’s only appearance in the series, but she positions herself to be a worthy regular feature.
The rest of the episode is fun, if standard fair, but that’s clearly not a detriment. Huffman is joined by one-and-done director Scott Winant (a veteran with 40 years of experience on the small screen still keeping active, also an Emmy winner for producing and directing Thirtysomething), who delivers a handsome, competent episode that I just don’t have much to expand on.
Season 2, Episode 12
Aired January 24, 2001
Directed by Lou Antonio
Story by Lawrence O’Donnell, Jr., Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin
Synopsis: President Bartlet pauses his current approval process for various ambassadors when Leo asks for his attendance in the Situation Room. A critical missile test is taking place and the President should be there to see it. He arrives and sees the missile miss their target by 137 miles, which is a lot. Obviously it’s a lot, but that’s worth noting. While this remains a hot topic, the President returns to approve various ambassadors, but is at an impasse when his top choices for the UK are unavailable for one reason or another. To the surprise of no one who remembers the character, the role officially goes to Lord John Marbury. Leo, who thinks Marbury is a loon, isn’t happy, but he hopes that this will give him someone who will support Leo’s take on the missile shield from earlier. Lord Marbury, however, isn’t on his side, and the two have a long-lasting debate.
President Bartlet also has a speech at the Global Defense Council that evening to discuss a new plan to fight global warming, which Toby finds out when he returns from a trip to Kansas City. He’s not happy to hear about this, not because he doesn’t believe in global warming, but the news that the President has taken on the role after the previous speaker had to step down makes it sound almost demeaning. Sam, however, suggested the idea to the President, who loved it, and that’s that. Toby also recalls a recent act of extremism by an environmental group where a new ski resort in Colorado is bombed as it poses a threat to local lynx, and encourages the President to call out this form of terrorism. He rewrites parts of Sam’s speech to allow Bartlet to condemn the actions, which does not go over well at the meeting and infuriates Sam. Sam is further incensed when he calls Toby and asks for some sort of alibi to give to the press after the speech, which he learns C.J. also received the same exact instructions. A visibly furious Sam rushes to the Oval Office, but Toby, trailing Sam, encourages Charlie to not let Sam in to see the President. He later catches Sam at a bar, where the two briefly discuss their positions and call a truce for the time being.
For one thing, Great Britain doesn’t have their own US ambassador, the UK has one who represents the entire nation. But anyway, who else was expecting Lord Marbury to return when the position was announced? There was only one direction the show could return to when England was brought up, and I’m glad that we were able to receive more of Roger Rees as the delightfully unbearable Marbury. He and John Spencer play together spectacularly.
“The Drop In” refers to the last minute change in President Bartlet’s speech, where he condemns the action from the extremist climate group, a move that divides Sam and Toby. The thing is, Toby’s right, people heavily concerned with global warming (an issue that only continues to expand as the years go by since this episode aired) will continue voting blue no matter what, given the right’s consistent disinterest in addressing climate change. Still, Sam is arguably poised as the person in the right, offended by Toby’s insistence that “friends be honest with friends” and not appreciating that his work was tampered with, and I like that there’s a gray area between the two of them. Furthermore, I appreciate how their issue isn’t properly resolved at the end of the episode. They can agree to disagree for the time being and even sip a beer together, but they’re both still on opposing ends and Sam isn’t ready to drop his position. Television, particularly non-serialized works (The West Wing has strong continuity but doesn’t quite have the arc of, say, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The Sopranos) often likes to wrap up dilemmas by episode end to start the slate clean for next week, but life seldom works out like that. An occasional reminder of reality is welcome, and thankfully not overbearing.
The missile silo material isn’t as interesting to me, at least until Marbury shows up to argue with Leo (Situation Room stories don’t tend to be the show’s most memorable, frankly), but “The Drop In” is a well-balanced episode otherwise that remains true to the show’s ethos. But I may just be saying that to wrap this review up quickly. I promise more thorough analysis next week.
Presidential Records:
I feel bad, but I can’t hear Kazakhstan be mentioned and not thing of Borat. What can I say, it’sanice.
Donna does indeed seem like the kind of person who would stitch her name in her underwear. I give Josh and Sam credit for not giggling too hard about that scene.
I’m still keeping notes on the show’s movie references, and this week Toby is caught quoting Casablanca- “I’m shocked, shocked to discover gambling going on in this establishment.”
The GDC is the same establishment that Annette Benning worked for in The American President. Small world, huh?
When all is said and done, besides a few things like changing the First Lady’s name, the show does have good continuity. Leo recalls President Bartlet chewing off Al Caldwell’ head for not decrying religious extremists in the pilot when he appears slightly more laxed at environmental extremists.
“The Drop In” aired 23 years ago, so the Earl Donna was eyeing should be in his late 20’s now, perfectly appropriate for her to hit on him. Assuming that she and [SPOILER REDACTED] don’t work out, of course.
Next Week: President Bartlet gives his State of the Union and deals with a DEA crisis.