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west wing picspam
Hello everyone! I'm here with the extremely overdue latest edition of West Wing picspam. Sorry about that. Things have been crazy. Anyway, we have 2x08, "Shibboleth," which is a fine episode indeed.
All caps from screenmusings.net.
Sam and Toby are trying to write a nice little Thanksgiving speech. Sam is a little punchy, and thinking like a network executive.
SAM: Well over three and a half centuries ago, sprinkling by faith and bound by a common desire
for liberty... A small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the New World where they could worship according to their own beliefs... and solve crimes.
TOBY: Sam...
SAM: It’d be good.
TOBY: Read the thing.
SAM: By day, they churn butter and worship according to their own beliefs and by night, they solve crimes.
TOBY: Read the thing.
SAM: Pilgrim detectives.
TOBY: Do you see me laughing?
SAM: I think you’re laughing on the inside.
Hey, E! has a special called "101 Worst Celebrity Hairstyles." Anything is possible, my friend.
CJ does not approve of all this last-day-of-school sort of nonsense. She says the boys have "checked out." Checked out, I say!
Sam and Toby are appalled that she would even suggest such a thing. Appalled, I tell you!
"Hey, I was just flipping a nickel in my office. Sixteen times in a row, it came out tails."
In his defense, if he were taking a class in probability, that would be a perfectly legitimate exercise.
CJ flounces off in a huff leaving the boys with ruffled feathers. Speaking of feathers...Donna introduces the boys to Morton Horn. He's dropping off the turkeys and wants to know where to put them.
JOSH: CJ’s office.
SAM: CJ.
JOSH: I’d definitely put them in CJ’s office.
TOBY: Good idea.
JOSH: CJ Cregg’s office.
SAM: It’s right there.
TOBY: Well, CJ’s office is right there...
JOSH: CJ handles all the...
TOBY: Donna will show you.
JOSH: ...birds.
TOBY: CJ.
JOSH: Yeah.
DONNA: Okay.
TOBY: And Morton, Ms. Cregg is gone for the night, uh, and her office is secure, so you should
feel free to let the turkeys out of the cage, and allow them to, you know, roam freely, as they were meant to do.
JOSH: Absolutely.
MORTON: Okay.
TOBY: Okay.
JOSH: Show her who’s slacking off.
TOBY: Pizza?
But then Josh is told he's needed on a conference call about a boat from China. I don't know why I find this so hot, but I do. The jeans help. (Also, please note: Josh dealing with foreign policy. Remember this in season six when they act like this never happened before.)
Josh expositions to Leo that 96 Chinese people smuggled themselves into the country in the hold of a container ship. 13 of them died on the way. And I thought flying Delta was bad! *rimshot*
Josh tells CJ about the Chinese and also mentions to her, which he did not mention to Leo, that a name needs to be added to the list of recess appointments -- Josephine McGarry, Leo's sis, as an Assistant Secretary at the Department of Education. It will not surprise you to hear these are Toby machinations at work.
CJ arrives at her office to quite a surprise. I love this shot.
CJ: Why are there two turkeys?
DONNA: Customarily, the Press Secretary decides--
CJ: No.
DONNA: --which of the two finalists is more photogenic. Their names--
CJ: I don't want to know their names.
DONNA: This one's Eric and this one's Troy.
CJ: Eric and Troy.
DONNA: Yeah.
CJ: And I'm to choose the more photogenic of the two to receive a Presidential pardon.
DONNA: Yeah.
CJ: Okay, I have, actually, a Masters degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
DONNA: That's a good school.
CJ: Yeah.
DONNA: They eat...grain...or really whatever's lying around, and Troy doesn't like to be touched. [Love her delivery of that line.]
CJ: Okay. I'd like to be alone now.
DONNA: I understand.
Sorkin certainly has his characters be very defensive of their academic degrees, and often. He has a Bachelor's from Syracuse and apparently has quite the inferiority complex about it. Syracuse is a good school, Aaron, maybe you should get over it by this point in your life. Just sayin'.
Let's have another shot of CJ and the turkeys, shall we? You're welcome.
Meanwhile, Bartlet is sending Charlie's on fool's errands looking for a new turkey carving knife, but he keeps rejecting each one Charlie finds. This will be important later.
Toby and Bartlet discuss Toby's pushing of Josephine McGarry. Toby's itching for a fight on school prayer. Oh, that Toby, always itching for a fight. He probably got beat up a lot at school.
They tell Leo. Leo is all, "The hell you say! That bitch used to steal my teddy bear and rip its ears off! To this day I can't wear earmuffs!", except, you know, I totally made that part up.
Josh and Sam barge in to tell the president that the Chinese stowaways are claiming to be Chinese Evangelicals seeking political asylum. I suppose that's a slightly more compelling reason than, say, wanting to visit the Mall of America or something. Although it's a very nice mall.
CJ briefs the press on the China situation and on the fact that Thanksgiving is coming up. It is at this point that CJ discovers that as Press Secretary, she is expected to lead the children in song. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Sam and Josh meet with our good friend Mary Marsh and her good friend Al Caldwell and their good friend Bernard from Lost. Remember Mary and Al? They were in our very first picspam together. Doesn't that make you all nostalgic? Sniffle.
Sam gets all righteous. I know, you're totally shocked. Anyway, he's pissy because Mary Marsh has her knickers in a twist about this, but when Christians threatened to blow up a theater because they didn't like the play being shown (it portrayed Christ as gay), she didn't do dick about it. So: righteousness. Um. Not in the Bill and Ted sense.
Josh apologizes to Al Caldwell for Sam's behavior, and when Josh is apologizing for you, you know things are bad. Anyway, I'm really just using this cap because I like this exchange:
CALDWELL: Good morning, Toby.
TOBY: Good morning, Reverend.
CALDWELL: You look determined.
TOBY: I am, sir.
CALDWELL: Good boy.
Toby is determined, all right. Determined to KICK SOME REPUBLICAN ASS! Unfortunately for him, the Republicans are about to give him quite the letdown. You'll see.
Seems there's a troubling picture of Josephine in the paper.
TOBY: It was a home game, there was an organized prayer and she’s breaking it up.
LEO: Yes, she is.
TOBY: It's not good, but it's not, you know--
LEO: These are high school students. Two of them are on their knees praying while being
handcuffed, with my sister standing next to the cop whose hand is on his nightstick.
TOBY: He's resting it on his nightstick.
LEO: I'm sure that explanation will be in the caption.
Leo thinks this isn't about bringing school prayer front and center, it's about Toby bringing "his problem" front and center. Hmmm.
CJ's in the midst of full freakout about the song. Hey, I would be too. And I'm guessing I, too, would turn to the Protestant girl from Wisconsin for assistance.
DONNA: What do you need?
CJ: I need help with the song.
DONNA: Is it the usual song?
CJ: There's a usual song?
DONNA: "We Gather Together."
CJ: The song.
DONNA: That's the usual song.
CJ: So you know it?
DONNA: Everybody knows it.
CJ: I don't know it.
DONNA: Didn't you go to elementary school?
CJ: Yes, right before being a National Merit Scholar.
See? Seriously, get over it! (I only got the Letter of Commendation, myself.)
Uh oh, CJ's making crazy eyes.
CJ tests the photogenicness (that is probably not a word) of Eric and Troy.
"You both did fine. Troy, I want you know it was neck-and-neck but I'm giving it to Eric. You were in it right to the end, but it's the flapping thing you've got going on. I'll tell you what's of some concern to me, I have been talking out loud this whole time, that's very unsettling."
Josh and Sam find out about how the Chinese stowaways basically bought themselves into indentured servitude in order to come to this country. So they probably wanted to come here pretty badly. This is the shot I'm choosing to represent this scene, because it's hot. A crotch pager would be nice, but you can't have everything.
By the way, Charlie's still having no luck with the carving knives.
Josh and Sam brief the president on the situation, and note that the refugees may have been coached to appear devout.
JOSH: So how do you tell the difference between...?
BARTLET: Do you guys know what a "shibboleth" is?
DIA: It's the title of the episode!
SAM: It's a catch phrase isn't it?
JOSH: A cliché.
BARTLET: It's from the Bible. "Then said now unto him, say now 'shibboleth' and he said 'sibboleth' for he could not frame to pronounce it right." It was a password, the way the army used to distinguish true Israelites from impostors sent across the river Jordan by the enemy.
DIA: Oh, sure, I suppose it's that, too.
JOSH: Sir...
BARTLET: I'm having one of the Chinese refugees flown here. I'll meet with him tonight.
CJ: Mr. President, I can't, you know, indefinitely, with the turkey.
BARTLET: Yep.
JOSH: Excuse me, Mr. President, what are you going to ask the Chinese refugee?
BARTLET: I'm going to ask him to say "Shibboleth."
Leo meets with his teddy bear torturing sister. Oh wait, I made that part up. Anyway, he has to tell her she needs to withdraw her name from nomination consideration. Man, that's going to make family dinners awkward.
TOBY: She'll get over it.
LEO: She hasn't gotten over my making her return the stolen milk duds.
Wow, my story was totally better. Anyway:
TOBY: But I'll tell you why it should be front and center. It's not the first amendment, it's not religious freedom, it's not church and state, it's not...abstract...
LEO: What is it?
TOBY: It's the fourth grader who gets his ass kicked at recess 'cause he sat out the voluntary prayer in homeroom. It's another way of making kids different from other kids when they're required by law to be there. That’s why you want it front and center; fourth grader; that's the prize.
LEO: What'd they do to you?
Awww, man, I was just kidding when I said he got beat up in school! Curse my casual wit!
So here's the Chinese refugee, and he's not played by James Hong! I can't believe it! I guess that's because James Hong already played the Chinese Ambassador. Ha.
BARTLET: Can you name any of Jesus’ disciples? If you can’t, that’s okay. I usually can’t remember the names of my kids, or for that matter...
CHINESE DUDE: Peter, Andrew, John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, Thaddeus, Simon, Judas and James. Mr. President, Christianity is not demonstrated through a recitation of facts. You’re seeking evidence of faith, a wholehearted acceptance of God’s promise for a better world. “For we hold that man is justified by faith alone” is what St. Paul said. “Justified by faith alone.” Faith is the true... uh, I’m trying to... shibboleth. Faith is the true shibboleth.
BARTLET: Yes, it is. And you sir, just said the magic word in more ways than one. Thank you.
Really, that was so perfect! It's as if someone wrote it that way or something.
Leo coaches Bartlet on how to deal with the Chinese. He basically says they should let the refugees escape from the INS detention facility. I would say Leo's been watching Prison Break, but that would require a time machine, so maybe not.
TOBY: Listen. I don’t know what you’re doing for dinner tonight, but Josh and Sam and I...
CJ: It’s about damn time you asked me! I have been sitting here for two weeks turning down
all kinds of very, frankly, glamorous invitations from people I like more than you. You can’t ask a girl at the last minute...
TOBY: Well, if you can’t come...
CJ: No. I can come. I can come. I can come.
TOBY: Good.
CJ: Should I bring anything?
TOBY: Yeah. Do you know how to, you know, cook food?
Well, at least we know that by five seasons later, Toby has learned how to make a chicken.
Speaking of cooking... CJ is distressed that Morton has returned to take the non-pardoned turkey back to the farm. Hey, CJ, it's the circle of life.
We finally discover why Bartlet's been sending Charlie on a desperate errand to get him a new carving knife.
CHARLIE: Okay, Mr. President. I say this with all possible respect, but each of these knives cut, you know, meat. Why is it important?
BARTLET: Because it’s something we pass on. Something with a history so we can say, “My father
gave this to me. His father gave it to him, and now I’m giving it to you.”
CHARLIE: Well, okay sir, but if that’s true, then why don’t you already have one?
BARTLET: I do have one.
CHARLIE: Why do you need a new one?
BARTLET: I’m giving mine away.
CHARLIE: To who?
BARTLET: Whom.
CHARLIE: To whom?
BARTLET: Funny you should ask. Charlie, my father gave this to me, and his father gave it to him, and now I’m giving it to you. Take a look. The fully tapered bolster allows for sharpening the entire edge of the blade.
CHARLIE: It says, “P.R.” I thought I knew all, but I don’t recognize the manufacturer.
BARTLET: Yeah. This was made for my family by a Boston silversmith named Paul Revere.
"I’m proud of you, Charlie."
If this scene doesn't make you misty-eyed, you have no soul.
CJ interrupts this tender moment to tell Bartlet she needs him to pardon another turkey. The important thing is, they don't have the woman preoccupied with all the stupid stuff in this episode. Oh wait.
BARTLET: I already pardoned a turkey.
CJ: I need you to pardon another one.
BARTLET: Didn’t I do it right?
CJ: You did it great, but I need you to come out here and pardon another one.
BARTLET: Aren’t I gonna get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?
CJ: Sir, could you come out here and just get this over with?
BARTLET: No, I’m not just gonna get this-- What the hell is going on?
CJ: They sent me two turkeys. The most photo-friendly of the two gets a Presidential pardon and a full life at a children’s zoo. The runner-up gets eaten.
BARTLET: If the Oscars were like that, I’d watch.
Bartlet uses his power as Commander in Chief to draft the other turkey into the armed forces. Heeeeeeee.
Man, I'm getting deja-vu with this shot. This time it's to tell Bartlet that the Chinese refugees mysteriously escaped from the INS facility. Every joke I can think of here is religiously inappropriate, so I'll keep them all to myself. Look, he managed to arrange it so the refugees could be free and the Chinese government could save face. It's all in a day's work when you're the President of the United States. I mean, for ME, it would be a big day, but any day that I manage to get more done than checking my e-mail is a victory, really.
Bartlet changes the subject by reading his Thanksgiving Proclamation.
“Well over three and a half centuries ago, strengthened by faith and bound by a common desire for liberty, a small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the New World where they could worship according to their own beliefs. Now therefore I, Josiah Bartlet, President of the United States, by virtue of authority and laws vested in me, do hereby proclaim this to be a National Day of Thanksgiving.”
Hmmm, guess they left out the crime-solving part. Pity.
JOSH: So the guy passed the test, huh?
BARTLET: You think I would’ve sent him back if he’d failed catechism? Let me tell you something.
We can be the world’s policeman. We can be the world’s bank, the world’s factory, the world’s farm. What does it mean if we’re not also...
[Children sing off-screen.]
BARTLET: We’ve made it into the New World, Josh. You know what I get to do now? I get to proclaim the National Day of Thanksgiving.
HERALD: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the President of the United States.
BARTLET: This is a great job.
Josh's job is pretty good, too. Being hot helps.
Thank you and good night!
All caps from screenmusings.net.
Sam and Toby are trying to write a nice little Thanksgiving speech. Sam is a little punchy, and thinking like a network executive.
SAM: Well over three and a half centuries ago, sprinkling by faith and bound by a common desire
for liberty... A small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the New World where they could worship according to their own beliefs... and solve crimes.
TOBY: Sam...
SAM: It’d be good.
TOBY: Read the thing.
SAM: By day, they churn butter and worship according to their own beliefs and by night, they solve crimes.
TOBY: Read the thing.
SAM: Pilgrim detectives.
TOBY: Do you see me laughing?
SAM: I think you’re laughing on the inside.
Hey, E! has a special called "101 Worst Celebrity Hairstyles." Anything is possible, my friend.
CJ does not approve of all this last-day-of-school sort of nonsense. She says the boys have "checked out." Checked out, I say!
Sam and Toby are appalled that she would even suggest such a thing. Appalled, I tell you!
"Hey, I was just flipping a nickel in my office. Sixteen times in a row, it came out tails."
In his defense, if he were taking a class in probability, that would be a perfectly legitimate exercise.
CJ flounces off in a huff leaving the boys with ruffled feathers. Speaking of feathers...Donna introduces the boys to Morton Horn. He's dropping off the turkeys and wants to know where to put them.
JOSH: CJ’s office.
SAM: CJ.
JOSH: I’d definitely put them in CJ’s office.
TOBY: Good idea.
JOSH: CJ Cregg’s office.
SAM: It’s right there.
TOBY: Well, CJ’s office is right there...
JOSH: CJ handles all the...
TOBY: Donna will show you.
JOSH: ...birds.
TOBY: CJ.
JOSH: Yeah.
DONNA: Okay.
TOBY: And Morton, Ms. Cregg is gone for the night, uh, and her office is secure, so you should
feel free to let the turkeys out of the cage, and allow them to, you know, roam freely, as they were meant to do.
JOSH: Absolutely.
MORTON: Okay.
TOBY: Okay.
JOSH: Show her who’s slacking off.
TOBY: Pizza?
But then Josh is told he's needed on a conference call about a boat from China. I don't know why I find this so hot, but I do. The jeans help. (Also, please note: Josh dealing with foreign policy. Remember this in season six when they act like this never happened before.)
Josh expositions to Leo that 96 Chinese people smuggled themselves into the country in the hold of a container ship. 13 of them died on the way. And I thought flying Delta was bad! *rimshot*
Josh tells CJ about the Chinese and also mentions to her, which he did not mention to Leo, that a name needs to be added to the list of recess appointments -- Josephine McGarry, Leo's sis, as an Assistant Secretary at the Department of Education. It will not surprise you to hear these are Toby machinations at work.
CJ arrives at her office to quite a surprise. I love this shot.
CJ: Why are there two turkeys?
DONNA: Customarily, the Press Secretary decides--
CJ: No.
DONNA: --which of the two finalists is more photogenic. Their names--
CJ: I don't want to know their names.
DONNA: This one's Eric and this one's Troy.
CJ: Eric and Troy.
DONNA: Yeah.
CJ: And I'm to choose the more photogenic of the two to receive a Presidential pardon.
DONNA: Yeah.
CJ: Okay, I have, actually, a Masters degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
DONNA: That's a good school.
CJ: Yeah.
DONNA: They eat...grain...or really whatever's lying around, and Troy doesn't like to be touched. [Love her delivery of that line.]
CJ: Okay. I'd like to be alone now.
DONNA: I understand.
Sorkin certainly has his characters be very defensive of their academic degrees, and often. He has a Bachelor's from Syracuse and apparently has quite the inferiority complex about it. Syracuse is a good school, Aaron, maybe you should get over it by this point in your life. Just sayin'.
Let's have another shot of CJ and the turkeys, shall we? You're welcome.
Meanwhile, Bartlet is sending Charlie's on fool's errands looking for a new turkey carving knife, but he keeps rejecting each one Charlie finds. This will be important later.
Toby and Bartlet discuss Toby's pushing of Josephine McGarry. Toby's itching for a fight on school prayer. Oh, that Toby, always itching for a fight. He probably got beat up a lot at school.
They tell Leo. Leo is all, "The hell you say! That bitch used to steal my teddy bear and rip its ears off! To this day I can't wear earmuffs!", except, you know, I totally made that part up.
Josh and Sam barge in to tell the president that the Chinese stowaways are claiming to be Chinese Evangelicals seeking political asylum. I suppose that's a slightly more compelling reason than, say, wanting to visit the Mall of America or something. Although it's a very nice mall.
CJ briefs the press on the China situation and on the fact that Thanksgiving is coming up. It is at this point that CJ discovers that as Press Secretary, she is expected to lead the children in song. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Sam and Josh meet with our good friend Mary Marsh and her good friend Al Caldwell and their good friend Bernard from Lost. Remember Mary and Al? They were in our very first picspam together. Doesn't that make you all nostalgic? Sniffle.
Sam gets all righteous. I know, you're totally shocked. Anyway, he's pissy because Mary Marsh has her knickers in a twist about this, but when Christians threatened to blow up a theater because they didn't like the play being shown (it portrayed Christ as gay), she didn't do dick about it. So: righteousness. Um. Not in the Bill and Ted sense.
Josh apologizes to Al Caldwell for Sam's behavior, and when Josh is apologizing for you, you know things are bad. Anyway, I'm really just using this cap because I like this exchange:
CALDWELL: Good morning, Toby.
TOBY: Good morning, Reverend.
CALDWELL: You look determined.
TOBY: I am, sir.
CALDWELL: Good boy.
Toby is determined, all right. Determined to KICK SOME REPUBLICAN ASS! Unfortunately for him, the Republicans are about to give him quite the letdown. You'll see.
Seems there's a troubling picture of Josephine in the paper.
TOBY: It was a home game, there was an organized prayer and she’s breaking it up.
LEO: Yes, she is.
TOBY: It's not good, but it's not, you know--
LEO: These are high school students. Two of them are on their knees praying while being
handcuffed, with my sister standing next to the cop whose hand is on his nightstick.
TOBY: He's resting it on his nightstick.
LEO: I'm sure that explanation will be in the caption.
Leo thinks this isn't about bringing school prayer front and center, it's about Toby bringing "his problem" front and center. Hmmm.
CJ's in the midst of full freakout about the song. Hey, I would be too. And I'm guessing I, too, would turn to the Protestant girl from Wisconsin for assistance.
DONNA: What do you need?
CJ: I need help with the song.
DONNA: Is it the usual song?
CJ: There's a usual song?
DONNA: "We Gather Together."
CJ: The song.
DONNA: That's the usual song.
CJ: So you know it?
DONNA: Everybody knows it.
CJ: I don't know it.
DONNA: Didn't you go to elementary school?
CJ: Yes, right before being a National Merit Scholar.
See? Seriously, get over it! (I only got the Letter of Commendation, myself.)
Uh oh, CJ's making crazy eyes.
CJ tests the photogenicness (that is probably not a word) of Eric and Troy.
"You both did fine. Troy, I want you know it was neck-and-neck but I'm giving it to Eric. You were in it right to the end, but it's the flapping thing you've got going on. I'll tell you what's of some concern to me, I have been talking out loud this whole time, that's very unsettling."
Josh and Sam find out about how the Chinese stowaways basically bought themselves into indentured servitude in order to come to this country. So they probably wanted to come here pretty badly. This is the shot I'm choosing to represent this scene, because it's hot. A crotch pager would be nice, but you can't have everything.
By the way, Charlie's still having no luck with the carving knives.
Josh and Sam brief the president on the situation, and note that the refugees may have been coached to appear devout.
JOSH: So how do you tell the difference between...?
BARTLET: Do you guys know what a "shibboleth" is?
DIA: It's the title of the episode!
SAM: It's a catch phrase isn't it?
JOSH: A cliché.
BARTLET: It's from the Bible. "Then said now unto him, say now 'shibboleth' and he said 'sibboleth' for he could not frame to pronounce it right." It was a password, the way the army used to distinguish true Israelites from impostors sent across the river Jordan by the enemy.
DIA: Oh, sure, I suppose it's that, too.
JOSH: Sir...
BARTLET: I'm having one of the Chinese refugees flown here. I'll meet with him tonight.
CJ: Mr. President, I can't, you know, indefinitely, with the turkey.
BARTLET: Yep.
JOSH: Excuse me, Mr. President, what are you going to ask the Chinese refugee?
BARTLET: I'm going to ask him to say "Shibboleth."
Leo meets with his teddy bear torturing sister. Oh wait, I made that part up. Anyway, he has to tell her she needs to withdraw her name from nomination consideration. Man, that's going to make family dinners awkward.
TOBY: She'll get over it.
LEO: She hasn't gotten over my making her return the stolen milk duds.
Wow, my story was totally better. Anyway:
TOBY: But I'll tell you why it should be front and center. It's not the first amendment, it's not religious freedom, it's not church and state, it's not...abstract...
LEO: What is it?
TOBY: It's the fourth grader who gets his ass kicked at recess 'cause he sat out the voluntary prayer in homeroom. It's another way of making kids different from other kids when they're required by law to be there. That’s why you want it front and center; fourth grader; that's the prize.
LEO: What'd they do to you?
Awww, man, I was just kidding when I said he got beat up in school! Curse my casual wit!
So here's the Chinese refugee, and he's not played by James Hong! I can't believe it! I guess that's because James Hong already played the Chinese Ambassador. Ha.
BARTLET: Can you name any of Jesus’ disciples? If you can’t, that’s okay. I usually can’t remember the names of my kids, or for that matter...
CHINESE DUDE: Peter, Andrew, John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, Thaddeus, Simon, Judas and James. Mr. President, Christianity is not demonstrated through a recitation of facts. You’re seeking evidence of faith, a wholehearted acceptance of God’s promise for a better world. “For we hold that man is justified by faith alone” is what St. Paul said. “Justified by faith alone.” Faith is the true... uh, I’m trying to... shibboleth. Faith is the true shibboleth.
BARTLET: Yes, it is. And you sir, just said the magic word in more ways than one. Thank you.
Really, that was so perfect! It's as if someone wrote it that way or something.
Leo coaches Bartlet on how to deal with the Chinese. He basically says they should let the refugees escape from the INS detention facility. I would say Leo's been watching Prison Break, but that would require a time machine, so maybe not.
TOBY: Listen. I don’t know what you’re doing for dinner tonight, but Josh and Sam and I...
CJ: It’s about damn time you asked me! I have been sitting here for two weeks turning down
all kinds of very, frankly, glamorous invitations from people I like more than you. You can’t ask a girl at the last minute...
TOBY: Well, if you can’t come...
CJ: No. I can come. I can come. I can come.
TOBY: Good.
CJ: Should I bring anything?
TOBY: Yeah. Do you know how to, you know, cook food?
Well, at least we know that by five seasons later, Toby has learned how to make a chicken.
Speaking of cooking... CJ is distressed that Morton has returned to take the non-pardoned turkey back to the farm. Hey, CJ, it's the circle of life.
We finally discover why Bartlet's been sending Charlie on a desperate errand to get him a new carving knife.
CHARLIE: Okay, Mr. President. I say this with all possible respect, but each of these knives cut, you know, meat. Why is it important?
BARTLET: Because it’s something we pass on. Something with a history so we can say, “My father
gave this to me. His father gave it to him, and now I’m giving it to you.”
CHARLIE: Well, okay sir, but if that’s true, then why don’t you already have one?
BARTLET: I do have one.
CHARLIE: Why do you need a new one?
BARTLET: I’m giving mine away.
CHARLIE: To who?
BARTLET: Whom.
CHARLIE: To whom?
BARTLET: Funny you should ask. Charlie, my father gave this to me, and his father gave it to him, and now I’m giving it to you. Take a look. The fully tapered bolster allows for sharpening the entire edge of the blade.
CHARLIE: It says, “P.R.” I thought I knew all, but I don’t recognize the manufacturer.
BARTLET: Yeah. This was made for my family by a Boston silversmith named Paul Revere.
"I’m proud of you, Charlie."
If this scene doesn't make you misty-eyed, you have no soul.
CJ interrupts this tender moment to tell Bartlet she needs him to pardon another turkey. The important thing is, they don't have the woman preoccupied with all the stupid stuff in this episode. Oh wait.
BARTLET: I already pardoned a turkey.
CJ: I need you to pardon another one.
BARTLET: Didn’t I do it right?
CJ: You did it great, but I need you to come out here and pardon another one.
BARTLET: Aren’t I gonna get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?
CJ: Sir, could you come out here and just get this over with?
BARTLET: No, I’m not just gonna get this-- What the hell is going on?
CJ: They sent me two turkeys. The most photo-friendly of the two gets a Presidential pardon and a full life at a children’s zoo. The runner-up gets eaten.
BARTLET: If the Oscars were like that, I’d watch.
Bartlet uses his power as Commander in Chief to draft the other turkey into the armed forces. Heeeeeeee.
Man, I'm getting deja-vu with this shot. This time it's to tell Bartlet that the Chinese refugees mysteriously escaped from the INS facility. Every joke I can think of here is religiously inappropriate, so I'll keep them all to myself. Look, he managed to arrange it so the refugees could be free and the Chinese government could save face. It's all in a day's work when you're the President of the United States. I mean, for ME, it would be a big day, but any day that I manage to get more done than checking my e-mail is a victory, really.
Bartlet changes the subject by reading his Thanksgiving Proclamation.
“Well over three and a half centuries ago, strengthened by faith and bound by a common desire for liberty, a small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the New World where they could worship according to their own beliefs. Now therefore I, Josiah Bartlet, President of the United States, by virtue of authority and laws vested in me, do hereby proclaim this to be a National Day of Thanksgiving.”
Hmmm, guess they left out the crime-solving part. Pity.
JOSH: So the guy passed the test, huh?
BARTLET: You think I would’ve sent him back if he’d failed catechism? Let me tell you something.
We can be the world’s policeman. We can be the world’s bank, the world’s factory, the world’s farm. What does it mean if we’re not also...
[Children sing off-screen.]
BARTLET: We’ve made it into the New World, Josh. You know what I get to do now? I get to proclaim the National Day of Thanksgiving.
HERALD: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the President of the United States.
BARTLET: This is a great job.
Josh's job is pretty good, too. Being hot helps.
Thank you and good night!