Six Meetings Before Lunch

[Admin]

From NBC:
When Zoey (Elisabeth Moss) attends a college fraternity party in which one of her friends is busted for using illegal drugs, C.J. (Allison Janney) struggles to keep the embarrassing story out of the press while the White House staff celebrates the confirmation of their nominee, Judge Mendoza (Edward James Olmos, not seen), for the Supreme Court. An uncomfortable Josh (Bradley Whitford) is assigned to talk with the administration's controversial nominee, Jeff Breckenridge (Carl Lumbly) for assistant attorney general for civil rights who advocates that African-Americans receive financial reparations for slavery. Elsewhere, Sam (Rob Lowe) crosses swords with Mallory (Allison Smith) over the issue of private school vouchers while Mandy (Moira Kelly) lobbies to secure two new pandas for the National Zoo.

[Joey Lucas]

When CJ does The Jackal in this episode is one of my alltime favourite CJ moments!

I can almost lip-sync along with her when watching it!!

N

[Joey Lucas]

From The Official Companion:
Roberto Mendoza’s confirmation vote is before the Senate. A small crowd has begun to gather around televisions in the Mural Room. It’s the final moments of a game that’s already won, so rather than nervousness, there’s a growing sense of giddy anticipation. It’s early in the roll call and Toby says no champagne until the fifty-first “yea. He doesn’t want to screw it up by tempting fate.

As if on cue, Leo hears that an administration nominee to a Justice post favours reparations to African Americans for slavery. Whatever the merits, this is bound to jeopardize the appointment. Amidst the drama, Mallory finds Sam to tell him she despises him for a position paper he wrote concerning school vouchers. As she accosts him, the fifty-first senator votes for Mendoza, and the champagne corks fly into the air.

At 11:30 P.M., the party’s clearing out but the night’s not over yet. Leo is telling Josh the Jeff Breckinridge, the nominee for assistant attorney general for civil rights, wrote a jacket blurb for a book supporting reparations. Leo wants Josh to deal with it, and Josh is moaning about it. They hear chanting coming from the Press Room: C.J.’s going to lip sync a jazzy number called “The Jackal.” They can’t miss this performance, and they head into the room where the lights have been dimmed. There’s cigar smoke in the air, much of it from Toby’s Cuban. At this moment, Toby might be mistaken for the house piano at a jazz dive. He’s relaxed for the first time in months.

Meanwhile, in Sam’s office, Mallory and Sam are engaged in hot debate. As an elementary school teacher, she can’t believe Sam’s in favour of school vouchers. On a personal level, she thought they had something going on, but this turn of events frankly repulses her. Sam argues they haven’t even been on a date. He’s spent three months putting Mendoza on the bench and now he’s done for the day. There is something going on between them but she’s not been doing a good job, so he’s taking over, they should get dinner. Mallory’s not buying his egotistical masculine attitude and she leaves. As Sam watches C.J. do “The Jackal,” Leo confesses he gave the paper to Mallory to have some fun with him.

Danny arrives at C.J.’s office a few minutes too late for “The Jackal.” He’s come to give her a heads-up. He heard on his police scanner that David Arbor, son of a big Democratic fund-raiser, was arrested outside a frat party that Zoey attended. He’ll be charged with felony possession and distribution. News aside, he asks her to do “The Jackal” for him right there.

Meanwhile, C.J. thinks she can diffuse the Arbor story easily enough. Mandy tries to interest Josh in getting a replacement for Lum-Lum, a giant panda who just died at National Zoo. With a small smile playing on his lips, Josh advises her to talk to Toby, the resident animal lover.

Zoey’s having coffee at a college cafeteria with some friends. When they’re finished, Gina wants to leave through the back entrance, because reporters are sniffing around. As they’re walking through the kitchen they’re ambushed by Drumm, a reporter from the Charleston Citizen. Barking questions, he’s gotten a little too close a little too fast, and Gina knocks him back and pins him against a door. He shouts a question about the President’s daughter partying with drug dealers. Zoey knows she should walk away, but she’s goaded and has stayed silent for too long. She says she didn’t know Arbor was going to be there. Drumm’s been a jerk, but he’s got his story.

When Jeff Breckinridge (Carl Lumbly) comes to meet with Josh, Josh recognizes him as a former summer intern at his father’s firm. Breckinridge says Noah Lyman is a wonderful man and asks about him. Josh regrets to tell him that his father died the night of the Illinois primary. Jeff offers his condolences but Josh just wants to get to business. Jeff remarks that Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have a problem with him, and Josh points out his rather controversial book endorsement. Jeff says his family was seized and enslaved. He wants reparations to the tune of $1.7 trillion.

Charlie gives C.J. a head-up about Drumm’s performance in the school cafeteria. C.J. knows Drumm’s a Bartlet baiter and his paper’s a rag. Charlie adds that David Arbor’s not a drug dealer, he’s a user. Zoey has been trying to help him, and she was at the party because she was bringing him back his car keys she’d confiscated the week before.

In the wake of the Mendoza confirmation, Toby is smiling and happy. It’s scaring people.

MARGARET: You usually wouldn’t say “Hello there, Margaret.”
TOBY: What would I usually say?
MARGARET: You’d growl something inaudible.

To his chagrin, Mallory scheduled an actual appointment with Sam’s office and has dragged him into an hour-long debate on school vouchers. Breckinridge and Josh are still locked in a debate too. Jeff says reparations aren’t new. Sherman gave land to freed slaves in 1865: the famous forty acres and a mule. Josh says that 600,000 white men died in the Civil War on slavery. “Is that why they died?” presses Breckinridge.

Digging for the story that will no doubt hit the presses, C.J. asks Danny if he’s heard anything about Drumm. Danny says he knows Drumm asked about the party, and Zoey responded that she didn’t know Arbor was going to be there. C.J. looks up in surprise; diffusing this story might not be as easy as she anticipated.

Toby is still being uncharacteristically amicable. He says, “Bonnie, you are dedicated and you are beautiful. Ginger, you’re . . . other nice things.” He sees Mandy.

TOBY: I’m not kidding, Mandy. I feel like I’ve lost a hundred and eighty pounds. I’m smiling. I’m laughing. I’m enjoying the people I work with. I gotta snap outta this. What’s on you mind?
MANDY: I want you to help me get the Chinese to give us a new panda bear to replace Lum-Lum.
TOBY: (pause) Well, that did the trick.

Determined to get to the bottom of the story, C.J. call Zoey in. C.J. looks the first daughter squarely in the eye and asks her why she lied when told Drumm she wasn’t expecting to see Arbor at the party. Zoey protests that she didn’t lie. C.J. suggests she stops lying altogether. If Zoey didn’t know Arbor was going to be at the party, why did she have his car keys with her?

Butterfield is discussing some new hate groups at a Secret Service briefing. The last letters they’ve received have been signed off “14 Words,” which Gina spells out as “We must secure the existence of white people and a future for white children.” There’s been two death threats, one for Charlie, one for Zoey. The style and phrasing leads Gina to think they’re looking for a couple of fifteen-year-old boys.

Gina won’t disclose to C.J. what happened at the party. If Zoey feels she has to do some things behind Gina’s back, Gina can’t do her job. Without seeing an easy or tactful route out of the story, C.J. approaches Sam for advice. Sam tells C.J. she can’t back down, she had to “get in the President’s face” and be there for him when he rages about a reporter approaching his daughter on campus. In return, Sam asks for C.J.’s advice about Mallory. C.J. says they should continue their fight over lunch. Huffily, she says that’s better advice than “get in the President’s face.”

[Joey Lucas]

From The Official Companion (cont.):
Seeing no other way to regain peace, Sam and Mallory take their argument to Leo. Eventually Leo tells Mallory Sam’s not really in favour of school vouchers. He wrote the position paper as opposition prep to detail the arguments of the other side. Quite the impassioned issue man of the West Wing, Sam knows how important education is.

SAM: Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don’t need little changes. We need gigantic, revolutionary changes. Schools should be palaces. Competition for the best teacher should be fierce. They should be getting six-figure salaries. School should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge for its citizens, just like national defence. That is my position. I just haven’t figured out how to do it yet.

C.J. has to bite the bullet and talk to Bartlet about Zoey. She respectfully requests he not blow his stack, then tells him Zoey lied to a reporter. Bartlet’s enraged, not about the lie, but because a reporter approached her on campus. He wants a confrontation. C.J. duly gets in his face. For the first time, C.J.’s standing up to the President. She says this is not about Bartlet’s daughter, it’s about the first daughter and that’s C.J.’s job. The President, C.J., Charlie, and Zoey are the only ones who know. She tells him, “You go down there and it’s a big story.” C.J. doesn’t back down, and convinces the President not to go off on the press.

Breckinridge and Josh are just hitting the crux of their discussion. Jeff says they gave $1.2 million to Japanese Americans as recompense for internment camps. Josh points out that they were still alive to give money to. And the U.S. doesn’t have $1.7 trillion in its pockets. Breckinridge says he’ll take tax deductions and scholarships. Josh suggests affirmative action, empowerment zones, and civil rights.

JOSH: You know, Jeff, I’d love to give you the money, I really would. But I’m a little short of cash right now. It seems the SS officer forgot to give my grandfather his wallet back when he let him out of Birkenau.
JEFF: Well, your beef is with the Germans.
JOSH: You’re damn right it is. (pause) What the hell are we talking about?
JEFF: (pause) We have laws in this country. You break ‘em, you pay your fine. You break God’s laws, that’s a different story. You can’t kidnap a civilization and sell ‘em into slavery. No amount of money’ll make up for it, and all you have to do is look, two hundred years later, at race relations in the country.

Jeff asks Josh for a dollar, and asks Josh to look at the back. He says the seal, the pyramid, is unfinished, and it’s meant to be. We’re meant to keep doing better and discussing and debating. That’s why he lent his name to the book. He wants to be assistant attorney general and do an outstanding job for all the people, to raise the level of discussion, and not search for treatments, but for cures. Does Josh have any problem with Jeff saying that to the committee? He doesn’t. Breckinridge offers to buy Josh lunch. Josh sighs, and says they’re going to have a lot of meetings like this before the confirmation, he’ll get the first one.