Lord John Marbury

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From NBC:
The Kashmir border powderkeg becomes more explosive when the Indian army invades Pakistani-held territory, making the threat of a nuclear confrontation frighteningly real to President Bartlet (Martin Sheen), who calls in Lord Marbury (Roger Rees), an eccentric British diplomat with ties to both warring nations -- and a weakness for booze. An angry Josh (Bradley Whitford) is subpoenaed to testify as the investigation into substance abuse among White House staffers grinds on towards its inevitable target: chief of staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer). Mandy (Moira Kelly) floats a trial balloon among the staff to test their reaction to her notion of representing a liberal Republican. The President is surprised when Charlie (Dulé Hill) asks him if he can date his willing daughter Zoey (Elisabeth Moss).

[Joey Lucas]

From The Official Companion:
The National Reconnaissance Office has confirmed naval activity on a Keyhole satellite image, and the Pentagon identifies ships headed towards Pakistan. In the Situation Room, Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Fitzwallace reports that the Indian army has invaded Pakistan-held Kashmir. In five hours, 300,000 Indian troops have been mobilized, and the CIA failed to notice the movement.

The President reassures his staff that the UN will try to negotiate a cease-fire, but Toby recognizes the clear threat of nuclear escalation. As the President, Leo Josh, Toby, and Sam discuss strategy and consequence, C.J. asks if she should step in. “No,” says Leo; she should tell the press there’s a full lid. The five men seem slightly awkward and embarrassed. Leo waits until C.J.’s walked away and tells the others he’ll brief her in the morning.

Josh announces he’s been served a subpoena as coolly as he would announce he’s been served a terrific steak. He knows the drill by now. When it was reported that Josh ran an internal investigation following Lillienfield’s drug charge, Larry Claypool sued for Josh’s paperwork under the Freedom of Information Act. He tells Sam he’s due for another deposition tomorrow at lunch.

SAM: You should bring a lawyer.
JOSH: I am a lawyer.
SAM just about stifles a laugh.
SAM: No, seriously, you should bring a real lawyer.

Zoey comes to visit her father. Charlie is stationed at his desk outside the Oval Office. Making small talk as she waits, Zoey casually asks if he ever gets a night off, she thought it would be cool to go out. It takes a moment to sink in. “With me?” he asks, incredulous that the first daughter is perhaps asking him on a date. Zoey sidesteps the question, telling him he doesn’t have to stand the whole time she’s in the room.

Mandy confesses to Sam that she wants to take on Mike Brace as a client. He’s a Republican, but Mandy says he’s moderate to liberal. She wants Sam to smooth it over with Josh and Toby. She perceives that Sam is more interested in doing the right thing than merely beating the other side. Flattered, Sam admits it’s a difficult sell but he’ll give it a shot.

At that night’s press briefing, a reporter mentions a source at the Pentagon has confirmed massive troop movements on the Kashmir border. C.J. brushes it off, telling the reporter that he needs a new source, someone who doesn’t play practical jokes.

The following morning Leo brings C.J. up to date. She’s aghast at being left out of the loop, and humiliated that she ridiculed a reporter who had solid intelligence. Leo keeps his sympathy to a minimum – she’s going to have to expect not to be uninformed sometimes.

Josh won’t be bullied and he’s arrived at his deposition alone. Claypool demands records of Josh’s “investigation” into White House drug use. Without offering any paperwork, Josh explains he would hesitate to call it an investigation, it wasn’t that serious. After a moment, Claypool twists Josh’s words, asking him if he considers illegal drug use serious. Josh says he does, of course, he meant his investigation wasn’t serious. After Lillienfield’s absurd accusation, Josh took it upon himself to look into the situation, but didn’t keep any records. He gives Claypool the bottom line: his lawsuit moronic, he should stop looking for headlines and money.

C.J. knows she has to deal with the India-Pakistan issue in the press room, but she is furious. Larry and Ed try to ease her load by giving her a pointless briefing on life expectancy and rainfall in India and Pakistan.

A deputy defense secretary gives an alarming report on India’s nuclear forces, which are simultaneously powerful and unreliable. The President announces he wants to bring in Lord John Marbury, former British ambassador to India, for his expert advice on this military mess. Before Marbury’s name is out of Bartlet’s mouth, Leo protests that the man is certifiable. “You’re really gonna let him loose in the White House where there’s liquor and women?” Bartlet says they can hide the women but the man deserves a drink.

At the risk of being patronizing, Toby wants to sit C.J. down and explain to her why she was left in the dark about Kashmir. C.J.’s engaged in one of her crusades to fix her staff’s spelling but Toby interrupts, explaining that the story wasn’t ready for the press. C.J. doesn’t buy it – she was starting to earn respect and credibility but that’s shot because now the press thinks the White House lied to her. Toby can’t dance around the issue – there’s concern C.J.’s too friendly with the press.


C.J.: Is this about Danny Concannon?
TOBY: People see you with Danny –
C.J.: This is outrageous.
TOBY: It was this one time, C.J., if we erred, it was on the side of –
C.J.: You guys sent me in there uninformed so that I’d lie to the press.
TOBY: We sent you in there uninformed because we thought there was a chance you couldn’t.

While Toby’s on a role with employee relations, he tells Josh to take Sam along to the deposition tomorrow.

As the President is preparing for a politically precarious meeting with the Chinese ambassador, Charlie asks Bartlet how he’d feel about his going on a date with Zoey. Charlie’s timing could hardly be worse. The Chinese ambassador implies that his country might intervene to stop India, and Bartlet finds no ally in the Pakistan ambassador, either. Diplomacy doesn’t seem to offer any solution to the crisis.

Josh has no room for sensitivity in his work life, and when he hears of Mandy courting Mike Brace, he says he’s gonna kill her. Leo needs a lesson in sensitivity too – he’s getting a kick out of Bartlet’s discomfort about Zoey and Charlie. Bartlet says he should have put Zoey in a dungeon when she came of dating age. Leo hesitates, and asks if Bartlet has a racial problem.

BARTLET: I’m Spencer Tracy at the end of Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner.
LEO: Okay.
BARTLET: Racial problem.
LEO: I’m just saying –
BARTLET: My problem isn’t that she’s white, he’s black. It’s she’s a girl, he’s not. To say nothing of he’s older than she is.
LEO: She’s 19, he’s 21.
BARTLET: A guy learns a lot in those two years.

Josh has taken Sam with him to his deposition. Claypool makes his move. He asks if there are any alcoholics working in the White House. Josh imagines there are and Claypool asks who they are. Does Josh think the public has a right to know? Then he asks if Leo McGarry is an alcoholic, Josh won’t answer. Claypool asks if Leo has received treatment for alcoholism. Or for Valium addiction. Josh won’t answer and Sam says he’s not obligated to. The questions are irrelevant to Claypool’s cause of action, which was about Josh’s investigation of illegal drug use in the White House.

Claypool asks Josh if he looked at the Secret Service file. Josh says yes. So Josh would know Leo McGarry spent twenty-eight days at an alcohol and substance abuse facility called Sierra-Tucson. Claypool has the file. Josh asks him where the hell he got it. And Claypool says he’ll asks a judge if his questioning is irrelevant. Sam needs to get the two of them out of there, but Claypool goads them for standing up for such an “egregiously unqualified” man. Josh grabs Claypool by the lapels and shoves him against a wall. Sam pulls him off and forces him out the room.

SAM: (to CLAYPOOL) You’re a cheap hack. And if you come after Leo I’m gonna bust you like a piñata.

[Joey Lucas]

From The Official Companion (cont.):
Lord John Marbury (Roger Rees) has arrived in the Oval Office. His help is needed, as the Indian ambassador has just told the President that his country will be a nuclear power and won’t be dictated to. In search of a light for his cigarette and another drink, Marbury says he thought Leo was the butler. They’ve only met tem or twelve times. This is the man of the hour? Leo won’t let him light up. Later, Lord Marbury lectures his hosts on the failure of their non-proliferation initiatives and intelligence gathering. He says India and Pakistan both have the bomb and they’re not afraid to use it.

Fulfilling his final duties as the office peacekeeper, Toby apologizes to C.J., in his own way, for freezing her out. Mandy approaches Sam about Mile Brace, and Sam firmly tells her it’s a bad idea. Mandy’s job as a political consultant isn’t to end the fight, it’s to win. With Lillienfield’s case on the forefront, Sam says she can work for them or for us, but she can’t do both.

The fight for Leo’s political life has tumultuously begun and C.J., Toby, Josh, and Sam are behind him all the way. Josh tells Leo that Claypool has obtained his records from rehab, and Claypool’s next step will be to call a reporter. Leo has the most important bases covered – his family and the President know. He’s ready. Josh is speaking for all of them: “We’re here for whatever you need and we wanted to come in and tell you that.”

The President thinks of Charlie like a son and explains to his aide with sincerity that his hesitation about his going out with Zoey has nothing to do with the fact that Charlie’s black; it’s that he’s a guy. They can go out, sure. “Just remember these two things: She’s nineteen years old and the 182nd Airborne works for me.” He warns Charlie that a lot of people are going to be unhappy seeing him with the President’s daughter, but he should keep his head up.

Just as Lord Marbury is returning to brief the President on India-Pakistan, Leo tells Bartlet the drug story will break, probably tomorrow. Bartlet says this isn’t the first battle they’ve gone through together. Marbury interrupts to report that there’ll be two-week cease-fire brokered by the UN. They’re facing a religious war whose consequences would be disastrous. Marbury offers to stay and help. He remembers a quote from Revelations that the President has been trying to recall: “And I looked, and I beheld a pale horse; and the name that sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him.” They have two weeks to stop a war.