Synopsis of Six Meetings Before Lunch
Written by Kerry
Thursday 9:45pm.
The senior staff and their associates are gathering to celebrate the confirmation of the appointment of Judge Roberto Mendoza to the US Supreme Court. Tobey, however, will not allow any champagne to be opened or consumed for fear of "tempting fate"; that is, not until the majority of the Senate has voted "yea" for Mendoza, which requires a minimum of 51 votes.
In his office, Josh is confused by a message from Donna, written in her "distinctive penmanship", which he reads as needing to talk to Mandy about a "Banana Bar". Donna informs him that it is actually "panda bear". Josh thinks a panda bear is a little Australian thing that eats the bark off "koala trees", and Donna can't believe Josh doesn't know the difference between a panda bear and a koala bear.
Meanwhile, Leo is on the phone in his office, discussing a controversial book jacket. Margaret asks him about it. He tells her that the nominee they hope to appoint to a justice post favors monetary reparations to African-Americans for their anscestors having been captured and forced into slavery.
Sam enters the room, where the almost-celebrations are, and is informed "not yet". He is cornered by Leo's daughter Mallory McGarry, who is angry with Sam for having written a position paper in favor of school vouchers allowing economically disadvantaged students to attend private schools. When she tells him not to play dumb with her, Sam replies, "I am dumb, most of the time I'm playing smart." Finally, the deciding 51st vote is cast and Tobey opens the champagne.
Thursday 11:30pm
Leo interrupts a conversation between Josh and Donna about Salvidor Dali's unique penmanship, "For one thing, he wrote in Spanish," Donna explains. Donna leaves and Leo informs Josh that their nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Jeff Breckenbridge (Carl Lumbly) is not going to sell. Josh asks why and Leo tells him it is because Breckenbridge wrote two sentences on the dust jacket of a controversial book called "The Unpaid Debt". Leo tells Josh to talk to Breckenbridge tomorrow despite Josh's protests that he's not the man for the job.
Applause is heard in the background, and Josh tells Leo that CJ is going to do "The Jackal". Leo says he loves it when she lip-synchs to that. Josh continues to protest about having to talk to Breckenbridge and suggests Tobey would be right because of his success with Mendoza. Leo says that Tobey is barely alive after the Mendoza confirmation. Josh still protests that he is a white guy from Connecticut and that this is a delicate issue to get into with a black civil rights lawyer from Athens, Georgia. Leo also reminds him that Josh is Jewish, to which he responds, "then he'll be sure to love me."
Meanwhile, Sam and Mallory are still arguing about Sam's position paper on school vouchers, to which Mallory (as a school teacher) is totally opposed. She reveals that she got a copy of the paper from her father and Sam suggests that Leo is trying to drive a wedge between them, even though they have never actually been on a date. Sam attempts to "take over" by insisting they first watch CJ do "The Jackal" and then have their first date together. Mallory remains unimpressed.
CJ performs "The Jackal" much to the appreciation of most of those gathered. Josh tries to interrupt Tobey about the meeting with Breckenbridge, but Tobey refuses to be distracted during "The Jackal". Sam approaches Leo and tells him that Mallory read his position paper on school vouchers and that he knows that she got it from Leo. Leo says school vouchers are a very serious subject with Mallory. "You're dating my only daughter, you can't expect me not to have fun," says Leo. When Sam protests "We're not actually dating yet," Leo tells him to hang in there.
Danny Concannon drops by CJ's office, disappointed to have missed "The Jackal". He tells her that he was too busy listening to his police scanner and that David Arbor, son of major Democrat fundraiser, Bob Arbor, was arrested outside a frat party and was being charged with felony possession and with possible intent to distribute. Worse news for CJ is that Zoe Bartlett was at the party.
Next day
CJ's PR strategy is to keep David Arbor's drug bust a "non-story", that Zoe left the party before the arrest and that the President may not even have heard of it.
Mandy goes to see Josh about the panda bear. While Josh remains flippant, Mandy claims that the White House has received over 3000 letters in the last 10 days wanting to know when they're getting a new panda for the National Zoo, "Lum-Lum" apparently having died two weeks before. Josh tells Mandy that Tobey is her man, and that she should be talking to him.
On a backway out of a campus building, Zoe is confronted by a lowlife reporter, Edgar Drum of the anti-Barlett "Charleston Eagle". He asks her what she thinks it says about the country when the President's daughter is partying with drug dealers. Against the efforts of Gina, her Secret Service agent, Zoe responds to the reporter, saying that she was invited to the party and didn't know David would be there.
Sam wants to cancel his noon meeting on the Hill, but Kathy won't let him, although she informs him that he has a meeting now, at 11:00am, with Mallory, who has just arrived.
Jeff Breckenbridge arrives for his meeting with Josh. It turns out he knew Josh's late father, Noah Lyman. Jeff already knows which Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have a problem with him, but he does not know why. Josh asks him about his comments on the dust jacket of the book by Professor Otis Hastings. Jeff says that he was not misquoted and if asked by the Judiciary Committee he would tell them that his father's fathers were kidnapped from a village in Africa called Mbawa, taken to New Guinea and sold to a South Carolina plantation where they worked for no wages. When Josh asks if he is seeking backpay, Jeff quotes a figure by Dr Harold Washington of 1.7 trillion dollars owed to African-Americans.
Charlie visits CJ. He tells her that David Arbor is a good friend of Zoe's and that he doesn't sell drugs, but that he does take them until he falls unconscious, and for that reason he had given the keys to his Porsche to Zoe before the party.
Following his triumph with the Mendoza confirmation, and having Mendoza finally off his back, Tobey shows up at work in a disconcertingly good mood.
Sam and Mallory continue to argue about school vouchers. Sam tries to get out of it by saying he has a noon meeting at the Hill, but Kathy says she has cancelled it.
CJ goes to see Danny and asks what he's heard about the Edgar Drum incident. She discovers that Zoe lied, when Danny quotes Drum as saying she didn't know David would be at the party.
Jeff and Josh are still debating the pros and cons of reparation for slavery, monetary and otherwise.
Mandy meets up with Tobey, who says he needs to snap out of the great mood he is in. When Mandy says she wants to talk about a replacement panda for "Lum-Lum", Tobey says, "Well, that did the trick."
Zoe accuses Charlie of being afraid of being affectionate in public, which he denies. To prove the point, Zoe kisses him in the office hallway. She then goes in to see CJ, who wants to know why she lied about not knowing David would be at the party, especially as she had his car keys.
A routine security briefing is being held for Zoe's Secret Service contingent. Gina expresses concern about death threats made against Zoe and Charlie which she believes are coming from right-wing 15 year old boys. After the meeting, CJ tries to gain some information from Gina about the party, but Gina states that she is not permitted to discuss the behaviour of the protectee, due to issues of trust.
CJ manages to relieve Sam from his debate with Mallory, explaining the situation about Zoe. Sam tells her to make sure that the President doesn't get involved, even if it means "getting in his face". Sam tells CJ that he wants to keep seeing Mallory, but they can't seem to get past this argument. CJ tells him to ask Mallory to continue the argument over lunch, which is better advice than he just gave her.
Meanwhile, Mandy explains to Tobey that "Lum-Lum", which Tobey says was actually called "Sing Sing", was given by China to the US as a goodwill gesture after President Nixon's visit, and following that, a mate for Sing Sing as well. Tobey suggests that a gesture of goodwill by China might be to stop running over its citizens with tanks and he tells Mandy to get in touch with the Chinese Embassy and just ask for a couple of bears. Mandy explains that pandas are extremely rare, and China are not much in the mood for goodwill gestures towards the US, whereupon Tobey suggests getting hold of a couple of ordinary bears and two buckets of black and white paint. When Tobey and Mandy both realise that Josh was "playing her" in an attempt to get back at Tobey for having to take the Breckenbridge meeting, the both agree to help one another, to cause Josh pain.
Sam and Mallory enter Leo's office and Mallory asks her father's permission to go out to lunch with a fascist. Leo assures her Sam is not a fascist and that the paper on school vouchers was just an opposition prep paper so they can gear up for debate. Sam then explains to her his real position on education and school vouchers, that teachers should be paid more, and that education should be free and a fundamental right like national defense.
Charlie enters the Oval office, where President Bartlett is relaxing on the sofa reading a small book. Charlie asks him what he is reading and the President says, "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation" by George Washington. He proceeds to quote some of the maxims from the book and says, "What a tight-arsed little priss he must have been." He then asks Charlie if he could take George Washington in a war. Charlie points out that President Bartlett has the Air Force, while Washington had the Minute Men.
CJ comes in to discuss the matter of Zoe lying to the reporter. When he learns that the reporter confronted Zoe on campus, the President's initial reaction is to call a press conference and adamantly re-iterate that the press must leave his daughter alone on campus. However, CJ "gets in his face" and tells him that only "you, me, Charlie and Zoe" are the ones who know, and that it's a non-story, but that if he goes down there to the press, it's a big story. As she leaves, the President says, "I could take Washington, you know."
The debate between Josh and Jeff heats up, even bringing out Josh's resentment of the Nazi's treatment of his grandfather. Jeff points out that the seal of the pyramid on a one dollar coin is unfinished, because the country is unfinished; they are meant to keep doing better and that means reading books by great historical scholars and then talking about them, which is why he lent his name to a dust cover. Jeff says he wants to be the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and that he will do an outstanding job for all Americans. He asks Josh if he has any problem with him saying that to the Judicial Committee, and Josh says no. They go to lunch, and Josh buys.
Back to episode info