Review of The Leadership Breakfast


Written by Toniann

I'm still basking in the glow of a new episode. Not that reruns aren't fun, but still. On the whole, I thought this was a densely-packed episode. Good, but a lot of information that I have a feeling we'll be revisiting for the rest of the season.

  • What on earth, I mean, what in the *world* made Josh and Sam think they could light a fireplace in the mural room? Are these two insane? And poor Charlie, the guy with the second hardest job in the country, having to tell the president he's going to have to stand on the balcony outside the Truman Room in his underwear.

  • Sigh. And I was getting all excited for Toby at first, because I saw some chemistry between him and Ann Stark. Not a Day of Jubilee for Toby, as it turns out.

  • Of course, they all should have known something was up when the menu included Vermont maple syrup. Who would be so foolish?

  • As always, Leo amazed me, especially in his final scene with Toby. But what I liked best was something he said earlier: "Because we loved each other, and it was awful, and we knew it was never going to change." That hit home with me.

  • On a lighter note, isn't it amazing how Sam is this veritable font of information and yet he's always making silly mistakes with that information? I was thinking that it's something he and Bartlet share, that love for trivia, but that Bartlet is more often right. Then again, this is the guy who thought he was in DC when he was in Kentucky. Must have been the grand vista before him.

  • On a still lighter note, no one deserves to have the details of their underwear made public knowledge that way. Poor Donna.

  • I thought it was interesting that we were revisiting a theme from that year, that of a certain lack of confidence in CJ. Once again, the other staffers seemed to be sidestepping her, effectively cutting her off at the knees, as she said to Toby. But this time around, we (and Toby) were truly shown the fallacy of that method of thinking. And like Josh said, she really is a class act.

  • Can somebody tell me what the majority leader's name is? Because we've just been introduced to what I think we all knew was bound to be a major plotline in the coming year, the president's re-election bid, and this is the guy he's going to be running against.

  • Last but not least, there's nothing I love more than a Godfather reference. War-time consigliori, indeed. It bears mentioning, though, that it was Michael and Tom Hagen who won the war, not Sonny.


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