West Wing
What Kind Of Day Has It Been?

Episode Report Card
Deborah: A | 3 USERS: A+
What Kind Of Day Has It Been?

We also hear Jed talking about how at this meeting he was called a liberal, a populist, and a socialist. He says that he's an economics professor, and that his great-grandfather's great-grandfather was Josiah Bartlet, who was the New Hampshire delegate representative to the second Continental Congress, which sat in session during 1776 and announced that they were no longer English subjects. He quotes, "'We hold these truths to be self-evident,' they said, 'That all men are created equal.' Strange as it may seem, that was the first time in history that anyone had ever bothered to write that down." (Actually, I'm pretty sure there are some scriptures that say essentially that, and which predate 1776 by centuries, if not millennia, but whatever.) He reminds the audience that, "Decisions are made by those who show up." He ends the talk and we're back to the point just before everyone comes out of the building. The applause of the audience inside is combined with the cheering of the crowd outside to complement the increasingly dramatic music. From inside that back-lit window we see two people loading bullets into guns. (Professor Frink, my resident gun expert, guesses that the guns were semi-automatic 9mm weapons; possibly .45s; maybe Berettas. You know, in case you care.) I'm really wondering what both the assassins-to-be and Aaron Sorkin are thinking with this back-lighting thing. There's just no way on God's green earth that none of the SS agents swarming around this place would not notice this. I also think it would have been cool if they'd concealed the identities of the assassins more, to give us something else to wonder about.

Everybody's coming out of the building now; we hear Zoey taunting Charlie about the fact that her father used Charlie's suggestion. POTUS calls out to Toby and they discuss the safe landing of the shuttle. Then there's another shot of the guns being loaded (again, back-lit, and in full view of the window). We're back to the part where Gina's whirling around beside the limo as Zoey's nattering on. Gina's looking at Grey Baseball Cap; this time he looks up briefly just before he turns away fast, and his cap is knocked off by the raised arm of the person behind him, revealing his shaved head. He bolts out of the crowd. She turns and looks up at what he was looking at; Charlie, next to her, looks too, but not in quite the right direction I don't think. She screams, "Gun!" as she sees a couple of teenagers aim their guns to fire the first shots. The shots start coming thick and fast, and she pushes Charlie down. The crowd runs in all directions, as do the Secret Service agents, trying to protect everybody. Some agents start firing back. Gina pulls Zoey down and pushes her into a car. Josh lunges to the ground behind one of the metal barriers with a terrified look on his face. From the top of another building, sharpshooters seem to be firing at the teenagers but missing them by a mile. The President is fed into the back of a limo by two or three guys at once, and another agent tackles C.J. to get her down. She grabs Sam's arm and they both go flying to the ground between two vehicles. The flashing red lights on a police car are blasted apart. Glass is breaking; people are screaming, running and climbing over the barricades; and then we see Toby on his back near a barricade, tumbling from side to side trying to avoid being trampled. The next shot is Leo face down on the ground, with someone's hand on his back keeping him down. Agents are screaming for everyone to stay down as the volley of gunfire continues. We get an aerial shot of the chaos, and the shooting finally stops; maybe one of the sharpshooters finally hit the assassins. From the first shot to the last, less than thirty seconds elapsed. Over the sound of arriving sirens, we can hear a man's voice saying, "Oh God, we've got people down! Who's been hit? Who's been hit?" Aaron Sorkin has about four months to decide.

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West Wing




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