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TAYE DIGGS ('CHIGACO', 'HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK') GUEST-STARS AS THE NEW HEAD OF ZOEY'S SECRET SERVICE DETAIL -- With the country at a heightened state of alert because suspected terrorists have disappeared, the President (Martin Sheen) wrestles with what message to give his youngest daughter Zoey's (guest star Elisabeth Moss) graduating class at Georgetown. As C.J. (Allison Janney) has to stop Danny (Timothy Busfield) from filing a story, Charlie (Dule Hill) decides whether to follow through a romantic promise he made to Zoey when they were dating.

Summary[]

Opening[]

In his office, Josh is trying to find a new vice president.  Charlie walks in and over the course of the conversation - he realizes that he and Zoey buried a bottle of champagne at the National Arboretum for the two of them to open on her graduation from college - today.

Josh tears a picture from the newspaper and sticks it on the board of names.  In the picture is President Bartlet - and behind the President, Leo.

Act I[]

In the Situation Room, the President is being briefed on five terrorists who have gone missing on the West Coast.  He orders the nation's Threat Condition to Bravo.

Amy comes to see Donna to tell her that when Josh told her about the Vice President, she didn't mean to imply that it was good because now we would get someone they wanted the first time.

Outside the Oval Office, Toby is waiting to see the President - C.J., Will, and Josh all enter.  Toby is nervous as he has bought a house for Andy to live in (hopefully with him).  Will believes he is there to help the President with the Commencement Speech.

The four enter the Oval Office and Leo and Toby talk about Andy's pregnancy.  The President gets off the phone and informs the Senior Staff that the previous year he ordered Abdul Shareef killed and the Qumaris have now found out about it.  The five terrorists that have gone missing are believed to be in the country to exact vengeance.

The meeting breaks up and Will hangs back to offer his help to the President with his speech.  Bartlet initially resists but then tells Will he needs help.

As Josh is walking back to his office - he meets Agent Wesley Davis, who is in charge of Zoey's protective detail and is preparing to accompany Zoey to France.  Davis arrives in the room with Ron Butterfield, where the President is meeting with the new agents assigned to Zoey.  The President gets a display of the agent's skills as Zoey arrives. Bartlet jokingly tells Zoey that he would prefer she spend the summer in her room instead of France.

Leo and Fitzwallace arrive and the President steps out to get the latest update on the terrorists.  They tell the President there is a container missing off a cargo ship in Portland, Oregon.  The President orders the port closed.

Act II[]

C.J. walks into her office to find Danny asleep on her couch.  She screams and he wakes up, groggy from having just returned from Germany.  He tells her that his paper is prepared to run the story on Shareef - but she tells him there are national security implications and he shouldn't run it.  Danny asks C.J. point blank if the US killed Shareef - C.J. doesn't answer (though she has just learned they did).

In a neighborhood, Toby brings Andy to the house that he has purchased for her to live in.  It is the house that Andy has always wanted to live in - so Toby bought it.  He also asks Andy to marry him (again) - but she is still not interested in marrying him.  They argue and Andy leaves to go back out to the car.  She calls for Toby, who comes outside - Andy tells Toby that her water has broken and they need to get to the hospital.

Act III[]

Will is talking with the First Lady about the speech that he has been writing with the President.  Will is afraid the President will want to change it - which is exactly what the President suggests when they meet up with him.  The President has Will get in the limo and head to Georgetown with them - to make the changes on the fly.

In the White House, Margaret brings a gift wrapped box to Leo - it's a graduation gift for Zoey - a pen.  C.J. arrives and tells Leo that Danny is waiting.  She tells Leo what Danny has.  They arrive and Leo tells Danny about Threat Condition Bravo and the missing sleepers.  Danny agrees to wait three days and he gets an exclusive on the sleepers.  Leo agrees.

Amy comes to see Donna again - she is still worried that she has offended Josh about the VP list.  Donna tells her not to worry about it.

At the hospital - Andy is in labor and the doctor arrives to tell her the babies are coming - today.

At Georgetown - Will and the President are still tweaking the speech, when the Chancellor arrives to get the President for the ceremony.  As they are walking out - the President realizes he can no longer get to his pockets to retrieve the notes for the speech, or his glasses.

Act IV[]

Amy comes to the bullpen and finds Donna still at her desk.  They talk some more, about Josh.  Amy realizes that Donna is in love with Josh.

At the National Arboretum, Charlie and Josh are looking for the bottle of champagne.  They encounter one of Zoey's agents, and realize that Zoey is already there, waiting for Charlie.  The two of them talk - Zoey has some anxiety about going to France with Jean Paul.

In the Situation Room, the President is getting another update.  They have the crew of the container ship and are questioning them.  In the Press Room, C.J. and Danny talk about his story on Shareef.

Zoey has arrived at a graduation party - where Jean Paul has drugged Zoey's drink.  Zoey is trying to talk to Jean Paul.  She asks him if he put ecstasy in her drink - he tells her he did.  She gets up to go to the restroom.

Outside, Josh is talking with Agent Davis - who requests an update from all the agents.  Davis goes inside when the other agents cannot find Zoey.  They search the club and Davis goes out to the alley, where he finds Zoey's panic button on the ground and then another agent shot dead.

Ron Butterfield rushes to see Leo who tells him about Zoey.  Leo leaves the Situation Room and runs through the halls of the White House to find the President.

Cast[]

Stockard Channing as Abigail Bartlet
Dulé Hill as Charlie Young
Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg
Joshua Malina as Will Bailey
Janel Moloney as Donna Moss
Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler
John Spencer as Leo McGarry
Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman
and Martin Sheen as President Bartlet

Special Guest Stars

Mary-Louise Parker as Amy Gardner
Timothy Busfield as Danny Concannon
with John Amos as Admiral Fitzwallace
and Taye Diggs as Wesley Davis

Guest Starring

Anna Deavere Smith as Nancy McNally
Kathleen York as Andy Wyatt
Elisabeth Moss as Zoey Bartlet
Michael O'Neill as Ron Butterfield
NiCole Robinson as Margaret Hooper
Arye Gross as Dr. Glazer
Trent Ford as Jean-Paul Vicomte de Bourbon

Co-Starring

Kimberly Bigsby as Molly O'Connor
John Antonini as Jamie Reed
Shannon Marshall as Randy Weathers
Cliff McMullen as Chancellor of Georgetown
Melissa Fitzgerald as Carol Fitzpatrick
Ralph Meyering Jr. as Civilian Tom
Keith MacKechnie as Cooper
Jennifer Ann Massey as Waitress
Tricia Maio as Aide

Quotes[]

Will Bailey: We just wrote 3,900 words in five hours.
Abbey Bartlet: It's terrific so far.
Will Bailey: Later, he quotes Cicero, Thomas Aquinas and Rudy Vallee in the space of two pages.
Abbey Bartlet: How does he connect them?
Will Bailey: Three people you've never heard of.
Abbey Bartlet: It's about creativity?
Will Bailey: Well, he decided that's what he wanted to talk about. Now the trick is, he's got to not change his mind.
Jed Bartlet: Good! You're here! I want to make some changes.
Donna Moss: You have to get Josh . . . . His sister died in a fire while she was baby-sitting him. She tried to put it out, he ran outside. He went off campaigning, his father died. He wakes up in a hospital and discovers the President's been shot. He goes through every day worried that somebody he likes is going to die, and it's going to be his fault. What do you think makes him walk so fast?... Anyway, when you look at the list of replacements and said, "That's a windfall," what he heard was "Thank you Josh, you did it again. More for us."

Trivia[]

  • In the opening, Josh suggests that Leo could be a candidate to be Bartlet's new Vice President. Josh later convinces Leo to become Santos's Vice Presidential running mate in Season 6.
  • In the Situation Room Leo asks, "What kind of day has it been?" just before Zoey is shown arriving at the party. What Kind of Day Has It Been is also the title of the Season 1 finale, which ends with the shooting in Rosslyn.
  • In the limo on the way to the graduation ceremony at Georgetown University, President Bartlet refers to the driver by the nickname "Coop". This was also the name of President Shepherd's limo driver in Aaron Sorkin's first White House drama, The American President.

BACKSTAGE

  • The commencement was filmed at Georgetown University. The show setup commencement at Georgetown a week or two before the real commencement and used real students and employees on the commencement platform and in the audience. The person who hoods President Bartlet before he heads to the platform was Georgetown's director of protocol and events. That scene is in the lobby of the University President's office.

Links[]

Commencement @IMDb


EPISODES
I PilotPost Hoc, Ergo Propter HocA Proportional ResponseFive Votes Down
The Crackpots and These WomenMr. Willis of OhioThe State DinnerEnemiesThe Short List
In Excelsis DeoLord John MarburyHe Shall, from Time to Time...Take Out the Trash Day
Take This Sabbath DayCelestial Navigation20 Hours in L.A.The White House Pro-Am
Six Meetings Before LunchLet Bartlet Be BartletMandatory Minimums
Lies, Damn Lies and StatisticsWhat Kind of Day Has It Been?
II In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Part I)In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Part II)The Midterms
In This White HouseAnd It's Surely to Their CreditThe Lame Duck CongressThe Portland Trip
ShibbolethGalileoNoëlThe Leadership BreakfastThe Drop-In
Bartlet's Third State of the UnionThe War at HomeEllie
Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to JailThe Stackhouse Filibuster
17 PeopleBad Moon RisingThe Fall's Gonna Kill You18th and PotomacTwo Cathedrals
III Manchester (Part I)Manchester (Part II)Ways and MeansOn the Day BeforeWar CrimesGone QuietThe Indians in the LobbyThe Women of QumarBartlet for AmericaH.Con - 172100,000 AirplanesThe Two BartletsNight FiveHartsfield's LandingDead Irish Writers
The U.S. Poet LaureateStirredEnemies Foreign and DomesticThe Black Vera Wang
We Killed YamamotoPosse Comitatus
IV 20 Hours in America (Part I)20 Hours in America (Part II)College KidsThe Red Mass
Debate CampGame OnElection NightProcess StoriesSwiss DiplomacyArctic Radar
Holy NightGuns Not ButterThe Long GoodbyeInauguration (Part I)
Inauguration: Over There (Part II)The California 47thRed Haven's on FirePrivateers
Angel MaintenanceEvidence of Things Not SeenLife On MarsCommencementTwenty-Five
V 7A WF 83429The Dogs of WarJefferson LivesHanA Constituency of OneDisaster ReliefSeparation of PowersShutdownAbu el BanatThe Stormy PresentThe Benign PrerogativeSlow News DayThe Warfare of Genghis KhanAn KheFull DisclosureEppur Si Muove
The SupremesAccessTalking PointsNo ExitGazaMemorial Day
VI NSF ThurmontThe Birnam WoodThird-Day StoryLiftoffThe Hubbert PeakThe Dover TestA Change Is Gonna ComeIn The RoomImpact WinterFaith Based Initiative
Opposition Research365 DaysKing CornThe Wake Up CallFreedoniaDrought ConditionsA Good DayLa PalabraNinety Miles AwayIn God We TrustThings Fall Apart2162 Votes
VII The TicketThe Mommy ProblemMessage of the WeekMr. FrostHere Today
The Al Smith DinnerThe DebateUndecidedsThe WeddingRunning Mates
Internal DisplacementDuck and CoverThe ColdTwo Weeks OutWelcome to Wherever You Are
Election Day (Part I)Election Day (Part II)RequiemTransitionThe Last Hurrah
Institutional MemoryTomorrow
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