"Previously on the West Wing" spoken by C.J.
Eyebrows are raised when the President-elect places a call to the president of China and offers a different position than that of Bartlet. Josh walks into a business meeting. Sam Seaborn turns around. He gets up and as he leaves Sam says "I thought you'd never call." Sam wants to say no. Josh tells him that Santos is the real deal. Josh wants him to be Deputy Chief of Staff.
Summary[]
Santos goes to the Situation Room for a briefing on Kazakhstan. CJ introduces him to McNally and Hutchinson. Santos is displeased with the situation, says so, and leaves.
Josh makes a day trip to California to convince Sam Seaborn to join the Santos administration, as Deputy Chief of Staff. Sam is unsure but Josh makes him promise to think about it. Sam tells Josh he's getting married (mirroring the situation when Josh approaches Sam for Presiden Bartlett's first campaign).
Josh returns home. It's cluttered and he's exhausted. Donna arrives to spend the night with him. Afterwards Donna confronts him about the relationship. She gives them four weeks to see if they can figure out what they want.
CJ tells Josh to get to her office. She's furious that Santos called President Liang of China, without informing President Bartlett, and orders Josh to tell Santos to start acting like the President-elect.
Helen Santos meets with Donna and asks her to be the First Lady's Chief of Staff.
Josh offers Lou the job of Director of Communications.
Josh introduces Sam Seaborn as his Deputy Chief of Staff.
Josh screams abuse at Otto in front of other staff for taking Josh's Blackberry, even though Josh had agreed for Otto to take it for software upgrade. Sam arrives in Josh's office in the midst of Josh's outburst. Sam asks when Josh last took a vacation. Josh doesn't remember. Sam says Santos takes office in 10 weeks, Josh could take one of them off. Sam reminds Josh of how difficult the job will be even with Josh at his best and Josh isn't near his best at that moment. Sam gives Josh an ultimatum: go on vacation or Sam leaves.
Santos and Bartlet meet in the Oval Office. Bartlet demands Santos tell him what he told the Chinese, which Santos does. Bartlet approves.
Josh tells Santos that Sam will fill in for Josh for the next week. Santos approves, saying he'd drive Josh to the airport himself if it didn't involve the motorcade.
Josh is in his seat on a plane. Someone arrives and sits down next to him. It's Donna. She tells him the holiday is a brilliant idea. Josh replies it's due to Sam's, but the going with Donna idea is all his. The episode ends with Josh's phone ringing off the desk.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg
- Janel Moloney as Donna Moss
- Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman
- with Jimmy Smits as Matthew Santos
- and Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlet
Special Guest Stars[]
Guest Starring[]
- Steve Ryan as Miles Hutchinson
- Anna Deavere Smith as Dr. Nancy McNally
- Matthew Del Negro as Bram Howard
- Karis Campbell as Ronna Beckman
- Ramón De Ocampo as Otto
- Jerry Kernion as Driver
- and Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn
Co-Starring[]
- Greg Callahan as Man on the airplane
- Chandler Hill as Attorney #1
- Corie Vickers as Attorney #2
- Ken Weiler as Bowman
Trivia[]
- When Josh is looking for his blackberry phone in office, you can vaguely hear him say, "Shit", which is slightly masked by noise. The captions/subtitles confirms that he does say, "Shit" despite this being a Television show that would usually not allow such profanity.
- The establishing shot of the hotel that Matt and Helen Santos are temporarily residing in Washington, D.C. is not of a hotel in D.C., but rather the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City, Utah. The structure was formerly the Hotel Utah before being acquired by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known colloquially as Mormons or the LDS Church) in 1987 for use as an administrative office and event venue.
Goofs[]
When Josh comes back into the transition offices after seeing CJ about the Santos call to China he has folders under his arms. He did not leave with this folder and was not holding them when he called Sam.
During a brief conversation between Josh and Otto, Otto is seen holding a whole donut. However, in the next shot, Josh steals a piece of the donut, but there is already some donut missing from the whole.
Quotes[]
References[]
"The West Wing" Transition (2006)