Okay, now that someone else has leaked my unstated suspicion, can I go back to work?
I just watched it, so I’m still a little emotional and stuff (yah yah, fictional characters, I know, but…). I seriously think this was one of, if not the best, post-Sorkin episode. Certainly the best of this season and last.
I couldn’t believe how well done the opening was. The silence, CJ’s pacing, etc. It felt like it went on forever, even though it was probably 30 seconds max. You could just see how CJ wanted to say so much - how she had to stand as far away as possible in the room from Toby, how she could barely even look at him. And Toby just sitting there, eyes filling with tears. I mean, everyone was fab in this episode, but Alison Janney and Richard Shiff were just brilliant.
There must be much more to this than just Toby. I don’t necessarily still think he’s covering for someone, but maybe there were simultaneous leaks? I mean, we still have no idea why Greg Brock and CJ have had so many phone conversations recently.
Oh, and I didn’t catch the “in next week’s episode” thingy at the end, could anyone fill me in?
Santos and Vinnick run into each other backstage at some event. Santos says, “Why aren’t we debating? Do I have to bring back the guy in the chicken suit from last season?” Vinnick says “Bring it on, pretty boy. Steven Bochco ain’t here to protect you now.”
Okay, I’m paraphrasing.
There’s going to be a stunt episode in November. The two actors, in character, will have an actual live debate.
Now that’s an interesting thought…
I think he did give his motives. Toby mentioned during a short rant that the military shouldn’t be secretly weaponizing space, that something of this magnitude [having a military shuttle] should be discussed openly in a democratic society, etc.
Plus, he wanted to save the lives of the astronauts. He probably feels some sort of brotherhood with the astronauts because his brother was one.
And yes, I agree, this was a good episode. Sometimes the use of silence can be much more dramatic than any dialoge could be.
I’m not convinced Toby did it. Not sure who did. But I think Toby is falling on his sword for Leo, because if the investigation continues, Leo will get dragged into it, which will all but hand the election to Vinnick, because it will kill the Santos campaign.
I thought the scene is Bartlet’s office with him reading Toby the riot act (in his low-key, furious way) was brilliant, and possibly the height of Sheen’s considerable acting skills.
I did sympathize with Toby on that point because I share the view. Such things should be discussed openly in a democratic society. But what I didn’t get was, how did he take it from there to state secrets should be leaked in a democratic society? I mean, couldn’t he have discussed weaponizing space without announcing, “Hey, we have a weapon in space!”?
But would that have resulted in a frank and meaningful discussion of the topic, or just a dismissing of it as sci-fi babble? No one’s going to seriously discuss whether to mount death ray lasers on Mars, which means if the US government already HAS mounted death ray lasers on Mars, they did so without any public discussion of the issue.
Plus, by revealing the military shuttle, he also forced the president to use it to save the stranded astronauts.
He got his debate, and directly saved lives.
Actually, it was mentioned on the show (by Toby himself as I recall) that the astronauts were eventually able to make the repairs and save themselves without assistance from the military shuttle. So as it turned out, the leak was unnecessary.
I thought that was mentioned in a manner somewhat like this:
“NASA is reporting that the astronauts were able to make the repair themselves.”
“Think anyone is actually buying that?”
In other words, as a “yeah, right” sort of thing. But I could be remembering incorrectly.
No, you got it right. The shuttle’s existance was leaked, but no one ever came out in the press and officially said it existed.
Toby covering for Leo? No there’s an idea. Does Schiff have any more episodes left on his contract? I’m thinking no, since the title of the episode was “Here Today”, as in “…gone tomorrow.”
I believe Schiff’s got several more episodes in his contract, though I don’t know how many exactly. More than half a dozen, I’d say, if the spoiler in a previous West Wing thread was true.
Two questions: First, Toby’s brother told him of the shuttle, right? So he was never supposed to have the info, right? So does that make any difference?
Second, right after Toby confesses to CJ, he starts to say something like “I just didn’t want you to think…” and she cuts him off. What do you think he was going to say? I just don’t know where he was going with that. Speculation?
IANAL, but I watch The West Wing.. I should think it would still be illegal.
Toby’s brother should have told him that there’s a Soyuz escape capsule on the ISS, would have saved eveyone a lot of trouble.
But in the West Wing World it wasn’t Bush who canceled the lifeboat for the space station, but the Republican Congress who also somehow canceled the Russian space program. 
If I was guessing, I say he was going to say, “I just didn’t want you to think I was going to let you take the blame for what I did.” Toby was probably figuring on dragging things out as long as possible and then confessing if someone else was going to be hurt. Up until Toby’s confession, CJ was the main suspect but it turned out to be Leo who was the first vulnerable person. Toby probably didn’t want CJ to think he wouldn’t have also confessed for her as well.
Before the leak, CJ heard something that made her think that there was a military shuttle. She asked Toby if his brother had ever hinted about the existence of such a shuttle. Toby said no, but his brother had from time to time hinted that there were secrets that Toby couldn’t know. CJ then asked Toby if his brother would have been willing to die to protect the secrecy of the shuttle. Toby said “he would have insisted on it,” but implied that Toby himself would not have been willing to sacrifice his brother.
Basically, CJ’s questions confirmed Toby’s suspicions that there was a military shuttle, and prompted him to leak the story. She is heartbroken because she naively gave Toby the rope to hang himself, and didn’t see it coming.
I think you have it, SuperNelson. As much as I would have liked for Toby to honor what he thought would be the wishes of his brother, I caneasily belive that he did leak it for the reason he gave his lawyer, plus the fact that he feels Barlett wasn’t moral enough in saving lives with the action he took. A little from Column A and a little from Column B.
IIRC Toby and his brother weren’t very close. In fact, the people Toby worked with didn’t even know his brother was an astronaut until the episode when the shuttle couldn’t return to Earth because of a jammed opened bay door. And then it took someone (Josh? CJ?) directly asking him if the guy on the shuttle with the same last name as Toby was related.