I was working this evening until 9:15 ish and forgot to set my VCR to record.
I probably started watchng with about 20 minutes left, but I was fairly lost from that point, so didn’t pay it much attention.
Thanks
Hmmm . . . I’m sure I’ll mess this up somehow, but here goes nothing. . . A nuclear explosion was detected in the Indian Ocean. The “culprits” were narrowed down to North Korea and Iran. North Korea was eliminated by some leg work performed by China. It was decided that it mush have been Iran. Leo and the national security advisor meet with the Iran U.N. Ambassador. Much weapon talk was had, blah, blah, blah. (The actual dialogue was much more interesting than I’m able to do justice to. Lots of fingerpointing and statements about how hypocritical it is of the United States - the only country to ever have used a nuclear weapon - twice - to act in this manner.) The President decides to send some B-52’s to Iran to bomb their uranium enrichment plants, when they are able to positively verify that Iran was the country to test the nuclear weapon.
Meanwhile, Will is trying to get some policy objectives for the Vice President. Toby throws him “good government - smaller government, more accountability, blah, blah, blah.” Will and the VP are discussing it, when the VP starts talking about how junkets really are useful. Next thing you know, VP is in briefing room with the President and other military guys saying that he was on a junket that ended up on a ship and after much alcohol, food, etc, someone threw up over the side of the boat - while another government official commented “Gee, I hope he didn’t throw up on our nuclear submarines.” Turns out that official was from Israel. President meets with Israeli minister who admits to the nuclear testing and justifies doing so as a means of protection for their country. The President ponders the thought that he is asked to basically just trust Israel in this instance. Disaster averted.
Subplot - Josh meet with some NASA folks. He summarily dismissed them. Cute NASA girl shows up at his office and asks him to look at the “stars” that night. He goes, he’s smitten, he gets a telescope delivered to his apartment. He’s now also contemplating trying to support a manned mission to mars.
Sorry, for any butchering caused by my poor spoiling.
And, maybe I’m slow on the uptake here, but has this show quickly gone down hill since Aaron Sorkin’s departure?
No, it fell off a cliff after Sorkin’s departure. 
But the last few episodes have been far superior to the horrors that they started the season with. It’ll never be what it was but it’s becoming watchable again.
But on the Josh subplot: isn’t a government employee giving an expensive gift to someone else in the federal government, especially someone who has the power to increase a budget, oh, I don’t know, illegal!
You’d think. Especially, because in the first season, the staffers had to declare publicly all gifts and the purpose. But, maybe it wasn’t the NASA girl that gave him the present. It was an anonymous gift . . . perhaps it was someone else?
It was really, really bad and nothing worth remembering happened… I began to think that maybe John Wells was jealous of WW’s success, and wanted to tank the show to make sure that it never ever ever got any kind of accolade again, and ER would look positively, mindbogglingly brilliant next to the crap I watched tonight.
(I was at the gym, and taping Angel, which is why I kept watching.)