Posse Comitatus (The West Wing episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Posse Comitatus
Series = The West Wing


Caption =
Season = 3
Episode = 66
Airdate = May 222002
Production = 227222
Writer = Aaron Sorkin
Director = Alex Graves
Guests = Adam Arkin
Mary-Louise Parker
Mark Harmon
Lily Tomlin
James Brolin
John Amos
Kurt Fuller
Michael O'Neill
David Huddleston
Armin Shimerman
NiCole Robinson
Renee Estevez
Andrew McFarlane
William Thomas Jr.
Fred Sanders
Glenn Morshower
Thomas Kopache
Wren T. Brown
Ken Thorley
Basil Hoffman
Episode list = List of "The West Wing" episodes
Season list = Infobox The West Wing season 3 episode list
Prev =
Next ="Posse Comitatus" is episode 66 of "The West Wing". The name of the episode refers to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.

Plot

In the season finale, Bartlet makes a life-or-death decision regarding a foreign diplomat who is a known terrorist. He ponders the situation during a charity benefit performance of a Shakespeare play about another conflicted leader, Henry VI. While pondering, Leo quotes a monk who said "I don't always know the right thing to do, Lord, but I think the fact that I want to please you pleases you." (Thomas Merton, who wrote in "Thoughts in Solitude", "But I believe that the desire to please you, does in fact please you.") President Bartlet gives a very difficult order at the episode's end. At the performance, Bartlet encounters Governor Robert Ritchie, his Republican rival in the upcoming presidential election. The two men converse briefly and it is evident there is no love lost between them. Ritchie appears to despise Bartlet's erudition, whilst Bartlet challenges Ritchie for deliberately dumbing down his campaign, including an empty-headed response when he learns about Agent Donovan's murder. The President tells his opponent "By the way, 'Crime, boy, I don't know' is when I decided to kick your ass."

Meanwhile, Toby and Sam manipulate the press to discredit Ritchie. Sam is still seething from his earlier betrayal by his friend, and Toby knows that an angry Sam produces his best work. After Ritchie tells the press he is going to see a New York Yankees game before heading to the charity benefit because going to baseball games is what ordinary Americans do (a slap at the perceived elitism of the President), Toby and Sam decide to send the President's motorcade into the Bronx and thus held up Gov. Ritchie in traffic for a few hours.

Josh's continued support of a key welfare reform bill that his girlfriend, feminist activist Amy Gardner, opposes--she hates the marriage incentives, he feels they are a necessary price of the large uptick in overall welfare funding--causes increasing problems between them. Josh is told that the Florida delegation will support his version of the bill in exchange for concessions, but Josh refuses to accede to this demand and instead cuts a deal with Amy's boss that allows the Administration's version of the bill to pass. Amy castigates Josh for not supporting her and knowing she has to resign her position, and he castigates her for having tantrums and trying to threaten a third-party movement after she lost her effort against the bill.

The flirtation between C.J. and her Secret Service bodyguard, Simon Donovan, is limited by their professional relationship, but after C.J.'s stalker is arrested in New Jersey while armed and trying to travel to New York City, they decide to begin dating and plan to meet later to have drinks. Later in the episode, Donovan walks into a convenience store in the midst of a robbery. He disarms one thief and is then shot dead by a second who was hiding in the back, and C.J. breaks down in tears when she hears the tragic news. And as the search continues for a replacement for the deceased Mrs. Landingham, Charlie recommends Deborah Fiderer, who appears to be completely spaced-out and embarrasses herself in an initial interview with the President. President Bartlet is aghast at her and can't believe Charlie continues to promote her as the top candidate, but Charlie tells him that Ms. Fiderer got fired from her job because she got him hired at the White House in the first place.

Trivia

*The song "Hallelujah" performed by Jeff Buckley plays after Simon Donovan is shot and killed.

External links

* [http://epguides.com/WestWing/ The West Wing Episode Guide]
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