Privateers (The West Wing)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Privateers
Series = The West Wing


Caption =
Season = 4
Episode = 83
Airdate = March 262003
Production = 175318
Writer = Paul Redford & Debora Cahn and Aaron Sorkin (teleplay)
Paul Redford & Debora Cahn (story)
Director = Alex Graves
Guests = Mary-Louise Parker
Jeff Perry
Elisabeth Moss
Trent Ford
Amanda Carlin
Benjamin Brown
Nathan Anderson
Andrea Savage
Helen Slayton-Hughes
Gregory Linington
Episode list = List of "The West Wing" episodes
Season list = Infobox The West Wing season 4 episode list
Prev =
Next ="Privateers" is episode 83 of "The West Wing".

Amy Gardner begins her first day as Chief of Staff to First Lady Abigail Bartlet. Her day is crazy enough, with Josh playing pranks on her, but she is also forced to help the First Lady stop a controversial bill that will include a "gag rule," meaning funding can only be given to hospitals that will not speak about their abortion practices. Amy gets dragged into a mild fight between the President and the First Lady because the gag rule is noxious to Dr. Bartlet, but the President needs to resolve the budget issue and get funding to Foreign Operations.

Toby Ziegler and Josh must get involved with a man who is involved in high-profile Senate hearings, and wants to turn into an informant on the illegal, environmentally-damaging, practices of his employer. Toby and Josh are surprised and angry to find out that the man isn't just a whistle-blower, but someone who is angling for immunity because he helped in these practices and their cover-up before deciding to do the right thing. Toby sarcastically tells the informant he'll get his immunity and makes it clear that he's not a hero to anyone.

Leo McGarry and President Bartlet deal with a situation involving a glacier that melted in Alaska and caused a sudden flood that killed over a dozen people. It's clear that global warming played a part, but there appears to be no way to state this without drawing criticism for politicizing the tragedy. Will Bailey volunteers to be the fall guy and call for a large reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions, then accept censure for doing so, and the President is pleased.

Zoey Bartlet is being initiated into the DAR and Charlie Young attempts to flirt with her, while also dealing with her drug-taking boyfriend. Zoey is more civil to Charlie that she has been of late and Charlie doesn't emphasize how little he likes her boyfriend, while Zoey slyly lets Charlie know she's aware that he's doing his own dating these days.

Will Bailey, CJ Cregg and Amy, meanwhile, must deal with a woman who wants to boycott the DAR reception, because Mrs. Bartlet's relative - who qualifies her for entry into the DAR - was a privateer, or a hired pirate. CJ is finding it difficult to keep a straight face, but Amy and Will come up with a solution.

External links

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