The West Wing: What Kind of Day Has it Been

path: Home / Episodes #22 "What Kind of Day Has It Been"

Written by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Thomas Schlamme
Broadcast: May 17, 2000
Takes Place: (either late May or early August ?2000?)
Query: Where is the Mission Commander of the Space Shuttle?
Query: Where Do We Take Our Rescued Pilots?
Query: Why Did One of Bartlet's Ancestors Change the Spelling of His Name?
Query: Is it really that easy to shoot the President?

©2001-www.arttoday.com

Writer: Aaron Sorkin (for other credits, see Episodes)

Starts with a town meeting in Rosslyn, Virginia and Gina seeing something that has her worried. Then we backtrack to 12 hours earlier

The President and Leo are attending meetings with their military adviors on a pilot who was shot down while on a routine patrol mission over Iraq. C.J., still upset about being out of the loop on the India/Pakistan situation months before is brought in on this new military development:
"I wasn't lying to the press on Pakistan India, I was lied to by you which made me look like an idiot."
Well, I'm not lying to you now. . . ," Leo tells her.
"We're going to pay a price for misleading the press."

But crises travel in gangs: Sam finds out that Toby's brother is a payload specialist on the Columbia Space Shuttle which is stranded in obit.

And the Vice President is causing trouble so Josh goes to talk to him but that produces other problems which Leo confronts Josh about:
"Did you happen to say to him that if we got Scott Hoskins [the pilot down in Iraq] back there'd be a ten point bump."
"I did."
"I got to tell you if the President ever heard about that he'd be out of his skin. . . .Don't do that. . . . Not even in private. . . . The guy's been blown out of the sky. He could be seriously injured. For sure he's in an Iraqi desert with no water. He's got to keep radio silence cause we're not the only ones looking for him. . . . And if they get to him first and all he gives them is name, rank and serial number, they're going to beat him, Josh. They're going to torture him. This is to say nothing of 80 guys in the helicopter who are going to get shot at if they're picked up underneath the radar. . . . The President. . . he'd be really offended if he heard you were talking about a political upside. And I got to tell you, Josh, as a guy who flew planes in the war, I was really offended too."

The President finally gets good news on the pilot who was shot down:
"Cleared Iraqi air space and on his way to Tel Aviv."

The Columbia Space Shuttle situation is taking longer to resolve. And that puts us back to the point at which Gina sees a real problem.
See: Who's Shot and Who's Not.

Theme of Episode: Just as everything seems to be turning out for the best, the world can attack back from an unexpected direction.

For anyone interested in guest stars of this episode, let us recommend the West Wing Episode Guide.

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