| "On the Day Before" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The West Wing episode | |||
 The president interrupts theNobel laureate dinner to deal with an international crisis. | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 3 Episode 5 | ||
| Directed by | Christopher Misiano | ||
| Story by |
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| Teleplay by | Aaron Sorkin | ||
| Production code | 227204 | ||
| Original air date | October 31, 2001 (2001-10-31) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| The West Wingseason 3 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"On the Day Before" is the forty-eighthThe West Wing episode and fourth of the third season. It originally aired onNBC on October 31, 2001.[1] The episode deals with asuicide bomber inJerusalem, as well as continued negotiations over theestate tax. Written byAaron Sorkin,Paul Redford, and Nanda Chitre, and directed byChristopher Misiano, the episode contains the first appearances byH. Richard Greene as Congressman Robert Royce andThomas Kopache asAssistant Secretary of State Bob "Bobby" Slatterly.[2] There are also guest appearances byKevin Tighe,Cliff DeYoung andMary Mara.[3]Janel Moloney was nominated for anEmmy Award for her performance in this episode.
The White House is hosting a dinner forNobel laureates but the staff keep getting interrupted by various domestic and international crises. AsPresident Bartletvetoes the bill to repeal theestate tax, it appears that theRepublican Party might have the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. A representative of the dissenting Democrats is brought in to negotiate a deal withToby andSam. Meanwhile,Josh is meeting withIndiana Governor Jack Buckland (Tighe) to talk him out of a potential primary challenge against Bartlet.Leo is at this point getting exasperated by their own partisans taking advantage of the administration's weakness due to the impending hearings over the president's concealment of hismultiple sclerosis. He tells Josh to "throw an elbow" and threaten to leak the fact that Buckland tried to blackmail the president. In the end, Josh ends up striking a compromise, while it is Toby and Sam who "throw an elbow" by turning downDemocratic Congressman Kimble and offering the same deal to moderate Republican Congressman Robert Royce instead.
APalestiniansuicide bomber inJerusalem causes the death of severalIsraelis, as well as two American nationals.National Security Advisor Nancy McNally and Leo consider the potential implications of possible retributions and are relieved when the Palestinians respond to American pressure by arresting a leader of a militant group. As Leo points out, however, the solution is likely to be only temporary.
Other staff members have their own problems to deal with.Charlie has been offeredimmunity from the special prosecutors and Leo, among others, suggests he take it. Charlie, however, insists that he will "stay with [his] team".Donna, who in the previous episode ("Ways and Means") went on a date with a Republican congressional aide involved in the investigation, comes clean with Josh. It turns out she met him not only once, but also on another occasion after she had found out what position he held, and Josh is not pleased.C.J. is provoked by an inexperienced lifestyle reporter, Sherri Wexler (Mara), trying to put her in a bad light and responds by embarrassing her in front of a full press room.[1][3][4]
The West Wing episodes were written close to production and at the time of theSeptember 11 attacks Sorkin was writing on episode six of the season ("Gone Quiet"), which originally was to air onHalloween (October 31). The events caused consternation in the writing staff, and the episode had to be entirely rewritten. "I was kind of paralyzed," said Sorkin, "I didn't know what to write".[3][5] Because of the attacks, air dates were postponed and the already finished "On the Day Before" became the Halloween episode instead. Nevertheless, the episode took on greater relevance to actual, international events than the writers had intended. On August 9, after the actors had just done acold reading of the episode, they were informed about theSbarro restaurant suicide bombing, a Jerusalem suicide bombing in which an American was killed. The close similarity to an event in the script came as a shock to the actors. "It was mind-blowing," saidRichard Schiff (Toby).[6]
The title of this episode refers to a conversation that the President has with his staff towards the end of the episode. In it, he tells his staff that at a White House dinner, someone told him that onYom Kippur Jews ask God for forgiveness, but "on the day before" Yom Kippur, calledErev Yom Kippur, Jews ask forgiveness from one another.[7] The president remarks that "you can't ask forgiveness of God until you've asked forgiveness of people on the day before."[8]
In a reference to the Palestinian leadership,Chairman of thePalestine Liberation OrganizationYasser Arafat is mentioned by name. Even thoughforeign dignitaries were normally fictional on the show, producer Aaron Sorkin said it felt right to call the Chairman by his real name "'cause Arafat's been around forever and he'll be around forever".[3][9] In a later episode, however ("Gaza" in season five), the name of the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority was changed to Nizar Farad, a fictional character.[3] By that point in mid-2004, Arafat was in failing health in real life, and would die in November 2004. The show continued to use the Farad character and never made any references to Arafat's successorMahmoud Abbas.
When the president vetoes the bill, it is said that this is Bartlet's first veto. In a previous episode, "In This White House" as Sam debatesAinsley Hayes for the first time, it is made clear that the president has in fact previously vetoed a bill.[10] It has been suggested, however, that what was discussed on that occasion was apocket veto.[11]
At one point in the episode, Josh quotes an interview with one of Buckland's aides in what he calls theIndianapolis Post-Dispatch. No such newspaper exists. The show chose to combine the names of two different newspapers: theIndianapolis Star, and theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch.[12]
It was for this episode, along with "War Crimes", thatJanel Moloney was nominated for thePrimetime Emmy Award forOutstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2002.[3] In this category she was up against two of her co-stars:Mary-Louise Parker andStockard Channing, who went on to win the award.[13] Deborah ofTelevision Without Pity gave the episode a grade of "A".[4]
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