Leo Interrupts Toby's Smithsonian Meeting with Mad Cow Crisis Alert
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo interrupts the meeting to inform Toby about a presumptive positive mad cow case in Nebraska and the 72-hour waiting period for confirmation.
Toby suggests keeping the mad cow news confidential, but Leo reveals that CJ disagrees and the President wants more information.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Steady professionalism tinged with tension
Mary Kline earlier contextualizes racist propaganda posters like 'The Sowers,' but in this beat responds minimally as Toby shifts to 'America's Vengeance,' her defense overshadowed by Leo's intrusion.
- • Explain exhibit's interpretive rigor
- • Reassure on controversy's manageability
- • Propaganda merits unflinching critique
- • Exhibit integrity outweighs minor protests
Calm defensiveness under pressure
Evan Woodkirk acknowledges Toby's familiarity with exhibit materials during defense of Pearl Harbor display, standing firm amid scrutiny of veterans' concerns before interruption halts exchange.
- • Defend curatorial choices
- • Downplay boycott's scale
- • Historical context justifies controversial labels
- • Boycott poses minimal threat
Focused intensity laced with rising alarm at layered crises
Toby aggressively probes curators on exhibit's provocative 'America's Vengeance' section and child's lunchbox, asserting political risks from veterans' boycott, then swiftly exits to hallway, instinctively advocating mad cow secrecy upon Leo's briefing.
- • Mitigate political fallout from exhibit boycott
- • Contain mad cow information to prevent public panic
- • Presidential events must avoid protests
- • Premature disclosure risks unnecessary hysteria
Curious authority
President Bartlet referenced by Leo as demanding more details on mad cow case, underscoring his direct stake amid the briefing.
- • Obtain full mad cow intelligence
- • Transparency to him internally vital
Controlled urgency masking crisis gravity
Leo knocks urgently to interrupt, politely pulls Toby into hallway, delivers terse briefing on presumptive Nebraska mad cow case pending 72-hour UK confirmation, notes CJ's dissent and Bartlet's interest.
- • Brief Toby swiftly on mad cow threat
- • Secure alignment on confidentiality
- • Secrecy essential pre-confirmation
- • President must be looped in
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Toby implicitly references 'The Sowers' propaganda poster through prior dialogue echo as he presses on exhibit racism, its monstrous imagery of skull-tossing barbarians fueling the veterans' ire and serving as flashpoint in Toby's interrogation of curators.
Toby directly cites the burnt contents of a child's lunch box in 'America's Vengeance' section as provocatively emotional relic, weaponizing it to challenge curators on exhibit's tone amid boycott risks, heightening moral stakes before interruption.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Adjacent hallway becomes impromptu crisis huddle as Leo briefs Toby on mad cow peril, its transient shadows enabling hushed protocol amid whirlwind disruptions from nearby meetings.
Conference room hosts Toby's pointed grilling of curators on exhibit controversies until Leo's knock fractures the tension, its stark confines amplifying policy clashes between reverence and critique before Toby's exit shifts scene momentum.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Smithsonian manifests through curators Evan and Mary defending Pearl Harbor exhibit's controversial framings against Toby's barbs, positioning institution as guardian of raw history amid White House pressure.
USF looms as boycott catalyst in Toby's concerns, its 30 protesters symbolizing broader veteran discontent with exhibit's 'racist' labels and vengeance relics, driving White House damage control.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby's meeting with the veterans follows his earlier discussion with Smithsonian curators about the exhibit complaints."
"Toby's meeting with the veterans follows his earlier discussion with Smithsonian curators about the exhibit complaints."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"LEO: "A lab in the UK is going to let us know in 72 hours if the first US case of mad cow is in Nebraska right now. We got a presumptive positive on-""
"TOBY: "We should keep it to ourselves.""
"LEO: "That's what I think. C.J. disagrees. The President wants to hear more.""