Times Square Stranger

Fleeting embodiment of Manhattan's indifferent throng, this unnamed pedestrian collides with a shattered C.J. Cregg amid Times Square's neon frenzy and nocturnal chaos. Tears streaming from Simon Donovan's death, C.J. reels from the brush-off—stranger presses on without glance or pause, their apathy carving deeper into her isolation. No dialogue pierces the din, no recognition flickers; they vanish into the crowd, amplifying the Press Secretary's unraveling vulnerability against the city's relentless pulse. A narrative device humanizing grief's anonymity, they anchor the emotional nadir without agency or arc.