Danny Corners C.J. on Chain of Command; She Deflects with Hockey Quip
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Danny approaches C.J., pressing her with urgent questions about the chain of command during the President's anesthesia.
C.J. deflects Danny's question with a joke about the Canadiens hockey team, showcasing her attempt to cope with stress through humor.
C.J. asks for time to process the situation, ending the conversation as she walks away, leaving Danny with unresolved doubts.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Urgent insistence tempered by apologetic restraint
Danny hurries up behind C.J. and Carol at the corner, apologetically insists on answers despite empathy, grills her on chain-of-command under 25th Amendment citing Bartlet's anesthesia, challenges her six-person list, reacts to hockey deflection, then nods granting her time request as she departs.
- • Extract clarity on succession to inform public amid crisis
- • Balance reporter duty with respect for C.J.'s trauma
- • Public has right to know leadership vacuum details immediately
- • Persistent pressure yields truth in high-stakes chaos
Shaken and vulnerable beneath a facade of quick-witted deflection
C.J. walks muttering to herself down the hall with Carol, confesses her neck scratch from lost necklace and being shoved down, then faces Danny's intercept, evasively lists six chain-of-command officials before deflecting with Canadiens hockey joke and pleading for time before walking away shaken.
- • Stall Danny's probing to buy time for White House stabilization
- • Conceal personal trauma while maintaining communications control
- • Transparency now risks national panic amid Bartlet's incapacity
- • Humor can humanize and disarm aggressive press pursuit
Concerned empathy for C.J.'s visible trauma
Carol strides alongside C.J. down the hall, spots and points out the neck scratch, probes about the lost necklace and shove incident with concern, then departs as Danny approaches, pivoting from personal support to operational flow.
- • Gauge and address C.J.'s physical and emotional injury
- • Clear the way for C.J.'s press confrontation without distraction
- • Personal welfare underpins effective crisis response
- • Boss's vulnerability demands immediate, quiet intervention
referenced as being under anesthetic for over an hour and likely on morphine drip
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
C.J.'s cherished necklace is referenced as the source of her fresh neck scratch, lost during the assassination shove that knocked her down; its absence pierces her composure mid-stride, symbolizing personal trauma fracturing her professional armor as she navigates press evasion in the crisis corridor.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The fluorescent-lit hospital communications corridor serves as a tense transitional gauntlet where C.J. and Carol process trauma before Danny's ambush at the corner escalates into 25th Amendment brinkmanship; footsteps echo personal fractures amid aides and screens, channeling post-assassination urgency into raw press-White House friction.
Narrative Connections
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Key Dialogue
"DANNY: The President's been under anesthetic for more than an hour. He's probably gonna be on a morphine drip. Without the 25th, who's in charge? C.J.: The Vice President, the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of Defense, one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House Chief of Staff."
"DANNY: You just listed six people! Who's in charge? C.J.: The Canadiens. DANNY: C.J.... C.J.: You understand I'm talking about the hockey team."
"C.J.: Just... give me a little time."