The Most Important Thing — Leo Chooses the Job
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo prioritizes the gun-control bill over his marriage, declaring it 'the most important thing I'll ever do', triggering Jenny's final resolve.
The couple's farewell becomes agonizingly polite as Jenny departs for the Watergate, with Leo clinging to procedural niceties.
Jenny's door shut leaves Leo shattered, visually completing the marital rupture as Act Three concludes.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Weary and resolute; sorrow and anger are present but contained—she's moved from pleading to decisive action.
Jenny enters wearing the choker, speaks with composed but exhausted authority, lists the emotional cost of being sidelined, packs her bags, announces she must leave for the Watergate, and physically exits—delivering a final, controlled rupture.
- • To remove herself from a life where she feels secondary to Leo's job
- • To force recognition from Leo of the personal cost his career choices impose
- • She cannot be perpetually subordinated to Leo's political obligations without losing herself
- • Leaving is the only way to preserve dignity and prompt change (or to protect herself from further emotional erosion)
Stressed and defensive on the surface, masking deep guilt and grief; resolute about duty while increasingly aware of personal cost.
Leo arrives at his house, discovers packed bags and an untouched anniversary meal, attempts to explain and justify his choices, reveals political pressure ('I'm five votes down'), pleads for postponement, and is left devastated as Jenny leaves and shuts the door.
- • To persuade Jenny to delay leaving and to keep their marriage intact for now
- • To justify and protect the political work (the gun‑control bill) as temporarily paramount
- • The success of this political fight is of overriding importance and will justify present sacrifices
- • Personal problems can be postponed and repaired after crucial public duties are fulfilled
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A dark outer jacket is used practically when Jenny puts it on immediately before leaving; it functions as part of her preparation to exit the household and step into the public anonymity of a hotel, converting private decision into outward movement.
Jenny is wearing the Harry Winston choker during the confrontation; the jewelry reads like a deliberate punctuation — a formal, luminous object that contrasts with packed bags and signals both an attempt at ritual and the performative residue of a marriage still honoring tradition as it collapses.
The untouched anniversary dinner sits in the dining room as a visual indictment: plated food, poured wine, and a place setting left unused. It functions narratively as the clearest, most immediate symbol of Leo's absence — a domestic rite interrupted and the cost counted in cold silver and cooling food.
The interior door is used as the scene's final punctuation: Jenny opens it to leave and then shuts it behind her. The door's closing converts an argument into finality and visually seals the gulf between Leo's professional commitment and Jenny's decision to leave.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Watergate Hotel functions here as Jenny's stated refuge — a neutral, anonymous place to sleep away from the marriage. It is named as her destination, transforming her exit into temporary exile and giving practical credibility to her choice to leave.
Leo's dining room is the intimate battleground where the private cost of public life is made manifest: the table, the untouched dinner, and bags by the door concentrate the collision of duty and domestic expectation. The room holds memory and ritual that the argument ruptures.
The taxi cab is invoked when Leo offers to carry Jenny's bags to the cab; it functions as the practical means of departure and a liminal threshold between the private home and the anonymous city.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Leo's distracted arrival home and the tension with Jenny foreshadow the eventual marital collapse when Jenny packs her bags and leaves."
"Leo's distracted arrival home and the tension with Jenny foreshadow the eventual marital collapse when Jenny packs her bags and leaves."
"Leo's declaration that the gun-control bill is more important than his marriage directly leads to his admission to Hoynes about his marital collapse."
"Leo's declaration that the gun-control bill is more important than his marriage directly leads to his admission to Hoynes about his marital collapse."
"Jenny wearing the choker as she leaves parallels Hoynes offering Leo support in AA, both highlighting the personal costs of political life."
"Jenny wearing the choker as she leaves parallels Hoynes offering Leo support in AA, both highlighting the personal costs of political life."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"LEO: "This is the most important thing I'll ever do, Jenny. I have to do it well.""
"JENNY: "It's not more important than your marriage.""
"LEO: "It is more important than my marriage right now. These few years, while I'm doing this, yes, it's more important than my marriage. I... I was five votes down, Jenny! And I need to win.""