Abbey Corners Josh on Treaty Flaws After Donna's Bad-Timing Intrusion
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Donna interrupts Josh's work, triggering his frustration.
Dr. Abbey Bartlet unexpectedly enters, shifting the power dynamic.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Irritated by intrusion, reluctantly trapped between pragmatism and authority
Josh snaps at Donna for banal interruption, rises startled to greet Abbey respectfully, sits to downplay Amy's letter as overreaction and semantics in treaty debate, reluctantly agrees to meet Amy with forced smile, cornered by moral pressure.
- • Defend treaty wording as minor semantics
- • Avoid commitment to Amy's demands
- • One word doesn't dramatically undermine prosecutions
- • Amy's outrage is chronic and exaggerated
Irate and unyielding (as conveyed via letter)
Amy Gardner is invoked through her irate letter to Abbey (cc'd to Josh), co-signed by women's groups, criticizing UN treaty's 'forced' wording; Abbey confirms speaking with her and demands Josh do the same, her absence amplifying moral pressure.
- • Expose treaty loophole undermining prosecutions
- • Mobilize First Lady against semantic evasion
- • Removing 'forced' is essential for effective trafficking laws
- • Administration semantics enable exploitation
Assertive and righteous, wielding spousal leverage with controlled fury
Abbey wheels into Josh's office unannounced, dismisses Josh's rebuke of Donna by asserting 'boss's wife' authority, confronts him with Amy's letter and women's groups' co-signatures, presses treaty's 'forced' flaw, demands he speak to Amy before exiting triumphantly.
- • Force Josh to engage Amy on treaty flaws
- • Highlight prosecutorial dangers of wording
- • 'Forced' qualifier guts sex trafficking prosecutions
- • Women's groups' outrage merits immediate action
Defensive yet unflappable, stung by rebuke but quick to retreat
Donna enters Josh's office calling his name tentatively, absorbs his sharp rebuke for interrupting with banality, offers a defensive retort as she exits promptly after Abbey asserts authority, her presence catalyzing the power shift.
- • Seek Josh's attention for work matters
- • Navigate interruption without escalation
- • Her intrusions are justified by urgency of duties
- • Hierarchy demands deference to superiors like Abbey
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Amy Gardner's letter serves as the catalytic prop in Abbey's confrontation, explicitly referenced as received by her (cc'd to Josh), co-signed by NOW, Women's Action League, and ten groups; it indicts the UN treaty's 'forced' qualifier, fueling debate on prosecutorial impacts and forcing Josh's reluctant concession.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Vienna is referenced by Abbey as her imminent destination for UN treaty negotiations, heightening stakes of the 'forced' prostitution debate; it looms as the diplomatic battleground where semantic changes must be fought, underscoring urgency and potential for administration embarrassment.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Ten women's groups, aggregated in the letter's co-signatures alongside NOW and WAL, bolster Abbey's assault on the treaty's flaws, representing a unified feminist front that traps Josh and foreshadows broader staff fractures over compromises.
NOW co-signs Amy Gardner's letter, weaponized by Abbey to indict the UN treaty's 'forced' qualifier as a trafficking loophole, amplifying women's outrage and pressuring Josh to concede a meeting with Amy amid Vienna preparations.
Women's Action League co-signs the letter with NOW and others, brandished by Abbey to dismantle Josh's semantic defenses, positioning the groups as unignorable voices demanding broader treaty scope beyond 'forced' prostitution.
The UN is central as source of the contentious treaty draft specifying 'forced prostitution,' critiqued via the letter for excluding broader trafficking; Vienna talks frame it as the arena where revisions are needed, pitting global mandates against U.S. moral pushback.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Abbey's demand that Josh meet with Amy directly leads to their confrontation about the UN treaty."
"Abbey's confrontation with Josh about the prostitution treaty directly leads to his meeting with Amy Gardner."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"JOSH: "Could I get five minutes without being interrupted by banality?""
"ABBEY: "It's not banality, it's the boss's wife.""
"ABBEY: "Isn't this one word that dramatically alters the effectiveness of the treaty?""
"ABBEY: "See? Now you're wishing it had been banality.""