Indonesian Jail
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
The Indonesian jail exists offstage as the concrete locus of Toby's request and the moral fulcrum of the scene; it is invoked to make the plea tangible and to expose the limits of personal diplomacy when confronted with sovereign legal processes.
Implied as oppressive and procedural — humid, iron‑clanged, and indifferent in the listener's imagination.
Source of conflict and the object of the release request; the jail's existence forces the diplomatic question of extrajudicial intervention.
Embodies the human cost of policy and the difference between rhetorical moralizing and practical sovereignty.
Heavily restricted and controlled by Indonesian authorities; release requires formal legal/consular steps.
The Indonesian jail exists offstage but is central: it is the literal place of the French friend's confinement, the object of Toby's request, and the concrete locus Bambang defends by invoking procedure and sovereignty.
Not directly observed; implied as claustrophobic, authoritarian, and procedurally rigid in contrast to the kitchen's informality.
Origin of the diplomatic problem and physical obstacle to the friend's freedom.
Represents the limits of American influence and the human cost of diplomatic posturing.
Heavily controlled by Indonesian authorities; not accessible to U.S. staff without formal process.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
Toby improvises an elaborate, multi‑layered translation chain in the White House kitchen — Gomez (Batak), Minaldi (Portuguese) and Donna shuffle through awkward, delayed pleasantries — to conduct a polite exchange …
In the cramped chaos of the White House kitchen, Toby abandons the translation farce and directly asks Indonesian diplomat Bambang to release a jailed French friend. Bambang—stung and unrepentant about …