Courtyard Outside the Church
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
The courtyard outside the church is the primary setting for Toby and C.J.'s confrontation and the immediate aftermath; it is where tactical panic is transformed into a plan and where the press is staged and then pushed back.
Tension-filled with night hush punctuated by heated whispering and distant reporter calls.
Meeting point and stage for tactical decision-making and press management.
A transitional space between sacred interior and public street — it literalizes the crossing from moral deliberation inside the church to political contest outside.
Open to public and press but informally controlled by White House staff and Secret Service.
The courtyard outside the church is the primary physical stage: it holds C.J. on the bench, Toby's urgent counsel, Stackhouse waiting on the steps, the press assembled nearby, and where Bartlet steps out to receive the quiet endorsement and then address reporters.
Tension-filled with whispered conversations, quiet urgency, and the contrast between sacred calm and political heat.
Meeting point and transitional threshold where private endorsement becomes public permission.
A liminal space between sanctuary and street, representing the negotiation between moral authority and political theater.
Open to the public but controlled by staff; press are present but asked to move back.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
Outside the church Toby storms C.J., moving from comic bluster to real panic about the risk a second debate poses for Bartlet. C.J. reframes fear into a pragmatic solution — …
Susan engineers a late-night, private handoff between Senator Stackhouse and President Bartlet where Stackhouse quietly praises Bartlet's restraint and, using a new-pilot/ instruments metaphor, signals a morning endorsement. That tacit …