History Recap / TheWestWingS03E07GoneQuiet

-->'''Bartlet''': [[spoiler: [''sighs''] I've been thinking about it for the last couple of hours. I almost had it.]]

---> '''Bartlet:''' I've gotta tell him I lost a submarine. Can I make something up, like "say a friend of mine hypothetically..."

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: In-universe; while we don't see any of them, judging from the descriptions we hear the director of the National Endowment of the Arts has a fondness for funding somewhat pretentious and incomprehensible performance art pieces. Played with, however, in that Toby -- while clearly not particularly interested in them -- passionately argues that it's not up to either him or the woman he's arguing with to decide what is or isn't art, and that a culturally rich society is obligated to fund forms of artistic expression that not all members of that society might approve of. His opponent Tawny comes across as a bit snotty about the subject.

* IHaveThisFriend: Discussed with its limitations when it comes to state secrets. Bartlet has an appointment with a psychiatrist during the episode while the status of the US submarine is unknown - the tension is going to weigh on Bartlet's mind and his psychiatrist is going to pick up on that, but no one outside the chain of military command currently knows about the issue or really should.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: In-universe; while we don't see any of them, judging from the descriptions we hear the director of the National Endowment of the Arts has a fondness for funding somewhat pretentious and incomprehensible performance art pieces. Played with, however, in that Toby -- while clearly not particularly interested in them -- passionately argues that it's not up to either him or his to decide what is or isn't art and that a culturally rich society is obligated to fund forms of artistic expression that not all members of that society might approve of, whereas the woman he's sparring with tends to come across as a bit snotty about the subject.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: In-universe; while we don't see any of them, judging from the descriptions we hear the director of the National Endowment of the Arts has a fondness for funding somewhat pretentious and incomprehensible performance art pieces expressing anti-capitalist views. Played with, however, in that Toby -- while clearly not particularly interested in them -- passionately argues that it's not up to him what is or isn't art and that a culturally rich society is obligated to fund forms of artistic expression that not all members of that society might approve of, whereas the woman he's sparring with tends to come across as a bit snotty about the subject.

--->'''C.J.''': He went to the zoo.

* TooCleverByHalf: C.J. is delighted when the Senate majority leader is asked why he wants to be president and his answer is a piece of incoherent, patriotic-sounding waffle, but then spends the entire episode trying to avert this trope, repeatedly asking Josh and Sam what the president's answer would be, and getting increasingly panicky because they won't tell her. [[spoiler: Because they don't know what it is.]]

* TheEeyore: Bartlet considers Albie Duncan to be this. An impression which, granted, is not helped by Duncan's tendency to fill the time they're sitting in the Oval Office waiting for news of the submarine with ominous stories of various submarine-related disasters.

A U.S nuclear submarine has abruptly lost contact with the outside world while undertaking a covert mission in North Korean waters. While President Bartlet wants to send in the rescue teams immediately, he is advised that the craft may simply have "gone quiet" to avoid detection by North Korean vessels, and is persuaded to monitor the situation with his advisors for four hours in order to determine precisely what is happening. As one of these advisors is the cranky veteran State Department official Albie Duncan, this ends up being a rather uncomfortable afternoon for President Bartlet.

A U.S nuclear submarine has abruptly lost contact with the outside world while undertaking a covert mission in North Korean waters. While President Bartlet wants to send in the rescue teams immediately, he is advised that the craft may simply have "gone quiet" to avoid detection by North Korean vessels, and is persuaded to monitor the situation for four hours in order to determine precisely what is happening with his advisors. As one of these advisors is the cranky veteran State Department official Albie Duncan, this ends up being a rather uncomfortable afternoon for President Bartlet.