17 People

"17 People" is the 40th episode of The West Wing. The episode was written as a "bottle episode" to save money as the series had run up large over time costs. The episode starts the same night as the Stackhouse Filibuster, and takes place entirely within the West Wing main set. Other than the main cast only Ainsley Hayes, Ed and Larry guest star. For the first time in the series, CJ does not appear, as the press has gone home and the bulk of the episode takes place after the "lid" has been put on, making it also the only episode in the first four seasons not to feature CJ.
Plot
Toby's investigation of the Vice President's activities leads to him asking Leo why the Vice President does not believe that the President will seek reelection. Leo tells the President that Toby is figuring out the story and they need to tell him the truth, and Toby becomes the seventeenth person, as far as Leo and Bartlet know, to learn that the President has MS. He is also the first senior staffer to learn the news. After an initial period of horror and shock, Toby becomes angry at the President for covering up this information, and the President in turn becomes fiercely angry at Toby. Toby explains his concerns about the Presidential line of succession, and about the gray area in Presidential authority in the wake of the shooting at Rosslyn when the president was under a general anesthetic. Toby goes on the explain that he is willing to bet that Leo, and not the Vice President, was giving the orders in the situation room that night, stating that, "For 90 minutes that night there was a coup d'état in this country!" The President, now furious, tells Toby to shut up, and demands to know, "Are you pissed because I didn't say anything or are you pissed that 15 people knew before you did?"
Toby and Leo then talk, and Toby says that they need to prepare for the news to become public and for the Democratic Party to learn that the sitting President may not seek re-election (Toby doesn't know at this point that President Bartlet made a deal with the First Lady to only run for one term as President) and that impeachment hearings are a certainty. The President does not apologize to Toby for getting angry at him, but does apologize for not revealing sooner about his MS. They agree that they need to consult with legal authorities, and Toby leaves the Oval Office in a barely concealed state of shock.
As Toby's world is being shaken to the core, Josh and Sam gather people to punch up the jokes for the . The jokes are pretty bad across the board. Toby arrives from the most gut-wrenching meeting he's ever had and sits down to work with them, but no one notices the look on his face.
Sam and Ainsley debate the need for the Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution. Sam is very surprised that Ainsley is not a fan of the ERA. She says that the amendment says implicitly that she's an inferior citizen and notes her view isn't popular at her alma mater of Smith College, then noting that as an outspoken Republican she wasn't very popular there in the first place.
Donna tells Josh the story of how she came back to work for him. She says that she was dating a med student at the University of Wisconsin and she was in a car crash one night, but the guy stopped at a bar to have a drink with his friends before coming to see if she was OK. While her injuries were minor, Donna found out he'd waited before coming to the hospital and immediately broke up with him and left college, after which she drove out to join the Bartlet for America team. Josh said that if he heard Donna was hurt, he wouldn't stop for a drink. She says if she heard Josh was hurt "I wouldn't stop for red lights".
The 17 people
*The 17 people are:
**President Bartlet
**Abbey Bartlet
**The President's daughters Elizabeth, Ellie, and Zoey
**The President's brother Jonathan
**The six doctors and radiologists involved in the initial diagnosis
**Leo McGarry, the White House Chief of Staff
**Vice President John Hoynes
**Admiral Fitzwallace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
**Doctor David Lee, the anesthesiologist at George Washington University Hospital, who was told by Abbey Bartlet on the night the President was shot
**Toby Ziegler, the White House Communications Director
The President tells Toby that Toby is the 16th person to find out, but Toby points out that the President wasn't counting himself. The total, therefore, is 17 people. It is revealed in the following episode that 18 people knew, since, unbeknownst to the President, Zoey had told Charlie Young.

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