more WW thoughts - 18th & Potomac
Nov. 10th, 2003 11:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauraque_bkLeo: Is she all right?
Charlie: No. She's dead.
Leo: ... Is he alone?
*
This is one of my favorite moments from the series. It's Leo and Charlie alone in the room, and in that pause, we watch Leo's face. We see the emotional reaction he never allows himself, because he has to hang tough -- we see crushing, crumpling loss, and we think he's going to say, "Oh my god".
But he doesn't. He swallows it down, and he looks at Charlie, and he says, "Is he alone?"
And that's Leo, right there. The President comes first. Jed can rail at God, and the staff can have their grief, because *Leo makes room for it*. He hinges the two sides, balances them, holds it together. He never fails to put himself last.
I don't know what he's going to do after this is all over. I'd say he's more invested in the administration than any other character, Jed included. Jenny's gone, Mallory's grown -- in 2006, he'll look around and feel... what? That he's done what he set out to do? That he can relax? What does relaxing really mean? What, besides this, does he want to do?
Hm.
Charlie: No. She's dead.
Leo: ... Is he alone?
*
This is one of my favorite moments from the series. It's Leo and Charlie alone in the room, and in that pause, we watch Leo's face. We see the emotional reaction he never allows himself, because he has to hang tough -- we see crushing, crumpling loss, and we think he's going to say, "Oh my god".
But he doesn't. He swallows it down, and he looks at Charlie, and he says, "Is he alone?"
And that's Leo, right there. The President comes first. Jed can rail at God, and the staff can have their grief, because *Leo makes room for it*. He hinges the two sides, balances them, holds it together. He never fails to put himself last.
I don't know what he's going to do after this is all over. I'd say he's more invested in the administration than any other character, Jed included. Jenny's gone, Mallory's grown -- in 2006, he'll look around and feel... what? That he's done what he set out to do? That he can relax? What does relaxing really mean? What, besides this, does he want to do?
Hm.
