TNT’s new action/drama Agent X decided to name a new Vice President within the first eight minutes of its pilot episode. But, you’ll never guess what the gender of this VP is, or who they’re obviously trying to make the VP look like:
Wolf Blitzer: Today Vice President Thomas Eckhart realizes his dream of becoming president of the United States. But for many others, this day marks another dream fulfilled -- the inauguration of America's first female vice president, Natalie Maccabee. But here she is, just moments away from taking her oath with the eyes of the world upon her.
Chief Justice: I, Natalie Kane Maccabee, do solemnly swear...
Maccabee: I, Natalie Kane Maccabee, do solemnly swear...
Chief Justice: ...That I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Maccabee: ...That I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Just kidding, you could totally guess that. Though, it might surprise you that they would select the Hillary look-a-like for VP duty instead, of Presidential duty. In fact, one could almost get momentarily excited that Agent X was taking a shot at Hillary by making her second-fiddle.
Unfortunately, I must crush that giddy optimism by informing you that in the world of Agent X, the VP is actually the most important job in the history of history. After being informed of a secret chamber beneath her residence, Vice President Maccabee (Sharon Stone) gets informed on what her real job is. I’ll let the Chief Steward of the VP’s residence Malcolm Millar (Gerald McRaney) explain:
Maccabee: The history room? Well, shut the front door.
Millar: Yes, ma'am.
Maccabee: What is this place?
Millar: A shrine of sorts -- men devoted to protecting this document. They were on the table.
Maccabee: Thank you. Oh. This is a superb copy of the constitution.
Millar: Not a copy, ma'am. The original. This is the only complete document containing article II, section five.
Maccabee: Article II only has four sections, Malcolm. Section five. "An agent of unknown identity is hereby authorized to serve at the discretion of the vice president for the purpose of aiding the republic in times of dire peril." So the vice president was some kind of crisis manager of sorts?
Millar: Didn't it always seem strange to you that the founding fathers gave the second-most important job in the executive branch virtually no duties?
Maccabee: Yeah. Section five. So what is an agent of unknown identity?
Millar: Who, ma'am, and we've always considered Nathan Hale there to be the first. His last words before the British hanged him for espionage have become a sort of credo for our group. "I regret that I have but one --"
John: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." John Case at your service, madam vice president.
Maccabee: No kiddin'?
John: No kiddin'.
So, there you have it. The VP is a trouble-shooting, fire-extinguishing, political superhero with her own private super-agent at her disposal.
However, I will say this. It is pretty cool how the show uses the Constitution as an actual meaningful document, with real life, modern day relevance. Basing a television show around honoring and respecting the wishes of the Founding Fathers is certainly a uniquely great thing to do. It kind of stinks that the particular relevance of the document and the article it describes has the effect of making an executive branch Hillary look-a-like appear more important and powerful.
But hey, I’ll take what I can get.
