In Excelsis Deo - TWW S1E10

Original airdate: December 15, 1999

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (9) & Rick Cleveland (2)

Directed by: Alex Graves (1)

Synopsis

• Toby's coincidental connection to a dead homeless man leads him to use the President's name to bring about a moment of honor at Arlington National Cemetery; Josh and Sam go too far in their efforts to protect Leo and counter Lillienfield's accusations; a murder of a gay high school student in Minnesota causes CJ to voice support for hate crimes legislation; and Danny's flirtation with CJ continues, while the President sneaks out to go Christmas shopping.

"Anyway ... I miss my boys."

What duty do we owe our fellow humans? What responsibility do we, as individuals, have to honor a veteran, even (or perhaps especially) if he's homeless and dies of exposure, alone and almost forgotten? What lines should we cross when we are going those extra miles in the service of those who we owe everything to? Is there anything we can do to sufficiently honor a mother's memory of her twin sons, lost in combat on the same day?

Is there a better time to consider questions of duty and honor like this than Christmas? Well, here we are, the first holiday season of The West Wing, and In Excelsis Deo proves to be a doozy of an hour of prime, emotional television - even if the song playing over the end scenes is Little Drummer Boy instead of the Gloria.

There's something about holiday episodes of TV shows that I really love. They ground our characters into real life, having them celebrate and recognize holidays that we, the viewers, are celebrating at the same time. Whether it's Halloween (I still have fond memories of a Halloween episode of Roseanne, for example, and The Simpsons made a reputation on their Treehouse of Horror episodes), Thanksgiving (WKRP's Turkey Drop, anyone?), or Christmas, these particular episodes can lodge in our memories for a long time.

The holiday episode is a treasured landmark of The West Wing. Aaron Sorkin and the production staff are going to make a habit of finely crafted holiday productions, with both Thanksgiving and Christmas shows among the most beloved by fans.The Christmas episodes, in particular, also will prove to be star turns for some of the supporting actors; for the next three years, a Supporting Actor Emmy will be claimed by one of The West Wing actors in large part due to the Christmas episode (this year it's Richard Schiff, who was nominated for both this and Five Votes Down. The teleplay by Sorkin and Rick Cleveland also won an Emmy).

And you have to give props (heh, see what I did there?) to the set decorators! They go all out for the Christmas shows, and the background decoration everywhere you look just immerses the viewer in the White House holiday spirit.

Even in the Oval Office, there's a tree:

On to the show: Toby is called by the DC police, because a homeless man found dead by the Korean War Monument on the National Mall had his business card in his coat pocket. It turns out the coat belonged to Toby before he donated it to Goodwill (or as Toby calls it, "the Goodwill"). That's that, right? No, Toby is disturbed by the perfunctory behavior of the police and the casual treatment of this man whom Toby discovers served with the Marines in the Korean War. He goes to great lengths, with the VA and whoever else he can contact, to try to find a family member or anyone who can also care about the fact that this person, Walter Hufnagle, has died.

He finally, coincidentally, locates Walter's brother, another homeless man camped out under a highway overpass. In his efforts to explain the situation to George, he realizes Walter's memory deserves more than he is about to get.

Toby: "Your brother is entitled to a proper funeral with mourners, and I think he deserves an honor guard and you don't -- you don't know me. But I'm an, in ... I'm an influential person, I'm a very ... powerful person, and I, I, I would like to arrange it."

Schiff nails this scene. His delivery of "powerful person," the almost shame he has in openly declaring the power available to him ... it's wonderful. Emmy-worthy, you might say.

Toby pulls some strings (using the President's name, without his knowledge, naturally) and the burial and honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery is a done deal. President Bartlet, when he discovers the plan, makes sure Toby knows he's gone too far ... but also lets him know he's done the right thing.

President: "Toby, if we start pulling strings like this, you don't think every homeless veteran will come out of the woodwork ..."

Toby: "I can only hope, sir." 

Leading to the final dialogue-free scene of the episode, the funeral at Arlington intercut with the childrens' choir singing Little Drummer Boy at the White House.

Mrs. Landingham joins Toby at the funeral, a kind of respect of her own, not only for Toby taking the extra steps to honor Hufnagle, but also in memory of her own two boys. In another emotionally wrenching scene, she tells Charlie the story of her twins, Andrew and Simon, and how they went to Vietnam after their second year of medical school only to die at Da Nang on Christmas Eve, 1970. Kathryn Joosten plays this scene so incredibly well, continuing to type and do her job while she explains to Charlie why she feels down during the holidays. Seeing Toby pull strings to honor another war vet (that he doesn't even know!) - well, there's just no question that she is going to come along to pay her respects, not just for vets like Hufnagle, but also for Toby doing what he did.

The Lillienfield drug-abuse story from the previous episode is still alive. Josh is desperate to find something to counteract the Leo-drug-rehab news that he's sure Lillienfield has. Spurred by Donna (of all people) and expressly forbidden to do so by Leo, he decides to go through with an ill-conceived plan to use Sam's friend, the call girl Laurie, to get sex-related dirt on Republican lawmakers in order to fight back. Interestingly enough, Sam reluctantly agrees to help Josh with this plan - seems to me that a request like this would be an instant friendship-killer for Laurie. But as Sam stresses to her, their loyalty and duty towards Leo means they have to try everything they can think of to protect him. Laurie refuses to go along - Josh gets really rude, then realizes he's gone too far and apologizes - which causes Laurie to say:

Laurie: "You're the good guys. You should act like it."

Leo actually had Sam and Josh tailed, in case Josh was going to go through with this cockamamie plan, and he is furious. He calls them in and chews them out, but in typical West Wing fashion, the deep respect and loyalty between the staffers still comes through.

Josh: "We meant well."

Leo: "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

Josh (sheepishly): "No."

Leo (pause): "It does."

Josh: "I'm glad."

In other news, Sorkin and Cleveland make a direct reference to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming man who was tied up, beaten, and left to die outdoors. In this case it's a gay Minnesota high school senior, Lowell Lydell, who is tied up, beaten, and left to die outdoors by a group of teens. Lydell dies during the episode, and the administration starts to consider whether or not they should pursue hate crimes legislation. This is a contentious topic - should some crimes be punished more harshly than others, depending on the motive or thoughts of the perpetrators? It's a valid ethical question, one which CJ comes down firmly on the side of "Absolutely, yes, we should." When she quizzes Danny about the topic, he's on the other side: "A crime's a crime. And you agree with me."

This is a part of the continuing flirtation between CJ and Danny, one that I've mentioned in the past seems ill-advised, but whatever, here it comes. CJ (who has already tried to make holiday plans with Sam and Josh, as well as Leo) finally accepts Danny's offers of dinner, on Christmas Eve, no less. And if you don't think Allison Janney can make a line like "I have to feed my fish" look and sound sexy, my goodness, are you wrong:

An extremely cute part of the episode is the President's meeting with a group of elementary schoolkids. In the White House foyer, gaily decorated with holiday cheer, Jed takes great delight in teasing the kids about their height, pretending to be the President of Belgium or the King of England (causing the kids to yell, "No! America!"), and answering one little girl's question about his favorite part of the job, "I'm doing it right now."

The fact that the President learns of Lydell's death during this meeting with the kids is another example of how things happen in the real world, and serves as yet another display of the top-notch acting of Sheen and Janney, in particular.

Another light-hearted moment is the President's sneaking out to go Christmas shopping. In a nod to President George H.W. Bush, who apparently also liked to get out of the White House and do some personal shopping on his own, President Bartlet is heading to a rare-book store to get some Christmas gifts. He invites Josh along:

President: "You wanna come?"

Josh: "An hour with you in a rare book store?  Couldn't you just drop me off the top of the Washington Monument instead?"

President: "It's Christmas, Josh. No reason we can't do both."

Josh: "I suppose."

President: "Let's go shopping!" 

Christmas cheer, the glow of decorations, the joy of giving - countered with the somberness of duty, the responsibilities of honor, and the weight of grief. There is indeed a lot to take away from In Excelsis Deo, and it's well-done, award-winning TV entertainment at its best.


Random thoughts:

- According to the DVD commentary for this episode, the opening scene (from the gift basket coming into the entrance, through the Toby/Sam/Mandy/CJ scene in the foyer, up until the group walks into the hallway and Toby is accosted by Ginger) took 28 takes. There's a lot of sweeping camera work, through the foyer and around the actors, and some really nice subtle acting responses in there. Twenty-eight takes, that's quite a lot.

- Something I really appreciate is the give-and-take between Toby and Sam about the millennium. Remember, this episode aired just weeks before New Years Day 2000, the date generally recognized as the start of the new century. I, however, am firmly in Toby's camp: Since there was no Year 0, the year 2000 is the final year of the old millennium, and the 21st century doesn't technically begin until New Years Day 2001. But it is hard to fight against the general zeitgeist (as Sam later says, "seeing your odometer roll over from 99,999 to 100,000").

Sam: "I am fully briefed."

Toby: "On what?"

Sam: "Pageant of peace, season of hope, coming of the new millennium."

Toby: "Coming of the new millennium?"

Sam: "Yes."

Toby: "Fine."

Sam: "Don't start."

Toby: "I said fine."

(cross talk with Mandy and CJ)

Toby: "It's not the new millennium but I'll just let it drop."

Sam: "It is the new millennium."

Toby: "It is not the new millennium, the year 2000 is the last year of the millennium, it's not the first year of the next one."

Sam: "But the common sensibility, to quote Stephen Jay Gould -"

Toby: "Stephen Jay Gould needs to look at a calendar."

Sam: "Gould says this is a largely unresolvable issue."

Toby: "Yes, it's tough to resolve, yes, you'd have to look at a calendar."

-Hey, look, they gave Ginger some lines! She's been in the background of nearly every episode so far (and was credited as "Kim," her real first name, back in A Proportional Response) but now she's a real Communications Office staffer!

- Bobbi the reporter is back. After appearing in the first couple of episodes, she disappeared, but here she is asking about Lowell Lydell and hate crimes.

- In case anyone was wondering, the dates listed in this episode (Wednesday December 23, Thursday December 24) actually do line up with the actual dates in 1999.

- What inside Marine knowledge does Toby have, to recognize that tattoo so quickly and know it belonged to a Korean War outfit? Not to mention his later mention of how he was treated at Panmunjon ...

- When Josh tells Sam Leo went into rehab six years ago, Sam responds that Leo was Secretary of Labor six years ago. In the previous episode, we learned Supreme Court Justice Crouch waited five years to retire, until there was a Democrat in the White House. This would seem to mean Leo served as Secretary of Labor under a Republican administration.

- On the morning of the 24th, when President Bartlet steps away from the childrens' choir to find out what strings Toby pulled, Toby tells the President "a homeless man died last night." Hufnagle actually died two nights ago, the night of the 22nd.

- Can anyone, even calling in a favor in the name of the President, actually get a burial scheduled and an honor guard service performed in less than a day? Toby is talking to Walter's brother saying he'll arrange the funeral on the night of the 23rd - they're at Arlington the very next morning.


Quotes    

Josh (seeing Margaret helping Leo sign Christmas cards): "This is quite an operation."

Margaret (flatly): "We like to spread holiday cheer."

Leo: "Who the hell is this guy and why do I care if he has a Merry Christmas?"

Margaret: "Leo, just sign the damn thing."

-----

CJ: "What's your Secret Service code name?"

Sam: "They just changed them."

CJ: "I know. What's yours?"

Sam: " 'Princeton.' "

CJ: "Mine's 'Flamingo.' "

Sam: "That's nice."

CJ: "No, it's not nice."

Sam: "Flamingo's a nice-looking bird."

CJ: "The flamingo is a ridiculous-looking bird."

Sam: "You're not ridiculous-looking."

CJ: "I know I'm not ridiculous-looking."

Sam: "Any way for me to get out of this conversation?"

CJ: "I'm going to talk to someone."

Sam: "Excellent."

-----

Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)

• The DC policeman is Lance Reddick, known for Oz, The Wire, Lost, and Fringe, but best known by me as the guy in the Cree lightbulb commercials.

• In The Crackpots and These Women, President Bartlet mentions that Mrs. Landingham lost two sons in Vietnam. Here we find out the whole heartbreaking story.

• In Five Votes Down Toby complains how he doesn't have any money, saying he's got just 23 bucks in his pocket. Here, he's got quite a wad of cash, and he gives it all to the homeless guy who helps him find Walter's brother. (The homeless guy is played by veteran character actor Raynor Scheine.)

• Gail's fishbowl features a festive Christmas tree.

• Laurie must have moved - her apartment is quite a bit different from the one we saw (and she loved) back in Pilot.

• We could kind of figure out from the beginning that Sorkin's goal in adding Moira Kelly to the cast was to create a bit of romantic tension - with Josh and Mandy being former lovers, it would seem to be a goldmine of possible plotlines with these two sassy characters back at each other's throats. Unfortunately, Kelly and Bradley Whitford never seemed to develop that spark of chemistry, and without that, the writers really never knew quite what to do with Mandy - in this episode all she does is realize the Santa hats do clash with the Dickensian costumes, and whine at the President for not letting her take press along to the rare book store. Donna and Josh, though - that chemistry jumped off the screen right from the beginning, when Donna brings Josh coffee and tells him he and Leo and Sam and Toby got the President elected. Janel Moloney wasn't intended to be a regular, but by this point of the series she's already a key part of the group, and it's obvious (even though Josh really treats her like crap most of the time) there's some kind of deep connection between the two of them. Moloney and Whitford really do work well together, and that's just going to keep on happening for the next seven seasons. Take a look here at how Donna reacts to the note Josh wrote for her in her skiing book, and the look Josh has seeing her smile:

• We are going to see the parents of Lowell Lydell - and a very interesting look on taking things for granted and not getting the full story - a few episodes in the future.

DC location shots    

• On the National Mall, near the Korean War monument (a couple of scenes filmed here)

• Under a highway overpass, at Capitol and P, perhaps? When the veteran at the souvenir stand tells Toby that Hufnagle usually could be found at Capitol and P, he didn't specify north or south; Capitol Street crosses both P Streets, NE/NW and SE/SW. My guess is this shot was the south side; that is near the Navy Yards in a rougher part of DC, at least in 1999. Nationals Park was built here on the east side of Capitol Street in 2006-08, so if this shot was indeed Capitol and P SE/SW, this overpass and many of the surrounding buildings no longer exist.

• Walter Hufnagle's burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

References to real people    

• As part of the White House Christmas festivities: TV weatherman Al Roker (as Santa - also he's conveniently on NBC, the same network as The West Wing); musician Jose Feliciano; baseball player Sammy Sosa and his wife.

• Stephen Jay Gould is mentioned in the Sam/Toby millennium debate.

• The Lowell Lydell story is an obvious rewrite of the real-life murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in October 1998, which received its own literary treatment in the play The Laramie Project (which debuted two months after this episode aired).

• The books encountered at the rare bookstore are all real; The Fables of Phaedrus; The Adventures of John Capen Adams, Mountaineer and Grizzly Bear Hunter of California; On The Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus; Life of Epicurus. The skiing book Josh gives to Donna, however, is fictional.

End credits freeze frame: Cast lineup listening to childrens' choir (notice that Donna, still listed as a guest star in the credits, is important enough to be included in this group. Toby's not here - he's at Arlington).