Noël - TWW S2E10

Original airdate: December 20, 2000

Teleplay by: Aaron Sorkin (31)
Story by: Peter Parnell (3)

Directed by: Thomas Schlamme (7)

Synopsis

• Music and lights fill the White House as Christmas approaches, but Josh's erratic behavior spurs Leo to bring in a therapist to talk with him. CJ tracks down a woman who was upset by a painting during a White House tour.

"Josh ... how did you cut your hand?"

"Long as I got a job, you got a job, you understand?"

Over the first 30 or so episodes of The West Wing, we've seen Josh Lyman become one of the most well-developed, richly detailed characters on the show. By that I don't mean Bradley Whitford's performance necessarily stands out above the others - this is an all-star team effort, with high-quality powerhouse actors like Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Rob Lowe, Janel Moloney - but we've gotten to know Josh pretty well. From his near-firing over popping off at Mary Marsh (Pilot), to his long-term survivor's guilt over his sister's death and his emotional commitment to his friends and co-workers (The Crackpots and These Women), to his family's history of surviving the Holocaust and his understanding of making things right for historical wrongs (Six Meetings Before Lunch), to his complicated (and sometimes problematic) relationships with Joey Lucas and Donna, we've really dug deep into Josh's backstory. And I haven't even gotten to the way he jumped full-steam-ahead onto Jed Bartlet's campaign, or the fact he literally took a bullet while in service to the President (In The Shadow of Two Gunmen) ... which directly leads us here.

We open with a wary and almost hostile Josh, with a bandaged hand, sitting down with a therapist from the American Trauma Victims Association. Something has gone seriously wrong in the workplace with Josh, and his friends have called on Dr. Stanley Keyworth to try to get to the bottom of the problem. That kicks off a tremendous episode, another standout Christmas edition (which is getting to be a tradition), with Thomas Schlamme doing incredibly great work of directing Aaron Sorkin's finely crafted script.

We weave in and out between the present (the Christmas Eve meeting of Josh and Dr. Keyworth) and the events of the past three weeks. Josh has grown increasingly irritable and snappish, with the smallest of things setting him off. An Air Force pilot flies away from formation in his F16, eventually committing suicide by flying into a mountain, and Josh fixates on the fact he and the pilot were born on the same day. The increasing holiday cheer of decorations and music throw him deeper into a funk (although let's be honest, having bagpipers play right outside your office all day long would be enough to drive anyone crazy). The nearly final straw comes in a routine Oval Office meeting about strategies to deal with a minor issue about releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, when Josh snaps and raises his voice to the President:

Josh: "You need to listen to me. You have to listen to me. I can't help you, unless you listen to me!"

What an incredible moment, with the President eyeing Josh and Leo, wanting to help but not knowing how, and Leo and Sam realizing something has broken inside Josh:

Josh (to Leo): "If this is because of what I just said in there, I wasn't at my best with ..."

Leo: "Josh, I'm not sure you were fully conscious while you were saying it."

In a tremendously intricate piece of storytelling, we discover it's music that's been triggering Josh. Once again our view flips back and forth between Josh and Dr. Keyworth, and Josh's attendance at a Yo-Yo Ma cello performance at the White House. Whitford is outstanding here, with his rising panic and fear as he relives the shooting along with the music:

and then his memory of being home after the concert with his interior pain and frustration causing him to shatter his window - and thus the bandaged hand:

Dr. Keyworth diagnoses Josh with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, stemming from his shooting and recovery. While obviously this (or any television episode) can only touch on the basics of such a complex subject, I think Stanley's description here is a pretty good summation of what PTSD does to its sufferers:

Stanley: "What we need to do is get you to remember the shooting without reliving it. You have been reliving it."

The music, from the brass quintet to the bagpipes to the woodwinds, has kicked off a flashback in Josh's brain to sirens, the sirens from the Rosslyn shooting - and that's caused him to relive the trauma and pain and fear and stress over and over again. Once he gets to this point, and admits to Dr. Keyworth that he cut his hand smashing the window instead of breaking a whiskey glass, things do wrap up a bit too tidily.

Stanley: "I'm going to recommend a therapist you'll like."

Josh: "I like you!"

Stanley: "You're too easy a case for me."

Josh: "I broke a window!"

Stanley: "Yeah. Stop doing that. I want to commend you on not hurting anybody else and not hurting yourself too badly, but nevertheless, stop doing that."

Josh: "And ... that'll do the trick?"

Stanley: "Yup."

Josh: "I .. I'm getting shortchanged here." 

But, this is television and not life, and I'll give them the quick "solution" of the episode as illustrating a true breakthrough in Josh's mind, as well as getting us to the finale and Christmas itself. This all wraps up with a touching moment between Leo and Josh. Leo, as we know, has had to deal with demons of his own in his past. He was the one who brought Josh and Dr. Keyworth together, and he's been waiting in the lobby on into the evening to see how things went. Why is he there? Why is it important to him?

Leo: "This guy's walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep, he can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, 'Hey you! Can you help me out?'  The doctor writes him a prescription, throws it down the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, 'Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?' The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. 'Hey, Joe, it's me. Can you help me out?' And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, 'Are you stupid? Now we're both down here.' And the friend says, 'Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out.'" 

Leo has been there before. He has a notion of what Josh is going through, and he knows how to help him get to the other side. And, also:

Leo: "Long as I got a job, you got a job, understand?"

Connections and friendships like this just make The West Wing so much sweeter and richer than run-of-the-mill television.

I can't stress enough the outstanding work by Schlamme in directing this episode. There's so many great emotional transitions between the past and the present, with one of the most creative being a panning shot between Josh talking to Leo about the fighter pilot:

 

But as the camera pans behind Leo's head, the head becomes Stanley's, and we see Josh describing the same scene to him:

 

Just one example of that moving directing job by Schlamme. The DVD commentary reveals that the room where Josh, Stanley, and Kaytha meet was built expressly for this episode, so that there'd be a room with plenty of windows to help make the passage of time become another character in the scenes. Schlamme also talks about using different lenses to shoot Stanley and Josh, to give the viewer a different emotional feeling about each one (without really consciously knowing why), until the timelines come together and the breakthrough happens, and they are then shot with the same lens.

There is one other storyline in this episode (many West Wing episodes have B, C, even D or E storylines, but given the high stakes of Josh's A storyline here one more is all we can handle). CJ is trying to get to the bottom of a media story about a White House tour visitor making a disturbance. Eventually we find out a painting hanging outside the Blue Room, a gift from France to President Bartlet, actually was taken from a French Jew by the Nazis during World War II. The painting gradually made its way to the Musee D'Orsay, where it was then loaned to the National Gallery where President Bartlet saw it. The woman causing the disturbance on the tour was the daughter of the original owner, and became upset and surprised to see that painting hanging in the White House. CJ gets all the facts together (along with the aid of Bernard Thatch, a wonderful character played by Paxton Whitehead), and arrangements are made to transfer the painting back to the woman. We never actually see the painting, which is a clever subterfuge (since the painter and the painting don't actually exist, although there is a somewhat sideways reference to a work by Gustave Courbet).

But the real star is Josh Lyman and his journey through the ongoing effects of his shooting earlier in the year, told expertly and movingly by Sorkin and Schlamme. Bradley Whitford earned an Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy for this episode (along with In The Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II), and it's well-earned. It's truly another touching holiday classic in The West Wing pantheon.

Tales Of Interest!

- As Toby touts the music groups playing in the West Wing lobby he says he's been accused of not being in the proper spirit "the last two Christmases in this White House." Trouble is, this would be only the second Christmas for the Bartlet administration, as the election would have been November 1998 with Bartlet taking office in January 1999, hence Christmas 1999 (which we saw in In Excelsis Deo) and now Christmas 2000. It's possible, I suppose, Toby might have been around the White House during the transition in 1998, so maybe you could stretch that into "the last two Christmases." (By the way, the music groups we hear or are referred to include the brass quintet, the Duncan MacTavish Killarney Highland Bagpipe Regiment, the Capitol Bluegrass Banjo Brigade, and a clarinet trio.)

- Let's talk Christmas! I mentioned in last year's holiday episode how memorable TV episodes set during holidays can be, and I also remarked how all-out the set designers of this show go for the decorations. Just take a look at this:

The lobby area of the West Wing, covered in white lights:

Garlands and lights wrapped around every available column:

A technician in the briefing room with a Santa hat:

Colored lights, here outside Josh's office and also in the Communications bullpen:

Wreaths on the windows!:

This little scene, with the President talking to some advisers about the search for the Air Force plane, wasn't even written to take place in this room, but when Schlamme saw the tree, he decided to shoot it here and get a good look at this tree (it's only seen in the background down the hallways in the rest of the episode):

And check out the gingerbread White House:

- I've mentioned a couple of times since What Kind Of Day Has It Been that the Situation Room featured portraits of real-life Presidents like Clinton, Nixon, and Bush I - which made things a bit problematic, since some or all of those Presidents may not have actually existed in The West Wing universe. Here they've taken those portraits down and replaced them with less-recognizable photographs.

- Jed has reorganized things on his Oval Office desk. In past episodes, even as recently as the last one, we've seen his glass globe collection on the left side of the desk with a lamp on the right:

Here, the glass globes and the lamp have switched places:

- In what's starting to become a tradition for Sorkin-era West Wing Christmas episodes, Bradley Whitford won the Supporting Actor Emmy in part for his performance here (along with In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part II). Richard Schiff won the same award (in part for In Excelsis Deo) the season before.



Quotes    

Toby: "Let me tell you something, the last two Christmases in this White House I've been accused of not being in the proper spirit. I was called names. Not this year! For the next three weeks I will be filling this lobby with music in the mornings and evenings so that we may experience this season of -"

(Turning to brass quintet with annoyance)

"Would you people stop playing for one damn minute!"

(They stop)

"This season of peace and joy."

-----

Donna: "I have the personnel file for the pilot."

Josh: "How did you know I was going to ask you for that?"

Donna: "I'm tuned to you."

Josh: "Seriously."

Donna: "I anticipate your every need."

Josh: "Yeah, but to be walking by with the guy's personnel file?"

Donna: "They called me ten minutes ago, Josh, don't be a yutz." 

(Once again it's great to hear Wisconsin's own Donnatella Moss appropriating Yiddish when she's talking to Josh.)

-----

Bernard: "The President, on a visit to the gallery, and possessing even less taste in fine art than you have in accessories, announced that he liked the painting. The French government offered it as a gift to the White House, I suppose in retribution for Euro Disney. So here it hangs, like a sock on a shower rod."

CJ: "You're a snob."

Bernard: "Yes." 

-----

President: "Who are the other million?"

Charlie: "You send a Christmas card to everyone who writes a letter to the White House."

President: "I do?"

Charlie: "Yes, sir. And somewhere around a million people wrote you letters this year."

President: "Okay, but some of those were death threats."

Charlie: "They've weeded those out." 

-----

Josh: "They're pretty loud."

Toby: "The bagpipes?"

Josh: "Yeah."

Toby: "That's because the shepherds would need to call in the goats from high atop the hills -"

Josh: "Shepherds herd sheep, they don't do it in Delaware, and these guys can't play in the lobby!"

-----

President: "You look good, Charlie."

Charlie: "I didn't know people dressed like this any more, sir."

President: "I've brought it back."

Charlie: "Yes, sir."

President: "Like Woodrow Wilson and top hats."

Charlie: "We're not going to wear top hats with this, are we, sir?"

-----

CJ: "You see, you try very hard to be mean, but then you see that being nice is better."

Bernard: "You're a freakishly tall woman."

CJ: "So, that moment's over?"

Bernard: "Yes."

----- 

Josh: "You said you diagnosed me in five minutes. What was the diagnosis?"

Stanley: "You have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."

Josh: "Well, that doesn't really sound like something they let you have if you work for the President. Can we have it be something else?"

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

• The American Trauma Victims Association (ATVA) seems to be a fictional group. As a federal employee, Josh would actually be able to take advantage of the Employee Assistance Program, which contracts with professionals around the country to provide emotional, psychological, financial and other support to government employees free of charge. It's not very likely this sort of thing would happen in the workplace, however.

• Adam Arkin (Chicago Hope, Northern Exposure) appears as Dr. Stanley Keyworth. He's actually going to return to the White House in about a year or so ... but it won't be to talk to Josh.

• There are obvious flashbacks to the Rosslyn shooting from What Kind Of Day Has It Been. Also, the connection Josh makes between music and traumatic events in his life was earlier discussed in The Crackpots and These Women, with the link between Ave Maria and the tragic death of his sister in a house fire. Interestingly, it was established in that episode that Josh was seeing a psychiatrist - why has he not been following up with that guy since the shooting? And how weird is it that that doctor's name is also Stanley? 

• In the DVD commentary Sorkin mentions the script originally contained another storyline for Sam, but it had to be cut because there was no room for it. Rob Lowe was not happy about that, asking Sorkin if there was even a reason for him to be there at all. The scene between Josh and Sam about the Energy Department spokesperson talking out of turn about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was filmed right after Lowe was told, and the personal emotion of losing a storyline in the episode actually plays right into his acting in the scene. Why is this in story threads? Well, the original concept of The West Wing was going to be focused on the staffers, with only occasional appearances by the President himself, and Lowe signed on with the belief he'd be the main focus (hence his being first in the listing of actors in the opening credits). The powerhouse performances by a tremendous group of actors, coupled with some fine character-building by Sorkin and the huge presence of Martin Sheen, changed that dynamic rather quickly, so - SPOILER ALERT - I'm sure some of Lowe's plotlines being written out was a part of the chain that eventually led to his leaving the series in Season 4.

• The Air Force officer played by Daniel von Bargen is back. Although Leo called him "Jack" when we first saw him back in In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I, here he's called "Ken." Hmmm.

• While we do get to see (and hear) him this time, Yo-Yo Ma was mentioned before (performing for the President of Indonesia in The State Dinner.) Seeing as that was barely over a year ago, we can surmise Yo-Yo Ma must be a favorite of President Bartlet's, as he obviously is with Donna ("Yo-Yo Ma rules!").

• The recognizable character actor with the plummy accent and the haughty demeanor, Paxton Whitehead, appears here as part of the White House Visitors' Office. He'll be seen again, but not until Season 6.

• We heard President Bartlet referring to "Cashman and Berryhill" as working out something regarding the Syrian military crisis back in A Proportional Response, with the implication they had something to do with the State Department. He mentions the pair again here in dealing with the missing fighter pilot.

DC location shots    

• The final scene, with Josh and Donna leaving the White House, actually had the actors start inside the White House gate along Pennsylvania Avenue, which is a pretty big deal the producers were able to make with the Clinton administration. The scene continues outside the White House fence with the bell choir. In the DVD commentary for this scene Sorkin mentions it being shot overnight on November 18, 2000, at the very same time as the birth of his daughter.

They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    

• The photo of the F-16 pilot in the Situation Room has real-life military bases listed in Texas (Laughlin Air Force Base), New Mexico (Cannon Air Force Base) and Germany (although the air base is misspelled in the graphic; it's actually Spangdahlem, not "Spangdahelm.").

• CJ refers to former First Lady Dolley Madison's portrait when talking to the press about the tour disturbance.

• Obviously the real-life cellist Yo-Yo Ma appears and performs. Donna also mentions the cellists Pablo Casals and Rostropovich.

• The story of the painting that is eventually given back to the Holocaust survivor is a mix of reality and fiction. There is no painter named "Gustave Cailloux." Courbet, whom Bernard says was a contemporary of Cailloux's, is indeed real (and actually named Gustave as well). Courbet painted The Etretat Cliffs after the Storm - which is probably where the writers got the name for the (never shown) Cailloux painting, The Cliffs of Etretat, and is indeed at the Musee d'Orsay in France.

• President Bartlet recalls Woodrow Wilson as a man of fashion and style. And top hats.

• And Johann Sebastian Bach exists here, with Yo-Yo Ma playing his Suite No. 1 in G Major.

End credits freeze frame: The final crane shot of the bell choir performing on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House. As you can see, prior to 9/11 people could get much closer to the White House fence than is now possible (and if you remember the beginning of The Crackpots and These Women, they were able to film a scene of a basketball game right here on the street).