Noël (The West Wing)
Encyclopedia
Plot
Due to his colleagues' growing concern over his behavior JoshJosh Lyman
Joshua "Josh" Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama The West Wing. For the majority of the series, he was White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Josiah Bartlet administration...
spends the day with Stanley Keyworth
Stanley Keyworth
Stanley Keyworth is a fictional psychiatrist, played by Adam Arkin, who appears on the television serial drama The West Wing. Making his first appearance in season 2, he reappeared in seasons 3 and 4....
, a psychotherapist
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
from the American Trauma Victims Association (ATVA). Stanley notices Josh's bandaged hand and asks about it. Even though Stanley makes it clear that he doesn't believe him, Josh insists that he cut his hand on a glass. Josh recounts the last few weeks:
His behavior began to change on the day that he was assigned to review the personal and military history of an Air Force pilot who had broken away from his fighter jet's training formation. Josh had discovered that the two shared the same birthday, and that the pilot had been shot down and injured over Bosnia. Before Josh had a chance to report on this, the pilot radioed in to say, "It wasn't the plane," and killed himself by crashing into a mountain in New Mexico. Days later, while discussing a political situation, Josh raised his voice to the President in the Oval Office, at which point Leo called in ATVA to talk to him. During the congressional Christmas party, Yo-Yo Ma performed and Josh was overcome with panic. When he went home, he slammed his hand into his window and cut himself on the broken glass.
Stanley asks Josh if, given what he had in common with the pilot - their common birthday and injuries - he wondered if he himself might have been suicidal. Josh initially denies this, but eventually admits that during the party he found himself reliving the attack at Rosslyn and that he felt out of control. Stanley tells him that his increasing stress and the episode at the party were triggered by the presence of a brass quintet at the White House, which subconsciously reminded Josh of police and ambulance sirens, thereby transporting him back to his own shooting and near-death in Rosslyn. He is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
but Leo promises him "as long as I got a job, you got a job" in a moving speech which aligns Josh's trauma with Leo's own difficult past.
In another story, C.J. is told by a reporter that a woman saw a painting on the White House Tour and began screaming. C.J. does some research and finds out with the help of Bernard Thatch, the White House's unctuous but competent Protocol Chief, that the painting was owned by a Jewish family in Europe, seized by the Nazi collaborationist French Vichy Regime
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, and eventually given as a gift to the White House by the French government. The woman's father owned the painting, and C.J. returns it to the grateful woman and her son.
Sam is interested in a measure to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an emergency fuel storage of oil maintained by the United States Department of Energy.- United States :The US SPR is the largest emergency supply in the world with the current capacity to hold up to ....
to reduce high gas prices, and the staff decides to review the issue when the new year begins. Finally, the President wants to sign all of his holiday cards by hand, until he is told the total number of cards is 1,110,000.
Awards
The episode won the American Society of CinematographersAmerican Society of Cinematographers
The American Society of Cinematographers is an educational, cultural, and professional organization. It is not a labor union, and it is not a guild. Membership is by invitation and is extended only to directors of photography and special effects experts with distinguished credits in the film...
award for cinematography.
Bradley Whitford won the 2001 Best Supporting Actor Emmy Award, in part for his performance in this episode.