- Teleplay: Aaron Sorkin, Story: Peter Parnell
- Takes Place: December 3 to December 24
- Broadcast: December 20, 2000 (December 13 in Canada)
- Query: How many Christmases have they been in the White House?
- Query: What was that story Leo told Josh about the guy falling in the hole?
- Josh is required to see a Dr. Stanley Keyworth (Adam Arkin) of the American Trauma Victims Association and Dr. Keyworth goes back over the last three weeks with Josh, starting with Toby bringing bands into the lobby of the West Wing because, he tells Josh:
- "The last two Christmases in this White House, I've been accused of not being in the proper spirit."
- But the music starts to bother Josh, as does a missing pilot who eventually flies his F-16 into a mountain. This pilot had the same birthday as Josh and had suffered a trauma. But Josh continues to do his job including advising the President on politics since, as Josh tells Stanley:
- "There are only two things that ever stop the government from doing anything: money and politics."
- Meanwhile, C.J., who is tracking down a story about a woman who had a breakdown on a tour, talks to Bernard Thatch of the White House Visitors Office, a snob who says to her:
- "Your necklace is a monument to bourgeois taste." These kinds of comments seem to be normal for him.
Warner Bros. Photo from NBC
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Finally, in the Oval Office, Josh snaps and raises his voice to the President. It is "not done" and Leo orders him:
- "Wait in my office, would you!" Although there is steel in the word 'wait', Leo softens his tone for the rest of the sentence. When Leo joins Josh, he tells him "You're going to sit with a guy. . . . I'm not sure you were conscious while you were saying it."
- When Josh tells Stanley about that, Stanley says:
- "Well, thank God for Leo. . . . I'm serious. The man's an alcoholic. He knew what he was talking about."
Josh continues his cocky answers to which Stanley says, "I swear I am completely unimpressed with clever answers."
"And I was so hoping we'd have a second date."
". . .You're in nine kinds of pain. You don't know what's going on inside of you. And you are so locked into damage control. . . ."
- Stanley finally tells Josh his diagnosis: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This worries Josh who says:
- "Well, that doesn't sound like something they let you have if you work for the President."
But Stanley doesn't think it's that serious, "What we need to get you to do is to remember the shooting without re-living it."
- The session goes on all day and well into the night. When Josh heads back to his office, he passes Leo, who is sitting in the lobby:
- "How'd it go?"Leo asks.
"Did you wait around for me?"
"How'd it go?" To this Josh makes one of his usual jokes. But Leo doesn't buy it and Josh tells him what he has been trying to hide. Then Leo tells him a story. After that, Leo tells Josh not to worry about his job, "As long as I got a job, you got a job."
For anyone interested in guest stars of this episode (as well as more information),
let us recommend the West Wing Episode Guide.
Background from Bravo: What you need to know from past episodes.
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#210 (32) "Noël"
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