THE WEST WING: SEASON 1, EPISODE 10: In Excelsis Deo
Directed by: Alex Graves
Written by: Aaron Sorkin & Rick Cleveland
Now this is as perfect as television episodes get. The episode being a Christmas episode makes it even more special. This is the first episode I think about when I think of The West Wing at it's best.
The Toby story involving a deceased war veteran is truly upsetting & uplifting all at the same time. The episode reveals many upsetting histories about multiple characters including Kathryn Joosten's Landingham who in a tearful scene reveals to Charlie the loss of her sons.
This scene when played against everything involving Toby is truly upsetting. Richard Schiff won an Emmy for his work in this episode & it was deserved as it shows how caring Toby is & reveals a different element of his acting and character that the show had not shown prior.
The episode also won an award for its writing & with how delicate the story is delivered I have to agree with this particular award win. I've not spoken about the shows musical score in some time but here it again helps to illustrate the scenes more.
Honestly I can imagine watching the episode separate from the entire series because while there are some continued stories being told the singular story about a veteran needed to be rewarded with a proper burial is indeed spectacular.
Another upsetting story to this episode is C. J. caring about the death of a young gay male very similar to that of Matthew Shepherd. This is again another story beat which shares similarities to real life and shows how powerful this episode overall was.
Now this is as perfect as television episodes get. The episode being a Christmas episode makes it even more special. This is the first episode I think about when I think of The West Wing at it's best.
The Toby story involving a deceased war veteran is truly upsetting & uplifting all at the same time. The episode reveals many upsetting histories about multiple characters including Kathryn Joosten's Landingham who in a tearful scene reveals to Charlie the loss of her sons.
This scene when played against everything involving Toby is truly upsetting. Richard Schiff won an Emmy for his work in this episode & it was deserved as it shows how caring Toby is & reveals a different element of his acting and character that the show had not shown prior.
The episode also won an award for its writing & with how delicate the story is delivered I have to agree with this particular award win. I've not spoken about the shows musical score in some time but here it again helps to illustrate the scenes more.
Honestly I can imagine watching the episode separate from the entire series because while there are some continued stories being told the singular story about a veteran needed to be rewarded with a proper burial is indeed spectacular.
Another upsetting story to this episode is C. J. caring about the death of a young gay male very similar to that of Matthew Shepherd. This is again another story beat which shares similarities to real life and shows how powerful this episode overall was.