Isaac and Ishmael (3 Oct. 2001)

The West Wing goes under lock down as a suspected terrorist is found to be working at the White House. Stuck with a group of high school students who were visiting the White House, the ... See full summary »

Director:

Christopher Misiano

Writers:

Aaron Sorkin, Aaron Sorkin (creator),

Stars:

Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Rob Lowe	...	Sam Seaborn
Stockard Channing	...	Abbey Bartlet
Dulé Hill	...	Charlie Young
Allison Janney	...	C.J. Cregg
Janel Moloney	...	Donna Moss
Richard Schiff	...	Toby Ziegler
John Spencer	...	Leo McGarry
Bradley Whitford	...	Josh Lyman
Martin Sheen	...	President Josiah 'Jed' Bartlet
Ajay Naidu	...	Rakim Ali
Michael O'Neill	...	Secret Service Agent Ron Butterfield
Jonathan Nichols	...	Agent Cleary
Jeanette Brox	...	Student
Cyd Strittmatter	...	Joan
Frantz Turner	...	Agent Greg

Storyline

The West Wing goes under lock down as a suspected terrorist is found to be working at the White House. Stuck with a group of high school students who were visiting the White House, the staffers, President Bartlet, and the First Lady all debate the issues regarding terrorism. Meanwhile, Leo sits in on the questioning of the terrorist suspect and learns a lesson about our perceptions of terrorists.

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Plot Keywords:

terrorist suspect | interrogation | crash | islamic extremism | school class | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 October 2001 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 23, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

John Wells Productions, thinkfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

41 min 41 min (DVD)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode was written and filmed in less than two weeks as the show's reaction to the terrorist attacks on the USA of 11 September 2001. The episode was not written to be part of the show's continuity.

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Goofs

An information caption listed at the beginning of this episode indicates that the scene is taking place in the FBI field office in Burlington, Vermont. The FBI does not have a field office at that location. It is only a resident agency and jurisdiction for Burlington, Vermont rests with the official FBI field office in Albany, New York.

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Quotes

C.J. Cregg: Liberties, schmiberties!
Toby Ziegler: C.J. Cregg, ladies and gentlemen.

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Crazy Credits

The episode was preceded by an introduction by the main cast members explaining the rationale behind the episode and how it does not reflect the continuity of the series.

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Soundtracks

"For What it's Worth"
Written by Stephen Stills
Performed by Buffalo Springfield

User Reviews

Taliban = KKK

Airing three weeks after 9/11, and a specific response to that event. The regular story lines are dropped, as Josh and Donna (with drop-ins from the rest of the cast) try to explain Islamic terrorism to a group of high school contest winners, while they're all in White House lockdown because of a security alert. Leo interrogates a suspect (Ajay Naidu - OFFICE SPACE). His racist judgments, and Ajay's relative tolerance, are striking. Compelling narratives from Toby, Sam, Charlie, and Abbey, with humor provided by Jed. Josh almost "networks" one particularly bright student (Josh Zuckerman - SEX DRIVE), but instead tells him to just keep on doing what he's doing. It's just a dumb TV show...but it feels like much more. In this world, that may be as close to "truth" as anyone ever gets.