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*** This review may contain spoilers ***
This is it, The West Wing's greatest episode. The previous year's Christmas episode, In Excelsis Deo, was great, and I think the first season is generally my favourite season, but Noël from season 2 outdoes every prior episode of the series. Noël is one of the best works of drama I've seen.After What Kind of Day Has It Been, where the White House staff is shot at, there were complaints. Was it too cliché? Should a show that finds drama in politics and dialogue and its characters really resort to action? Well, if it was a misstep, this episode alone makes it well worth it. Noël isn't action; it explores the psychological aftermath of the shooting. It focuses on its characters.As is common for the show, this episode makes very trivial things interesting and kind of funny; here we see the president wanting to sign his Christmas cards, which turns out to be an impossibility. Much of the episode is not trivial, however. Josh, who was hurt the worst in the shooting, is acting increasingly strange; yelling at the president is a dramatic high point of the episode. A pilot Josh was looking into has some parallels with Josh in ways more profound than that they shared the same birthday. This is a dark time for Josh. Luckily, the president and Leo are understanding bosses- Josh isn't the only standout character of the episode. It's not just the characters and the writing that shine; the Christmas and music themes help the episode along; Josh associates the Christmas music with sirens. This Christmas may not be merry- but it is memorable and moving. 9.4/10
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