One Final Christmas Post

I have had this episode of West Wing on my TiVo forever, and tried like hell to get it into a format to share with you because I could never find it out there on the tubes. I never could convert it because of my lack of decent video tools. But now, kind of like a Christmas present to all of us, some kind soul has put it out on youtube.

I loved the West Wing, considered it one of my most favorite shows ever. The writing was good, the acting was good, and the production itself was really amazing when you watched the fast action, moving between rooms, the lighting. All of it top notch.

This episode needs just a bit of explaining because there are some things you need to know before watching. The presidents secretary, Mrs Landingham, had twin sons who were killed at the same time in Viet Nam on Christmas. Because of that she is down during the holidays. One of the members of the presidents staff, Toby Ziegler, is contacted by the DC police because a homeless man died on the mall and had his business card in the pocket of his coat. Turns out he donated the coat to the Goodwill, and the homeless man was a decorated Korean Vet who was wearing it. Toby uses the influence of the office of the president to arrange for an honor guard to bury the man.

The sequencing of this final few minutes, alternating between the boys choir and the honor guard is brilliant. Last note, this is a special shout out to Bubs, who got me thinking about this again when he posted about his honor guard experience.

This is from season 1, the amazing finale from the Christmas episode "In Excelsis Deo".