OTH: The West Wing- "Isaac and Ishmael"
We interrupt President Bartlet's startling confession to bring you... some high schoolers.
Aired October 3, 2001
Directed by Christopher Misiano
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Synopsis: Josh wants to head home early, but Donna reminds him that he’s supposed to meet with high schoolers from the Presidential Classroom program, which he had forgotten. Hoping this would be a quick meeting, his prayers are ignored as a crisis is announced and Josh has to take the students, their supervisor, and Donna into the mess for clearance. No one anticipates terrorist attacks, let alone the bombing of the Twin Towers. As they don’t have clearance to leave, Josh decides to pass the time by answering as many questions as he can about the government and college life, but the students are more interested in discussing terrorism, what causes it, and what caused this particular act. Josh talks about radical Islam and compares the radicals involved to the KKK for a Christian example. Realizing that he’s going to be in over his head soon, Josh calls upon some of his coworkers to answer further questions, as we’ll see Toby, Sam, and C.J. come by on and off to share their view points. Eventually, even the President and First Lady stop by, and while he doesn’t have much time to stick around, President Bartlet offers some words of wisdom on how we need heroes rather than martyrs. Dr. Bartlet, meanwhile, stays and shares the story of Isaac and Ishmael, the father of Judaism and Islam, respectively. Shortly after, the students are gifted the ability to leave, as Josh reminds them to let himself and the White House deal with matters of terrorism while they prepare for college.
One senior staff member who doesn’t meet with the students, however, is Leo, who is busy interrogating a member of the White House staff who shares the name of a suspected terrorist, Rakim Ali. Rakim works for the White House and doesn’t appreciate the interrogation, but Leo insists on the line of questioning, as he digs into Rakim’s history in a more intense than usual manner. The interrogation goes for a while and remains as tense as ever until a member of the Secret Service comes and informs Leo that they found the Rakim Ali they’re looking for. Their Rakim is free and he returns back to work. Leo comes to Rakim’s office to apologize, insisting that he usually isn’t this aggressive.
The main cast of The West Wing (including the recently-promoted Stockard Channing) start “Isaac and Ishmael” up by informing the audience that this isn’t the real season premiere of the show. It’s not even technically canonical, but rather a one-off play-like experience that takes place in separate continuity.
Separate continuity, but clearly at least the second season’s premiere is still in play, as the assassination attempt detailed then and in the first season’s finale is referenced, most notably the cause for said attack- and if you don’t recall, it was a deliberate hate crime, attempting to shut out a Black man dating the white President’s daughter.
Also notable is the person who suffered the most damage from that attack, Josh, a Jewish man, is responsible for holding the high schoolers. This isn’t lost on the characters or crew, who openly address the irony. Josh, nor even the President, weren’t the target of this assassination, but their names were the ones on everyone’s lips during said assassination attempt, and he reminds us as such when discussing the history and goals of terrorism, white nationalism wisely recognized as a form of terrorism comparable to radical Islam.
The thing to consider about “Isaac and Ismael” is how quickly this episode was made to address what was at the time and still today an unprecedented foreign attack on American soil. The West Wing was the most openly political show on network television at the time- it’s literally about the White House- and its crew understandably felt that it needed to address 9/11 even without openly addressing it. This was written and shot in record time, with Sorkin, Schlamme and Wells convincing NBC to push the expected season premiere back two weeks so this could be finished and air first, complete with a special opening and plea for donation.
This is the most lo-fi the show will ever become, using as few sets as possible and using even fewer familiar ones- we only see brief glimpses at Josh’s office and the secretary section before the bulk of the action takes place in the mess hall and interrogation room. The “episode”’s limitations feel real as we see few of the show’s hallmarks, like Schlamme’s penchant for walking and talking or the show’s recognizable supporting characters like Leo’s kooky assistant Margaret or raucous reporter Danny Concannon. “Isaac and Ishmael” focuses exclusively on the main cast and a handful of one-offs.
While the fast turnaround is respectable, this doesn’t make for great TV. “Isaac and Ishmael” works best as an example of post-9/11 hysteria than as quality storytelling, and that comes down to how some of the characters are handled, most notably Leo, who is uniquely aggressive this week. Leo has had his outbursts in the past, but he turns to anger a little quicker than usual, with a different shading to the mix- xenophobia.
To his credit, John Spencer plays this charged take on Leo quite well, and you can tell that he doesn’t intend to be likable this week, but it’s such a change from his usual self, how he refuses to accept Rakim Ali by his word due to the color of his skin. This was meant to represent how otherwise level-headed people had their perceptions changed by 9/11, some who remained permanently radicalized as it was. Leo “returns” to his normal self at the end of the episode as he apologizes to Rakim, or so it seems, but we don’t know if this is the only Muslim he’ll persecute that week. Or even person of desi descent that doesn’t practice Islam.
The rest of the cast remains closer to their selves (we can’t have too many heel turns- this is THE liberal show, after all!) as they spend their time explaining to the students, and the audience by extension, what goes through a terrorist’s mind, and that radical Muslims shouldn’t be recognized as the same as all Muslims. This is fine stuff to go over, but understandably gaudy and not fun to sit through.
Still, to think that The West Wing wouldn’t tackle 9/11 in some way would be foolish. And even though this was a one-off finished in record time to address the only thing on most Americans minds, we have a lot more of the series to cover. Will the War on Terror, the Patriot Act, and other hallmarks of post-9/11 society be covered one way or another? Stick around to find out.
Presidential Records:
First of all, RIP Matthew Perry. Besides being Ms. Chanandler Bong, he’ll have a brief role later in The West Wing and of course will anchor Sorkin’s doomed follow-up Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. And yes, I’ll eventually cover Friends on this blog. When? Who knows!
According to Sam, terrorists have a 100% failure rate, but I’m not sure if he’s right about that.
I don’t like Charlie’s monologue about gang violence, it feels very much like Sorkin struggling to write for Black people and resorting to the most tired cliches out there, especially as he’s seldom talked about this lifestyle beforehand. Sadly, this was and is still a problem with writing for Black men in fiction- see Gunn in Angel for another example.
Rather than the standard closing credits number, the episode ends with Buffalo Springfield’s “For What it’s Worth”… before the gaudy-ass end theme returns.
Next Week: Season 3 begins in earnest as President Bartlet reveals whether or not he’ll run for reelection (take a guess as to which he chooses). In a two-parter, the Bartlet administration attempts to fan out the fires, while members of the senior staff nearly make bigger mistakes than the President.