Tag Archives: two cathedrals

My Favorite Scene: The West Wing Season Two (2001)

The West Wing is my favorite show of all-time. I’m not sure it’s the best show I’ve ever seen start-to-finish. When Aaron Sorkin left the show after season 4, the show took most of season 5 to find its voice again, but it did rally and finished well. The second season of The West Wing is THE best season of television I’ve ever seen. Ever. Full stop. There are so many great moments and classic episodes that it’s difficult to pick a favorite, so I’ll pick the one that has stuck with me the most in the twelve years since it first aired: the next-to-last scene of the season. (By the way, this is going to be very spoilery, so if you’re intending on watching this on Netflix or DVD, wander elsewhere on the site)

The second season starts with the recovery from an assassination attempt at the end of the first that left the President’s Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) and surrogate son fighting for his life from a gunshot wound. The season saw the slow unraveling of the President’s attempt to keep his multiple sclerosis from the public. It also saw him fighting with the possible consequences of running for re-election to his family, his health and to the office of the Presidency. As all this comes to a head in the season finale, the President’s beloved secretary, Mrs. Landingham, was killed by a drunk driver. A random, senseless, stupid loss and waste of life and even a President (a good one and a good man as written; one who had studied for the clergy before deciding on politics) can fall victim to shouting to the heavens. This one just did it by sealing the National Cathedral and losing it on the Almighty in Latin. It’s a powerful, benchmark scene for Martin Sheen’s President Bartlett and I’ll allow that it works a lot better in context, but for setting, tone and dramatic impact, this stands among the best scenes Sorkin has ever written.


We’ve all screamed at God. I don’t care if you don’t believe in Him. I don’t care what you might call “Him”. I don’t care if you want to lie about it. I just don’t. You’ve done it. You get to a place in your life where nothing is left but to throw your head back in anger and scream at the sky, “What the HELL are you doing to me?” Of course, that’s a very in-the-moment feeling. The President, later in the episode will hear Mrs. Landingham admonishing him for his behavior telling him, “God doesn’t cause cars to crash, stop using me as an excuse.” The West Wing never talked down to its audience, it challenged them to think; challenged them to sit in the seat where the decisions that make or take lives are made dozens of times a day and make their own call. It also showed that the people who sit in those chairs are human. That they can be good humans; decent humans; men and women dedicated to our nation and its welfare made it a hopeful case for our country. To be honest, I wish I lived in that one rather than the one we do.

The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin, Two Cathedrals, Martin Sheen, President Bartlett