In Excelsis Deo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The West Wing episode
"In Excelsis Deo"
Episode no.	10
Prod. code	225909
Orig. airdate	December 15, 1999
Writer(s)	Aaron Sorkin & Rick Cleveland
Director	Alex Graves
Guest star(s)	Lisa Edelstein Timothy Busfield Paul Austin Janel Moloney Tom Quinn Renee Estevez Raynor Scheine
Season 1 September 22 1999 – May 17 2000
Pilot Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc A Proportional Response Five Votes Down The Crackpots and These Women Mr. Willis of Ohio The State Dinner Enemies The Short List In Excelsis Deo Lord John Marbury He Shall, From Time To Time... Take Out The Trash Day Take This Sabbath Day Celestial Navigation 20 Hours In L.A. The White House Pro-Am Six Meetings Before Lunch Let Bartlet Be Bartlet Mandatory Minimums Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics What Kind of Day Has It Been
List of all West Wing episodes...

"In Excelsis Deo" is the 10th episode of The West Wing.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Plot
2 Emmy Awards
3 Title
4 Goofs
5 External link

[edit] Plot

Amid Christmas preparations, Toby looks into a homeless person's background, while Danny Concannon and C.J. discuss the possibility of a first date. President Bartlet sneaks out to go shopping at a rare book store and refuses to take photographers along, much to Mandy's chagrin. Meanwhile, Josh--who is worried about Lillienfield coming out against Leo for his drug related past--comes to Sam and proposes using his prostitute friend for leverage against Lillienfield's allies when the time comes, against the strongest objections by Leo himself.

[edit] Emmy Awards

Won:

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (recipient: Richard Schiff) (The second submission is unknown.)
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (recipients: Aaron Sorkin and Rick Cleveland) (Pilot was nominated in the same category.)

Nominated:

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Series (nominee: Bill Johnson, A.C.E.) (What Kind of Day Has It Been was nominated in the same category.)
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (nominees: Kenneth B. Ross, Len Schmitz, Dan Hiland and Gary D. Rogers)

[edit] Title

The name of the episode comes from the title and beginning of the great doxology (song of praise), Gloria in Excelsis Deo.

[edit] Goofs

Toby mentions near the end of the episode "I got better treatment at Panmunjeom." This is confirmed by the captions on the DVD. This does not seem to conform to Toby's backstory, as nothing is ever mentioned of military service. Also, earlier in this same episode, Toby explicitly says he was not involved in Korea.