Twenty Five (The West Wing)

"Twenty Five"
'The West Wing' episode

Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 23
Directed by	Christopher Misiano
Written by	Aaron Sorkin
Production code	175323
Original air date	May 14, 2003
Guest appearance(s)
Mary-Louise Parker John Amos Taye Diggs Michael O'Neill Anna Deavere Smith Clark Gregg Harry Groener NiCole Robinson Trent Ford Alan Dale Vernee Watson-Johnson John Goodman (uncredited)
Season 4 episodes

"Twenty Five" is the 88th episode and the season four finale of the American television series The West Wing. It takes its title from the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which deals with the presidential line of succession.

Plot

Continuing the storyline begun in the previous episode, a massive manhunt begins for President Bartlet's youngest daughter, Zoey, but the Secret Service's only clue is provided when Charlie Young remembers that Zoey's boyfriend, Jean-Paul, wanted her to take ecstasy at her graduation party. The Secret Service discovers that what Jean-Paul thought was ecstasy was actually GHB.

While the White House senior staff attempts to rally around the President and First Lady, the president's advisers immediately clash over how to handle the situation: Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Fitzwallace believes the abduction to be an act of terrorism and advises a military response, while National Security Advisor Nancy McNally theorizes that Zoey's abduction may be a standard (albeit high-profile) kidnapping, and cautions that military action may hinder the investigation and antagonize political enemies. The question of whether Zoey's abduction is an act of terrorism or a simple kidnapping is heightened by a faxed ransom note found by Donna, which indicates that the crime has elements of both.

Confusion over how to handle the situation is exacerbated by a false alarm when an unidentified aircraft violates the emergency no-fly zone. A last-second revelation that the plane is piloted by students playing a prank does nothing to alleviate the president's fear that he has lost control over the situation. Privately, he confesses to Leo McGarry that his concern for Zoey is so distracting that he's unable to pay attention to vital national security concerns.

Meanwhile, Toby Ziegler is at the hospital, bonding with his newborn twins; Huck, after Andy's grandfather, and Molly, after the Secret Service agent who was killed protecting Zoey in the previous episode. Toby's love for his children makes him realize that the president suffers from a severe conflict of interest because of his duties as a father and his duties as the President. Toby rushes to the White House to advise the president to step down, only to discover that Bartlet has already invoked the twenty-fifth amendment.

With the office of Vice-President vacant after John Hoynes's resignation due to a sex scandal, the amendment requires that following the line of succession, the Speaker of the House, Glen Allen Walken, take over the presidency. After Walken is sworn in as President, conflicts have already begun between him and President Bartlet's staff, one of the reasons being that Bartlet is a Democrat and Walken is a Republican. Bartlet tries to calm Walken, stating that the staff are all trying to resolve the situation, to which Walken replies "You are relieved, Mr. President."

Production

The episode marks the departure of creator/writer/producer Aaron Sorkin and producer/director Thomas Schlamme, who left after overruns with budgets, script deadlines and conflicts with NBC president Jeff Zucker.^[1]

The episode's director, Christopher Misiano, won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for this episode in 2003. The episode was also nominated for, but did not win, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards that same year.^[2]

Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen's son, has an uncredited cameo as the young Jed Bartlet in news footage shown in the hospital.^[3]

References

↑ Adalian, Josef (May 1, 2003). "Sorkin sulking away from 'Wing': Regime change for NBC White House series". Variety. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
↑ "The West Wing". Emmys.com. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
↑ "5 stars you didn't know were in The West Wing". The Daily Edge. January 23, 2013. Retrieved October 26, 2013.

External links

The West Wing

Main characters

Recurring characters

Episodes

Season 1	"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"

Season 2	"In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I" "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II" "The Midterms" "In This White House" "And It's Surely to Their Credit" "The Lame Duck Congress" "The Portland Trip" "Shibboleth" "Galileo" "Noël" "The Leadership Breakfast" "The Drop-In" "Bartlet's Third State of the Union" "The War at Home" "Ellie" "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail" "The Stackhouse Filibuster" "17 People" "Bad Moon Rising" "The Fall's Gonna Kill You" "18th and Potomac" "Two Cathedrals"

Season 3	"Isaac and Ishmael" "Manchester, Part I" "Manchester, Part II" "Ways and Means" "On the Day Before" "War Crimes" "Gone Quiet" "The Indians in the Lobby" "The Women of Qumar" "Bartlet for America" "H. Con-172" "100,000 Airplanes" "The Two Bartlets" "Night Five" "Hartsfield's Landing" "Dead Irish Writers" "The U.S. Poet Laureate" "Stirred" "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" "The Black Vera Wang" "We Killed Yamamoto" "Posse Comitatus"

Season 4	"20 Hours in America, Part I" "20 Hours in America, Part II" "College Kids" "The Red Mass" "Debate Camp" "Game On" "Election Night" "Process Stories" "Swiss Diplomacy" "Arctic Radar" "Holy Night" "Guns Not Butter" "The Long Goodbye" "Inauguration, Part I" "Inauguration: Over There" "The California 47th" "Red Haven's on Fire" "Privateers" "Angel Maintenance" "Evidence of Things Not Seen" "Life on Mars" "Commencement" "Twenty Five"

Season 5	"7A WF 83429" "The Dogs of War" "Jefferson Lives" "Han" "Constituency of One" "Disaster Relief" "Separation of Powers" "Shutdown" "Abu el Banat" "The Stormy Present" "The Benign Prerogative" "Slow News Day" "The Warfare of Genghis Khan" "An Khe" "Full Disclosure" "Eppur Si Muove" "The Supremes" "Access" "Talking Points" "No Exit" "Gaza" "Memorial Day"

Season 6	"NSF Thurmont" "The Birnam Wood" "Third-Day Story" "Liftoff" "The Hubbert Peak" "The Dover Test" "A Change Is Gonna Come" "In the Room" "Impact Winter" "Faith Based Initiative" "Opposition Research" "365 Days" "King Corn" "The Wake Up Call" "Freedonia" "Drought Conditions" "A Good Day" "La Palabra" "Ninety Miles Away" "In God We Trust" "Things Fall Apart" "2162 Votes"

Season 7	"The Ticket" "The Mommy Problem" "Message of the Week" "Mr. Frost" "Here Today" "The Al Smith Dinner" "The Debate" "Undecideds" "The Wedding" "Running Mates" "Internal Displacement" "Duck and Cover" "The Cold" "Two Weeks Out" "Welcome to Wherever You Are" "Election Day" "Election Day Part II" "Requiem" "Transition" "The Last Hurrah" "Institutional Memory" "Tomorrow"

Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series

1971–2000	Daniel Petrie for "Hands of Love" (1971) Robert Butler for "Dust Bowl Cousins" (1972) Charles S. Dubin for "Knockover" (1973) David Friedkin for "Cross Your Heart, Hope to Die" (1974) James Cellan Jones for Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (Miniseries) (1975) Glenn Jordan for "Rites of Friendship" (1976) John Erman for "Second Hour" (1977) Gene Reynolds for "Prisoner" (1978) Roger Young for "Cop" (1979) Roger Young for "Lou" (1980) Robert Butler for "Hill Street Station" (1981) David Anspaugh for "Personal Foul" (1982) Jeff Bleckner for "Life in the Minors" (1983) Thomas Carter for "The Rise and Fall of Paul the Wall (1984) Will Mackenzie for "My Fair David" (1985) Will Mackenzie for "Atomic Shakespeare" (1986) Marshall Herskovitz for "Pilot" (Thirtysomething) (1987) Marshall Herskovitz for "Therapy" (1988) Eric Laneuville for "I'm in the Nude" (1989) Michael Zinberg for "Vietnam" (1990) Eric Laneuville for "All God's Children" (1991) Rob Thompson for "Cicely" (1992) Gregory Hoblit for "Pilot" (NYPD Blue) (1993) Charles Haid for "Into That Good Night" (1994) Christopher Chulack for "Hell and High Water" (1995) Christopher Chulack for "Fear of Flying" (1996) Barbara Kopple for "The Documentary" (1997) Paris Barclay for "Hearts and Souls" (1998) David Chase for "The Sopranos" (1999) Thomas Schlamme for "Noël" (2000)

2001–present	Alan Ball for "Pilot" (Six Feet Under) (2001) John Patterson for "Whitecaps" (2002) Chris Misiano for "Twenty Five" (2003) Walter Hill for "Deadwood" (2004) Michael Apted for "The Stolen Eagle" (2005) Jon Cassar for "Day 5: 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m." (2006) Alan Taylor for "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (2007) Daniel Attias for "Transitions" (2008) Lesli Linka Glatter for "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency" (2009) Martin Scorsese for "Boardwalk Empire" (2010) Patty Jenkins for "Pilot" (The Killing) (2011) Rian Johnson for "Fifty-One" (2012) Vince Gilligan for "Felina" (2013) Lesli Linka Glatter for "From A to B and Back Again" (2014) David Nutter for "Mother's Mercy" (2015)

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Jack Smight for "Eddie" (1959)
Robert Mulligan for The Moon and Sixpence (1960)
George Schaefer for "Macbeth (II)" (1961)
Franklin J. Schaffner (1962)
Stuart Rosenberg for "The Madman" (1963)
Tom Gries for "Who Do You Kill?" (1964)
Paul Bogart for "The 700 Year Old Gang" (1965)
Sydney Pollack for "The Game" (1966)
Alex Segal for Death of a Salesman (1967)
Lee H. Katzin (1968)
David Greene for "The People Next Door" (1969)
Paul Bogart for "Shadow Game" (1970)
Daryl Duke for "The Day the Lion Died" / Fielder Cook for "The Price" (1971)
Alexander Singer for "The Invasion of Kevin Ireland" / Tom Gries (1972)
Jerry Thorpe for "An Eye for an Eye" / Joseph Sargent for "The Marcus-Nelson Murders" (1973)
John Korty for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman / Robert Butler for "Part III" (1974)
Bill Bain for "A Sudden Storm" (1975)
David Greene for Episode 8 (Rich Man, Poor Man) (1976)
David Greene for Part 1 (Roots) (1977)
Marvin J. Chomsky for Holocaust (1978)
Jackie Cooper for "Pilot" (The White Shadow) (1979)
Roger Young for "Cop" (1980)
Robert Butler for "Hill Street Station"(1981)
Harry Harris for "To Soar and Never Falter" (1982)
Jeff Bleckner for "Life in the Minors" (1983)
Corey Allen for "Goodbye, Mr. Scripps" (1984)
Karen Arthur for "Heat" (1985)
Georg Stanford Brown for "Parting Shots" (1986)
Gregory Hoblit for "Pilot" (L.A. Law) (1987)
Mark Tinker for "Weigh In, Way Out" (1988)
Robert Altman for "The Boiler Room" (1989)
Thomas Carter for "Promises to Keep" / Scott Winant for "The Go-Between" (1990)
Thomas Carter for "In Confidence" (1991)
Eric Laneuville for "All God's Children" (1992)
Barry Levinson for "Gone for Goode" (1993)
Daniel Sackheim for "Tempest in a C-Cup" (1994)
Mimi Leder for "Love's Labor Lost" (1995)
Jeremy Kagan for "Leave of Absence" (1996)
Mark Tinker for "Where's Swaldo?" (1997)
Mark Tinker for "Pilot" (Brooklyn South) / Paris Barclay for "Brain Salad Surgery" (1998)
Paris Barclay for "Hearts and Souls" (1999)
Thomas Schlamme for "Pilot" (The West Wing) (2000)
Thomas Schlamme for "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part I" & "Part II" (2001)
Alan Ball for "Pilot" (Six Feet Under) (2002)
Christopher Misiano for "Twenty Five" (2003)
Walter Hill for "Deadwood" (2004)
J. J. Abrams for "Pilot" (Lost) (2005)
Jon Cassar for "Day 5: 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m." (2006)
Alan Taylor for "Kennedy and Heidi" (2007)
Greg Yaitanes for "House's Head" (2008)
Rod Holcomb for "And in the End..." (2009)
Steve Shill for "The Getaway" (2010)
Martin Scorsese for "Boardwalk Empire" (2011)
Tim Van Patten for "To the Lost" (2012)
David Fincher for "Chapter 1" (2013)
Cary Joji Fukunaga for "Who Goes There" (2014)
David Nutter for "Mother's Mercy" (2015)
Miguel Sapochnik for "Battle of the Bastards" (2016)

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