Isaac and Ishmael

"Isaac and Ishmael"
The West Wing episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 0
Directed by	Christopher Misiano
Written by	Aaron Sorkin
Production code	227206
Original air date	October 3, 2001
Guest stars
Ajay Naidu Michael O'Neill Jonathan Nichols Jeanette Brox
Season 3 episodes
October 10, 2001 – May 22, 2002 Isaac and Ishmael Documentary Special 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
List of The West Wing episodes

"Isaac and Ishmael" is a non-sequential episode of The West Wing which unofficially launched the third season in 2001. The episode was a response to the 9/11 attacks and was written and filmed within two weeks of that event and aired before the third season officially began.

Plot

The main cast introduces the episode out of character by paying tribute to those affected by the September 11 terrorist attacks and informing viewers about what to expect from the delayed premiere of the third season. The cast also makes it clear that this episode doesn't fall in the West Wing continuity. However, some characters make reference to events that occurred within the true continuity of the series.

In the episode, the White House is "crashed" due to a staff member having the same name as a known alias of a person on a terrorist watch list. The lockdown leaves a group of students selected for Presidential Classroom stuck in the mess hall with Josh while other staffers—and the President and First Lady—drop in to join the discussion about terrorism. Meanwhile, Leo and Ron Butterfield interrogate the staff member. The episode tackles issues of race, religion, and intolerance, with characters explaining to the students that Muslim terrorists are a small minority with an extreme interpretation of their religion and with the interrogated staff member angrily responding to Leo's racist comments by reminding him that it had been white supremacists who fired on the presidential party, not Islamic terrorists.

The episode's title stems from the story the First Lady tells at the end about Abraham and his two sons Isaac and Ishmael in the Book of Genesis and how it explains the source of conflict between Jewish and Muslim descendants first appeared in the world.

Errors

When special agent Ron Butterfield is briefing Leo on a suspected terrorist, he claims that he was caught crossing "from Ontario into Vermont". Ontario and Vermont do not border each other. Vermont shares a border with Quebec.

External links

• "Isaac and Ishmael" at the Internet Movie Database
• The West Wing Episode Guide