Father Sorkin
I just rewatched an episode of “The West Wing� called “Holy Night.� It originally aired in 2002. It’s another one of writer/creator Aaron Sorkin’s many Christmas episodes which are always, always good.
Probably the most interesting storyline in this episode is the one involving the character Toby. It’s two days before Christmas and Toby’s father, Julie, shows up. This doesn’t please Toby. Apparently, Julie was a participant in a murder that happened almost fifty years prior and went to jail for it. It’s obvious Toby is ashamed to have a link to this part of history. Toby and Julie’s relationship is very strained, impossibly so in fact, but Josh points out that he should cherish the time he has with his father. He’s paid for his sins and is worthy of forgiveness. So, the story line is ultimately one of the relationship between a father and a son.
Sorkin loves to explore the father/son dynamic. It seems most every male character he’s created has had a very strained relationship with his father. In addition to Toby’s issue with his Father, President Bartlett had a Father who resented his son because he was smarter than he was (really his dad was just a major prick). Sam Seaborn discovered his Father had been having a long time affair and that was causing a major problem. Josh Lyman blames himself in a weird way for the death of his Father. On the Sorkin created program “Sports Night,� the character of Dan Rydell has serious issues with his father, who for some reason isn’t able to connect with his son. And Jeremy Goodwin gets the cheating father, too (Sorkin lifted a number of great ideas from “Sports Night� for the first season or two of “The West Wing.�).
Of course once I realized this I’m curious what Sorkin’s story is with his own Father. I’m going to go look for some interviews, see if he ever talked about it.
