Stop Doing That

The West Wing  Season 1 Episode 13 (Leo explains drug & alcohol addiction)

 CUT TO: INT. MEETING ROOM - PRESENT

JOSH 

What was the diagnosis?

STANLEY 

I'm sorry?

JOSH 

You said you diagnosed me in five minutes. 

What was the diagnosis?

STANLEY 

You have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

JOSH 

Well, that doesn't really sound like something they let you have if you work for the President. 

Can we have it be Something Else? 

Seriously, I-I think you might be wrong about that. 

I-I'm not tryin' to be difficult.

STANLEY 

I don't think you are.

JOSH 

I know that I-I'm givin' you cocky answers, I that should be...

STANLEY 

Listen...

JOSH 

I know that you want me to talk about my feelings.

STANLEY 

No I don't, Josh. 

The last thing I want you to do is talk about your feelings. 

I think if you heard a tape recording of this day, you wouldn't hear the word 'feelings.' 

What we need to be able to get you to do is to remember the shooting without reliving it. 

And you have been reliving it.

We hear Bartlet's speech introducing Yo-Yo Ma.

BARTLET [VO] 

We have polling that indicates that if Johann Sebastian Bach were alive today, he would have voted for me.

The crowd laughs.

STANLEY 

Right? It happened during the Christmas party?

JOSH 

I'm not tryin' to give cocky answers...

STANLEY 

I am The Guy You Tell, Josh! 

It happened at the Christmas party.

We hear Bartlet again.

BARTLET [VO] The Bach Suite in G Major. Please help me in welcoming Yo-Yo Ma.

The crowd applauds.

STANLEY Josh?

JOSH I was fine.

STANLEY Josh?

JOSH It was the Bach G Major.

We hear music playing. We flash to see scenes of the Christmas party.

STANLEY It's a nice piece.

JOSH It is.

STANLEY Did he play it well?

JOSH It's Yo-Yo Ma.

STANLEY I've never heard him in person.

JOSH He's really-he's really quite something,

We see flashes of the White House Senior Staff listening to Yo-Yo Ma.

STANLEY [VO] How did it start?

We cut back to the therapy.

JOSH I don't know.

STANLEY Yes, you do.

JOSH I was just sitting there.

We cut back to the party.

STANLEY And then what happened?

JOSH I don't know!

We suddenly hear a gunshot.

STANLEY Are you in the fourth grade?

JOSH 

I don't know how it started!

KAYTHA 

You tasted something bitter in your mouth.

Josh has a flashback to the shooting.

KAYTHA [cont.] 

It was the adrenaline. 

The bitter taste was the adrenaline.

STANLEY 

What happened then?

We see Josh at the party. He's hearing scream and shots.

JOSH 

I couldn't make it stop.

At the party, Josh winces as if in pain. He has a flashback to the shooting and feels as though he is being shot. He remembers the doctors and the ambulance.

JOSH I couldn't make it stop.

STANLEY No you couldn't, Josh, but you've been trying for weeks and that's why you feel sick inside.

We cut back to the party.

STANLEY And what happened when you went home that night?

CUT TO: INT. JOSH'S APARTMENT - NIGHT OF THE PARTY Josh is looking at his bloody hand.

SUPERINTENDENT Mr. Lyman? Are you in there?

CUT TO: INT. MEETING ROOM - PRESENT

STANLEY You had an episode at the party, that afternoon you had blown up in the Oval Office. What happened when you went home that night?

JOSH Honestly nothing!

STANLEY Okay.

He gets up and moves closer to Josh.

JOSH I sat down on the couch...

STANLEY Can you honestly tell me...

JOSH [in his head, he sees the action.] I-I pushed the magazine aside as a coaster...

STANLEY ...that when the Pilot committed suicide... Can you honestly tell me that you didn't wonder if you were suicidal too?

Josh has been hearing the Bach Suite in his head-stops and sees himself with a bloody hand.

JOSH I didn't wonder that.

STANLEY You're lying.

JOSH I didn't wonder that.

STANLEY 

Everything that the two of you had in common...

JOSH 

We had nothing in common!

STANLEY 

You know you had the same birthday...

JOSH 

Who gives a damn if we had the same birthday?

STANLEY 

But you knew Something Else.

JOSH 

Stanley...

STANLEY 

You knew he has been shot down once, 

that his plane had caught on fire, 

that he had ejected, 

and that there were some injuries.

JOSH [yelling] 

Stanley! I made myself a drink, I pushed aside a magazine to use as a coaster.

STANLEY [yelling] 

Josh! Josh. How did you cut your hand?

CUT TO: INT. JOSH'S APARTMENT - NIGHT OF THE PARTY Josh is at his apartment having flashbacks. He can't take it anymore and puts his hand through the window.

SUPERINTENDENT [knocking on door] Mr. Lyman? It's your Super. [knocks] Mr. Lyman, are you okay in there?

Josh looks at his hand.

SUPERINTENDENT Mr. Lyman!

The piece ends. We hear applause.

CUT TO: INT. MEETING ROOM - PRESENT

STANLEY Okay then.

JOSH Okay then?

STANLEY [nods] That's that.

JOSH I'm cured?

STANLEY [humoring him] 

Yeah, Josh. You're cured. No problem.

JOSH Stanley...

STANLEY I'm gonna recommend a therapist you'll like.

JOSH 

I like you!

STANLEY 

You're too easy a case for me.

JOSH I broke a window!

STANLEY 

Yeah. Stop Doing That. 

I want to commend you on not Hurting Anybody Else 

and 

not Hurting Yourself too badly, 

but nevertheless, 

Stop Doing That. 

[gets up from the chair]

JOSH And... that'll do the trick?

STANLEY Yup.

Kaytha gets up.

JOSH 

I-I'm gettin' short-changed here.

STANLEY Merry Christmas, Josh! 

We're done. 

[puts papers in briefcase] 

I'll call your office after the holidays and give you a number.

KAYTHA 

It was nice meeting you.

JOSH 

Hang on! 

What happens if tomorrow some pilot with my birthday decides to kill himself?

STANLEY 

No, that wasn't what started it.

JOSH 

What started it?

STANLEY 

You were already cooking for a few hours before the pilot.

JOSH I was?

STANLEY 

Usually with a gunshot victim it's a car backfiring, or a twig snapping, but that's not what it was with you.

JOSH 

What was it?

STANLEY 

[turns to Kaytha] 

Kaytha?

KAYTHA 

The Music.

STANLEY 

The Brass Quintet.

JOSH Why would the music have started it?

STANLEY Well, I know it's gonna sound like I'm telling you that two plus two equals a bushel of potatoes, but at this moment, in your head, music is the same thing as...

JOSH ...as sirens.

STANLEY [nods] Yeah. [puts on his coat]

JOSH So that's gonna be my reaction every time I hear music?

STANLEY No.

JOSH Why not?

STANLEY Because we get better. [starts to leave]

JOSH All the same, I need some more therapy!

STANLEY Oh, you're gonna get some!

JOSH I mean now! [gets up]

STANLEY Merry Christmas, Josh!

JOSH We can order a pizza!

STANLEY [laughs] Have a good night!

Stanley leaves with Kaytha. Josh follows him out of the room and calls.

JOSH Stanley, I haven't told you my dreams yet!

STANLEY [OS] Fax 'em over to me!

JOSH Merry Christmas.

Josh leaves the room as well.

CUT TO: INT. THE WHITE HOUSE LOBBY - NIGHT Leo is sitting in a chair reading. Josh enters and doesn't notice Leo.

LEO How'd it go?

JOSH [turns] Did you wait around for me?

Leo takes off his glasses.

JOSH He thinks I may have an eating disorder.

LEO [gets up] Josh.

JOSH And a fear of rectangles. That's not weird, is it? [pause] I didn't cut my hand on a glass. I broke a window in my apartment.

LEO This guy's walking down a street, when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep. He can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up "Hey you! Can you help me out?" The doctor writes him a prescription, throws it down the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole! Our guy says "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here!" and the friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out."

Josh looks at him.

LEO [cont.] As long as I got a job, you got a job, you understand? [gestures to Josh's hand] You wrapped that yourself, right?

JOSH [raises eyebrows] The bandage?

LEO Yeah.

JOSH Yeah.

LEO Okay. Donna's gonna take you to the emergency room.

JOSH She knows?

LEO She was the one who guessed.

JOSH I don't need the emergency room.

LEO Come on, it could be infected, you could have a thing.

JOSH What thing?

Donna enters with Josh's coat.

LEO How the hell do I know?

JOSH Leo...

DONNA Let's go.

She helps Josh on with his coat.

JOSH See you later.

LEO Okay.

Josh and Donna leave. Leo stands for a minute then leaves. 

Carolers can be heard singing "Carol of the Bells."

CUT TO: EXT. THE WHITE HOUSE GATES - NIGHT 

Carolers are singing outside. Josh and Donna come through the gates.

JOSH 

I don't need a Doctor.

DONNA 

Are you a Doctor?

JOSH 

No.

DONNA 

Then be quiet.

Josh and Donna stop in front of the carolers. 

Josh listens with a distant look on his face. Donna looks at him.

DONNA 

Josh?

JOSH 

Yeah.

DONNA 

Let's go.

JOSH 

Okay.

Donna leads him away. The carolers continue singing, while sirens can be heard. 

As the carolers end their song, we --

DISSOLVE TO: 

END TITLES. 

FADE TO BLACK. 

THE END