The aides’ ethical erosion: Josh Lyman (driven by loyalty/fear) and Sam (complicit/reluctant) attempt a preemptive, morally dubious political countermeasure to blunt a partisan attack on Leo McGarry — loyalty and political survival colliding with profe...
The aides’ ethical erosion: Josh Lyman (driven by loyalty/fear) and Sam (complicit/reluctant) attempt a preemptive, morally dubious political countermeasure to blunt a partisan attack on Leo McGarry — loyalty and political survival colliding with professional integrity and principle.
Events in This Arc
Donna's playful Christmas list opens the beat — a light, flirtatious moment that reveals Josh's distracted, evasive state when he crumples her note out of sight. He rushes to Leo, …
Late at night Sam and Josh come to Laurie's door asking for criminal, character-attack intelligence to silence a congressman threatening a colleague. Laurie instantly recognizes the request as an unethical …
On Christmas Eve in Leo's office, the chief of staff abruptly exposes that he had Josh and Sam tailed, detonating a moral and professional rebuke. Leo's calm fury—"It's not what …