The West Wing: Im Zentrum der Macht No Exit (1999–2006) Online

The West Wing: Im Zentrum der Macht No Exit (1999–2006) Online

When a bio-hazard alarm goes off in the White House, the staff are locked down where they are - forcing them to have conversations they would have otherwise avoided.

The title is a reference to 'Huis Clos', the 1944 existentialist play by Jean-Paul Sartre, which is most often translated into English as "No Exit". The premise of the episode is similar to the play's - in both works, several people are confined to rooms they are unable to leave and as a result have sometimes painful conversations that they would not otherwise have had. Toby and Will's conversation refers to the play without naming it, and Will repeats its famous line "Hell is other people."

There is a "Seaborn For Congress" banner pinned to the cork board behind Will as he talks to Toby. Will replaced Sam Seaborn in Season 4 as Sam ran for Congress.

Unlike the majority of West Wing episodes, this episode's title is not spoken outright by a character. "No Exit" is a play written by Jean-Paul Sartre. It was originally published in French under the title "Huis Clos." In the play, three people arrive in Hell and find it to be much like a hotel when they are all put in a room together. Sartre strays away from the conventional ideas that Hell was all about fire and pitchforks. The theme of the play is that Hell is other people. So in the play, as in the episode, the people who are stuck with one another torture each other. Also, Toby (Richard Schiff) and Will (Joshua Malina) actually do discuss Jean-Paul Sartre during their confinement.

Tularemia,Francisella tularensis, is known as Pahvant Valley plague, but is better known as Rabbit Fever and is not to be confused with what is generally known as The Plague (the Black Death, killer of 1/3 of Europe), Yersinia pestis, as seems to be implied by the doctor's reference to it in this episode. Its symtoms include fever, lethargy, anorexia, septicimic signs and inflammed lymph nodes that sometimes suppurate - which does look like the bubonic plague. The respiratory signs the doctor mentioned, however, are not associated with Tularemia or Bubonic Plague. Plague used to be said to have the bubonic strain and a respiratory strain (which was a more certain death than the bubonic) but that has since been disproved by analysis of Yersinia pestis. It is now thought to be likely that other illnesses contributed to the dramatic loss of life. Interestingly, in September of 2005 Tularemia was detected on the Mall in Washington, D.C after an anti-war demonstration. No infections were reported, however.

This episode uses the classic sitcom convention of locking two people with differences into a room and forcing them to work it out; however, it is used on a much larger scale.

Beau billingslea plays Agent Velasquez in this episode he played Agent Cooper in the American president also starring Martin Sheen

"Previously on the West Wing" spoken by C.J. (Allison Janney).

It is unlikely that a secret service agent would park his car in a garage as depicted. Firstly, there are no such open air garages like that in proximity to the White House and secondly, many White House staff park in surface spots surrounding the White House.

While locked down with Will, Toby whistles a couple lines from "Sunrise, Sunset" from "Fiddler on the Roof" after Will implied Toby was in the sunset of his political career.