Hallelujah: The Power of Music (and life and death)

I used to be a huge “West Wing” fan; Peter and I would plan dates with friends to watch the show, even to watch the taped episodes we missed of the show. I still like it, but think that the quality and the emotional depth have both been lacking – something I was reminded of when watching the first episode from season five today while home sick hacking and blowing my nose. The way the early seasons used subtle looks and eyebrow arches, in-depth information about policy and history, anthemic music, vulnerable yet rich characters, and powerful acting all created such deep spiritual and human realities on screen.   This particular show opens within the drama of President Bartlett recusing himself from his national leadership post because his youngest daughter (Zoe) has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. In order to uphold the ideal of putting the nation first, the scared and angry father reasons that he does want his personal/familial emotions to interfere with decisions that must be made during this crisis for the nation. (There is a whole interesting theology here of personal versus corporate security, just war theory, etc. – but I digress).  This episode weaves together the two divergent forces of a stand-in President growing comfortable in his authority and deciding to wage war on a middle eastern country to show strength and retribution for the kidnapping, even as the father (ex-commander in chief), sits in the shadows and feels numb without his role or the authority to bring security for anyone – his family or his nation.  The stand-in President is informed that carrying out this military attack would likely result in Zoe’s death as a retribution of violence; he answers, “they will kill her anyway.”  The show ends with the Bartlett extended family sharing mass to the strains of a gorgeous latin hymn, and intermixed with the fugue’s sound and the sacred space of the cathedral, flashes of the situation room surface showing the bombs reaching their targets in the middle east as the new commander looks on.  A show of national authority that includes certainty, strength, and death; a show of private submission and remembering that includes grief, community, communion, and no answers.  In this last scene the emotion builds and builds, with no dialogue, but mostly due to the music, these two divergent choices are displayed beautifully and in their human complexity.  What are our choices to protect others? Who do we protect and who can we not? Is individual sacrifice necessary for national interest?  Is the good of the many over and above the safety or life of a few, or of one?  It was just fascinating stuff for television, if you ask me. 

Another moving West Wing episode that deals with a dramatic crescendo to life and death involves Press Secretary C.J. Craigg being sent realistic death threats and having a private detail put on her to make sure she is safe. She and her agent actually become quite close, as she becomes increasingly aware of her own mortality and the commitment from the agent, named Simon, who is willing to die for her in order to protect her.  At an opera performance that evening, C.J. and Simon are thrilled to learn that they have arrested the psycho threatening C.J. – not only is she now safe, but now she and Simon can start to develop a more in-depth personal relationship; they started to fall in love, but because he was her detail, they had to refrain from acting on it. The show ends with Simon buying C.J. roses in a little corner market and unknowingly walking into a burglary there; as the song “Hallelujah” builds, scenes of Simon defending the grocery store owner and then being shot down on top of his fresh roses is interspersed with C.J. smiling at the opera and looking forward to her future relationship growing with Simon.  Without warning, for no reason or noble act or defending someone else, Simon is killed that night in the grocery store and C.J. and the administration rush to the scene and are grieving as the music concludes and the episode ends. It is again a powerful show, made more palpable through the song chosen.  I love the song from this episode – its Jeff Buckley’s version of a famous piece; I’ve included the lyrics below. Like David and Job and Jesus before him, President Bartlett and C.J. are characters who must walk through questions of why, don’t leave me, why cause suffering, are you still there, I don’t deserve this, I miss my friend, help.  In the dark silence of the cathedral, on the cold wet streets of the city, people in these shows deal with life and death and pain; it does not always wrap up in 45 minutes, in time for the commercials.  Part of why I love this show is that it teaches about lament and grief over the loss of life and the insanity of death – something that I need to do more of.       

“Hallelujah”  

Well I heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do ya?
Well it goes like this :
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah Hallelujah… 

Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
And she tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
But from your lips she drew the Hallelujah Hallelujah… 

(Yeah but) Baby I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor, (You know)
I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
and love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah Hallelujah… 

Well there was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me do ya
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath you drew was Hallelujah  Hallelujah…