I skipped out on recapping last week’s episode of The Newsroom because I found it a bit dull (yet still watched it 11 times). Will had a sweet moment on ACN Morning and the Operation Genoa story continued to unveil, but too much of it was tiresome. I was tired of Lugubrious Will, Cock Blocked Jim, and Not Getting Any Action Don. Thankfully, this week’s episode was thunderous. It was dramatic and ended with a stentorian roar. Let’s start at the ending.
Leona Lansing is Mariano Rivera: Jane Fonda came in at the end of this episode of The Newsroom and made it her bitch. She completely owned it and starred in the best scene of the season (possibly the second-best Newsroom scene ever behind Will’s speech at Northwestern in s1e1). Her character, Atlantis World Media CEO Leona Lansing, dominated the last three and half minutes of the show with a passionate, charged, and hilarious diatribe. It showed so many sides of her character — her toughness, her wonderfully harsh sense of humor, and her hidden love for Atlantis Cable News. It was a thrilling way to close the show and reminded me of Mariano Rivera closing out an exciting Yankee game.
Don Keefer Lights it Up: Naturally, the best episode of the season kicked of with The Newsroom’s best character. Don was at his sardonic best, “working” with ACN’s lawyer. He also had several great moments in the “Red Team” meetings — sharp lines that only Don Keefer can deliver with the proper bite. While Don is no closer to a relationship with Sloan Sabbith than he was in s2e1, he’s still the coolest cat in the newsroom. This character rules.
A Few Good Men (and Women): One of the reasons I enjoyed this episode so much was that it was a legal drama. Twelve Angry Men, A Few Good Men, and Primal Fear are some of my favorite movies of all time. In this episode, The Newsroom’s use of real-world events and romantic comedy took a backseat to the legal drama. Having ACN’s lawyer played by the excellent Marcia Gay Harden helped too. Hmmmm, the people that say that The Newsroom portrays women as fools need to look at the characters played by Jane Fonda and Marcia Gay Harden. Those ladies are tough.
Shot-Clock Violation: Brian Fantana Jerry Dantana doctored some raw footage of a key Operation Genoa interview so that it would tell the story he wanted told. When the interviewee insisted on leaving March Madness basketball games playing in the background (s2e6), I knew that the shot clock would play a role in the Operation Genoa report unraveling. Honestly, I thought it was silly that nobody caught it. You had the news teams from two shows and 30 ACN lawyers combing over the material. While I understand that the enormity of the story was foremost on their minds, I don’t see how all of them missed the shot clock jumping back and forth. I was kind of disappointed that MacKenzie was the one that eventually spotted it. It seemed like something Slumdog Millionaire would have sleuthed.
Sloan Dislocates Her Shoulder: Sloan Sabbith didn’t do a lot in this episode, which means that Olivia Munn didn’t have many opportunities for unbelievable acting (playing a character that has two doctorates is one thing, but playing someone embarrassed by naked photos is completely unbelievable). Since dear Olivia was denied the opportunity to offend, you should watch her dislocate her shoulder. The video is a week old, but it’s still frickin’ hilarious!
They missed the shot clock since it was blurred out in the red team meetings. Mac saw it once she played the chopped but not blurred version on the MacPro.
I thought the ONI guy getting revenge for his junkie kid was pretty stupid.
In Red Team II Mac asked to see the raw footage. Someone should have noticed it then. Even before that, it should have been picked up. Raw footage is always logged and it’s not hard to see where cuts are made, especially for experienced editors like the dozens (imaginarily) employed by ACN.
I don’t know about the ONI guy. It did seem out of left field and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was also Will’s secret source. I was also scared by him repeatedly stating Neal’s name. Slumdog Millionaire is going to die! Am cry. Seriously though, a father having to bury a son is one of the toughest things to deal with. As far as revenge goes, he did a great job.
Yeah but they assumed the whole tape was raw and that it was filmed with dual control.
Father burying the son: true however this guy’s son was a junkie and the dad expected Charlie to enable his bad behavior.
Yes, but I still don’t see how that can be missed when dozens of people had access to raw footage. For a story that big, multiple people would have seen it and I can’t see a competent editor missing it.
Shep is one of many fathers making excuses for his son. He’s also looking for someone to blame for his death. It’s not right, but it happens a lot.
I can’t respond to your last comment since the click area is so small.
Professional trust of your coworkers. It happens a lot. That trust is impossible to gain back too.