Three episodes in on The Newsroom, the show makes its most curious decision yet: from creating two hours that mostly center on one catalyzing moment in time—the pilot's rebirth of News Night and the follow up's focus on Will's commitment to that revival—"The 112th Congress" takes a six-month leap of faith, a leap where News Night has reduced itself to Square One, Will MacAvoy has effectively shed the 7% growth he gained after The Northwestern Incident, and Charlie Skinner, the real puppet master behind it all, is facing heat from the execs for being such a maverick. It's an observational period at how Will and Mackenzie's hopelessly optimistic attempt to change the world via primetime has been going, and apparently it's just been pissing Jane Fonda off.
| Related: Last week's Newsroom recap |
This isn't bad. I do like the Sorkin method of story that spans massive amounts of time, careening between location and characters before hitting its main objective, because logistically, he does it very well. But to do so after just two episodes seems strange when the viewer is nowhere near as engaged as they should be for a sudden six-month ride. We're barely strapped in here and Will is slaying Tea Party members as Rogue Republicans, bringing down Koch brothers, and causing reckless mayhem all over ACN. It's fun and great television, when it's not coming off as occasionally juvenile (some of the fun he has at his guests' expense is just too douche-y, for no desire of a better term), but the gravitas of Will as The Great Big Tea Party Wrecking Ball comes up short, all bludgeoned into the conclusion of his actions hurting the show and the network, when in real life, it'd have had much more interesting consequences in the media and in the television landscape. Sorkin doesn't care as much about that as he does shaping this world to his liking, and the plots involved are shortchanged because of it.
Again. This episode isn't bad. But everything about "The 112th Congress" is so explicitly stated—this is what has happened and there's no room for anything more than observation—that it makes everything less engaging than it could be, and to have a six-month story where the viewer isn't actively thought of is the biggest mistake the show's made yet. This is already a problem that The Newsroom has had, everything being telling instead of showing, but it's at its weakest and most damaging in this episode: no matter how well-produced it might be, there's still no feeling for the viewer being an active part of the experience. For example: the episode very quickly explains in a darkly lit, awkwardly glum boardroom that ratings are down and News Night is fucked, where if it had perhaps lightened that tone and saved that piece of information for the back end of the episode, at least Skinner's insistent questioning of why a meeting was being held would have had weight. Newsroom as a show you just sit and observe doesn't give the mind much to do but sit and observe and find more to dislike, and it's the show's biggest fault as we continue.
I still wish that Sorkin was much better at injecting the romantic aspect of the show than he actually is, but I'm getting used to whenever it's haphazardly thrown in with the process of newsing. Will and Mackenzie's professional relationship in this episode are subpar to their personal one this week, where Will is dating babes and Mackenzie is bothered by it while simultaneously dating a babe of her own. The show points this out in the most obnoxiously convenient way (why did he have to stumble into the guy? Her 'fessing up would have been much more effective), but if the show is going to drag out their non-relationship than at least they're keeping it slightly interesting. Meanwhile, Jim and Maggie go through more Jim and Maggie problems: she breaks up with Don for the umpteenth time before getting back together with him, all to a crushed Jim as he's on his way to spend more time just staring at her. He's his own worst enemy here and I can appreciate that. But so is Aaron Sorkin.
SumOlogy: I'm staying strong on the 'B' side of things, but I don't know how much longer I can do it.
Grade: B-
Leftovers
Oh, Don, how I love to hate you. I think he's portrayed really well, and had a lot of standout moments in the episode, even if none of the ones with Maggie made much sense.
Watching Sloan Sabbith struggle during the Election coverage was strange: I couldn't figure out what point they were trying to make. Women anchors suck? Will MacAvoy is better than anyone? Olivia Munn can't pronounce one-syllable words?
I'd like a Newsroom where Will MacAvoy gets fired, but then Jane Fonda (who did incredible, expectedly, as Leona Lansing) had to go in and throw the line where if Will is fired he can't work for three years, which basically means that if they can't hoodwink around that line in the contract, Sorkin would never fire Will.
"I wish your face would stop moving so I could punch it."
"What is someone supposed to do with a bleeding Mexican?"
"I don't have time to explain the plot of Gypsy!" (This was really funny.)
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