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| The cast of "The Newsroom" |
Those who
were expecting The Newsroom to be an
entirely different show in its sophomore season have likely been disappointed
by the first four episodes. While there
have been a handful of subtle changes, many of the more problematic elements
from season one have carried over to season two. But there have been some very significant,
fundamental changes to the show, its focus, and its structure that have had
both positive and negative effects.
And the fourth episode really serves well in highlighting those
fundamental changes.
The biggest
change we’ve seen is the deemphasizing of the “Big Stories.” The first season was rife with big stories,
whether it was a specific disaster like the BP Oil Spill or Fukushima, or a
larger story like immigration or the Tea Party.
Episodes this year have had far less focus, resulting in one big
benefit, but two major problems. On the
positive ledger, by focusing less on the big stories and more on smaller news
stories (or even fictional storylines like Genoa, Africa, and Jim’s road trip),
there is less opportunity for Sorkin soapboxing and monologuing. Just take a look at this week’s episode. With the exception of the brief rundown
meeting, there was no real news discussed in the entire hour, with the possible
exception of Will interviewing Shelly, Neal’s OWS contact. It’s impossible to consider this development
as anything but positive, since many of my problems with last season were
based, not on Sorkin’s politics, but on the ham-handed way that he dealt with
politics, which often resulted in people lecturing other characters for no real
reason or even characters taking conflicting positions based on what Sorkin
needed to say. By focusing on smaller
problems (and even fictional ones), Sorkin still gets his points across, but in
a much more subtle way.
Unfortunately,
the lack of big stories has caused two big problems this year. First, there hasn’t been any real news. And without any news, we don’t get to see any
actual news production, which was by far the best part of the show in its first
season. Sorkin, despite all his faults,
is still incredibly skilled at showing people who are good at their jobs do
those jobs well, and The Newsroom is at
its best when the entire production team is working together to produce a
show. Unfortunately, after the first ten
minutes of the season premiere, we’ve gotten virtually none of that. The second problem with the “small stories”
approach is that it’s separated our characters from each other, a feature most notable
in last night’s episode as Jim was still off on his own and Maggie and Gary
were in Africa. Neal’s and Jerry’s
stories briefly intersected, but even then, I don’t think there was more than
five minutes worth of total screentime in which more than two main characters shared
a scene together. This has created
storylines either immensely dull (the Romney campaign and OWS), interesting but
problematic (Genoa), or focused much more on the future than the present (Africa).
The
abandonment of big stories in favor of smaller stories may seem like a subtle
change, but it has had a huge impact on the show. At the close of “Unintended Consequences,” it
seems as though one of the problems is being brought to a close, with Jim and
Maggie both back in at “News Night” and the OWS story out of steam (though I
may just be inferring that from the preview for next week’s episode, which implies
that the show will be fast forwarding several months). The
Newsroom doesn’t necessarily need to do “Big Stories” every week, but it
does need to let its characters work together and do their jobs. It’s what the show does best.
So let’s dig
in to “Unintended Consequences.” The
most obvious place to start, and the most problematic part of the episode, is
Maggie’s trip to Africa. AWM lawyer
Rebecca Halladay is back this week (in the future) to depose Maggie. We get a little more information about the
case, which is a wrongful termination suit based on whether or not a “General
Stanislav Stomtonovic” said “it happened” in a conversation between the
general, Jerry, and Maggie. It isn’t
directly stated, but the obvious implication here is that Jerry gets fired
because of the Genoa story, specifically because he uses Stomtonovic as a
confirmed source. It seems a little
obvious, though and, had Will not given his statement in the opening episode,
I’d be inclined to think this was a ruse to cover up that he was the one who was fired. Either way, Maggie’s testimony is used as a
framing device for telling her Africa story, which just doesn’t work. First off, we’re told pretty early on that
she saw somebody die, and while there are a few potential targets, it
becomes clear pretty quickly, that the young Ugandan boy she meets is going to
be offed. Second, even knowing the
likely outcome, I could have easily been drawn in by the tense, final
sequence. But Sorkin undercuts all of
the tension by constantly returning to Maggie’s narration. None of it works in the episode and it
becomes even more problematic when you realize that the only point in telling
the story is to get us to realize that Maggie is pretty messed up and hasn’t been
taken her prescribed Paxil (which leaves a gaping hole in her credibility). I can’t say exactly how this story could have been better done, but this didn’t work.
On the Genoa
front, Jerry’s story collides with Neal’s OWS story as Shelly subtly drops that
one of her fellow Zucotti Park campers worked with an NGO in Pakistan, where he
took reports from villagers about American troops using chemical weapons during
an incursion. What follows is some classic
Sorkin situation comedy in which a parade of characters try (and hilariously
fail) to apologize for Will verbally tearing Shelly apart on national
television because he won’t apologize for himself (and Shelly demands an
apology before she’ll give up the name of the source). Watching Sloane and Don each try to apologize
for Will is funny, but it all seems kind of pointless when Will and Shelly come
to a détente at episode’s end when she admits that she made a fool of herself
and Will apologizes for provoking her.
This plot just keeps getting more intense as more and more pieces fall
into place. It’s easy to see how the
crew could get sucked in by this story, though I still wish (as I’ve said
before and will surely say again), that it was one of the core characters
leading the investigation instead of a new character. It would also give a greater impact to the
fact that somebody’s going to get fired over Genoa. Still, giving the show a season-long mystery,
in order to show how reporting is really done in this medium, was a great
decision, and I’m finding myself more invested as the season moves along.
Finally,
transitioning to storylines I’m finding myself less invested in as the season
moves along, Jim finally goes insane, as
he leverages a weak moment by Romney’s PR rep into a sit-down interview for
Hallie, rather than himself. I
understand why Jim did what he did and everybody involved in this story reacts
just like they should, but I just can’t bring myself to care about Jim’s love
life. And when he and Hallie finally kiss,
it just feels empty, not least because John Gallagher has much better chemistry with
Constance Zimmer’s PR rep than Grace Gummer’s bland Hallie. In the end, though, Jim is back in New York,
having been pulled off the campaign trail by Mackenzie. I’d like to think this whole storyline was
just a mistake that’ll be quickly forgotten, but I imagine that won’t be the
case.
“Unintended
Consequences” was a clear step backward for The
Newsroom, though I’m hopeful that its problems, while structural, will be
fixed by bringing the team back together to actually do the news.
A couple of
spare thoughts –
This is the
first HBO show I’ve ever watched where I thought, “I could really use a
commercial break right now.” It was
particularly apparent last night as we got a jarring transition from Sloane,
Neal, and Shelly having a (slightly) humorous conservation over coffee to Maggie’s
deposition and Africa. There’s also so
much extraneous material in this show that it might almost be better as a network
show, forced to trim the fat to 43 minutes and given time for the acts to
breathe.
Aaron Sorkin
is a master lampshade hanger, with Maggie’s hair in the premiere, and the
convenient “one available room” twist this week.
Will’s
apology to Shelly is the most real he has seemed this season. It’s a good look on him and I’d like to see
it more.
I’m a little
surprised that the Family Foundation for the Foundation of Families doesn’t
actually exist.
No
Ridiculous Female Stereotype of the Week this week, though I’m open to
suggestions.
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