And now The Newsroom....

[Count Zero]

I thought that the inclusion of the 4square thing drove home the point about how much we might (accidentally) reveal about ourselves online and that the scene also showed how people who've never met can be connected through the net even though it was about something else.

 

[TheGodBen]

Judging by the episodes we've seen this season, Sorkin seems to have over-corrected in response to much of the criticism that was lobbed at him after the first season.

As one of the biggest critics of the first season on this site, it's probably not surprising that I disagree. I feel that season 2 has been a marked improvement thus far. There's still some rough edges, such as the laundromat scene and that footage of Will on September 11th, but on the whole the writing is on firmer ground. Admittedly, the actual plots of the first two episodes haven't been anything special, but that's the result of attempting a season-long storyline rather than the more self-contained stories of season 1.

Now all the people in the newsroom are shown to be ultra-capable at their jobs, at all times. Flawed characters may send the wrong message to the audience.

Firstly, the claim that the cast is now ultra-capable at their jobs is plainly not true. Maggie screwed up the DSK thing, Jim effectively took a demotion because of his personal life, Don almost abused his position to lynch a guy, while Will has been censoring himself because of a crisis of confidence. The difference this season is that the characters are now portrayed as being mostly capable at their jobs, whereas in the first season they were portrayed as being a troupe of clowns that somehow hobbled together a news show every night.

 

[bigdaddy]

I miss the goofiness of season 1. It had a fun feel to it of the characters acting crazy. I'm not looking for something to be completely realistic, that be boring, I want something fun and silly mixed in with the seriousness and this season is missing that or it's just badly done.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

The return of the Mission to Civilize and the first great episode of the season.

Tonight's episode of the Newsroom was a wonderful return to form. No more subdued Will, Mac or Jim. These three had fire in their bellies. Jim pressing the questions on the bus, Mac curious about the voice mail and making the first tentative steps toward Genoa, and Will -- from the opening editorial, to his parley with Nina Howard, even the unsheathing of the "devastating" blackmail recording ("dumb-ass!") -- was back in fighting shape.

Even Sloan, Don, and Dev Patel's character had their moments to shine. Maggie's drug zaniness may have worn a little thin but was easy enough to overlook with all of the surrounding quality.

It's good to have Aaron Sorkin hitting his stride again and I, for one, cannot wait for next week's show.

 

[Data Holmes]

The return of the Mission to Civilize and the first great episode of the season.

Tonight's episode of the Newsroom was a wonderful return to form. No more subdued Will, Mac or Jim. These three had fire in their bellies. Jim pressing the questions on the bus, Mac curious about the voice mail and making the first tentative steps toward Genoa, and Will -- from the opening editorial, to his parley with Nina Howard, even the unsheathing of the "devastating" blackmail recording ("dumb-ass!") -- was back in fighting shape.

Even Sloan, Don, and Dev Patel's character had their moments to shine. Maggie's drug zaniness may have worn a little thin but was easy enough to overlook with all of the surrounding quality.

It's good to have Aaron Sorkin hitting his stride again and I, for one, cannot wait for next week's show.

Olivia Munn is really getting some time to shine, and show that she isn't as bad an actress as a lot of people wrote her off as. I loved the ball peen hammer line. I think the Don bit with the chair was great. Sam Waterston looks like he is having a ton of fun playing Charlie Skinner.

Am I the only one who thinks that it might be Lansing who is setting them up with Genoa?

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ If she is, then that, coupled with the whole TMI thing against Will, makes her an extraordinarily irresponsible and self-destructive chief executive - way too willing to be an active participant in allowing one of the prime segments of her company to be crushed under the weight of political skullduggery. Although if things do go horrendously sideways, I'm sure she'll not hesitate to throw her preening little sycophantic demon spawn (Reese) under the bus to save her own crusty ass.

 

[Data Holmes]

^^^ If she is, then that, coupled with the whole TMI thing against Will, makes her an extraordinarily irresponsible and self-destructive chief executive - way too willing to be an active participant in allowing one of the prime segments of her company to be crushed under the weight of political skullduggery. Although if things do go horrendously sideways, I'm sure she'll not hesitate to throw her preening little sycophantic demon spawn (Reese) under the bus to save her own crusty ass.

I actually meant the son, not the mother. She is a business woman for sure but she still has a moral base, her son on the other hand has totally lost his moral compass and felt personally affronted by newsnite 2.0.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Ah, yes...I agree - there's also the phone hacking thing that he's involved in, too.

But she still is in-the-know on the TMI personal attacks on Will's character to keep him in check (did she even say she ordered that?) - I do honestly wonder how much dirt she is aware of and has given either tacit or explicit approval to execute.

Or is this strictly about some guy with mommy issues who wants to prove to the world that he can run a company and be just as ruthless and shrude as she is - proving that he is a worthy heir apparent to the family jewels?

 

[Data Holmes]

Ah, yes...I agree - there's also the phone hacking thing that he's involved in, too.

But she still is in-the-know on the TMI personal attacks on Will's character to keep him in check (did she even say she ordered that?) - I do honestly wonder how much dirt she is aware of and has given either tacit or explicit approval to execute.

Or is this strictly about some guy with mommy issues who wants to prove to the world that he can run a company and be just as ruthless and shrude as she is - proving that he is a worthy heir apparent to the family jewels?

I doubt his mother has any clue just how dirty he plays, she was suprised and angery when she found out about his ordering the phone hacking. She is too trusting, because he is her son.

 

[marillion]

A good episode last night, by in large, but I thought Sloan was wasted... The rat-a-tat-tat dialog she had with Joe seemed forced.. She is a SMART character and the writing in that scene seemed off base with her.. I get that she was flustered, but it just seemed off.. Maybe it was just the pace... Hmmm...

Some really funny bits that my wife even laughed at, and she's not a fan of the show...

 

[danellis]

I thought the Don chair thing was typical Sorkin, but funny none-the-less.

I thought there were a couple of odd camera zooms this week. Best way I can think of to describe them is how in handicam footage you get lots of sudden zooms where the person has missed the change in action. As Will went into the safe (that thing with him not having actually recorded the confession was another typical Sorkin move) is the obvious one, but there were others, both before and after.

dJE.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I think they're called snap-zooms. I hate them - that and the shaky-cam nonsense. Cinema verite crap.

 

[Trekker4747]

Very good episode. But, dammit, I want more broadcast segments! Olivia Munn is doing a great job on the show which is good because I really like her and am disappointed her stint as a "contributor" on The Daily Show didn't last, I liked her on there. Here, though? She's been great. Though given the way she's behaved I'm surprised that she still has a job after the Fukushima incident last season and now recommending against a viable stock during a money segment. (Something politics really shouldn't be injected into.) Now she's a potential leak risk.

Jim on the campaign bus has gotten interesting and, really, I wish his "snapping" had been a bit grander and sooner as he's been treated like shit on the bus. But, damn, if it didn't make the point on how the media handled the election. I sort of wish his little campaign-trail reports had even revealed the problems on the trail and how he was being treated.

The nonsense with Maggie? Ugh. You know, I like her okay but she's a bit nutso especially with the medication reactions segment(s.) And we obviously all know Dev will bring in his OWS chick/friend as the inside-source for the coverage of it.

 

[TheGodBen]

I guess I'm the contrarian of this thread. I thought this episode was really poor in comparison to the previous two. It seems like after a brief spell of addressing the criticism of the first season, Sorkin may be heading right back to that style. The clowns are back. Will can't operate a tape recorder, Don can't handle the complexities of sitting in a chair, and Maggie is a straight-up loon. The Jim material was Sorkin at his most sanctimonious. Nina Howard's character was apparently given a personality transplant in order to unnecessarily drag out the Will/Mac non-relationship.

I did think the scene between Will and Charlie towards the start of the episode was good.

 

[Trekker4747]

The stuff with Will, the chair and Maggie with the medicine did strike me as silly. (Though Maggie one signed piece of paper away from the mental ward as it is.) Though, keep in mind, Will last season had a hard time operating pants. The tape recorder didn't seem to much a stretch. (Was it an actual tape recorder or a digital recording device?) It's happened to me a couple of times mostly from unfamiliarity with the device's peculiarities. The stuff with the chair, though, that was a bit painful.

 

[Anwar]

The way Reese was acting, it was like he already knew the recorder had nothing. I'm guessing he somehow got to the safe and erased it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You ever had a punk try to treat you like a twit AND push your mum around?

 

[137th Gebirg]

Finally saw the ep on my DVR and I thought it was pretty decent. The Genoa thing is pretty fascinating in its evolution; continuing to really like Sloan - her and Charlie are my favorite characters to this point; loved Don's chair antics; not really liking Will hanging out with TMI lady now but...eh...

The one thing I'm finding most pointless right now is Jim's little escapade. The elections are over, Obama won - yay! Yes , we remember. I know this show subsists off news and politics of the recent past, but this particular bit feels like someone just dug up a two-year old body and proceeded to dunk it in a tank of acid ...y'know...just to make sure an' all that. Yeah, Romney was a big fat dud, but this just seems like pissing on the man's grave now. Can some people not move on? Other than that, I thought this was a pretty good ep.

 

[Trekker4747]

I think it's less "pissing on Romney's grave" and more attacking how the media acted during the election, like them not pressing harder questions on Romney's inconsistencies during the election.

 

[bigdaddy]

To be fair the last election was a joke on both sides. No one asked any real questiosn to either candidate.