The Cold Open (Plot)
Jerry Dantana’s Operation Genoa story is aired on News Night. Days after the broadcast, the ACN staff discovers flaws within all evidence, including the doctored interview with the former general. Mac, Charlie, and Will’s resignation over Genoa is rejected by Leona.
The Lead Anchor (Top Performance)
The scene where Mackenzie discovers that the interview was doctored and then confronts JD in the elevator is by far one of her best. She’s not trying to be funny or get a rise out of Will, which comprises most of her scenes on the Newsroom to date. We see her in a different, rawer element this week and it’s much better than her following Will around like a puppy dog.
Today’s Top Story (Favorite Part of the Episode)
I was beyond shocked when it was revealed that Charlie’s Genoa “source” was vengeful over the death of his late son. Though the story of the death was sad, Charlie did the right thing by both letting the kid go for unprofessionalism and for following the Genoa lead. His only fault in this whole situation was putting trust in the wrong person. Unfortunately this happens to everyone, but in this instance, it involves the accusation that the government is involved in a war crime, so it’s much worse.
The Human Interest Piece (Little Thing We Loved)
For the first time in all of the Newsroom, I liked Leona. It’s scary that I’m admitting that because shes been the only villain of ACN before Jerry Dantana came to New York, but it was really surprising that she is standing up for her staff. Though her and Reese are mostly all about the ratings, it was nice to see them interacting with the staff without thinking about the dollar signs. I hope that continues.
They Could’ve Buried This Lead (Worst Part of the Episode)
I cringed at the Charlie slap and there weren’t a bunch of funny one-liners, but other than that, nothing was really bad about this episode.
Episode Thoughts
This was the best episode of the season by far. Here’s why:
*Everything that I mentioned above except for the Charlie slap.
*No love triangles, FINALLY. Not even a Sloan/Don angle. I know I’ve put in my two cents about the love triangles, and I don’t mind them most of the time, really. But Sorkin beats all of the love triangles to death and it’s aggravating sometimes..er most of the time. Do they really need to take an entire season to close a love triangle storyline? Do they really need to center these around an entire episode? Ugh, sometimes we just want to see the ACN staff focus on their jobs instead of their personal lives. I liked trying to guess what news stories of the past were going to come up last season and it’s sad I haven’t had the opportunity to do much of that this season.
*JD is gone! (I hope…)
We’re nearing the end, friends and I’m excited how this one will turn out in the end. Will the ACN news team crumble and fall? I hope not. Will Leona save the day? Who knows, but I’m crossing my fingers for all of the ACN crew.
all photos credit: hbo
