Article first published as THE NEWSROOM Review Season 2 Premiere on Seat42F.
Grade: 91%
Grade: 91%
HBO’s THE NEWSROOM is back for a second
season with “First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers.” The main
part of the story takes place two weeks after the events of last year’s
finale, and the various characters must deal with the consequences of
their actions, both professional and personal. If you have not yet
watched the episode, I recommend viewing it before reading this review,
to avoid anything being spoiled, as the various story points will be
discussed below.
Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) is a subdued
man in “First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers.” Although he is
fired up and passionate when dubbing the Tea Party ‘The American
Taliban,’ he now must pay the price for doing so, namely, being pulled
off of the network’s 9/11 tenth anniversary coverage. He deals with this
by drinking and smoking and becoming a wimp on-air again.
While it is absolutely in keeping with
his character to go back and forth between fearless crusader and
appeasing ratings-whore, one must wonder how long the see-saw can
continue. Will’s spirits are already bolstered multiple times in the
first year alone, and it would suck if none of those efforts have
lasting effects, always returning him to the same sad state in their
aftermath. Will must find a way to break this cycle, committing to the
persona he wants most.
It is my opinion that the way for him to
do this is to be with Mackenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer). She still
doesn’t know what is in the voice mail Will leaves her while high, but
it’s obvious that she is sensing his anger towards her cooling, and is
intending to reform as much of a bond with him as he will let her. She
calls him in the middle of the night, and shares a drink with him at the
bar. It can’t possibly be much longer before they are a couple again,
and in that relationship, Will might finally stabilize.
Though where is Lonny (Terry Crews)
during this installment? Why do we not see him guarding Will in the bar?
Hopefully, Lonny’s absence is temporary, just an oversight caused by
not needing the actor enough to warrant an appearance in this particular
episode.
In keeping on the romantic track, Jim
(John Gallagher Jr.) is unwilling to be friends with Maggie (Alison
Pill) after she chooses to move in with Don (Thomas Sadoski), and so
takes an assignment following the Romney campaign, where he is shunned
for Will’s Taliban comment. This doesn’t seem like the environment where
wounded Jim can heal, certainly not a comforting, supporting one, but
maybe concentrating on work is what he needs. And if he finds victory in
reporting the story, that could help. Running may seem cowardly to
some, but Maggie has made her choice, so it’s understandable why Jim
would find it hard to be around her, and perhaps he’s wise to get
himself out of that environment.
Except, Jim may actually still have a
chance with Maggie, as Don finds a YouTube video of her rant about Jim,
and promptly decides they are over as a couple. I am very dissatisfied
with this quick evaporation of their romance. Don and Maggie have plenty
of ups and downs, but two weeks is all they can make it? Maggie chooses
Don; that should count for something. And it seemed so fresh and
realistic that Jim and Maggie weren’t going to ever be together because
Maggie would be with Don, no matter what viewers thought should happen,
and this has been ruined. Though, Maggie clearly won’t just have a happy
ending with Jim, given her appearance in future scenes, which I’ll get
to shortly.
This does leave open the possibility of a
Don / Sloan (Olivia Munn) pairing now. Things are plenty awkward
between the two, since Sloan confesses her feelings for him, even though
Don isn’t holding it over her in any way. But now that he’s single,
maybe after a short, respectful pause, he may pursue Sloan, thus solving
at least one rocky dynamic in the workplace. Although is Don gets with
Sloan too quickly, that could screw up Maggie even more.
Because of Jim’s absence, a producer out
of Washington D.C., Jerry Dantana (Hamish Linklater, The New Adventures
of Old Christine), is tapped to fill in for him. Jerry is immediately a
hindrance, vaguely appearing to be a team player, but also having his
own ambitions. We don’t know all of the details yet, but Jerry and the
guest that he brings onto a panel will definitely set off a huge mistake
involving Genoa.
Genoa is a secret military that has
landed the staff in very hot water, as evidenced by the
fourteen-months-later framing scenes in “First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill
All the Lawyers” in which Will, Mackenzie, and Maggie are seen with a
team of lawyers led by Rebecca Halliday (Marcia Gay Harden, Damages).
Our beloved characters are in trouble after a string of unfortunate
events, one of which leads Maggie to Africa and a terrible hair cut and
coloring. Bringing in Jerry is a huge mistake they will all regret. Too
bad, he seems so nice-ish.
I’m a little tired of television shows
doing the flashback to death. THE NEWSROOM is only the latest in a long
line of series using that technique lately, and it’s been being done way
too often. I’d rather see the Genoa disaster unfold slowly, not
realizing that there’s trouble until it’s too late, like the characters
do, rather than getting a puzzle piece by piece. I know this trope can
be implemented effectively when done right, and THE NEWSROOM is
brilliantly written, but in this case, I feel it is a big, easily
avoidable misstep.
There are two smaller plots unfolding,
too, that may have some big impact. In the first, Neal (Dev Patel) gets
involved with Occupy Wall Street. For Neal, this story is both a
far-out, unlikely movement, and something playing to his prowess with
social media, so it straddles the two interests we’ve known him to have.
Those who remember the protests know that they get lots of attention
for a short time, but don’t go anywhere, so this is both an opportunity
for Neal, professionally, and another dead end for him to pursue, the
perfect plot for the character.
In the second, Charlie (Sam Waterson)
chooses to pull Will off of the 9/11 special. This is something very
uncharacteristic, in that he chooses to bench Will with nearly zero
pressure from Leona (Jane Fonda) and Reese (Chris Messina) to do so.
Weird; Charlie always defends Will. Did Reese getting kicked out of SOPA
scare Charlie that much? It doesn’t seem like it should, in keeping
with Charlie’s established personality. I wonder what’s going on there?
THE NEWSROOM is a fantastic series that
deftly balances character-driven drama with real-world events and a
commentary on the state of journalism. It takes the big stories we’re
familiar with, and makes them personal to people we watch on screen and
care about. There are a number of new arcs introduced in this season
premiere which promise a great season, even if the episode itself lacks
any of the stellar, inspiring moments that were a hallmark of the first
year. Once we get past the weird flashbacks, I think that will sort
itself out.
THE NEWSROOM airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO.
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