The Newsroom - Episode 3 - The 112th Congress: Recap

I really liked how The Newsroom’s Episode 3, called The 112th Congress, began and ended. I just wasn’t quite so enamoured of the circuitous route they took to arrive at the end of the show. In a week where Mackenzie McHale and Sloan Sabbith were basically asked to go stand in a corner and not speak until asked to speak, which basically reduced them to afterthoughts, Sorkin tossed the ball to Will, Maggie and Charlie, asking them to carry the show with assists from Reese, Jim Harper and the CEO, played by Jane Fonda. From a perspective that’s best described as looking back after the 59 + minutes , I do think it worked rather well. This is not say that there weren’t some issues. But hey, who’s counting?

Actually, I’m counting as this is a recap where we comment, describe, quote, and spoil for you, all in one place. What we have in this post is Episode 3 from A to Z, or start to finish if you like that better.

As the show opens we have a video clip of former US counter-terrorism czar Richard Clark apologizing to the American people for the 9/11 terrorist attack. He was speaking to a Congressional meeting on March 24th 2004:

I welcome the opportunity for this forum because now, I can apologize to the loved ones of the victims of 9/11, to them that are here in the room, to those watching on television,

Your government failed you.
Those entrusted to protect you, failed you.
And I failed you.

We then cut to Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) who proceeded over the next 7 minutes to issue his own apologies for his own shortcoming as a newsman. Referencing the clip McAvoy said:

Americans liked that moment. I liked that moment. Adults should hold themselves accountable for failures.

This wasn’t just a talking head. As McAvoy spoke his public mea culpa, the visuals changed from his live speech to a beautifully made montage, where we saw him begin writing the speech on a long yellow legal pad, we saw at conference with Mackenzie McHale and other staff going over the speech, we watched the News Night staff watching the live broadcast over monitors. We saw Will’s typed speech in Charlie Skinner’s hands, and we watched as Neal, Jim, and Don and Maggie, in their homes first saw the topic of the speech in an email they probably got in the middle of the night.

Will’s speech was inspiring in its depth, and its range. He apologized as a newsman for being the head of a program that cared more about ratings than delivering the news in an unvarnished way, or how they added their own slant, spins, and subtext to keep corporate happy. He apologized for as he put it, being in the exact same business as the producers of Jersey Shore.

Will then made a promise to quit the circus that was all about ratings and profits, of soft pedaling the news that required a hard stance, and the circus that routinely delivered a version of the news which did not live up to the standards of democracy by keeping the electorate well-informed. He took great pains to say that he as a journalist was apologizing only for himself, and not for all journalists.

I don’t need to recap the whole speech verbatim. You’ve should have a pretty fair idea of what went down from the thumbnail sketch, I’ve just given you. Will ended his editorial by saying, We’ll be back after this with the news. In real television that would usually be a lead in for a commercial break. Only this time we didn’t get a commercial.

What we got was a darkened board room. There was a Power Point presentation on-screen. News Night Performance Analysis April-November 2010. The guy giving the presentation says, “It would be accurate to say that it started with his on air apology.” Charley Skinner asks, Pardon me, it would be accurate to say what started?

They didn’t tell us in so many words, and if you blinked you might have missed the header on that analysis chart, but this was a meeting that was taking place at least 7 months later. It wasn’t so much of a full board meeting as there were just three main players, Reese, Charlie Skinner, and a woman who just listened for a while.

What was it really? It was Charlie Skinner being called in on the carpet by his bosses and being asked to explain the loss of ratings/revenue. Remember in last week’s show, that both Charlie Skinner and Will McAvoy met with Reese, who I called ‘the ratings guy’. Well, it turns out that Reese is much more than that.

Reese is the fucking president of the company. He reports to just one person, the CEO. And that would be Leona Lansing played by Jane Fonda. Reese and Charley have never gotten along. This is going to be brutal. We don’t know if Charley is fighting for his own survival, or just that of Will and Mackenzie, or all of the above.

Reese: [referencing the apology] Was he aware that he had gone on television and said that everything his network had done up to that point was trash?
Charley: I think he was fully aware of what he said, and that he aware he was on television when he said it, and he also took responsibility for himself, and not the network or the company. What are we talking about?

Okay, while this is just the first of several scenes in that board room, we now have the ground work of how this episode will play out. Over the course of this episode, we will see some of what happened the rest of the spring and summer of 2010, Will and Mackenzie and the News Night staff will tackle many new stories. We, the audience will also have some inside looks at the personal lives of a number of the shows staff. All of this will done via a flash forward and flashback process taking us back to this board room again and again.

You know one minute it is a news broadcast in May 2010, then we jump ahead to that meeting. Then we’re back to June 2010 to meet some of Will’s dates as well as other news stories. Then they cut back to that meeting, and so forth repeated multiple times. It is kind of tricky, and requires you to pay attention.

Well it is now right after Will’s apology broadcast. Don comes into Jim Harper’s office. He’s kind of drunk and he says that he saw Will’s show in a bar, and he admits to being ‘overserved’ but he has a question for Jim, “How much did you have to do with writing that opening tonight?” Jim deflects the question – it was something that Will wanted to do…

Don says that he’d love to have been a part of that. Jim replies that he can still do it (on Don’s 10:00 o’clock show). Jim says he has a mandate to bring viewers to 10:00 o’clock. If I don’t, they’ll bring someone else in until it someone does. Jim says, You can do it… Don interrupts… You guys just set me up to look like an asshole before I even started… Jim – that wasn’t the intent. Don leaves and bumps into Maggie. “That’s what you were reading on your Blackberry, right? Maggie is slightly flustered or embarrassed. She says, ” Yes…It said it was eyes only, Baby… Don – I’ve got eyes and he walks off.

Back up on the 44th floor, Charley is still being grilled. The guy with the Power Point presentation says, The Apology was a Monday. The following Saturday was the Times Square bombing [JMM: prevented of course]. We had all the facts by Tuesday. This is the kind of story that makes people want to turn on the news. So you want to take advantage of it…

Reese: [playing his card]That’s News 101 right?
Charlie: What is this meeting?
Reese: [pressing for an answer] Is it News 101?
Charlie: [highly indignant] To artificially hype the threat of a bomb? You’re confusing it with Douche-Baggery 101.

Charlie doesn’t quite get it. His neck is being readied to receive an ax. He fights on, without really understanding that the cards are stacked against him. Reese instructs his man to continue.

By comparison, CBS News opened their show with Katie reporting from Times Square, while News Night gave it three minutes and 20 seconds, saying that there nothing to be concerned about…only referencing that one of the people involved with reporting it to the police was a Muslim

Reese: That’s called squandering an opportunity [The implication is that Will and crew dropped the ball on that story].

This is the lead in for the flashback to how News Night handled the story. The Muslim is being discussed. Mackenzie asks, How come we’ve not heard about him? Maggie replies, Two reasons – One – He didn’t make the call. Turns out that the his involvement was that he was the one who alerted Lance Orton who then called the police. This Muslim was a Senegalese street vendor whose English wasn’t that good, and that he had no credits left on his phone, so he alerted Lance.

Mackenzie says, What was the second reason? Maggie - He’s a Muslim. The room goes silent. Mackenzie asks Maggie where she got that story. From a Pakistani blog. “Not the most trustworthy source.” says Will. Maggie says, “I know, so I confirmed it with the NYPD, and it’s true. The Times of London has it online, so I think that if the religion of the bomber is important, so is the religion of the guy who saved everyone’s lives.”

After a lengthy pause, Will says, “So do I‘. Mackenzie says, “Okay three twenty [instead of just three minutes] at the top.

Back to the 44th Floor Charlie is still being grilled about the lost viewers and lowered ratings. Reese has another angle to insert. “Wasn’t it about this time that Will had an epiphany about the Tea Party?”

Next we have a flashback. Will is in Charlie’s office talking about that. Will says that he’s been up since 2:00 AM going over some polling data from the Republican Primary race in Utah. Somebody faxed me the data, I don’t know who, but it doesn’t matter.

Will feels that this one candidate (Mike Lee) for the Republican Senatorial seat has taken a position even more to the right than the incumbent Bob Bennett. Charlie says how is that even possible. Will then gives us a lengthy history lesson going back to 1968, the SDS, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, the yippie’s protest, yadda yadda. In short – the beginnings of the Progressive movement which would last 40 years.

It is pure Sorkin, grandstanding again, tossing us opinion, facts, mythology, and suppositions all in one speech. Charlie listens, occasionally tossing a question back to Will.

Anyway, Will leads us to the promised land – he claims that The Tea Party is the grandchild of the Yippies – only it has been co-opted by The Republican Radical Right – which as it turns out, in Will’s opinion, is BIG BUSINESS. Will states “The Tea Party is being hijacked right in front of our eyes in real-time. We should be scared shitless. How is this not our lead story every night?”

Will leaves the room shortly after discovering that Mackenzie was in the room the whole time [How did you get in here?] he was giving the history lecture. As Mack’s leaving, Charlie says , “The boy is finally coming around.’ Mackenzie says as she’s going out the door, “You’re the guy who faxed him the data, right?”

Charlie shrugs in agreement as if to say, ‘Ya got me.’

This was very cool. Not the history lesson per se, but that fact that Charlie is a real maestro, orchestrating, and pulling all the strings as if he were a superb puppet-master. It was he who was behind bringing in Mack [to kick-start Will out of his ratings driven doldrums], and now this. Charlie may look old, and very much like a college professor, but he’s calculating, and shrewd, and has much more substance than we thought. Of course he is the head of the news division, and that didn’t happen with smoke, mirrors, and other accoutrements of a parlor magician. [JMM: And with Waterston in the role you can't help but love him.]

In late May and early June, Will amps up his attack on Mike Lee, on Rand Paul, and Sharron Angle, and others on the right. In a clip shown on Will’s show, Sharron Angle had said that they needed the press to be our friend. We needed the press to ask the questions that we wanted to answer.

Will’s comment – Do not laugh, I felt the exact same way about the bar exam [Wow - Will makes a joke]. Only the 44th floor isn’t laughing.

When did the newsroom become a court room is the question hurled at Charlie, who is still on the hot seat. Charlie trots out some info on Will that we didn’t know. Before he was an anchor, before he was a reporter, before he was a speech writer, he was a prosecutor. He graduated college at 19, law school at 21, and he signed up with the Brooklyn DA’s office, as a prosecutor, where he racked up a 94% conviction rate.

Charlie: The newsroom became a court room, Reese, because I made a decision that American voters need a fucking lawyer.

I loved that line but as expected Reese wasn’t impressed. You can see it on his face. At the same time we are now getting some good looks at the woman in the room who keeps creeping into the shots. We now see clearly that it is Jane Fonda whose character has still not been introduced. Nor has she said a word yet. But she’s in this room, so she must be important.

Cut back to Will in another broadcast segment where he discusses the 2nd amendment rights (the right to bear arms) as espoused by Sharron Angle, a Republican candidate for the US Senate. Will says that syntax notwithstanding, this candidate hasn’t yet ruled out a violent overthrow of the US government. POw! Right in the kisser. You just know this will be a part of the continued barbecuing of Charlie Skinner. But before that …

Will’s date is waiting for him in the newsroom where she meets Mackenzie. Mack says to her, You’re dressed way too nice to work here…The girl replies she’s waiting for Will [they're going on a date]. After some banter and questions from Mackenzie who is a) far too loud, b) far too nosy, and C) displaying far too much fake bonhomie towards this girl. Will arrives introduces Mack, and says give us a moment to his date while I change.

Mackenzie has just met Will’s date – A head cheerleader for the NY Jets. Mack is not amused.

Surprise, surprise – Mackenzie is jealous! I’m not giving Sorkin points for this but I suppose that Sorkin feels [and I don't] that Mackenzie has to be knocked down again – as if last week wasn’t enough. Charlie shows up just then. Stay with the Tea Party he says. Will asks – Six weeks and I haven’t heard anything from the 44th floor. How are they with this? Charlie blows it off. Good, good. I’ll let you know if there’s something to worry about.

Cue next scene which is (surprise surprise) – back on the 44th. Charlie is still being interrogated by this new and modern version of the Spanish Inquisition where Reese’s man says, Now we’ve really got something to worry about…

[JMM - a nice transition. Kudos for this]

Charlie:[Interrupting] What problem do we have? A 7% percent drop? We lose that when the Yankees are playing the Red Sox. [That was cute because the real Yankees were playing the real Red Sox on ESPN last night as The Newsroom was being broadcast.]

Reese signals his man Brad, who changes the image on the power point and brings out that Will has gone after Senator Jim Demint from South Carolina. Now this catches the attention of the unknown woman in the 44th floor who immediately sits up and is all ears.

And we flash back to Will’s broadcast (an interview with Ted Wexler who is Senator Demint’s spokesperson] of June 18th. Will: I’d like to talk about Senator Jim Demint. It’s about gay marriages. Will references that Demint suggested that gay marriages shouldn’t be legal because of the diseases prevalent in the homosexual community. Wexler agrees that Will is not incorrectly characterizing the Senator’s comments. The diseases are specified as HIV and aids. Will makes a reference to the US troops in WWI – all good standing moral men – Wexler agrees and says God Bless them all. Will then gets a number fed to him. I’m sorry, God didn’t bless them as 18,000 US Troops contracted VD during WWI. Wexler finds that number rather high. Will corrects himself – I’m sorry that number was wrong. It was 18,000 US troops a day.

Will is on a roll.

Next up is another date for Will after the broadcast. And again the date is cornered by Mackenzie. Will arrives rather quicker this time – before Mack can lose it once more. Mack says the first one was a cheerleader, what is this one? Will – [she's a] Neurologist at Columbia Presbyterian. Chief of Surgery. That would make her a brain surgeon. Literally.

So Mack has stepped in it again. Fade out on Mack. Fade in to the karaoke bar where Neal and Jim are talking shop ignoring two beauties standing by. Jim: I just couldn’t be less interested in Wiki-leaks. Neal: You’re nuts. They blather away and soon enough the girls drift away. Just then Jim sees Maggie come into the bar. She looks around and finds who she’s looking for and turns on the special smile. Jim rises from his bar stool thinking she’s spotted him. She hasn’t. She walks right by Jim and meets [JMM: all together now] Don!

Back on the 44th floor Charlie says: I’ve been sitting here for two and half hours and I still don’t know why. It’s like being cast in a Fellini film. [I think this reference was a bit much. I know who Fellini was but I can' t tie in Charlie's interrogation to a specific film} Reese [ignoring Charlie's question] asks one of his own, “Was it all GOP bashing or did we cover anything else?

Charlie: We covered almost three times as many international stories as Fox and MSNBC combined, and unless we are all blind, The Tea Party is the one doing all the GOP bashing.

Reese virtually sneers and Charlie says, Ask Former Congressman Delaney.

Cut to Will and Delaney (played by Phillip Baker Hall]. Delaney has lost his seat in Congress. Why? Will asked. Because I gave the wrong answer to a question.

Will – what was the question? Delaney – Is Obama a socialist? I may have not liked the man, and I certainly didn’t agree with his policies – but to say he was a socialist, or a Marxist, or a Kenyan? Will – you lost your seat for another reason, what was that? Delaney I gave my support to a Democratic bill HR2559. When you’re elected to Congress you have to work with the other party who were also elected. The Democrat across the aisle was a good man and this was a good bill. Will – What was it: =? Delaney – A bill to give homeless US veterans housing vouchers, and services like counseling and job training. Will – Thank you for your service to your country. You’ll be missed in Congress.Good luck.

Cut to Charlie and Will exiting the building. Will again wants to know about the 44th floor. Charlie evades once more. This time Will asks about ‘her’. Charlie says she didn’t watch much of the old show. Only a few times. Will And the new? Charlie [obviously evading and avoiding] That’s a fair question. She’s a Democrat, she gives money. If there was a problem, I’d have heard about it.

Now Will is really suspecting that Charlie isn’t telling everything.

Cut back to the 44th. Reese and Brad are about to unveil some more ‘evidence’ to the growing collection. But before that Reese pulls back the curtain, and now, we know all.

Reese: There’s a retreat in Telluride that my mother and I have been often invited to. Reese looks at the woman. Let’s have a look at this video which might explain we aren’t invited anymore.

Charlie: Does anyone mind if I start in drinking bourbon right now, and then later I’ll put my fist through his head
Reese: You’ve had enough bourbon for a lifetime.
Charlie: Not my lifetime.
Reese: We lost David and Charles…

That catches Charlie in his tracks. WTF?

Back at another production meeting, Mackenzie loses it again. This time,  in full view of her team. She suggests to Will that he head off to the Hooters bar around the corner. The waitresses there are like a stocked freshwater fishing hole just waiting for you to come by and … uh … fish…

Okay Sorkin. We get it! Mackenzie is still seething about Will’s social life, and now in public. It’s like kicking a dog that is down and helpless. Lay off! Yes, I’m  pissed about this – this is the third time in this show, and the episode isn’t even half over yet. IMHO – a very poor choice.

Maggie consults her notes

Maggie tries to get back on topic. She discusses the Tea Party, a grass-roots movement that is fiercely resistant to centralized control or traditional power structures. But she’s nervous as hell, and stumbles through this. Jim Harper notices.

Cut to another of Will’s broadcasts. This time he is interviewing a Mike Lindall, a construction contractor, and Sheryl Bell, a registered nurse; both of them are in Manhattan, Kansas. These two are co-founders and chairmen of the Reilly County Tea Party Express. They’re young and wholesome. Idealists to their core. They say that first and foremost, we want to take back our country. Will – just to be clear, is your country my country too? Of course says Lindall. Will: Who do you want to take our country back from?

‘From a Congress and a President who have forgotten that the government derives its power from the consent of the governed, and instead it is available to the beck and call of special interest groups and corporations.’

So Mike and Sheryl are against centralized power and traditional power structures [as Maggie said earlier]. Unfortunately they’ve just fallen into a trap. Through a web of ownership connections, it seems that the largest outfit to contribute to The Tea Party is a financial company, AFP, which is one of the companies owned by Koch Industries which are actually -

David and Charles Koch – the wealthiest men in the entire country trailing only Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. And the very same David and Charles that Reese mentioned earlier.

Bingo – now we see exactly where this is going. Will is taking on the Tea Party, and the Tea Party is [substantially funded by] the Koch brothers. Well guess what? Reese has pinned the tail on the donkey which in this case is Charlie Skinner.

Koch Industries has gotten back at the ACN (read Will McAvoy and subordinates) by hitting them in the wallet. The loss of advertising from this outfit can’t and won’t go unnoticed. And this is why Charlie Skinner has been called in and been asked what he’s going to do about it.

But before that – Maggie is going to have a bit of a meltdown (a panic attack) at the production meeting. She asks to be excused and runs out. Jim Harper can’t sit still, and shortly afterwards, he follows her out where he runs into Don, who explains that Maggie gets these panic attacks but she’ll be all right. She’s out on the terrace getting some air. Harper thanks Don and praises a segment from their recent show. Don says, Go fuck yourself.

On the 44th floor, Reese who is pointing his finger right at Charlie says, “You don’t come down on the Kochs without checking upstairs first. Do you understand?”
Charlie: Get your finger out of my face Reese…
Reese: But…
Charlie: We stand for something. It’s a moral obligation. Get used to it.

On the terrace – we have Maggie Jordan. She’s got a pal on the phone. Evidently some of Don’s friends think nothing of taking Maggie’s Xanax pills from a shelf in their medicine cabinet as recreational drugs. So she doesn’t have any. Just then Jim Harper steps out on the terrace. Jim was embedded in some scary situations in Afghanistan. Some of the troops would get panic attacks. So Harper knows what to say and how to handle it. He talks Maggie back towards calmness – he has to get her pulse rate down to standard levels. I’m not sure how he knows all this but he does.

Somehow they got to her relationship with Don. Harper suggests they stop breaking up and learn how to have fights. Maggie says, Go on Dr. Phil…

Back on the 44th floor – Brad (Reese’s man) offers an analogy – Rocky 2 where Rocky, a left hander, was trained then fought as a right-handed boxer until Burgess Meredith, Rocky’s trainer said Now, and suddenly Rocky fought left-handed. The analogy being that ever since Mackenzie came on board, McAvoy has switched from leading with his right hand to leading with his left hand. Charlie does a Burgess Meredith impression and laughs. Reese: Is there something here that ‘s so funny? Charlie: Yeah, we’re talking about Rocky 2 [nothing could be more absurd].

Back in the Newsroom, another of Will’s date arrives. This time a buxom blonde. Mack sees her and says nothing as Will escorts his date out. Meanwhile, some of the office staff took notice of how Mackenzie reacted.

At the Karaoke – time for another discussion between Jim Harper and Neal
Neal: Don and Maggie have broken up. Harper has his laptop open and is working on something.

Harper: When?
Neal: Last week.
Harper: I’m sure they’ve married and divorced three times since then.
Neal: No, its real.
Neal : Get in there…
Harper: Get in there?
Neal: Yeah

But Jim Harper says No. I can’t swoop in like she’s some rent controlled apartment. Besides, I’m the one who told her to stay together with Don…

Oh well. Harper has some standards, and some decency. Admirable? Of course, but we all know it (Don & Maggie) won’t last, and we all have seen far too much of this relationship or mating/courting ritual (Harper & Maggie) far too often in this week’s episode. To be honest I’d rather be back upstairs on the 44th floor watching the old dragons (Charlie and Leona) do battle. But before we do head up that way – Neal says I’m going to ask you a question, and I already know the answer but I want to hear you say it.

Neal: What are you working on there?
Jim: A story about people voting against their own interests
Harper realizes how he’s just been extremely ironic and about himself. I’m not swooping in, he says. [Memo to Sorkin: that was a nice save there at the end].

We’re not quite ready for the 44th floor. In another broadcast, or series of broadcasts, Will is shooting shell after shell at the Tea Party. We don’t see any of his targets, nor do we have to. It’s rat-a-tat-tat. A fast barrage of points that Will makes, over and over. Is the Tea party reeling, Are they bleeding from the bludgeoning from McAvoy? We aren’t given a direct answer to that question which means …

We are back up on the 44th floor, but only for a moment. Apparently Will’s barrage (the one we just saw) has just been described by Reese, who then says, And that takes us to last night, which was November 2nd, 2010 – Election Day … cut to the newsroom.

Results from all over the country are pouring in. Will has to be notified, graphics created, stats and results are news items. Even Charlie was on the newsroom floor. Will has voices in his ear. He’s accompanied on air by Elliot, the 10:00 o’clock anchor, Sloan Sabbith the financial analyst, and Kyle, another analyst.

Elliot is really a stooge, and when asked by Will to describe what we are looking at, Elliot said that we were watching American democracy in action Will, and isn’t it a beautiful sight to see. This of course wasn’t a beautiful answer. It had zero value. Will decides to try Sloan Sabbith since Elliot’s response was so vapid. Sloan rattled off some stats that suggest that a quarter of the voters were at the age of sixty-five or over, and of those, 41% aligned themselves with the Tea Party. Will, still looking for something dynamic tries Kyle:

Will: Kyle, we all remember those Tea Party signs that said, Government – keep your hands off our social security. Can you explain to us why so many voters who are on Social Security, are voting for candidates who could endanger social security?
Kyle: Well I can’t…
Will: [This is the not the old Will, the I-rock-no-boats Will. This is new model, the one that goes straight for jugular] Well, they don’t call you an analyst for nothing.

This was pure viciousness. Kyle has just been cut to the quick [pardon the neo-alliteration - I couldn't resist] in just 9 words. But Will isn’t through yet. They’re going to send it over to Terry Smith and her team in Washington.

Will: Terry, I don’t know how you’re going to follow Kyle, but give it a try…

A beat, and then the director says, and we’re…out – meaning they’re off the air and have 12 minutes of down time. Kyle who has just been sliced and diced says, ‘Hey, you want to give me a break.’ Will: Sorry. Kyle: Jesus. Will: It was a joke. Kyle walks off in need of spiritual sutures. That leaves Elliot. And here comes Don for the “Pep Talk”

Don: Get in the game, would you please. I’m doing everything I can in there to get Will to go to you. And he’s doing it. He’s inviting you to become a star. Stop being so enthralled with the act of punching a ballot. Pow. Don just read the riot act to his anchor and turns on his heels. But maybe Elliot isn’t such a tool. He calls Don back.

Elliot: Get back here. GET BACK HERE! Don’t talk to me like that. I don’t know who you think I am, but don’t talk to me like I’m a disappointing child. You’ve got three choices:

1) Get back together with Maggie. Start being the regular prick that I know and like, and stop being the boneless one that I’ve been getting for the last few weeks.
2) Don’t get back together with Maggie but get over it.
3) You’re fired. Choose…

Don has just been counter-punched and vanquished. He has no choice but to back off. In case you’re thinking this was the last of the fireworks during this down time – here comes Maggie. She gives Will some election results on a card – and then says – and I want to say something to you that’s both inappropriate and subordinate. Will says what was that last thing -

Maggie: I want to say something to you that’s both inappropriate, insubordinate, and is grounds for termination. You could give Mack a break by having your women meet you at the restaurant.

Will looks at Maggie long and hard. He’s gathering himself.

Will [calmly]Yes, that was inappropriate and insubordinate. But I don’t care.
Maggie: Thank You.
Will: You should know your head is up your ass.
Maggie: [stumbling] Will, I know that…
Will: You don’t know anything. Maggie, I’ve got the image of Mackenzie and her ex-boyfriend [points to his head] and it won’t come out. I need the team from Inception to come in and remove the image and … look, I’m not doing it on purpose, I’m not rubbing her face in anything, I’m just not considering her feelings. He turns back to his computer and pauses before saying, Yeah, I just heard myself say it —

Will again turns back to his work as Maggie leaves, then he thinks of something he’s got to do. He heads right into the control room and starts to apologize to Mackenzie when he’s interrupted by this guy – whom Will doesn’t know. Who calls Mackenzie – Honey. He’s full of praise for Will. You keep kicking the Tea Party …

Mack: Will, this is my friend Wade Campbell…
Wade:[slinging an arm around Mack's shoulder] We’re a little more than friends…

Will has sized up the situation in seconds. He has that knowing look on his face, that no doubt, Mack knows all too well. Mack says, We’ve been dating around three months. I’m sorry.

Will repacks his own apology back into the interior pocket where one keeps such things. Nope, this was exactly what was supposed to happen. Gallantly, he tells the production crew – You’re doing great things in here. He makes his exit.

Will heads back to the studio set. He slightly trips getting into his seat. So Mack did get to him despite his gallant exit. Sloan Sabbith arrives.

Sloan: Will you’ve got to ask the Tea party about the debt ceiling…

They have small discussion about the debt ceiling which I won’t bore you with, and I can’t remember it all, but when Will Says, It doesn’t give the government permission to borrow more money, it gives them permission to pay back money they’ve already borrowed..

Sloan asks. Yeah, but do their constituents know that?

And that catches Will’s attention big time. A light bulbs clicks on inside his head, Fuck….

And seconds later they are back on the air. Will says welcome back to tonight’s ACN’s Election Night Coverage. In case you’re just joining us, the Republican Party will be the majority party in the House of Representatives for at least the next two years. We’re joined live now by the newly elected congressman, Frank Guidry representing Colorado’s Eighth District. Congressman Elect, Congratulations. Thank you for joining us. Will asks him about his campaign based upon fiscal responsibility. Guidry says, [amidst the growing crowd noises surrounding him and his followers] I plan to govern the same way.

There’s the opening. Will goes for it. Congressman, Will you be voting to raise the debt ceiling?
Guidry: I promise that I will not be voting to raise the debt ceiling, and I promise we will not be spending a single dollar that we do not have…
Will: Are you aware of the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling.
Guidry: I’m sorry I’m not hearing you…
Will: Are you aware of the global consequences of the US defaulting on its loan payments…

Ah, the question of the ages. But Guidry says he can’t hear them. Talk about that whooshing sound you just heard – it was the sound of a great opportunity just squandered. Now where have we heard that before? Right – the 44th floor.

But before that there’s some post broadcast stuff in the office. Jim Harper thanks a few staffers. Charlie Skinner asks Harper to go out with he and Will for a drink. Harper declines – it’s a work night and all that. And Neal is dictating Will’s blog into his voice commands capable computer. We get some cute play between Harper and Neal, with Harper mimicking the HAL computer from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 – A Space Odyssey. Of Course, Neal with his semi colonial English learned in post colonial India mispronounces Ku-brick as Que-brick. Whatever.

Whoa, there’s Maggie on the steps. Harper says he’s going over there – and before he can get there, Don arrives – hugs kisses – Maggie and Don. Harper is visibly crushed.

Neal: I’ve no words, no words…
Harper: But you’re still talking…
Neal [hands raised] No words…

Fade out and fade in to the 44th floor. The shootout. Will Charley get fired? Will Charley punch out Reese’s lights. Will the Grand Dowager Empress, otherwise known as Leona Lansing, the CEO who has dominion over all that we can see far and wide, deign to speak. Step in quietly folks and don’t say a word.

Reese says, And that brings us to right now, Brad…

He’s interrupted by Leona who asks, May we have the room please. Everyone beats an exit and quickly – even Charley heads for the door. Leona signals him to stay. She pours herself a drink. Rather than getting to the crux of the matter directly – that being the major issues for the Corporation caused by the new Will McAvoy, which is all Charlie’s responsibility as he is the top dog in the News Division – Leona launches an old story – a joke actually. It is an old joke that if it were a man, it would look like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit.

Yes the joke is so old that if a man, it would have a long beard, and it would be white. It begins with Moses and Jesus are playing golf.

Rather than repeat the joke verbatim, I’ll give the short version. Moses tees off with a nice drive – center fairway. Jesus tees off and shanks the ball into the woods. A series of miracles involving a storm, a flash flood, the golf ball, a fish, and an eagle result in Jesus’s ball, the one he shanked into the woods, is dropped into the cup – A hole in one. Moses isn’t happy about it. Jesus, he says, do you want to play golf or do you want to fuck around?

Hands on hips, Leona dispenses with the lightness. What in God’s name has happened to the News Division over the last six months. Charlie laughs – either at the joke or his current circumstance. With a finger wave, Leona waves it off. Do not laugh she commands.

Charlie, now chastened gets back to business. Leona, he says, The ratings have stabilized and we’ll get them back to where they used to be.
Leona [clearly she's old school as well as a peer of Charlie's] What happened to human interest stories? obesity, breast cancer, older women having babies, I-phones; he was great at that shit.

Charley stands up for his people. We’re putting on a news show that you should be proud of …
Leona [cutting him off] for the Left
Charlie: For the center Leona …
Leona: [her anger is rising] Are you out of your fucking mind?

Charlie again defends the show. He’s ardent and passionate. He stands his ground and when he apparently is not backing down one iota, Leona plays her trump card:
Leona: I have business in front of this Congress Charlie!!!

Now that stopped Charlie in his tracks. he hesitates before saying, Reese, why don’t you give us a minute [the dragons shall do battle out of sight of anyone]

But Leona belays that request. He can stay.
Charley to Reese: Get the fuck out.

Leona shrugs it off, Reese leaves.

Leona: How would you like me to respond to your unfiltered contempt for my son?
Charlie: By telling him to get a paper route…
Leona: Look pal…
Charlie: What is his job anyway…
Leona: President of this company
Charlie: I don’t know what that means…
Leona: He’s going to have my job someday
Charlie: Please, please let me be dead by then…
Leona: I’d be happy to arrange it…

Okay, so much for the pleasantries. Hey folks – how about the matter at hand. Will McAvoy and the News Night show?

So basically it is all about business. The election just cost Leona three seats in Congress and these men were amongst AWM’s (ACN’s parent company) most reliable friends on the Hill. And the men that are replacing them? Will has made them look like fucking morons for the last six months.
Charlie: They’ve done a pretty good job of making themselves look like morons
Leona repeats again and loudly: – I have business before this Congress, Charlie, and whatever you may think of them, they hold the keys to the future of AWM.

Charlie [reacting strongly as if he were a horse rearing up on his hind legs] News organizations are public trusts with an ability to inform and influence the national conversation. [you can almost see his internal bonfire raging].
Leona: [putting up her hand to silence Charley] I know. That’s why I bought one.

The slugfest continues. They go round and round. Leona hold all the cards. She own the whole company, and the News Division accounts for just 3% of the gross revenue. Charlie holds no financial cards or levers to play. He slumps in his chair.

Leona: All right. They’re not candidates anymore; they’re Congressmen and he’s going to lay off.
Charlie: [shaking his head] Uh uh. He’s not going to lay off.
Leona: Oh yes he is.

Charlie then plays his McCarthy card. If McCarthy was on a subcommittee for Communications and Technology, would you have told Murrow to lay off?
Leona: No because he was a genuinely bad guy.
Charlie: Michelle Bachmann has asked that Congress ferret out house members who she has deemed un-American
Leona: Michelle Bachmann is a hairdo. I’m not worried about Michelle Bachmann.
Charlie: I wonder how many people weren’t worried about McCarthy?
Leona: You know Charlie, a lot of people believe that Will is on a witch hunt.
Charlie: A lot of people might argue that there are witches…
Leona: I’ll fire him. Charlie…I’m not going to ask him to lie, or cover anything up.. but he’s going to tone it down, or I’m going to fire him

Charlie thinks for a minute and then leads with a slight jab: How you are going to sell firing the 2nd most watched anchor on cable?
Leona: We’ll go with what is known as creating a context. This step will be seen as the noble corporation that is going to sacrifice ratings to preserve integrity.
Charlie: [rising to his feet] You’d manufacture a reason to fire him?
Leona: [now standing] I’ve got a real good job Charlie. Now do you want play golf or fuck around?

There it is. Fifty six minutes in the can and all to set up the one joke. Oh there’s a pair of minutes left and Charlie, Will, Sloan, Gary, Jim Harper, and Neal all gather for drinks. Will hasn’t heard about Charlie’s tete-a-tete with the Dragon Lady. He waxes philosophically about the wonders about going out for a drink.

Harper: The way you describe it, it sounds like Brigadoon.
Will: Shut up.

In the middle of a 2:00 AM toast – Charlie gets an email.

Will: Who is emailing you in the middle of a toast?
Charlie: They probably didn’t know about the toast. It’s from Leona. She wants to see me in the 44th floor conference room tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM. {Edit – When Charlie says this – he hadn’t had the meeting yet – but we’ve already seen the meeting}.

And that dear readers is our invite to tune in next week. I liked the beginning and then end of this week’s episode. Wasn’t gaga for all the tease and the slow build up all for a joke. But the 1st Charlie / Leona duel was quite well done. It didn’t quite have the impact of knights on horses doing a joust, but Leona and Charlie seemed quite well matched intellectually for this verbal combat. Kudos to Will for an outstanding week. Thumbs down to Aaron Sorkin as the rest of the girls on the show took some lumps so that for the sake of balance, Leona could throw her weight around. Special kudos to Sam Waterston for doing yeoman work as the embattled head of the news division.

For those of you Who might think of Sam Waterston as a curmudgeonly old man – think about this:

He played Nick Carraway in the film version of The Great Gatsby which opened on March 29th, 1974. Leonardo Di Caprio who will play Gatsby in the 2012 version which opens on Christmas Day this year, wasn’t born until November 1974. So Waterston was a prime time movie star before Leonardo was even born.

Until next time.

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