Rating: 
WARNING: Significant spoilers follow!
So remember how last week I was pleased by this show and what they’d done? Yeah, that’s not happening this week. Last week was a rampaging tour de force that showed what this program is capable of when it tries. This week was a low and slow, by-the-numbers, snooze-fest that did nothing to endear me to it.
This episode was an expression of just about everything I dislike about the show. It was dull, plodding and pedantic with an overwrought focus on emotional plotlines that I just don’t give a crap about. Even the (well done), news story segments weren’t good enough to hold my interest in an episode that might as well have been titled “The Blackout Part II: Cure for Insomnia.”
It’s hard to tell exactly when this episode went off the rails and landed in craptown. No, actually, I take that back. It’s hard to tell when it was ON the rails heading anywhere good. From the start where McKenzie (Emily Mortimer) made some weird, vaguely spiritual comments about the power outage to the end where Don (Thomas Sadowski) thinks that Jim (John Gallagher, Jr.), has finally decided to make his move on Maggie (Allison Pill), this was one badly-written exercise in television.
It had such potential, too. The first part of this story was great, and remains so, not dragged down by this one, which is no small accomplishment. Last week I enjoyed seeing the team go all out and compromise their vision of what the news should be in return for ratings that might have given them a chance to have a proper Republican debate, and it must be said that one of the very few elements of tonight’s show that I liked, and the only reason it gets as many stars as I am giving it (and believe me, making “stars” plural was an effort), was because of the mock debate, and where it could have led. I even really liked the fact that they didn’t wind up getting the debate in the end.
But, man, the relationship stories. Oh, dear lord. Did we really need yet another relationship-based meltdown from McKenzie? Did we need McKenzie attempting to distribute relationship advice? Did we really need Jim and Maggie being extremely assholish while at Lisa’s work? Hell, the only thing I’ll say in favor of that segment was that at least it led to a great scene later with Lisa on the air.
I know, I know. Every week I go on about how horrible the writing (and the acting), is when it comes to the relationship plotlines, but to be fair, that’s only because I don’t think Sorkin could write a good romantic story if someone was holding his mother hostage and making him. Yet despite this apparent inability he has some sort of horrible blind spot that makes him think he can write these sorts of things, and he…just…CAN’T!
Next week is the season finale, and I have to say that I’m really on the fence about whether or not I shall return for the second season. I really do want to, because when the show is working right, it works VERY right. But if Sorkin continues to try and cram a relationship plotline down our throats without having someone else, pretty much ANYONE else (E. L. James could write a better relationship story), then I don’t know if I’m going to want to continue.
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2 Comments
Hey Chris. Great work in covering this show. I am in total agreement with you. “The Newsroom” is a show that I’m rooting for, but it always finds a way to sabotage itself. Sorkin is a great writer of dialogue but when it comes to creating well-rounded characters, he somehow forgot the basic rules of fiction writing. The real stunning thing is that Sorkin makes the most amateur mistake of “telling rather than showing.” For instance, Will is described as a Republican yet I don’t recall him ever taking a conservative stance on anything throughout the 9 episodes so far. They could have had just one scene of him debating with his staffers in private over a social issue, but we don’t. 2nd is example is McKenzie. We are told that she had covered wars (like a Laura Logan type) but we are often shown that she has emotional breakdowns when it comes to her relationship issues. Don’t get me started on the relationships on this show, you’ve covered that very well. These characters are just not credible. It’s just sad that Sorkin is so talented when it comes to writing fast and whip-smart dialogue but fails when it comes to creating well-rounded characters. I would also argue that Sorkin mails it in when it comes to the plot of each episode. He always relies on a coincidence happening to get his characters out of trouble like the room mate of Casey Anthony (I mean really) and the blackout. The only reason why I’m being so hard on this show is that I really want it to be good. And with Sorkin’s talent, there really isn’t a reason for it not to be good.
I really do continue to hold out hope. I’ve pretty much written off this season, but perhaps season two will be an improvement. As for Will’s politics, I do recall him taking the conservative stance during the episode on immigration, but otherwise his politics, much like McKenzie’s competence, have merely been what TVtropes refers to as “an informed attribute”.