TV Review: The Newsroom 1.5, "Amen"
This was, by far, the most annoying episode of this series to date.
rating: 2.5
WARNING: Significant spoilers follow This was, by far, the most annoying episode of this series to date. Thats at least in part because it had so very much potential, and it might have lived-up to that potential, but it got bogged down in various relationship issues that, frankly, I cant be bothered to care about. The central real-world stuff that goes down in this episode is a mix of the protests in Tahir Square in Cairo, Egypt, and the protests in Madison, Wisconsin (where I might be living in the next few months). More time is spent on Egypt, and rightly so, though we do learn certain things about the Madison protests I hadnt been aware of, like how much the Koch brothers were involved in Governor Walkers policies. I did like the scenes showing the programs coverage of the protests in Egypt, which is limited by them not wanting to put their reporter in danger. Given what happened to Lara Logan of CBS news, thats not hard to understand. In this show, the reporter goes out and gets five kinds of crap beaten out of him. Hes the first of four people to wind up needing medical care in this episode. I also liked the scenes showing Neal (Dev Patel) worrying about a new contact the show has established in Egypt. Hes a local man who the show hires to report on whats happening, and then one day he goes missing. This leads to some tense scenes of everyone on the show working together to find him, and ends with the discovery that hes being held for ransom; a ransom which Will (Jeff Daniels) pays out of his own pocket. I also liked the show continuing the plotline of the tabloid TMI, published by the same parent company, running smear pieces. Will is told at one point that he can put a stop to this by bribing the gossip columnist. Hes about to do so when she claims to be a journalist, and he just cant stomach that. He then makes it clear that if she continues to come after anyone but him, hell destroy her and the magazine, saying, Im a middle-aged man who never lived up to his potential. You dont want to be on the wrong end of me if I do. So with all this good, why was I so annoyed by this episode? Well, first off, McKenzie (Emily Motimer) continues to come off as an idiot. Shes shown in this story going to Sloan (Olivia Munn) for an explanation on the economy. Thats not unreasonable, but we learn she knows so little about the economy she cant even balance her checkbook. Ho, ho. Women, eh? I wouldnt mind this so much, because really, much in the way of economic information is rather dry and not well-known by the general public, but were constantly told that McKenzie is very smart and very capable and we arent ever shown this. Its getting very tiresome. Equally tiresome is the relationship triangle between Don (Thomas Sadoski), Maggie (Allison Pill) and Jim (John Gallagher, Jr). This whole thing is just getting downright painful to watch. Ive lost all patience for it, really I have. The breaking point was in this episode where Maggie is giving Jim presents to give to his new girlfriend (her roommate), for Valentines Day. Because, you know. Women do that, I guess. He then forgets and the girlfriend shows up the office to literally scream and rant, because, you know, women do that, I guess. I cant express how bad I think the relationship stories are on this show, and my guess it that HBO agrees, because while watching the trailer for next weeks episode I notice that it focused completely on the news program and the events they would be covering, and not at all on the romantic subplots. Good for them, at least. Im still grooving on the news and media sausage making aspects of the show. I really do like seeing how the news is produced and I actually enjoy learning things about banking deregulation, as I did in this episode. But what I am entirely sick of are romantic subplots being written by people who just cant do them well. Romance is fine and dandy, but it needs to be handled right and nothing about this show indicates that it can be.