The Newsroom 2×05 – News Night with Will Mc Avoy recap

We’re about halfway through the season 2 of The Newsroom and we’re getting more and more into the storylines which led our favorite characters to what we know to be a disaster. But first, this episode, centered on just one night during one of the News Night show, focusing on several storylines: Will, Maggie, Sloan and Don…and Genoa (sounds like it becomes a character).

The episode starts with Will receiving a call from his father just as the show is about to start. He doesn’t answer and when Mackenzie asks him about what’s going he just answers simply that his father had a minor heart attack. The call was coming from the guy in the ambulance and he calls him because he was the emergency contact. Will acts pretty calmly.

Through the whole episode, Mackenzie urges him to call his father before something bad can happen so he’ll be at least have no regrets. Will being Will, well…..he avoids every time. He always finds a way to not calling him at every break. He prefers to pay attention to a tweet a woman posted in which she criticizes him after she meets him at a coffee shop. By the end of the News Night’s show he tells Mackenzie his father died. He learns it during one of the previous commercial breaks through his sister’s message.

Meanwhile, Sloan is having some problems. A man she dated took some pictures of her and posted them on internet – and according to the situation it seems really bad, certainly naked pictures. She admits she posed willingly. Reese doesn’t fire her for this. At the same time, Don discovers a website is sourcing him about a controversial topic and runs into his office where he fins Sloan crying. They’re standing in his office, sat in the dark for the major part of the episode. Sloan makes talks about any topics she can find, makes jokes, worries about what her father would think before asking Don to remove her from the Night’s show.

The two of them are making a good pairing actually. The way they react to their problems and the way they find in each other support is quite cute. Olivia Munn plays just perfectly Sloan giving her a subtle strength is admirable. And it’s getting better as first Don finally reaches the editor of the website a certain Munch and both tried not to laugh at this name. Then Sloan finds the guy, who posted the pictures, kicks him in his crotch and punches him. When he tries to follow her he is quickly stopped by Don who came to protect her.

Fortunately this whole tense situation is quite balance when the News Team received a panicked call from a woman who says her husband is trapped in a building in Syria. But quickly Jim discovers it’s a prank and the whole team decides to make them pay. Just before the end of the News Night Mackenzie tells them they knew it was a prank and it is illegal so they call the police. It’s good way to make all the tension of the episode fell a little.

At the same time we’re facing an awkward situation between Jim and Maggie who is still blond at this time, so apparently there’s something more to come which will lead her to cut and dye her hair. The two of them share an intriguing conversation while awaiting the Zimmerman 911 call file to download. Basically they argue about Jim’s friend: Hallie (yeah remember? the girl from the Romney’s campaign). Obviously Maggie is a bit jealous of her and criticizes her articles covering woman’s issues. Maggie then slips into a monologue about sexuality and sexism.

It seems like she is irritated but Jim finally asks her if she’s having some alcohol problems. He shows some concern for her and the consequence her drinking can have on her work. “Does anyone have problem with my performance at work?” she asks. No. So what she does in private doesn’t concern anyone.

Well actually it’s going to start to have consequences on her performance. Once the file downloaded, she races to get the 911 call cut so it could be aired on the show. At first she thinks she succeeds until Neal points out she cuts the moment someone asks him “how does he look like? Does he look like Hispanic, Black?” And Zimmerman answers “black”. Mac is then forced to re-play the call at the end of the show to avoid any problem.

During the whole episode, Charlie is in his office meeting an old friend who is described as a secret agent. They have a casual drink together when Charlie mentions he is a bit worried by his friend’s sudden visit. The man wants to talk about a rumor he heard about the News Team investigation about Genoa. The man tells Charlie not to report this news as it will have repercussions. He even tries to convince him by the affective: “Imagine your son is a Marine like you were.” How reporting the use of chemical weapons will affect the people’s mind about army and its soldiers? For this man, it’s necessary to protect the army and the soldiers from any negative comments.

At the end, he hands Charlie a piece of scrambled paper before leaving and a last warning. Later Charlie meets Mac with this paper. She reads but doesn’t understand what it means. Charlie than tells her it means there’s a proof out there about the black op and they will find it. It just means: Genoa was real.  It happened.