The Newsroom: Run
November 17, 2014 5:13 PM - Season 3, Episode 2 - Subscribe
Reese, Charlie, and Leona confront Reese's half siblings over the hostile takeover, while Neal, the producers, and the lawyer Rebecca Halliday argue about what to do with the the classified document trove and Neal's source. Don and Sloan argue about their relationship status after Don purchases stock on an inadvertent tip from Sloan before she reports it. Hallie tweets an in-poor-taste joke from the ACN twitter account and gets faces the fallout. Maggie overhears an EPA administrator on the train back from Boston.
Lots of plot arc setup in this episode. Ultimately, Neal renders the arguing about whether to report the leak story (which Will argues against doing out of concern for Neal, while Mac argues for due to journalism) moot by requesting comment through official channels. This causes the FBI to show up with a search warrant and questions for Neal, but by that point Will had deduced what Neal was going to do and sent him on the run. During her back-and-forth with the EPA employee on the train, Maggie also meets a young Fordham law professor who asks for her number (she obliges).
Lots of plot arc setup in this episode. Ultimately, Neal renders the arguing about whether to report the leak story (which Will argues against doing out of concern for Neal, while Mac argues for due to journalism) moot by requesting comment through official channels. This causes the FBI to show up with a search warrant and questions for Neal, but by that point Will had deduced what Neal was going to do and sent him on the run. During her back-and-forth with the EPA employee on the train, Maggie also meets a young Fordham law professor who asks for her number (she obliges).
The leak seems more Manning than Snowden?
I don't think so (or at least, not literally so). Manning leaked documents to WikiLeaks, not the media, and did so back in 2010 (3 years before the "current" time in the show). I suspect the show's leaker will be some sort of amalgamation of real-life whistleblowers/leakers (Manning thus included), since in the show the source has not yet been given a name, but the timing makes it line up closely with Snowden (who leaked documents in June of 2013) -- on the other hand, Genoa was a story line based on CNN's reporting of Operation Tailwind from 1998 (and which allegedly took place in 1970), so the timing might not make much difference.
posted by axiom at 5:39 PM on November 17, 2014
I don't think so (or at least, not literally so). Manning leaked documents to WikiLeaks, not the media, and did so back in 2010 (3 years before the "current" time in the show). I suspect the show's leaker will be some sort of amalgamation of real-life whistleblowers/leakers (Manning thus included), since in the show the source has not yet been given a name, but the timing makes it line up closely with Snowden (who leaked documents in June of 2013) -- on the other hand, Genoa was a story line based on CNN's reporting of Operation Tailwind from 1998 (and which allegedly took place in 1970), so the timing might not make much difference.
posted by axiom at 5:39 PM on November 17, 2014
I feel like I missed something when Sloan and Don intimated that they had been sleeping together.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:59 PM on November 17, 2014
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:59 PM on November 17, 2014
I think at least part of the point of Neal's story is to use fiction to illuminate the shameful treatment of journalists over the last few years.
posted by ob1quixote at 4:43 AM on November 18, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by ob1quixote at 4:43 AM on November 18, 2014 [2 favorites]
I didn't realize this has come back until tonight, but was incredibly pleased to see the weirdtasitic Jimmi Simpson.
Newsroom is one of those guilty pleasures. I know it's pandering to how I'd like reality to be, and doesn't even do a great job of it. And yet, I find myself cheering with an earnest joy every time the episode falsely vindicates my side. (I only just watched west wing over the summer, so much of Sorkin's work is new for me.)
On to episode 3!
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:57 PM on December 1, 2014
Newsroom is one of those guilty pleasures. I know it's pandering to how I'd like reality to be, and doesn't even do a great job of it. And yet, I find myself cheering with an earnest joy every time the episode falsely vindicates my side. (I only just watched west wing over the summer, so much of Sorkin's work is new for me.)
On to episode 3!
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:57 PM on December 1, 2014
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The leak seems more Manning than Snowden?
posted by joeyh at 5:20 PM on November 17, 2014 [4 favorites]