The Newsroom: Contempt
December 1, 2014 6:27 PM - Season 3, Episode 4 - Subscribe
Will continues to refuse to reveal the source of the leaked documents. Jim and Hallie fight over journalistic ethics. Charlie and Sloan try to find a "white knight" buyer to purchase ACN in lieu of Pruit.
Will's refusal to reveal his source prompts an uncomfortable judge to order him jailed for contempt of court. Don and Sloan continue to try to avoid the HR VP, until he outsmarts them and ends up revealing he's been messing with them the entire time. Sloan and Charlie's efforts to find an alternate buyer fail, leading Reese to order Mac to spike the leaked documents story; she and Don re-leak the documents to an old teacher of his who works with the AP. Jim and Hallie's continued fighting over her job and journalistic ethics leads to an apparent break-up. Jack sees Maggie's defense of Hallie's story for what it is -- evidence that she has feelings for Jim and is deflecting attention from them by taking Hallie's side.
Will's refusal to reveal his source prompts an uncomfortable judge to order him jailed for contempt of court. Don and Sloan continue to try to avoid the HR VP, until he outsmarts them and ends up revealing he's been messing with them the entire time. Sloan and Charlie's efforts to find an alternate buyer fail, leading Reese to order Mac to spike the leaked documents story; she and Don re-leak the documents to an old teacher of his who works with the AP. Jim and Hallie's continued fighting over her job and journalistic ethics leads to an apparent break-up. Jack sees Maggie's defense of Hallie's story for what it is -- evidence that she has feelings for Jim and is deflecting attention from them by taking Hallie's side.
Up until last night, I had been giving this season a fair shot, despite what I thought about the previous two. The wedding montage was not just aggravating, but insulting wedding porn to boot. Did Sorkin just not write enough for the episode, or are we really supposed to think the better of these two people for spending an extremely unlikely few hours putting together a lavish wedding ceremony at the freakin' last minute? If they did it completely opposite of what they were planning (i.e., doing a quick stop at City Hall, alongside the unwashed), that would have created some believable narrative flow.
And then there was the whole Don/Sloan try to fool HR plotline.
Why didn't Hallie kick Jim to the curb months ago? He has been insufferable for months. No, make that for years. No, make that from birth.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:55 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
And then there was the whole Don/Sloan try to fool HR plotline.
Why didn't Hallie kick Jim to the curb months ago? He has been insufferable for months. No, make that for years. No, make that from birth.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:55 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think it's the opposite of not writing enough. I suspect spousal privilege will become a key plot point in the final two episodes, so Sorkin needed to have them married at this point in the story, but there's only so much space for the other stuff going on, so they end up with the last-minute wedding before Will is carted off to jail. It's not a new trope, and of course it's not going to be some quick City Hall deal, this is a television program and Will is wealthy and apparently has priest friends. That part of the episode really didn't bother me, but I'll admit I fast forwarded through the montage.
I think the Don/Sloan thing is there as comedic relief, but fell kind of flat. I'm with you on Jim being insufferable (though he kind of reminds me of Jeremy from SportsNight), but he's also the "right" side of the crowdsourced/new media vs. curated/old media divide so Sorkin needs Hallie to stick around to be the other voice in that argument. In the real world there's no way they have that same fight that many times, but this isn't the real world we're talking about here, so I guess I find it more useful to examine in terms of what the show is trying to say about the topic matter, rather than a tight-fitting simulacrum of reality. YMMV.
Honestly, probably 25% of the reason I watch this show is to see Charlie fly into a rage, and him nearly pummeling Pruit* was a lot of fun. Not as good as "I am a marine, Don, I will beat the shit out of you! I don't care how many protein bars you eat!" but hey, I'll take it.
* Why isn't his name spelled with two Ts? This is irksome.
posted by axiom at 8:26 PM on December 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
I think the Don/Sloan thing is there as comedic relief, but fell kind of flat. I'm with you on Jim being insufferable (though he kind of reminds me of Jeremy from SportsNight), but he's also the "right" side of the crowdsourced/new media vs. curated/old media divide so Sorkin needs Hallie to stick around to be the other voice in that argument. In the real world there's no way they have that same fight that many times, but this isn't the real world we're talking about here, so I guess I find it more useful to examine in terms of what the show is trying to say about the topic matter, rather than a tight-fitting simulacrum of reality. YMMV.
Honestly, probably 25% of the reason I watch this show is to see Charlie fly into a rage, and him nearly pummeling Pruit* was a lot of fun. Not as good as "I am a marine, Don, I will beat the shit out of you! I don't care how many protein bars you eat!" but hey, I'll take it.
* Why isn't his name spelled with two Ts? This is irksome.
posted by axiom at 8:26 PM on December 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
You can take the Sorkin out of the show but you can't take the... Wait, no, you can't take the Sorkin out of the show: cardboard antagonists, self-righteous protagonists, and what the fuck was the point of that HR subplot but to pat his own back about how great and noble a job he's doing writing about Important Things?
Great. Now I'm monologuing. There was a glimmer of self-awareness there for a little while....
Back to hate-watching for the last two episodes.
But can't Mac get arrested now for sending the classified data to that other reporter?
posted by cardboard at 8:38 PM on December 1, 2014
Great. Now I'm monologuing. There was a glimmer of self-awareness there for a little while....
Back to hate-watching for the last two episodes.
But can't Mac get arrested now for sending the classified data to that other reporter?
posted by cardboard at 8:38 PM on December 1, 2014
When I saw before it aired that this was going to be the wedding episode, I immediately figured we were setting up some kind of spousal privilege thing. I'm no legal scholar, but I'd have significant doubts that the privilege would apply to pre-marital communications in a workplace setting where spouse is accused of participating in a criminal conspiracy with her husband.
I found this helpful FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin article on the marital privileges from a few years back. It points out that "a spouse asserting the adverse spousal testimony privilege or the marital communications privilege may be compelled to testify if the prosecutor gives an adequate promise that the information will not be used against the other spouse." So presumably the DOJ could promise not to go after Will with anything Mac says (since they aren't interested in Will anyway), haul Mac into the grand jury, and lock her up too when she refuses to talk.
As I see it, the only thing Mac could have to give up to the grand jury as it relates to Will is that Will knows who the source is. Except Will already admitted as such, under oath, when he refused to reveal the source. Anyway, that's not to say that the wedding doesn't complicate some things legally, but I doubt it's much of a magic Take that! in the face of an immunity agreement.
With that all said, spiking the story seems pretty crazy to me after all they've invested in it, and surely it's going to take the AP reporter some time to work through the enormous volume of documents and write a new one. Is there a reason why these people, who are willing to go to jail for the story, wouldn't say damn the torpedoes and run it anyway?
Also, anyone catch the bit where Pruit talks about paper books being dead and plugs the Kindle? We're not even pretending this isn't Jeff Bezos anymore, though the Washington Post has yet to immediately turn into a horrific gossip rag yet.
posted by zachlipton at 10:57 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
I found this helpful FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin article on the marital privileges from a few years back. It points out that "a spouse asserting the adverse spousal testimony privilege or the marital communications privilege may be compelled to testify if the prosecutor gives an adequate promise that the information will not be used against the other spouse." So presumably the DOJ could promise not to go after Will with anything Mac says (since they aren't interested in Will anyway), haul Mac into the grand jury, and lock her up too when she refuses to talk.
As I see it, the only thing Mac could have to give up to the grand jury as it relates to Will is that Will knows who the source is. Except Will already admitted as such, under oath, when he refused to reveal the source. Anyway, that's not to say that the wedding doesn't complicate some things legally, but I doubt it's much of a magic Take that! in the face of an immunity agreement.
With that all said, spiking the story seems pretty crazy to me after all they've invested in it, and surely it's going to take the AP reporter some time to work through the enormous volume of documents and write a new one. Is there a reason why these people, who are willing to go to jail for the story, wouldn't say damn the torpedoes and run it anyway?
Also, anyone catch the bit where Pruit talks about paper books being dead and plugs the Kindle? We're not even pretending this isn't Jeff Bezos anymore, though the Washington Post has yet to immediately turn into a horrific gossip rag yet.
posted by zachlipton at 10:57 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I didn't like the marriage bit. Not that it happened, but that it took up so much of the episode. What a waste. I also really didn't believe they wouldn't run with the story. Especially with the source threatening to release the docs at any time if Mac didn't run it. Really weak episode.
I liked Jim at first, even last season. But he's become quite the asshole, and yet I think they're planning on setting him and Maggie up. Which is a shame, I get the feeling that's the last we see of Mr. ethics (noooooo!).
posted by [insert clever name here] at 11:29 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
I liked Jim at first, even last season. But he's become quite the asshole, and yet I think they're planning on setting him and Maggie up. Which is a shame, I get the feeling that's the last we see of Mr. ethics (noooooo!).
posted by [insert clever name here] at 11:29 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
Mac may actually be the only one who knows who the source is. Will referring to the source as "he" implies that either Neal lied to him, or that Neal doesn't actually know the real identity. The spousal privilege is therefore needed so Will doesn't have to admit that Mac (also) knows who the source is.
posted by jontyjago at 3:10 AM on December 2, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by jontyjago at 3:10 AM on December 2, 2014 [2 favorites]
Why is Jim continuing to date Hallie? He doesn't seem to like her, with good reason.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:57 PM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:57 PM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
because we need to contrive more reasons for Jim and Maggie not to get together, which I now sort of root for if only because no one else on the planet deserves to have to put up with either of them
posted by kagredon at 6:10 PM on December 2, 2014
posted by kagredon at 6:10 PM on December 2, 2014
Which is a shame, I get the feeling that's the last we see of Mr. ethics (noooooo!).
I have only just now realized that The Newsroom's Jimmi "Mr Ethics" Simpson is a different character and on a different show from House of Cards' Jimmi "Computer Guy" Simpson. I was wondering why they had brought him back completely out of context and was wondering when the not-really-an-ethics-professor shoe was going to drop and he was going to hacker the shit out of their informant.
This is why mainlining full seasons of tv shows is bad. Different show. Different guy. Carry on.
posted by phunniemee at 6:31 PM on December 2, 2014 [3 favorites]
I have only just now realized that The Newsroom's Jimmi "Mr Ethics" Simpson is a different character and on a different show from House of Cards' Jimmi "Computer Guy" Simpson. I was wondering why they had brought him back completely out of context and was wondering when the not-really-an-ethics-professor shoe was going to drop and he was going to hacker the shit out of their informant.
This is why mainlining full seasons of tv shows is bad. Different show. Different guy. Carry on.
posted by phunniemee at 6:31 PM on December 2, 2014 [3 favorites]
I know. I kept expecting him to be carrying around a guinea pig.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:43 PM on December 2, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:43 PM on December 2, 2014 [2 favorites]
There should really be a constitutional amendment that gives you at least a half hour honeymoon before you are taken into custody.
posted by Drinky Die at 9:42 PM on December 2, 2014
posted by Drinky Die at 9:42 PM on December 2, 2014
zachlipton:I'm also catching a hint of Will being a proxy for Keith Olbermann. Some of what Pruit is saying sounds suspiciously like what they thought they were doing at Current.Also, anyone catch the bit where Pruit talks about paper books being dead and plugs the Kindle? We're not even pretending this isn't Jeff Bezos anymore, though the Washington Post has yet to immediately turn into a horrific gossip rag yet.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:25 PM on December 2, 2014
I didn't think of the Current angle, but its an interesting one.
Will is so much a proxy for Keith Olbermann that Sorkin has had to repeatedly deny that Will is in any way a proxy for Keith Olbermann. It's a hard sell since the man already made one TV show that was very much based on Olbermann.
posted by zachlipton at 11:49 PM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
Will is so much a proxy for Keith Olbermann that Sorkin has had to repeatedly deny that Will is in any way a proxy for Keith Olbermann. It's a hard sell since the man already made one TV show that was very much based on Olbermann.
posted by zachlipton at 11:49 PM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
I have only just now realized that The Newsroom's Jimmi "Mr Ethics" Simpson is a different character and on a different show from House of Cards' Jimmi "Computer Guy" Simpson.
But he is always Jimmi "McPoyle Brothers" Simpson.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 6:01 AM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
But he is always Jimmi "McPoyle Brothers" Simpson.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 6:01 AM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
This may be the dumbest program ever written by and for smart people.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:47 PM on December 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:47 PM on December 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
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posted by kagredon at 7:20 PM on December 1, 2014 [2 favorites]