‘The Newsroom’ Episode 2.05 "News Night with Will McAvoy"

Not even 2 hours before “News Night with Will McAvoy” aired I was defending MacKenzie’s behavior toward Neal to another fan and now I just want to tell her to back off. I let her slide the first go round because Wills world had just come to a stop, but the next time she jumped all over Neal she was just being a jerk. There was no way that first time Neal could have known that the type of chaos Will was dealing with wasn’t the normal chaos that goes with the job and was, instead, chaos of the emotional kind.

I get that Mac doesn’t want Will to be the type of person who worries about what people tweet, but Neal has a job to do and part of that job is to monitor what the public is saying. If I were Mac I’d be madder at the woman from the New York Post for being the type of person who tweets their displeasure over someone like Will (or really anyone) didn’t drop everything in their brief 30-second encounter to treat them like the important person they believe they are.
For the first time since the show first premiered I felt as though I was seeing a glimpse of who Will really is and not who he wants everyone to believe he is. Of course I could be wrong and he really could be a narcissistic ass who truly does care if some woman he didn’t even notice when they were face to face was no longer going to watch him on television. He could be, but I doubt it.

I am not going to begin to pretend I understand the complexities of a father/son relationship, but I imagine they are as fraught with emotional landmines as mother/daughter relationships so I can understand Wills hesitation at calling his father once he heard the news he was in the hospital. Sure it seems easy to those on the outside, but it is a completely different picture when it’s your parent.

Goodbye Team Jim and hello Team Maggie. In the span of 5 episodes I have gone from being a staunch Jim supporter to defector. Sorry Jim, but you’re kind of an asshole. Yes, I know that 6 months ago Maggie drug you through the emotional ringer with all her back and forth garbage and 6 months ago I would have had your back. Except, well, it’s been 6 months and not only that but that woman you seem hell-bent on being an ass too has been through a trauma that frankly trumps whatever crap she put you through. So back off a little or better yet try being there for her. I know novel idea, but I hear that’s what friends do. I could be wrong.

Poor Maggie. She is so busy trying to convince herself that she is okay that she hasn’t noticed that she is crumbling before our very eyes. There is no place she can go to escape her nightmares. The newsroom was the one place she had left that helped keep them at bay for a few hours and she finds herself committing a major error. The type of error that if it were not for Neal could have gotten a lot of people into trouble.
And the MVP of the episode goes to one kick-ass woman by the name of Sloan Sabbith and lets not forget her trusty side-kick Don Keefer. Despite all the rumble about Jim and that woman from the road and nip slips and whether or not being called a slut should be a bad thing or empowering when Sloan laid that asshole out for posting naked pictures of her on the website I cheered. That’s right, I freaking cheered. Was it an appropriate response? Maybe, maybe not, but damn I imagine it felt great. If you ask me the greatest thing about tonight’s episode was at no point did anyone say that she should have known better. At no point was it made to appear that this was somehow her fault. That her ex being a jackass was somehow acceptable because he’s a guy and because she was a woman she shouldn’t have put herself in a place that would give a guy the opportunity to take advantage of her. Screw all the nip slips and articles on a woman’s self-worth it is about time that the excuse “boys will be boys” is laid to rest and they be held to same level of behavior we say we expect.

Don you had me at “I’m calling a guy named Munch. I’m not going to make it out of this call alive.” and “WTF is wrong with you!” I heart you Don, I really, really do.

Story Bites:

I had to look up Bababooey. I’m still not certain of its meaning nor do I care to really know.

Genoa; real or made-up? Hmmm, the plot thickens.

Is it possible that Mac could have said Maury Povich’s name with more disdain?

I was with Mac on the reason she cut the rugby player’s piece until she said “I saw a video, It Gets Better.” as though that would make what this young man was gong through all better.

The story of Tyler and every other young person that has to go through something like that deserves a better story than to be a Mac loves Will story bite.