‘Newsroom’ 2013 S1 Ep2 Recap: “The Genoa Tip” and the Week that Leaves Will McAvoy Off the Air [VIDEO]
Episode 2 of ‘The Newsroom’ Season 2 features News Night management editor and the face of Atlantic Cable News (ACN), Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) off the air in this week’s coverage - - not very good move the whole crew realized at the end of the day as it killed a man in death throw.
Headlines for this week episode had Jim begging to join the Romney Campaign bus; Sloan finding Maggie sleeping at her room floor; Neil making progress in the Wall Street Journal; Don pushing for ACN to comment on the Troy-Davis looming execution and Will, covering up as to why he wasn’t on air much this week and the 9/11 celebration and Maggie going to Africa.
Week two began with James “Jim” Harper (John Gallagher Jr.) still begging to join the group of journalists already conveniently seated in a half full of bus to Cameron, the man holding the list, in charge of who goes with the Romney Campaign. No amount of explanations and threats made by Jim had convinced Cameron to let him get on the bus. But Jim was saved by a nice-looking female reporter, Hallie. Jim appeared flirting in his efforts to thank Hallie but the girl wasn’t interested.
Sloan Sabbith (Oivia Munn) entered to her office greeted by surprise to see Margaret “Maggie” Jordan (Allison Pill) sleeping on the floor. Maggie first denied any trouble, but later gave a hint that she and Don Keefer (Thomas Sadoski) broke up, reiterating it was her fault. Sloan appeared to apprehend Maggie’s story but cut her short by asking Maggie to join her in the gym. Maggie did.
But we viewers didn’t follow Sloan and Maggie in their hottest gym looks. Instead the scene cut to McKenzie Morgan Mac” (Emily Mortimer) office with Jerry, the senior producer who temporarily replaced Jim as Senior Producer. Jerry, (Hamish Linklater) told Mac of the “Genoa tip” given to him by the rowdy guest seen in Episode 1, Cyrus. Asking for Mac’s trust, Jerry told the News Night EP of the explosive story involving U.S. military dropping Sarin nerve gas to thousands of Pakistanis during a rescue operation, extracting Marines taken hostage in Pakistan. Aware of the legal impediments that could befall them, Mac was truly hesitant at this point of the episode.
Maggie walked in and told Mac Will wanted her. While walking out Mac’s office, Maggie took this chance to pitch in a story that would bring her to South Africa. As expected, Mac dissuaded her.
Mac walked in to Will’s office, to find the top editors and anchors of ACN’s “10pm” anchored by Elliot and Sloan. Will struggled to tell Sloan and Elliot that the two are covering the 9/11 10-year anniversary, reiterating that it’s his choice not the management, as he saw disbelief in both of their faces. Surprised and claiming they didn’t believe Will a bit, Sloan and Elliot asked for explanation and they appeared unsatisfied with Will’s justification, saying, "I'm bad news right now."
When they left, Mac confronted Will that it was ACN’s chief of the News Division who decided he won’t anchor ACN’s 9/11 coverage. Will admitted, he covered it up because it was embarrassing, leaving Mac surprised to see her ex-beau admit to such weakness.
A break from the News room, then cue Jim on the field in the New Hampshire. He was seen adjusting the camera and his distance from it with a microphone to prepare for a stand-up. A one-man team, Jim asked for Hallie’s help when he saw her passed him by. Hallie obliged but Jim knew, “the camera was not focused on his face centered,” and his new-found “friend” in the Romney campaign simply responded, “We’re competitors” and walked away. This part of the episode could set the tongue waggings for those who wanted another romance to blossom - - that Jim will end up with Hallie anyway at some point in Season 2.
Then came the scene with Don and Will at the News Night anchor’s office. The two was seen in deep conversation and it was at this point when we see Don getting passionate about his hopes to save Troy Davis, a man in death row for 9 to 10 years for a crime committed 20 years ago.
Cut to Maggie picking up her stuff from Sloan’s office. The economist expert, and the rare news anchor with two Ph.D.s. ran into Maggie as the Associate Producer was leaving and it was then that all the questions were asked. To her chagrin, Maggie, who thought that Sloan was initially being nice for not delving too much on her split from Don, finally admitted about the YouTube video Don see. The clip featured Maggie, crying and screaming at the top of her lungs, professing her love for Jim, the Senior Producer and expressing disdain for betraying the trust of her best friend, Lisa, who is actually going out with Jim. Then the confession led to her plans to track down the YouTube user and counting the number of hours she had to meet her at a laundry room in Queens. Sloan, still looking at Maggie , said: “I'm not letting you go to Queens to negotiate with Sylvia Plath by yourself."
While Maggie and Sloan were making to the Laundromat, to meet the YouTube user who video-taped Maggie while she was on Sex in the City tour bus, the scene was cut to Jim at the New Hampshire campaign trail, following Romney’s camp. He was handed a press release and itinerary for the day and asked Cameron , again, when he could have a 30-minute interview with the candidate. Of course, Cameron simply shrugged off, and said, “ask me again, when he can.” And Jim, quipped, “I will” with a smile.
Then back to Sloan and Maggie as they “conveniently” walked in to a Laundromat and faced the woman holding a phone, named Erica. This was the woman who caught Maggie on tape. There were initial confusions and fear but it’s a good thing Maggie didn’t stop Sloan from tagging along, otherwise she would have not gone to first based with the woman.
Sloan haggled and promised to tweet about Erica to her 450k followers on Twitter in exchange for her agreement to take down the posted video of Maggie. She promised to do so at the Laundromat but Lisa, Maggie’s bestfriend, provide them both wrong. Erica never delivered her side of the bargain.
Jerry was next looking for a witness and source of the sarin gas being used against Pakistanis. Maggie was seen seated from a far, looking lonely and worried. She got her phone and called Jim, who was cut in a scene sitting reading on his laptop by the pool. With Hallie sitting next to him, Jim listened to Maggie who said on the other line that she just wanted things to be normal. When he got off the phone, Hallie asked, why didn’t he want to be normal and he said, “I don’t want to be normal.” Loud and clear.
Maggie has found an ally with Garry Cooper and the two both looked into stories relevant to America, in Sudan. Wondering If there’s any relevant in Sudan? None. It’s all so Maggie could get as far away from Jim as possible (and be changed forever, as said in the teaser in Episode1). Cooper chanced upon issues that Mac may not want to hear and Maggie suggested to keep it from ACN Exec Producer.
Mac tested Maggie of everything she knows about South Africa and Sudan - - from the name of the ambassador to the embassy and location. She did not forget to remind Maggie the company policy in case she got abducted. Maggie knew. She recited it. Mac had no choice but to let her be.
Another headline in this week’s episode is Neal finally getting action in the Occupy Wall Street story. He went to the gathering, only this time, for the promised to have Radiohead as part of the program. But the group didn’t come. Things got heated up. Neal shot the footage of the scene, with the police forcibly dispersing the protesters. The police smashed Neal’s phone and he landed in jail. It’s a good thing Maggie got the footage through Ustream and Will stepped up to get Neal out of jail and talked his freedom out from the police desk officer. The blogger, who from time to time made fun off by co-workers for his out-of-the-box stories, was seen telling his experience to his colleagues while in jail for one hour and fifteen minutes.
Going back to Maggie and her personal romance troubles involving Jim, Don and the YouTube video. Lisa found out about the video as Maggie moved back in with her. Maggie found her new relationship with Lisa as tenant-landlord, forget being best friends, when she showed her the Youtube video. Erica didn’t take it down as promised. All the actors in the blossoming romance at News Night saw the video - - from Don, to Maggie, Jim and Lisa. The love affairs in News Room makes as exciting and something to look forward to as the news staffer try to represent what it’s like in the real world of broadcast journalism.
Wrapping up the headlines and questions after seeing Episode 2, “The Genoa Tip”
- Will Maggie and Jim be together again? She failed to ring Jim to tell him she’s leaving for Africa.
- Will Jim have a new romance in Hallie?
- When will Don and Sloan stop eyeing each other and begin seeing each other?
- Have News Night learned not to take Will off the air, as tragedy comes next - - death of Troy Davis?
Stay tuned for next episode of The Newsroom, aired on CBS, Sunday 10pm, EST.
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