Director: Greg Mottola
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Synopsis: While Rebecca must once again defend ACN during a possible lawsuit, Will tries to protect Neal from the aftermath of the DOD leak; Charlie and Leona deal with a hostile takeover; Sloan worries about Don’s involvement with insider information.
At the conclusion of ‘Boston’, Sloane (Olivia Munn) discovered that ACN were in the middle of a hostile takeover and Reece (Chris Messina) was completely unaware. They also discovered that Reece’s family members ‘the twins’ were in town. ‘Run’ begins with is the realisation that the business is in an unexpected crisis and these ‘twins’ are the ones trying to buy it. Here we meet Blair Lansing (Kat Dennings) and Randy Lansing (Chris Smith), new additions to the world of The Newsroom and a pretty dislikeable pair at that – as they’re supposed to be.
It’s also a huge episode in terms of Neal (Dev Patel) and the fact that he’s broken the federal law while asking his NSA source to steal more information. He gets himself a lawyer, which is the excellent Rebecca Halliday (Marcia Gay Harden) who returns to try and help this team who keep getting into deep trouble with the law. However, at this point no-one bar a small select group of people know what’s happened and so there’s not a lot of fear regarding what they should do next. Neal is informed that he simply needs to cut the contact, not ask for anything else and to not investigate the information he’s received but he’s not eager to do this, in fact he thinks the story should be shared and MacKenzie (Emily Mortimer) agrees.
As we briefly move back to Maggie (Alison Pill), who’s exceled with some on-screen reporting and seems to be turning her negative times around, she’s on the train home to ACN and overhears a White House worker revealing a little too much on the telephone. Sneakily, she records the conversation which is supposed to be ‘off the record’ but it’s only to someone else he’s talking to. Once he finishes talking and saying a lot of negative things about his government, she confronts him to say she’ll be taking this news public. However, there’s an interesting twist in the tail as she realises that she hasn’t sourced this first-hand experience very truthfully and in turn informs him that it’ll go no further. Confused, the office administrator doesn’t believe Maggie but they eventually come to an understanding and instead, she earns herself an exclusive story.
In this episode we also see the sacking of Hallie (Grace Gummer) by Charlie (Sam Waterston), who’s been a great addition since she’s been involved but accidentally tweets something derogatory about the Republicans and deletes it but, as we all know, the internet has already seen it and there’s no escape from her being asked quietly to leave her job and, although devastated, knows it’s the only option. Jim (John Gallagher Jr) tries to help but even he can’t defend this action. We also see the wonderful development of Sloane and Don Keefer’s (Thomas Sadoski) relationship as they play each other intellectually and entertainingly. They have a fun story that’s grown since the first season and feel like they have a mutual respect for each other but also like to enjoy the ride; it’s natural and an exciting part of the narrative for all.
The big finale is cut into two parts, firstly the return of Jane Fonda’s Leona Lesling, who I think is inspired casting. Her conversation on how there’s no longer a proper meaning for the word ‘literally’ was one of my favourite parts and cleverly done, it’s hard not to agree. She’s back to take over the company herself, if she can scrape together $4 Billion Dollars, as you do, but only if she can raise the funds.
The second part is Neal and his possible demise, whether through his career or if he ends up in prison, we all wait to see. As he reveals to Will (Jeff Daniels) that he’s already called someone he shouldn’t, the FBI turn up with a warrant to arrest Neal and also take away all the Hard-Drive’s in the building. In this moment, Will writes something down and passes it onto his co-worker and then we cut to Neal outside the building, smashing up his phone and burning a note that just say ‘Neal, Run’. The next episode can only be massive, bring it on.
[usr=4] The Newsroom continues on Sky Atlantic every Wednesday. For more details click here and for the rest of our The Newsroom blog head here.
