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WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS AND COMPLETE SUMMARY FOR THE EPISODES AS OF 7/15/2012
Words cannot describe how good The Newsroom is by Aaron Sorkin which aired on June 24th. It's fresh, it's new, and the writing is amazing. The characters are rife with tension and natural conflict plays out during the course of the episodes. It's the type of show you keep coming back to not knowing the reason why but just knowing that you have to just to see what happens next.
Hearing the premise of the show, I was a little iffy about watching it. A show about what goes on in the back room of news studio doesn't seem like such a big draw card amongst shows like Once Upon a Time, Pretty Little Liars, Law and Order, and etc. But then since marketing stratagy practically screamed AARON SORKIN at you every chance they got, I had to see what they were talking about. He did after all write The Social Network screenplay. Say what you will about the movie but you almost can't argue that the screenplay wasn't awesome. "I'm 6'5, 220, and there's two of me!" Armie Hammer said in one of the scenes. How could lines like that not make you quake?
Anywho, hearing all of that, I got intrigued. From the very first episode, I knew that the show would work. It has tension, conflict, and tackles big questions while also dealing with other messy questions like love and working with former lovers. In the very beginning, Will McAvoy played by the amazing Jeff Daniels is at a conference answering questions about the state of America.
In an article from EW magazine about the episode, the writer made a long critique on how Aaron Sorkin likes his long speeches that while it says a lot, it's still long. I agree but when you think about the context of the show, it's almost necessary for such long speeches about the state of America. And you have to give credit to the actors who remember all of those lines at once. Sure they must have spliced all of it together, but in essence, they had to memorize those lines whether they said it altogether or chopped.
I don't remember what he said verbatim, but the gist of it was that America wasn't the best in the world because we're behind in so many things like math and science and things like that. And while college students like to think that they know what's going on in the world, they actually don't but then want to throw around big worded questions to make themselves seem smarter. The fallout of this Q and A caused his boss to bring in a new executive producer to create a new template because his old one was leaving for a new time slot.
The new EP, Mackenzie MacHale, played by the talented Emily Mortimer, used to date Will and cheated on him which led to their breakup. It tore out Will's heart making him less than lovable around the office. Despite his less than sunny disposition, I can understand Will's attitude. His old EP left him and took more than half his staff, his boss brought in his old girlfriend who cheated on him, and the women he's trying to date are all crazy, and not to mention the people upstairs on the 44th floor are threatening to fire him if he doesn't dial down the politics on his show.
Will's character, is on a mission to civilize the world which is hard to do in a world where half the population doesn't care about politics or are more interested in the Housewives of Wherever and whether or not she's having an affair with her yoga instructor. He's a modern man born in the wrong time period. He's looking towards the future and that news should report the news not stupid puff pieces and it frustrates him that more people don't realize it. He cares about the politics, he completely believes that people should be more educated on the election of the tea party rather than the new iPad coming out. He's literally a fish out of water when only he cares and he's on a crusade mission to get the world on board with him.
I get a little lost in the show sometimes because the characters talk at a fast pace. They talk over each other, have two different ideas of what each is talking about, or are rattling off statistics at such a rapid pace it's a blink and you'll miss it kind of show. They throw out a lot of stats and figures and facts, I kind of struggle to keep up but once you settle into that rhythm, you're able to keep up whether or not you know what they're talking about or not.
The show isn't all politics all the time though. There's an assortment of characters that give the show a fresh look at people and how they interact with each other. There's a love triangle and a super funny character played by Dev Patel who is so adorable, his character just works. There are other characters in the show, a pretty anchor with a PhD in economics which no one will believe and Mac's new boyfriend which irritates Will but he'll never cop to it.
Dev Patel plays Neal Sampat, a total geek who emphatically believes in Big Foot. He runs the blog there and he's there for the comic relief when a moment is so full of tension. He goes on long tirades about the possibilities of Big Foot and undocumented species deep within the rain forest and it's adorable so it's excusable. But he's not all comedy all the time. In the first episode he was the one who convinced Will to report on the oil spill while everyone else was reporting on other things. And he helped make Will's show the leader in breaking news. In the recent episode, everyone reported that the secretary was dead but it turned out that she was still alive. Will made the choice to report that she's not dead, further proving that Will's show tells other shows what to report. And Dev Patel becomes friends with Jim, the right hand man to Mac.
The show's triangle revolves around Jim, Maggie, and Don. I'll get into the psychology of love triangles later in on the post, but a little background on each character. Maggie was first introduced in the show as the girl who got mistaken for Will's assitant but he didn't know her name. He kept calling her something else and despite her best efforts, he wouldn't use the right one. When Will finally learned that she wasn't his assitant, he still kept her on. She's played by Alison Pill who plays her as a fritzy, panicky, mumbling screw up who often drops the ball on important stories but makes up for her by her undeniable talent. She can definitely handle herself in any situation but for whatever bizarre reason, the men in her life see her as some damsel in distress who needs rescuing every five seconds. I, for one, am very grateful that the writers didn't go that direction. That she's just another panicky girl who needs guys to come to her rescue. She's a woman, she can take care of herself.
Don is played by Thomas Sadoski. Don is like the uber jerk who constantly puts down people but believes he isn't. He's in a constant, annoying love/hate relationship with Maggie. They're constantly arguing and breaking up/getting back together. They're like that couple you knew back in high school who for all intents and purposes shouldn't be together yet can't keep their hands off of each other, whether in a caress or blow. He's a realistic type of guy who lacks total empathy. He's an almost sweet looking Neanderthal who could care less how Maggie feels. She botched the interview with the Arizona governor over the immigrant laws because she dated the pre interview staff person and didn't tell Jim about it. Instead of making her feel better, Don just made her feel worse and almost ordered her out of the bar where she was getting trashed. A normal person would try to make her feel better but instead, he made her feel like a petulant child who needed to suck it up on move on. To say that I don't like his character is an understatement.
Jim is played with earnest sweetness by John Gallagher Jr. His character is completely loyal and sweet, the typical "nice guy" in this triangle but he plays the character with anything but typical. Mac saw how Maggie was struggling with her relationship and asked Jim to flirt a little because it would drive Don nuts. Which worked but Jim ended up liking Maggie. Now, he won't tell her because she's with Don and he's not a homewrecker and she's inexplicably mean to him because she likes him back but won't admit it. She even told her roommate about him and knows deep down she likes him but she feels a sort of obligation to Don. During their off period, Jim tried to make contact with a little nudging from Neal but was shunned when Don showed up and kissed her making them back together again. I can't even tell you how upset I was about this. At this point, I can almost sympathize with "nice guys" who complain that women only want the bad guys.
Jim became a complete contender to Don and because he's such a Neanderthal, it made him stand up and pay attention. At a new year's party, Don tried to fix Jim up with Maggie's roommate. Don saw how close Jim and Maggie were getting so he got jealous. Maggie kept making it painfully obvious that she didn't agree with him and even her roommate didn't want to but Don kept pushing the issue because he was silently daring Maggie to admit she likes him or force Jim to admit he likes her. This is a classic sign of Maggie wanting her cake and wanting to eat it too. She has Don but she also wants Jim and she doesn't have enough guts to admit to herself and others what she really wants.
The result being that she pushes her roommate to go out with him and then grills him on if he's going to see her roommate again.Here's the part that really got my gears grinding. Don knew that they had feelings for each other. And with a smug smile, told Maggie that Jim lied to her and that her roommate was going to see Jim again. He purposely showed her a bit of news that would peak her interest making her call Jim and forcing him to lie to her. Knowing all of this, Don calls her roommates' number which rang in the other room and on Maggie's phone making her know that Jim is in the other room with her roommate. With another smug smile, Don closes his phone and almost dares her to say something about it. But all she can do is feel stupid and ask what she ever did to Don. It really makes you wonder what the hell she's holding onto in Don. Is she really that afraid to date Jim? Even though he's the rational choice? Don is obviously a negative influence. Jim cared so much that he helped her through a panic attack when Don wrote it off as just something she does.
Now for the psychology behind love triangles! YAY!
Not long ago, I asked myself why it seemed like every TV show, movie, or book currently in circulation are so stuck on love triangles. It's there in two of my favorite James Patterson novels, in my favorite TV shows like Vampire Diaries, Dallas, Trueblood, and movies like the Hunger Games and Twilight. Yes I'm a Twihard but I'm not a psycho like most of the world is. But all of these examples had me thinking why triangles and even sqaures resonate so much in pop culture today. The logical question to bear in mind is that, if you fell in love with the second guy, then you obviously don't really love the first. I'm a firm believer that you can't love two people at once. It just can't be done. But love isn't exactly logical, is it?
So then I really thought of it. I think it has something to do with humans' natural urge to compete. Back in the caveman days, guys clonked their women over the head and kept it pushing. But then women started getting smarter. If they hold out on the first guy they see, it now became the norm for guys to compete for the ladies' affections. (Notice how it's never two women and one guy because society has painted women as too catty and angry to hold themselves in check when confronted with "the other woman" yet it's perfectly okay for two guys to go at it over a woman. Double standards suck!)
Not to mention that fathers got factored into the equation. If guys didn't ask their permission or prove that they were the better choice, the father would never agree to the arrangement. Kind of makes you glad that these ain't the 1800s anymore huh? So it stands to reason that competetion is completely natural to human instincts and men are even more competitive. So when some Joe Average comes to claim his woman, the first guy will fight. Not to mention, people love picking sides. We've all heard the Team Edward - Team Jacob, Team Stefan - Team Damon, Team Bill - Team Eric - Team Alcide debacles right? It allows girls to pick sides and defend it with everything in them. Not to mention, it's part of almost every woman's fantasy to have two or more men fighting over her. Makes her feel desired and wanted as the most prized posession.
It may not completely solve the phenom behind love triangles but it is something worth looking at since practically everyone and they momma want to have a love triangle or square. Despite everything, I thoroughly enjoy love triangles but in my own writing, I don't think I'd use them. Maybe only slightly to encourage the guys in my main characters' lives to step it up and realize that they have a person worth fighting for. But as a full on love triangle? Nah, that's not me. It's hard enough trying to get one person to like you and love you but two? Come on! If it were that easy, I'd have my future husband by now!
Overall, I'm thoroughly enjoying the show. It's very well written, keeps you informed in a non boring way, and seeing Will's character deal with the love of his life is just priceless to watch. He's an angry man trying to hide it but he can't hide it from her and he knows it but that doesn't stop him from trying. The other characters help balance out the show making for a very entertaining show that I look forward to watching every Sunday. If you haven't been watching, you really, really, really, should!
