Tonight on The Newsroom, the plot moves forward in the ongoing investigation into Operation: Genoa, including an excellent guest appearance by Stephen Root as General Stanislaus Stomtonovich. We also have more Jim/Maggie and some Don pining for Sloan. But mostly in the b-storyline we have Will obsessing over a focus group he commissioned and trying to make himself more “likeable.”
In all, this was a middling episode, and one that reminds me how much this show demands to be binge-watched. Obviously, bad things go down in this episode that are going to cascade over into the next. And I so much wants to see the fallout, and see if the next episode can make up for the failings of this one. (They tend to do that when you binge watch.)
While this episode was only fair, the shining star here is Stephen Root. His ex-Marine General is being interviewed as an expert on chemical weapons who says he will confirm Genoa, but only if he can keep watching March Madness. He throws in some good sports metaphors in here, and like all characters Root plays, he brings life and vibrance to what could be a forgettable character.
Speaking of small parts and memorable performances, the MTV U reporter who comes on the double date with Jim and Neil is awesome. She’s the perfect blend of party girl enthusiasm and blissful ignorance around Ron Paul that makes her the most perfect caricature of people like her that I’ve ever seen. “Ron Paul!!! Woo-hoo!!!!!”
Speaking of important commentary, there has been a lot in both this episode and the last about the important role and trust we place in media as fact-checkers. We trust them to be bringers of truth and facts, but in the past two weeks we have two instances of selective editing of primary source material which leads to different conclusions. One was intentional, one was inadvertent, but it shows the importance of nuance. Even a few words make the difference between truth and a lie, between fact and innuendo.
But it looks like next week we will have the end of the Genoa story. $#!t is going to go down. And then. . .Election Night 2012 for the season finale(s).