And welcome back to Newsnight with Will McAvoy. Our top story this evening. . .
No, first, let’s talk about the Emmys. Stupid effing awards. While Jeff Daniels was (rightly) nominated for best actor and Jane Fonda for best guest actress, the series was otherwise snubbed, especially in the writing and in the overall best drama categories. And where is Sam Waterston’s nomination?
How that happens, I have no idea. Well, at least we can have some consolation that it was nominated for and will probably win the Emmy for best title sequence. Yay? Snub. Ok, on to tonight’s episode:
I really hope you’ve been paying attention, because we jump right back in. Will McAvoy is no longer going to anchor the 9/11 tenth anniversary broadcast. Jim is being hazed on the Romney campaign bus. Jim’s replacement is running down a story about whether sarin gas was used in a black op by US forces on a raid in Afghanistan (in an “Operation: Genoa,” giving us the name of the episode).
Meanwhile, Don is sublimating his breakup with Maggie into a defense of the wrongly-convicted and executed Georgia inmate named Troy Davis. And Maggie and Sloan are on the case about the YouTube video of Maggie yelling at the Sex in the City bus. And Neal’s Occupy Wall St. protests are about to explode.
This episode was a long, hard slog of fail. Every single one of our characters is getting their comeuppance in one form or another and trying to getting out of it.
This is tough. I miss the self-righteous indignation and clarity of purpose. As I said last week, this is murky, dangerous territory. There’s nothing here for me to be happy about or cheer for. In short, this is life. This is September of 2011.
Despite this dreariness, we get one beautiful piece, a hallmark of why I love this show so much, is its willingness to use individual songs to their full extent. We get Willie Nelson singing “You Are Always On My Mind” and some Will McAvoy commentary on it.
Until next week, that’s it for The Newsroom.