The Newsroom “Newsroom 2.0” Review


This Aaron Sorkin led drama continues to prove that you can be rough around the edges but still fundamentally work, but is it worth watching?  Read on.

Official description from HBO:

Mac asserts her control of the News Night rundown; Jim takes the fall for Maggie; a breakup secret gets out.

The Newsroom continues this week, and again tries to show what it takes to deliver good journalism on a cable news network.  The intricate meat behind the scenes is the focus, as the secondary players get the spotlight in this latest episode.  We get to meet everyone as minutes quickly countdown to the moment when Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) takes center stage in front of the camera.

This show is not about whether being right wing or left wing is wrong, it’s about the fact that both sides tend to distort the news in different ways and at the end of the day the media needs to be above that.  Aaron Sorkin does a good job offering his sensibilities on the subject, but more often than not the dialogue comes off as preachy but somehow it finds a balance, and by the end of the episode it works.

This week the cast all comes to play and as powerful a lead as Jeff Daniels can be, the heart and soul of this episode rests on the shoulders of Alison Pill, who more than delivers as Maggie Jordan.  She hits some intricate lows that allow her situation in the show to be thoroughly and intimantly explored while the chaos in the newsroom continues to burn through the day.  Kudos also has to go to Emily Morimer for brining a believable performance to some rather goofy scenarios while maintaining a grace that made the episode more than work.

Overall if you enjoyed the pilot there is more to love in this episode.  The story worked, the actors were solid to top notch and more importantly, the dialogue didn’t feel as bloated as it did in the previous episode.

4/5