Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom returned for its season two premiere with “First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers” (Sorkin’s wordiness apparently carries over to titles now). And while there do seem to be some stark changes in the first episode of the second season it is important to note that the characters are still unlikable – although now they are desperately trying to be likable – and the relationship triangles are still very active and just as annoying. However, it is evident that the second season of The Newsroom will maintain a stronger narrative focus throughout the season. Whether that story will be engaging and not annoyingly drawn out remains to be seen.
One major difference between the first season and the second season’s premiere is the focus of the show. Much of last season revolved around the ACN news team reporting very famous events from the recent past. And while that did help set the tone for the characters and what they were trying to accomplish with their broadcast it didn’t end up being very interesting TV. The premiere featured two main news stories, drone strikes and the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but the show didn’t revolve around the rush of finding sources and the stories. Instead the show focused more on setting up these issues to set them up as recurring plotlines throughout the season.
It looks like the second season will revolve around a recurring plot in which ACN has a major screw up with the reporting of a military Black Operation codenamed Genoa. The episode used Sorkin’s favorite technique of a sort of frame where scenes from a present day questioning by Rebecca, a lawyer played by Marcia Gay Harden, were interspliced with the events that lead up to the whole reason why they are being questioned in the first place. Basically the audience already has a general idea that it’s about to hit the fan. Clearly something major has happened and it seems like the entirety of the season will be about discovering what exactly went wrong and then the fallout.
While the focus on one major event offers up a much more interesting way to tell a story, rather than having episodic news breaks every week, it could end up being a detractor as well. The Newsroom must make sure to not just drag this story along to fill out the season, especially in the form of shifting focus between the main unfolding events and last year’s main plot focus, which was the Don-Maggie-Jim love triangle – and to a lesser extent the MacKenzie and Will relationship. It could be all to easy to have entire episodes focus on the very lackluster relationships in order to stretch out the overarching plot of the ACN screw up.
And it is quite understandable for those of you who just groaned about the return of the romantic relationships. While MacKenzie and Will’s relationship wasn’t really commented on this week it is clear that The Newsroom still really wants to explore the trials and tribulations between Maggie and Jim. Despite everything seeming hunky dory by the end of the episode sends Don a link to a Youtube clip of Maggie’s freak out from last season. This makes Don, now trying way too hard to be likable, decide to break up with Maggie in a self-sacrificing gesture and urges her to go tell Jim to return from the budding Romney presidential campaign. The very assignment Jim gave himself to get away from Maggie and Don. And while it does look like this plot will take more of a backseat, especially compared to how important it was last season, the year’s layover has not made it anymore interesting.
Don isn’t the only character who has changed in the year’s hiatus either. Will now immediately undresses after being on air into a beat up t-shirt and some sweats to make him seem more down to earth. Likewise Neal, whose only character trait from season one was that he loved Big Foot, is the driving force behind wanting to cover the fledgling Occupy Wall Street movement – making a huge transition from the joke he was last season. Also the extremely competent MacKenzie from the pilot episode has returned taking the place of the bumbling MacKenzie from the other nine episodes. Heck, even the opening credit graphics and music changed.
Unfortunately the characters are still, on the whole, fairly unlikable – despite their transformation from their season one caricatures. And while the characters don’t have to be likable for a good television show most of the characters from The Newsroom aren’t all that engrossing. In fact, besides the starcrossed lovers the audience is meant to care about none of the others are interesting enough to become invested in their lives – although the new Neal could become an exception to that if handled correctly.
The season two premiere of The Newsroom was a solid table setter for the season to come but it still lacks audience magnetism a show like this demands. Some interesting stories were set up in the premiere but it is clear the show still has a long way to go to be considered one of the best on television. If you are a fan of the show already then the season two changes should only increase your fandom. However, the show will have to deliver on its main plot before it becomes something worth viewing every week.
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