The Newsroom Review: Fix the Crazy Problem

There are times when watching The Newsroom can be a frustrating experience - and "News Night with Will McAvoy" was one of those times.

I was surprised when the show brought up the Trayvon Martin case. On the heels of the trial, it all felt too soon. But then I realized that this episode was probably filmed months in advance, around the time the 911 call George Zimmerman made was released.

Throughout the story, I wondered what was the point they were trying to make by rehashing it all and I found it interesting that the other people I watched the show with all had differing opinions.

Was the series saying that playing the most controversial seconds of a conversation that took over four minutes was irresponsible? Were they making the excuse that mistakes happen when reporters and editors rush to make impossible deadlines? Was it simply a fictitious way of telling the story of how things could have happened behind the scenes if these characters had been involved?

I suppose that's the risk of using recent real world events to move a plot forward. The audience is left to wonder if it's just a unique form of storytelling or is the writer using his characters to push a particular agenda.

Of course, there were plenty of other stories swirling around ACN. Operation Genoa was mostly on the back burner, except for Charlie's conversation with an old friend and military contact. Kudos for the Top Gun reference that made me laugh out loud, which turned out to be only slightly embarrassing when the person sitting next to me didn't get it at all.

I was a bit surprised that Charlie was so gung-ho to move forward with the story when all he had were scribbles on a sheet of notebook paper. The code for what may or may not have been Sarin gas appeared to be just more conjecture, not hard evidence but I'm sure all of this will lead somewhere.

The death of Will's abusive father overlapping with the anti-McAvoy Twitter chatter was odd. Will seemed more upset about the bad publicity and losing a viewer than his father dying. I know it's not nearly that simple given his complex relationship with his dad and I wonder if we'll revisit it all before the end of the season.

I was a little confused by this week's timeline until Jim mentioned that it had been six months since Maggie and Gary got back from Africa. Last week's episode made it appear that Maggie had come home and immediately cut her hair. That obviously wasn't the case.

Maggie's downward spiral took a much longer journey including a good deal of alcohol. It's horrible that six months later she was still living with Lisa and is afraid to sleep by herself. It had me wishing she'd take the prescribed medication.

I felt horrible for Sloan as she had to admit to her bosses that the nude pictures posted of her online were real. Sloan trusted the wrong person but I agreed with what Don told her: When a guy is that big of an ass, there had to be signs long before their breakup. In the end, it was nice to see Sloan give the jackass just what he deserved. I only hope she doesn't end up getting hit with assault charges for the privilege.

But Sloan and Maggie's stories made me wonder if there will ever come a time when the women at ACN will be able to come to the rescue of their male counterparts. As much as I appreciate the entertaining character arcs, it's a little disheartening that the women on this show always seem to be such a mess.

Am I taking it all too seriously? It is just TV after all. What's your take on this week's The Newsroom?