The Newsroom Season 3 Episode 4 Review: Contempt
Christine Orlando
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What's the price of doing the news? The Newsroom Season 3 Episode 4 asked that question of many of its characters with differing results.
Hallie and Jim's answers were so extremely different that their relationship ended over it. Although a website like carnage.com wouldn't be my first choice as a news site, there's no doubt Jim was being an arrogant ass about his girlfriend's new job, especially when he couldn't keep that Dear Penthouse comment to himself. It made me wonder if he was trying to sabotage their relationship.
What their argument highlighted was how the definition of news has changed. That's the very crux of the argument between Lucas Pruitt and Charlie. Charlie didn't think very much of Pruitt's vision for the network as he explained in this The Newsroom quote...
Needless to say I'm impressed by your indifference to talent, experience and credentials and I assume the absence of the words truth, trust, and professionalism in your mission statement was an oversight.
Charlie
Now that Pruitt actually owns the network it's anyone's guess how this will all play out or if Charlie will survive the changes, but Will wasn't too far off when he described Charlie's mental states as such...
Mac: Did you see Charlie?
Will: After the show. He was cleaning his 12-gauge with Maker's Mark and muttering 'kill the wabbit.'
Mac's rush to get the Kundu story had everyone scrambling and Don certainly knew something was up. That said he also realized the risks of rushing this type of story to air...
50/50, but when our story comes out that this guy worked with the US, they're going to slit the throats of his children right in front of him and drag him down main street so, I don't want to pick the wrong 50.
Don
There's a large part of me that would love to see Mac out the source both because she's the least likely to do it and because the source is being reckless with other people's lives in the name of justice.
Wasn't it funny that for all of Pruitt's pontificating about how his concept for sharing the news would make history, he was deterred from airing his first big story because he didn't want to lose money on the fines that might be levied against him?
I loved Don just a little more when he gave the story to someone at another organization that he respected but who he knew was being sidelined because of her age.
Finally we got to Will. I couldn't really tell if he expected him to get jail time or not but the one thing I didn't see coming was the impromptu wedding.
What I was confused by was the attorneys meeting him and Mac in the hallway after the ceremony. I know Will was supposed to turn himself in by 5 p.m., but wouldn't there be an office where this would generally take place, not the hallway outside of the chapel?
Was Reese right? Is Will's stoicism about his belief in protecting a source or in earning Mac's esteem? Will Mac out the source and, if not, how long will Will McAvoy spend in jail?
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
