What I’m Watching: The Newsroom

The Newsroom: Season 3, Episode 4 “Contempt” (B+)

Little about this episode signaled victory or hope for the future, save for the amusing revelation that the HR witchhunt to prove Don and Sloane’s relationship was a joke, but what an hour it was. The last ten minutes felt remarkably different from everything leading up to them, but they made for an extremely powerful and memorable tribute to Will’s last few hours as a free man. It’s easier for a show to damn its main character to endless imprisonment for refusing to give up a source than it might be for a court to do so in real life, and it’s still a considerably bold and difficult move at that. Ultimately, the man whose life and family would have been put in danger is out of the woods and the story is going to air anyway, thanks to Mackenzie and Don’s quick thinking to spirit the files out of the newsroom and onto another competent reporter’s desk. The question now is whether Will has to pay the price for his righteous indignation and whether Neal will have to suffer as well. It’s a shame that Sloan and Charlie’s hail mary didn’t work, and now they’re going to have to work for Lucas, who is going to ruin the company so much worse than if Reese’s half-siblings were in charge. Jim and Hallie’s fights went from entertaining to troubling, if still well-written, and I can’t imagine they’ll make it past this. Let’s hope that Maggie’s relationship doesn’t falter as a result, since she and Jim are probably better as friends, and that would leave Don and Sloan as the only remaining couple still happily able to see each other on a daily basis.