‘The Newsroom’ season 2, episode 3 review: Will’s voicemail and more revealed

It took us three episodes to get there, but “The Newsroom” finally gave us an answer Sunday night to something that has long been in great demand: What in the world was on that voice message that was left for Mackenzie by Will last season? The answer turns out to be just as juicy as what so many people were hoping: A confession that he is in fact in love with her. However, the way it came out caused this entire ordeal to be a bit more interesting. Tabloid reporter Nina Howard heard it, and informed Will, however she did not inform Mackenzie, and proceeded to date Will instead.

We’re still not entirely sure what Jeff Daniels’ character here is thinking, mostly because dating Nina seems to be a very silly move. This is still the woman at the middle of a phone-hacking investigation, and did anyone forget? The great moment involving the voicemail is somewhat clouded by this, though we’re still hoping to see a reconciliation between Will and Mac at some point.

Even with this misstep, this was still a tremendous episode of the HBO show that many fans will love, and many conservatives will likely hate for the way in which the show continues to go after the Republican Presidential race, whether that be audience members booing a member of the gay military or the Romney campaign’s robotic answers. We loved Jim’s story quite possibly for the first time ever this week, since it got him away from Maggie, and into a world that we don’t often see: What it is really like for reporters out on the road. It’s an ugly picture, one where they are constantly bound to rules. Jim decided to break them in an effort to get a real story, and where did that get him? Back on the road with a few stragglers.

“The Newsroom” excels when it comes to finding creative angles to tell stories, and this was one of them, as was the witch-hunt for a leak in the staff, when it was really Leona Lansing’s Joffrey-like son who was the real culprit here. This gave us an opportunity for some great moments between Don and Sloan, who made good use of their little screentime.

With all of these great moments with some of these characters, including even a nice monologue for Neil, it’s a shame that Operation Genoa remains the most boring aspect of the series this year. We know that it is going to end badly, and that part is exciting; but we don’t care for Jerry Dantana at all, and the coincidental nature of the fax coming in tonight was a total eye-roll, and we’re seeing more and more signs that the ACN team practically brought this on themselves. They knew that this story was bad news, but continued to pursue it anyway.

The funny thing about all of this is that despite these qualms, this is still probably one of the more positive reviews of “The Newsroom” out there. We’re still addicted to the show and look forward to it every week, and wish that others in our position felt the same way.

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Photo: HBO