‘The Newsroom’ season 2, episode 4 review: The truth about Maggie

“The Newsroom” is typically a show that we associate with being inquisitive and entertaining, but not so often heavy. It’s not a show where we go to bed afterwards thinking and feeling like there is a thirty-pound weight on our chest making it rather uncomfortable to sleep. (That’s normally reserved for “The Killing.”)

However, we witnessed what can be best described as a formula change Sunday night with an episode that wasted almost no time presenting us with the cold truth about what happened to Maggie while she was overseas in Uganda, and how this has caused her to completely change her hair and much of who she is back in America. It was pretty horrific: While she and Gary did not know it, the orphanage that they were at was attacked because of them; in turn, a child died because he was in the way of a bullet that was meant to instead kill Maggie. Seeing this sort of story is especially harrowing in a post-Sandy Hook environment, but it never felt like shock value. It was weighty, heartbreaking, and a truth that many in war-torn Africa have to face on a regular basis.

While we were hearing about her story, which was largely a means to determine whether or not she was now mentally stable, we also saw the entire staff of “News Night” desperately trying to make things right with an Occupy Wall Street member who felt eviscerated by Will McAvoy. They got the information that was needed for Operation Genoa without her help, but still, Will showed up and offered her a vulnerable apology and offer to sit in with her class for a few minutes. We’re sure that some cynics out there will be like “that would never happen,” mostly because these same people believe that every human being is awful. Will is not Walter White or Don Draper; he’s a bit of a jerk sometimes, but in the end he has a big heart in there. That’s why we have no problem with his actions.

As a matter of fact, the only moment we found problematic this week was Jim giving up a 30-minute interview with Mitt Romney just so that he could spare his new love interest some humiliation at the hands of her boss. Jim’s such a romantic, no? Well, he got a kiss for it, but he also got an order to come back to New York. It’s a shame that this could be over, mostly because we really liked this story, even if we question whether or not a guy in Jim’s position would really do this.

We love “The Newsroom” still for the reasons that we always have, though we suspect in turn that there will be many who hate it for largely their own agenda. It’s an entertaining show ultimately, one that we look forward to seeing, and to us that should really be enough.

If you do want to read more on “The Newsroom,” including some details on what lies ahead, just be sure to visit the link here.

Photo: HBO