The Newsroom, S1 Ep7 – 5/1

It’s the one year (plus one week) anniversary party for the NN crew commemorating the beginning of “News Night 2.0.”  And it’s happening at Will’s apartment.  Before we get to the party hijinks, however, Charlie’s on the phone with a mysterious source.  The raspy-voiced guy refuses to identify himself, but tells Charlie he’s “demonstrating [his] credibility as a source” by a tip that, in about 90 minutes, Charlie is going to get an e-mail from the White House telling him to get to work.  Despite Charlie’s urging, the source won’t say anything else about who he is or what’s coming, other than that no one’s in danger.

I am a sucker for male stars of my favorite TV shows playing instruments and singing.

Inside, Mack encourages Will to say a few words to the assembled NN crew.  He does and manages to not be too cranky.  The best part of the rest of the party for me is John Gallagher, Jr. and Jeff Daniels jamming on guitar and singing Jonathan Edwards’ “Sunshine Go Away Today” together.  It’s lovely.  Then we see Neal’s girlfriend Kaylee and Neal giving Will some pot cookies while Will blathers on about how this isn’t recreational, it’s medicinal, because he has repetitive stress injuries from being an “awesome high school athlete.”  Whatever.  The point is, these cookies are really strong, and the recommended dose is one quarter-Will ate two.  On top of taking Vicodin.  We can see where this is going, can’t we?

Anyway, Charlie is antsy and looking at the clock every few minutes as it creeps closer to his source’s given time of 9:00.  Meanwhile, Jim has, as usual, ducked out of the party to work.  Only Maggie busts him—it’s not work, it’s a baseball game.  Just then, Lisa calls in on FaceTime.  After a short conversation she signs off with, “I love you,” to which Jim awkwardly says, “And I do, too.” Maggie looks stunned.  Jim tells Maggie—like it’s any of her business—that Lisa told him she loved him last night and he felt he had to say it, too, even though he doesn’t feel the same way.  Maggie makes a good point when she responds to this by telling Jim he has to break up with her, since relationships can’t continue if both people aren’t on the same page.

Their awkward discussion is interrupted by Jim’s computer notifying him of new email.  It’s ACN’s national security analyst stating that he’s available if Jim needs to call him.  Jim tells Maggie to investigate what the guy is talking about before going to ask Mack if he knows what’s going on.  Mack does not…  but Charlie does.  Charlie thinks this is because of whatever is about to happen.  It’s a little after 9:00 on Monday, May 1, 2011.  Charlie and Mack get alerts on their phones from the White House telling them to get to work because POTUS is going to address the nation at 10:30 on a matter of national security.  And, if you didn’t remember what happened on the night of May 1, 2011 already, you probably do now.  Charlie is putting the pieces together, as well.

This is what you get for interfering in Jim and Lisa’s relationship, Maggie.

Charlie tells Will to turn off the music.  Will tells Martin to toss him the remote, and when Martin does, Will just stares blankly as the remote sails past his head.  Uh oh.  Neal turns it off manually as Charlie makes the announcement about the President’s address.  As the NN folks scramble to leave to go to work, Will, Charlie, and Mack discuss theories of what it could be.  They list things like an attack on the US, something from Iran or North Korea, the death of Qaddafi (by the way, the name’s Arabic, Mr. McGarry,  so it just doesn’t translate well into Roman characters – and my spell-check is fine with that approximation)… but Charlie thinks it’s because “We got bin Laden.”

As everyone hustles to get out of Will’s apartment, we go over to a plane where Don, Elliot, Sloan are travelling with a load of other passengers.  Don and Elliot are discussing whether or not Don is really losing Maggie.  Sloan, who’s across the aisle, asks what they’re talking about.  Elliot loudly explains the topic of conversation.  To Don’s embarrassment, Sloan just as loudly points out that Don has been “yammering” about his love life with Maggie for two weeks now, to the point where the Secretary of the Treasury told her to tell him to shut up about Maggie—which was really embarrassing for her especially after she “accidentally set him on fire.”  Her delivery is hilarious, but how do you accidentally set someone on fire?  Is that like accidentally sleeping with a prostitute?