148 replies to this topic

[TWoP Mars]

From TVGuide.com:

Episode Synopsis: Will becomes tabloid fodder after a confrontation with a gossip columnist on New Year's Eve, which threatens to undermine his credibility on a current news investigation. Meanwhile, Don urges Maggie to set Jim up on a date with her roommate; Mac's boyfriend pitches a story about the government's inability to prosecute financial crimes; and Neal tries out his Bigfoot theory on anyone who will listen. Original Air Date: Jul 15, 2012

[ActingPrincess]

Holy shit that was fabulous! I love that song 'I will try to fix you.' Amazing episode!

[Paws]

I really enjoyed this episode. Lots of the same problems as other episodes, but the characters are coming into their own some more and the Giffords shooting had me near tears.

[Erat]

I liked it until everyone made the fact that Gabby Giffords was alive about them and their love lives...

[SpaceTraveler]

The women on this show continue to be useless. I cannot believe Jim apologized to Maggie instead of calling her out on her complete lack of professionalism.

Bigfoot? Really, Neal?

Don continues to be awesome.

[OGRE]

Longest hour in television.

[KatieMK]

Can Maggie please grow up and learn to a professional in the workplace? Also I thought Will was insufferable tonight. Still really like Sloane...but two Ph. D's?

I wonder why I watch this show, when I loathe nearly all the characters.

[ActingPrincess]

Yeah SpaceTraveler she should've gotten fired for bringing the dirty laundry to work and calling him out like that. I wonder if there will be a confrontation with Don and Jim since he provoked that situation.

[Colonel Green]

Based on this episode, I like this show a lot more when it's emphasizing comedic stuff. Will's "mission to civilize" where it mostly involves him ending up insulting his dates is funny. The whole cell phone ringtone bit was hilarious. The scenes at the party, generally, were fun.

[Princess Aldrea]

This really grated. I mean, Charlie was still awesome and Sloane didn't manage to be stupid (although she tried). Don is the most awesome thing about this show.

And I'm also glad that Jim finally called Maggie out for talking to him like that when he's her boss but I didn't like that he seemed to be using that to win a personal argument. I can't believe that Jim thought he could get away with secretly dating Maggie's roommate and that they both went along with it. Maggie was terrible for constantly bringing it up at work and acting like Jim murdered her dog or something. It's not that big of a deal that he lied about dating her roommate. It's a lie, sure, but she's lying about liking him so she has no room to talk. I think Don could have been less smug about being right about Jim/Lisa but I agree he was not the bad guy and Maggie was acting like if Don hadn't proved it it wouldn't have been true.

And maybe some of Lisa's "I'm not smart enough" thing came from Maggie talking a lot in front of Lisa about how a fashion designer like Lisa wasn't going to interest Jim. I have no sympathy for a person who deliberately sets up a relationship she knows will make her miserable (despite the best efforts of both parties to resist the relationship) and then acts like the people involved were cheating. She is not with Jim and refuses to get with him so she's not justified with her 'woman scorned' routine.

Neal...Bigfoot...calling them in on a Saturday? No. But his 'this isn't soundproof' was nice.

I can't believe Charlie didn't mention the meeting that could have gotten Will fired. He needed to know that his job was in danger, "clay feet" or not. And why are they acting like Leona engineered all of this? They just helped out with facts when Will screwed up with people who would go to the press all on his own.

And how is he so socially inept that he thinks that it's proper date behavior (or even proper HUMAN behavior) to lecture everyone he meets about their life choices? I found him utterly unbearable tonight. It would have been fine for him to just not kiss Nina Howards and tell her he thinks it won't work out before leaving. It would have been fine to finish drinks with what's-her-name and then say that he has a headache or is really tired and cut out early. It would have been fine to tell gun girl that he's not comfortable having a weapon in the house and end things there. Does he have to deliver lectures to them and refuse to let him walk away? What is wrong with him? No sympathy there either. This isn't Leona's fault. This is Will's fault.

[PRgal]

Will is probably why I'm not a TV personality. I can very well be just like him (ranting and trying to "civilize" people (or as I like to put it "give them 'good polish'") LOL. Anyway, I had a hard time believing that ACN wouldn't call Gabrielle Giffords' death because everyone was calling it before it was confirmed that she was still alive (and at the same time, I'm wondering if she was watching tonight's episode herself...now that would be weird).

[Charlie Baker]

What the hell--2/3 of an episode is absolutely insufferable, and then a final third becomes absolutely riveting. I was ready to give up on this messy show and then this. Still has me. Damn.

[Princess Aldrea]

Anyway, I had a hard time believing that ACN wouldn't call Gabrielle Giffords' death because everyone was calling it before it was confirmed that she was still alive

I had the opposite problem. I can't believe that they actually interrupted their Really Important Factual News broadcast so they could do some on-air flailing around while waiting to actually learn something instead of sticking to their boring facts and mentioning the story once they've got some facts together in the last five minutes or even the next day. That seems much more Mackenzie's speed.

And I can't believe they actually spent time covering things that they might want to have covered weeks and months ago but didn't and so no longer really matter.

[lovinbob]

Is that New Year's Eve office party something that would actually happen?

[Paws]

From my experience having a workplace in times square, no. However, since that entire area is fenced off on NYE, I think if you've come into work it's hard to get out and vice versa. So if they had to be there for work purposes, since news orgs still have to work on NYE, then maybe it makes more sense.

[Milburn Stone]

All the episodes have had some moments that made me laugh, but this one made me laugh more, which I appreciated. And nothing infuriated me, which was a clear improvement.

I didn't quite buy that Sam Waterston would even give a shit about the first two "Page 6" stories--maybe he'd razz Will about them in the newsroom, but call him in to his office for a special talk about them? The TMI cover story was a problem, of course. And I was taken aback by the twist of it being the handiwork of evil Jane Fonda, so that worked.

[CozyKat]

Neal + Bigfoot = Jeremy Goodwin from "Sports Night." Totally.

I'm starting to enjoy Will's well-intentioned jerkiness a little more. It seems less like assholery for its own sake.

The storm of "fuck"s from every character but bemused-looking Don in the one scene seemed like a total "hey, we're on HBO. We'd better make our F-bomb quota!" moment. Cracked me up.

Did Sorkin steal the familiar-ringtone they're-in-bed-together thing from "The Good Wife," I wonder? Not sure how far in advance this was written.

Is that New Year's Eve office party something that would actually happen?

I'm going with "no."

[Pallas429]

I loved the finish as well, after the hijinks that came before: five minutes of a newsroom; forty of a junior high cafeteria. But even when the story broke, we were still then presented with images of men rapping out orders and the women flying around to serve them with important documents, while the men then demanded answers of their sources on the phone. Ending with the three men -- representing three generations of newsmen! -- congratulating each other on their veritas, while Mac whimpered, "I'm sorry."

The men were heroes; the women were dumb, petulant, chastened, evil or shot. A take-down piece, indeed.

[Princess Aldrea]

while Mac whimpered, "I'm sorry."

I don't even understand why Mac is blaming herself for Will being a dumbass and pissing off every woman he tries to date with judgmental crap that would clealry piss anyone off. She needs to realize that just because Will refuses to get over it doesn't mean she needs to blame himself for everything stupid thing Will ever does.

And did they ever run with her boyfriend's story? They spent a lot of time on it if they didn't.

And I hope that one day, Don actually does punch Will now that he's been given permission. I get the feeling that he so will.

[catrina]

Why the hell was Mac screaming "I'm so sorry I fucked thing up!!!" she slept with her ex 3.5 YEARS ago. Sheesh.

[URFloorMatt]

Is that New Year's Eve office party something that would actually happen?

Probably about as likely as the President of the United States inviting Capital Beat to do an extended show live from the West Wing of the White House on the same night as the State of the Union while there's an enormous party going on down the hall.

I liked this episode. The show has flaws, but the trend after the second episode has been one of steady improvement. There were fewer unending monologues in this episode, and the relationship stuff didn't grate nearly as bad as it did in the last two. All this without Jane Fonda and Sam Waterston to carry the heavy load.

The last 15 or so minutes were very good. And I like that Don apparently is no longer the stock villain, as he is easily the most enjoyable character behind Charlie and Will.

Edited by URFloorMatt, Jul 16, 2012 @ 1:10 AM.

[thuganomics85]

Probably my favorite episode since the pilot, although there were still plenty of negatives. I thought the ending with them handling the Arizona shooting was this show at it's best. More of that and less romantic bullshit drama, please. Will is still a complete, unlikable dick, but I still find him enjoyable to watch and it was fun watching all his bad behavior bite him in the ass. It does help that Jeff Daniels can at least pull this character off, which separates the character from Mackenzie and Maggie, who are not only written horribly, but neither Emily Mortimer or Allison Pill seem to be able to sell their characters. Also enjoyed the Will/Charlie scenes because of Charlie's reaction to Will being an idiot. Much better then him blustering and doing dumb Rocky 2 imitations.

But their still the romantic bullshit. Maggie and Jim are just infuriating. Still think Maggie is the worst, but neither one of those two came out looking good in my eyes tonight. And I'll confess that I was evilly cackling over what Don did. He's a dick and a half but sometimes? I feel him. Will was the bigger offender tonight in the Will/Mackenzie drama, but Mackenzie could still learn not to a) yell at him in the middle of the fucking office and b) make snide remarks in the control booth. Seriously, fuck these couples.

Sigh.. I should have known to regret wanting more Neal. Of course, he's made out to look like an uber-geek, who believe in Bigfoot and is just there for everyone else to mock him. And bringing everyone on a Saturday to watch slide-shows? How he made it out alive is beyond me. Did love him yelling at Jim/Maggie. And, apparently, despite being a Bigfoot believing nerd, apparently can charm some ladies. I'm not sure, but I think his girlfriend might have been Natalie Morales, who I've seen in a few things like White Collar.

Still continue to like Sloan. And, as I said before, I'm usually not that wild about her, but Olivia Munn was looking lovely at the party. Can't believe she didn't have a date looking like that.

[URFloorMatt]

And, apparently, despite being a Bigfoot believing nerd, apparently can charm some ladies. I'm not sure, but I think his girlfriend might have been Natalie Morales, who I've seen in a few things like White Collar.

Yep, though I recognized her as Tom's old girlfriend from Parks & Rec.

[Pallas429]

Why the hell was Mac screaming "I'm so sorry I fucked thing up!!!" she slept with her ex 3.5 YEARS ago. -- Catrina

Meanwhile Will, the would-be Murrow, allowed Don to redeem himself in less than a year.

Will's "mission to civilize" where it mostly involves him ending up insulting his dates is funny. -- Colonel Green

Not as funny as that remark. But you're right: there, Sorkin wrote Date Wars dialogue and situations that made me smile, that seemed simply an exaggerated version of an awkward adult, and not the jejune crap of his Requiem for Two Triangles.

Olivia Munn was looking lovely at the party. Can't believe she didn't have a date looking like that.-- thuganomics

Because she is being set up to be this series' Amy Gardner? Will's eligible but not end-game "mid-term" romance? Oh, how MacKenzie will fret about that. "I brought them together! I put her in the chair beside him! I chose her for her legs!"

[pleonasm]

You know what would be really compelling television, watching a news team struggle to piece together a dramatic story in real time. What isn't compelling is having Sorkin taking jabs at the networks - two and half years after the fact, for making a mistake. Yes - The networks need to be called out for these decisions - but still....

That said, I wish this could have been a series about Don. Yeah, he is a jackass, but he probably the most intentionally unlikeable regular on a Sorkin series ever. Its refreshing. He actually feels like a real human being unlike the rest of the cast. The nonsense with Maggie and Jim was stupifying.

[eurp]

Neal -The Jeremy of the newsroom? - yes!!! The table everyone was sitting around totally reminded me of Sports Night as well,and Sam Wanamaker plays a good Isaac Jaffe. For me, this week's episode was heads above the previous three, and Sorkin seems to have found his voice again.

[ToothbrushFence]

I liked it until everyone made the fact that Gabby Giffords was alive about them and their love lives...

Completely agree. Alan Sepinwall said it very well in his review, but I just thought it was very self-centered of Sorkin and the characters to turn this human tragedy of people being shot and dying into a personal triumph.

I also find it very tedious that this series exacerbates Sorkin's need to be right and to be the smartest guy in the room. Of course he can do the news correctly and do the news best - with the benefit of hindsight.

[ActingPrincess]

The storm of "fuck"s from every character but bemused-looking Don in the one scene seemed like a total "hey, we're on HBO. We'd better make our F-bomb quota!" moment. Cracked me up.

THIS cracked me up! LOL.

Neal -The Jeremy of the newsroom?

How can Neal be Jeremy if Jim is? Who is Jim modeled after then?

Edited by ActingPrincess, Jul 16, 2012 @ 12:32 AM.

[URFloorMatt]

How can Neal be Jeremy if Jim is? Who is Jim modeled after then?

Jim is actually still playing the same character he played on The West Wing.

[jessied112]

I don't think I've laughed harder in these four episodes than that last scene with everyone swearing and yelling at each other. It was just so WTF to me, especially with Don coming in all calmly and bemused. I think I have finally fallen in love with Don. There, I said it. He and Jim should just leave Maggie in the dust and they should just start up a friendship together.

Maggie annoyed me greatly. I felt like she was way too obvious in her crush with Jim and everyone could see it. At least Jim has the decency to be subtle and not flaunt it in Don's face, unlike Maggie who practically seethed in jealousy over the Lisa situation. Geez, woman, calm the fuck down. He's not your boyfriend, so stop acting like he is.

Mackenzie was a bit better, but her 'slipup' over calling Will her boyfriend was cringeworthy. I still don't like her yelling at Will in front of everyone. Just have a calm conversation and if not, leave the damn office.

But those last minutes with the team scrambling with the story was terrific. You could feel the urgency as well as the need to get the story right. And Don being the voice of reason was great as well.

Neal with the Bigfoot thing was kind of amusing, but I think they could have toned it down a lot more.