The Newsroom Amen (2012–2014) watch online HD

Yes, The Newsroom has some soap operaish elements and some seemingly silly scenes but Sorkin's brilliance always carefully ties them together by the end. The number of important, intelligent and thought-provoking heavily dialogue-laden scenes provide much opportunity for learning and discussion. The tie-in with real events remind us of the importance of knowing what is happening in the world (Mubarak, Wisconsin union breaking, Glass-Steagal). The discussion of what makes true journalism and what makes a real journalist is so important in light of the dumbing down of tabloid, celebrity and reality laden media. The importance of truth in broadcasting is so vital to today's immediacy of sound bite and internet broadcasting.

"I've got a guy on my staff who got hit in the head with a glass door Thursday. His forehead wouldn't stop bleeding, but he wouldn't go to a doctor 'cause I got another guy who got beat up covering Cairo. And the first guy wouldn't see a doctor until the second guy saw a doctor. I've got a producer who ran into a locked door 'cause he felt responsible for the second guy. I've got an 18-year-old kid risking his life halfway around the world and the AP who sent him there hasn't slept in three days. I've got 20-somethings who care about teachers in Wisconsin. I've got a grown woman who has to subtract with her fingers staying up all night trying to learn economics from a PhD who could be making 20 times the money three miles downtown. They're journalists."

This fabulous monologue from Daniels just encapsulates the episode so well regarding what Will McAvoy's news crew endures as a possible Egyptian revolution might be on the rise, with plans to overthrow their leader after suffering his 30-year reign, with one of their journalists, Elliot (David Arbour) badly beaten by a rock from a mob of protesters. Elliot returns home with broken bones and bruises, and MacKenzie, thanks to Neal's urging, initiates the "hire" of an Egyptian, Khalil, who can function as a freelancer for them, even though most of the internet in the area has been cut off. What happens, though, is that Khalil is kidnapped, leaving Neal to feel responsible (angered at some rather disgusting comments by Rush Limbaugh about foreign freelancers infuriatingly causes Neal to punch the computer monitor, breaking his knuckles!), as McAvoy orchestrates Khalil's release through a wire transfer of funds. It is learned that MacKenzie's current boyfriend, Wade (Jon Tenney), is planning to run for political office and has used his relationship with her (and her association with Will) to gain exposure…to this goes their romance. Hope Davis returns as the gossip columnist, targeting MacKenzie (it seems she is planning to run dirt on Mac's responsibility in getting people killed while in the Middle East), and earning the ire of McAvoy. McAvoy sternly forewarns her (and Jane Fonda's Leona) to lay off or he will bury her (and Leona) with his news broadcast. This is the line in the sand, so to speak.

It is Valentine's Day, so there's the whole deal with Jim's new gal and how Maggie insists he give her a nice night out (even providing flowers, a present, and a written note directed to her!) so she can have a happy time with Don absent the usual misery that results when Lisa (Kelen Coleman) is punished by bad dates every year. Jim walks into a door, there's wonderful use of the crowd-pleasing Notre Dame football movie, Rudy, and inspired coverage of a teacher's strike in Wisconsin (the news crew really consider this a story they care about). Just typical greatness from The Newsroom. There's even a breakdown of Glass-Steagal (the dissolution of the separation of commercial banking and security firms has been considered by some to be a major factor in the financial crisis) as MacKenzie needs economic pointers from the brilliant beauty, Sloan Sabbith. The loyalty of the news team to Khalil is admirable, as is Khalil's bravery to get them information which put him in danger.

Putting aside the blatant "Rudy" homage at the end (a callback to an earlier scene, but still heavy-handed) 'Amen' has its heart in the right place. Against the backdrop of Mubarak's resignation, there's plenty of drama over a missing associate producer in Egypt, as well as the attack on Elliott (David Harbour). And the office romances are handled rather naturally, for once. Throw in a history lesson on Glass-Steagall, and that's how "The Newsroom" does Valentine's Day.

But my favorite scene is Will's righteous speech to Nina (Hope Davis), basically telling her to go eff herself instead of digging up dirt again on his staff.

It's a genuine moment for Will McAvoy.

7/10

Good episode, but not nearly as good as the previous ones. Why? In news reporting, you're supposed to stick to the facts and that should have been the case for Amen.

We begin on a high note of a major story of the day. Demonstrations breaking out in Egypt with Hosne Mburaka's subsequent resignation following. We also hear about Wisconsin school teachers and other interesting events of the day.

The episode begins to go down in quality and starts evolving more as if we were engaging in slapstick comedy. A ton of accidents befall the workers at the station with doors being slammed on one guy once and a reporter being mugged while out in the field.

MacKenzie soon learns that her boyfriend has been using her in order to run for Congress. This in itself could have been used as an episode alone.

The Newsroom

Sorkin's admirable attempt to dramatize the news section with a gut wrenching anatomy on behind the scenes of this show business, is one of the biggest upset ever to come across the screen. And not because of its failure on various aspects, it still falls under mediocrity but the expectations that it brought with such caliber of cast and makers, it is surely a swing and a miss. Sorkin's signature writing patterns is clearly visible as it is brimmed with competitive arguments and too many verbal sparring that moves with ferocious pace, he always keeps his audience on the edge of their seat trying to keep up with the narration.

But as much political galore this vision is, the actual content, the core of the drama that it has to and does rely upon is the real culprit in here. The conversations are chalky and the connections of the plots to pass the storyline forward is poorly weaved out. It seems like the venue has changed but the usual love affairs and breaking and mending of equations, is still their, the seen-this-seen-that details are outdated and audience is much smarter than this. The execution too isn't appropriately handled along with the camera work that is more pretentious than it is productive.

The only responsible man that makes your time worth is Daniels, in his morally complex and socially challenged coat that he is in, which too may seem like your usual anti-hero, but has much to offer as the character ages on screen. Supporting parallel-y is Mortimer whose quirkiness is easily absorbing, than her drama is, to be fair she isn't given the range to factor on a larger scale. Other supporting cast like Pill, Patel, Munn, Sadoski and Gallagher Jr. are the weak links to the series. The Newsroom could have been much more than just news, and this time even Sorkin couldn't convince us to watch the news.

Season 01

The euphoric energy that ignites its pilot, never wears off throughout the season, but with none whatsoever new concrete material to offer in terms of characters or the equations between them, this is probably the most disappointing writing to come from Sorkin's magic bag.

Amen

Once again the love track is getting too obvious and cheesy that it is getting under our skin, for no matter how appreciative their effort is to weave out a dramatic news channel, the rest of the slow characters shucks it all out.