The Newsroom is coming back (for more punishment?)

[MaxTheVool]

@commasense

So then why, when they were showing him edit the footage, did they show him outlining the general in the foreground, as if he was going to drop the edited foreground into an unedited background plate that included the TV?

I think that was for the blurring.

But yeah, it was quite obvious to me during the episode that that’s what the basketball game would be used for.
Still, it’s a bit unclear what the whole story is. Why are all these other soldiers lying? Is there a conspiracy to burn newsnight because it’s been critical of the military? If so, how would Jerry Dantana have gotten involved? Or is he being used as an unaware pawn in some sense? Or is it all just an honest misunderstanding aside from Jerry’s dishonest editing? What about the twitter guy? I’m quite curious how it’s all going to play out.

[commasense]

On a completely different subject, can someone please explain to me the continuity of Maggie’s hair?

I get that most of this season is a flashback from the “present” time in which the lawyer played by Marcia Gay Harden is taking depositions from everyone about the Genoa scandal. In those scenes, Maggie has cut her hair short and dyed it scarlet. When she appeared in the first episode looking that way, it was explained that she did it after something bad happened to her in Africa.

In subsequent episodes, we learn what happened in Africa, and see her cutting her hair, shortly after she gets back (or so I assumed).

Except for the occasional deposition scenes in the “present,” the rest of the season seems to follow that timeline, and in the last couple of episodes, we see her trying to cope with the trauma she experienced in Africa by drinking a lot and sleeping around.

But her hair is long and blonde! Okay, she could have dyed it back, but it couldn’t have grown out that long in what I presume is just a couple of months. And it’s going to be short and red again when she gets to the post-Genoa-scandal “present,” so WTF?

This is how I understand key events in the chronology:

[ul]Jim can’t stand being around Maggie while she’s with Don, so he goes to New Hampshire.
[li]Dantana starts to work on the Genoa story [/li][li]The video of Maggie leads to her breakup with Don.[/li][li]Maggie goes to Africa.[/li][li]Don comes back from NH[/li][li]Maggie comes back from Africa, cuts her hair[/li][li]Maggie starts working on Genoa, but is traumatized and sleeps around, with long blonde hair![/ul][/li]
That takes us up to this week’s episode. In coming episodes (no spoilers, I haven’t seen anything you haven’t, this has all been in “flash forwards” or previews):

[ul]Genoa story airs, scandal breaks
[li]Lawyer is called in to take depositions[/li][li]Maggie’s hair is short and red. [/ul][/li]
What am I getting wrong?

[commasense]

@MaxTheVool

I think that was for the blurring.

I don’t think so, because that would have only been his face. Dantana outlined his whole body, sitting in the chair.

[EllisDee]

@commasense

In subsequent episodes, we learn what happened in Africa, and see her cutting her hair, shortly after she gets back (or so I assumed).

No, she doesn’t cut & dye her hair until at least 6 months after getting back from Africa. I mentioned this a couple episodes ago that I found that particular timeline unbelievable.

The scene we saw of her cutting her hair was a single isolated scene not part of any other timeline we’ve seen to this point. It happens after everything we’ve seen so far in the Newsroom offices but before any of the deposition scenes.

[commasense]

@EllisDee

No, she doesn’t cut & dye her hair until at least 6 months after getting back from Africa. I mentioned this a couple episodes ago that I found that particular timeline unbelievable.

The scene we saw of her cutting her hair was a single isolated scene not part of any other timeline we’ve seen to this point. It happens after everything we’ve seen so far in the Newsroom offices but before any of the deposition scenes.

Okay, well that would explain it, but how could you tell it wasn’t part of the timeline? What signs were there?

ISTR that it occurred in the same episode as the incident in Africa, that she was recalling the young boy touching her hair when they first met, and I got the impression that she was cutting it in remembrance of him, right after she got home, or maybe before she left Africa.

So if she cuts it after everything we’ve already seen, months after getting back from Uganda, why did someone say in Ep. 1 that it was because of what happened Africa?

Is it actually going to be because of something else, like guilt over her part in the Genoa affair? (In her deposition, she said something to the effect that “the general said it,” apparently supporting Dantana, even though we now know she wasn’t in the room.)

If I liked this show more, or had a lot more free time, I would go back and rewatch a few episodes to try and figure all this out. I’ve watched every episode of every season of The Wire between two and five times, at least, but this show isn’t good enough to warrant even two viewings. Presumably things will become clearer in future shows.

[EllisDee]

@commasense

Okay, well that would explain it, but how could you tell it wasn’t part of the timeline? What signs were there?

Because she still has long blonde hair in Africa and for six months after the Africa trip, so it has to be after that. And the non-reaction of Will to her hair in the beginning of the season during the deposition (the earliest part of the deposition timeline) shows that he was already aware of her hair change, so it happened before the depositions. (As opposed to the morning of the depositions.)

That leaves it for sometime between the “current” action of the Genoa storyline and the “future” events at the deposition. We haven’t seen any other scenes from that gap except her cutting her hair.

ISTR that it occurred in the same episode as the incident in Africa, that she was recalling the young boy touching her hair when they first met, and I got the impression that she was cutting it in remembrance of him, right after she got home, or maybe before she left Africa.

It was in that episode, but then the next episode we see her back in the newsroom still with long blonde hair and it was specifically mentioned that she’d been back for 6 months but still hadn’t gotten over Africa.

The “Maggie’s hair” storyline was handled quite poorly, IMO. The presentation was confusing and the action was unbelievable. I simply don’t buy that she would cut her hair off 6 months later. Either the week she got home or not at all. The only way it makes sense for me is if her hair kills another kid. heh.

So if she cuts it after everything we’ve already seen, months after getting back from Uganda, why did someone say in Ep. 1 that it was because of what happened Africa?

That was said in the depositions, which are still in the future.

[WordMan]

Regardless, she looks like a Dr. Seuss character; just big-faced, Seuss-topped and awful.

[voltaire]

RE: Maggie’s hair and the timeline, I think the point was that she didn’t recover from the trauma and grief *until *the moment she cut her hair and finally came to terms with it.

[commasense]

@EllisDee

Because she still has long blonde hair in Africa and for six months after the Africa trip, so it has to be after that. And the non-reaction of Will to her hair in the beginning of the season during the deposition (the earliest part of the deposition timeline) shows that he was already aware of her hair change, so it happened before the depositions. (As opposed to the morning of the depositions.)

Much of my confusion over all this undoubtedly comes from my not paying enough attention, and yours is a reasonable explanation. But I’m wondering how the filmmakers expected us to know while watching the hair cutting scene that it was not in the same timeline with the rest of the season, but would occur well in the future. I assumed when her hair was long again after the cutting scene that we were back to a pre-Africa timeline, because that early in the season it was hard to tell exactly when everything happened.

It was in that episode, but then the next episode we see her back in the newsroom still with long blonde hair and it was specifically mentioned that she’d been back for 6 months but still hadn’t gotten over Africa.

Okay, me not paying attention.

The “Maggie’s hair” storyline was handled quite poorly, IMO. The presentation was confusing and the action was unbelievable. I simply don’t buy that she would cut her hair off 6 months later. Either the week she got home or not at all. The only way it makes sense for me is if her hair kills another kid. heh.

I agree, obviously.

@voltaire

RE: Maggie’s hair and the timeline, I think the point was that she didn’t recover from the trauma and grief until the moment she cut her hair and finally came to terms with it.

That is a good point. But until they make it more obvious, they’re just confusing dopes like me.

But thanks, folks, for the clarification.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@commasense

Is it actually going to be because of something else, like guilt over her part in the Genoa affair? (In her deposition, she said something to the effect that “the general said it,” apparently supporting Dantana, even though we now know she wasn’t in the room.)

Actually, she was saying the General didn’t say “it happened” (thus not supporting Dantana). We know he did, but she was walking out of the room at the time and presumably didn’t hear it.

[commasense]

@Bryan_Ekers

Actually, she was saying the General didn’t say “it happened” (thus not supporting Dantana). We know he did, but she was walking out of the room at the time and presumably didn’t hear it.

Oops. My faulty memory again. Thanks for the clarification.

[5_time_champ]

@MaxTheVool

I think that was for the blurring.

But yeah, it was quite obvious to me during the episode that that’s what the basketball game would be used for.
Still, it’s a bit unclear what the whole story is. Why are all these other soldiers lying? Is there a conspiracy to burn newsnight because it’s been critical of the military? If so, how would Jerry Dantana have gotten involved? Or is he being used as an unaware pawn in some sense? Or is it all just an honest misunderstanding aside from Jerry’s dishonest editing? What about the twitter guy? I’m quite curious how it’s all going to play out.

ISTM, that Newsnight is getting Rathered, elaborately set up by conservatives looking for revenge for Will’s American Taliban comments. ACN President Reese Lansing is probably in on the conspiracy, too.

The twitter guy was probably real and dead now, killed by white phosphorus [but not Sarin gas] or other collateral damage during authentic Operation Genoa in the Marsoc extraction that really did happen.

Jerry Dantana almost certainly was randomly thrust into the situation by Mac, but Operation Genoa is such a great story that any fairly young producer would love to make his bones with. Dantana also seems to harbor a lot of resentment at President Obama, though I am not sure if it is from the Left or Right.

[Bryan_Ekers]

Am I misremembering or did Solomon Hancock appear briefly in one of the “Previously on The Newsroom” episode intros? At the time, I thought it was odd, since the character is supposedly dead and had no obvious tie-in to the episode. Any chance he’s staging some elaborate revenge scheme on ACN?
Or, of course, am I misremembering?

[voltaire]

@Bryan_Ekers

Am I misremembering or did Solomon Hancock appear briefly in one of the “Previously on The Newsroom” episode intros? At the time, I thought it was odd, since the character is supposedly dead and had no obvious tie-in to the episode. Any chance he’s staging some elaborate revenge scheme on ACN?
Or, of course, am I misremembering?

Hancock is the one that tipped off Charlie about the phone-hacking that Reese was behind. That whole plot point has been coming up in recent episodes, and of course Will has been screwing Nina the gossip columnist, who was also involved.

They probably just showed Hancock to remind us how that went down, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we learn more about his whole backstory through some other developments.

[pancakes3]

@commasense

I was wondering why:

1. The general insisted that no one else be in the room. It’s not as though he’s going to reveal deep, dark secrets that only Dantana can hear. He’s talking on camera to a TV network, fer chrissakes!

He’s talking on camera with his face blacked out and voice modified. He specifically said that he only had Dantana screened, so he doesn’t want to take chances with anyone else. Of course all of his war medals being prominently featured in the background should have been addressed as well.

2. The game had to be on. I get that he’s a fan, but no TV producer would allow an interview subject to be distracted by a basketball game while conducting such a critical interview. Doesn’t the general have a DVR? Anyway, he couldn’t see the TV from where he was sitting. So what’s the point?

I think it’s being suggested that the general isn’t all there upstairs. He forgot Mack and Sam were coming. He lied about Genoa to Mack and Sam about Genoa. He’s just eccentric all over.

Also, it’s the best Sorkin could have come up with to show that the interviewed was tampered with.

3. So then why, when they were showing him edit the footage, did they show him outlining the general in the foreground, as if he was going to drop the edited foreground into an unedited background plate that included the TV?

I really assumed it was just for the blacking-out effect. I agree that he should have cropped out the TV or blurred it out like he mentioned off-the-cuff to Maggie.

Also I have to say that if I were Sam/Mack, I wouldn’t have ran the story with the evidence so far. I think I mentioned it earlier: Maggie gets to go to Uganda on a whim but nobody gets sent to Afghanistan? This is the biggest news story since Watergate. It’s bigger than Watergate. It’s an unbelievably massive story and they’ve got the inside track on it. Beyond inside track. The rented out the entire stadium and nobody else even knows there’s a race. And ACN sends exactly 0 people to go to Afghanistan to check this out? No correspondents, nothing?

[commasense]

@pancakes3

He’s talking on camera with his face blacked out and voice modified. He specifically said that he only had Dantana screened, so he doesn’t want to take chances with anyone else. Of course all of his war medals being prominently featured in the background should have been addressed as well.

Insisting that no one but Dantana show up at his house might have limited the number of people who knew his identity. But Maggie and a couple of crew members were there to set up the camera and lights. They had to know who he was, or at the very least could easily have found out by looking up the street address. Shooing them out of the room for the interview does nothing to enhance his security.

BTW, he had Dantana screened in less than 24 hours after Sam and Mac left? By whom, and how good a screening could it have been?

[pancakes3]

Well, I’d also consider that the general probably doesn’t have all of his mental faculties and/or is just plain peculiar. However, I agree. Consenting to do the interview with foiled plans to conduct a security check on the party/parties present probably means that ordering Maggie & co. out was a meaningless gesture.

Also, you can have a criminal check and a credit check done very easily. Online social media checks too. Employment history takes much longer than the requisite 24 hrs since it usually goes through the Social Security Administration or IRS. Maybe he just looked at linkedin and figured Dantana was the type to be thorough and truthful.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@voltaire

Hancock is the one that tipped off Charlie about the phone-hacking that Reese was behind. That whole plot point has been coming up in recent episodes, and of course Will has been screwing Nina the gossip columnist, who was also involved.

They probably just showed Hancock to remind us how that went down, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we learn more about his whole backstory through some other developments.

Yes, of course… I’d pretty much forgotten about the phone-hacking scandal because there hadn’t been any real consequences to it, except Will gets to sleep with and then sanctimoniously discard Nina, and MacKenzie got to whine about her and Will’s past relationship and a deleted voicemail whose content, if it was ever revealed to the audience, I no longer remember. Neither outcome held my interest.

Heh, now that I think about it, when we see Nina take that phone call and she was obviously entangled with someone and the big reveal showed Will, I think I was disappointed since there were nine or ten far more interesting potential partners. Pretty much anyone other than Will, really.

[Dewey_Finn]

@5_time_champ

ISTM, that Newsnight is getting Rathered, elaborately set up by conservatives looking for revenge for Will’s American Taliban comments. ACN President Reese Lansing is probably in on the conspiracy, too.

Perhaps you’re right and this is a setup. Because it looks like they’ve done a good job of investigating the story. The big problem, of course, is Jerry Dantana’s deliberate editing of the general’s interview to change the meaning of what he said. Unless Jerry is in on the conspiracy?

[5_time_champ]

I don’t think Dantana is in on the conspiracy, or at least not from the start. Dantana’s appearance as AP on Newsnight is part of a chain of events: Ben whats-his-name breaking his ankle covering the Romney campaign, Maggie and Don acting all lovey-dovey in front of Jim, a heartbroken Jim volunteering to take Ben’s place at the Romney campaign, and Mac choosing Dantana to take Jim’s place unprompted by anyone as far as we know.

No, Jerry was seduced by visions of Pulitzers, well I guess cable TV news producers aren’t eligible for Pulitzers; and also showing all those snooty New Yorkers at ACN headquarters that the Washington DC bureau aren’t a bunch of losers.

Re: Maggie’s hair, I think we can safely state that she cut & dyed her hair fairly close to the time of the deposition. Probably after hitting absolute bottom: going home with the wrong, really wrong guy[s]; ending up naked and passed out on Second Avenue; or becoming homeless after Lisa throws her out.