The Newsroom - Season 2 Finale - Recap: Principles of...Principle

It's exceedingly rare for any drama these days, it seems, to escape its own (occasionally) necessary amount of self-seriousness to deliver moments of levity and hope. Yet that's what we get in the last ten minutes, and it's so upbeat that it plays almost like a series finale. Of course, in making the decision to focus mostly on romances, the show eschews focusing on its best qualities, namely watching these people do their jobs effectively. Yet the episode still works because it focuses on the dynamics between these characters outside the context of their jobs, and ties up the interpersonal storylines that have been developing since last season, such as the attraction between Don (Thomas Sadoski) and Sloan (Olivia Munn), the complicated connection between Jim (John Gallagher, Jr.) and Maggie (Alison Pill), and the even more tempestuous relationship between Will (Jeff Daniels) and Mac (Emily Mortimer).

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So it's Election Night, and Will remains on-air with Elliot (David Harbour), Taylor (Constance Zimmer) and Sloan, providing live coverage of the event. Running parallel to the election is the developing Gen. Petraeus story that the ACN team decide not to run with, since they're a bit gun-shy following the very public mishap with Operation Genoa, instead opting to go with a story about Missouri Representative Todd Akin, as Mac surmises that this story is of greater importance to voters at the moment. But these are surface-level conflicts of minimal import to the overall story, as news has gotten out that Will, Mac and Charlie (Sam Waterston) have tendered their resignations with the network. Taylor asks Will about Jim's availability to work for a new firm she's planning on developing, only to be told that despite rumors circulating around the office, their resignations weren't actually accepted by Leona Lansing (Jane Fonda). Of course, the rest of the senior staff doesn't know this, so when Will gathers everyone into the office to announce that he, Charlie and Mac will be leaving ACN (with Elliot taking Will's job, Don taking Mac’s, and Sloan anchoring her own ten o'clock broadcast with Jim as her producer), the staff refuses to accept the new direction, with Don saying they'll all resign if Will goes through with this. It's a fairly touching show of solidarity, particularly because the trouble ACN is facing is not due to an institutional error, but instead due to the deception of one man, Jerry Dantana (Hamish Linklater), who Don denounces for his frivolous lawsuit. “There are principles of… principle here,” Don states awkwardly, attempting to explain why they aren't going to allow Will, Charlie or Mac to resign over what Jerry did. Don is sincere when he tells Will that they're essentially standing up for their principles like he taught them to, and though it's a fairly saccharine scene, it works within the context of what the show is trying to do: deflect the threat to the status quo that Jerry Dantana's lawsuit represents.

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But it's not simply as easy as Will and co. deciding they aren't going to resign, as Leona reveals to Charlie -- while at ACN's swank election night party -- that she's handed off the decision on what to do about the Dantana lawsuit to her son, network president Reese Lansing (Chris Messina). Dejected, Charlie wanders the party and crashes into a server, shattering a tray of champagne glasses. When he looks up at the server, it's Maggie's roommate/ex-best friend, Lisa (Kelen Coleman). She tries to convince Charlie not to tell Jim she's working the party, but Jim ends up finding out when someone at the party tweets a photo of Charlie helping her clean up the broken glass. So Jim rushes over to the party and confronts Lisa, who isn't in the mood to talk. He tries to get to the bottom of Maggie's haircut mystery, as he wants to know whether or not she cut her own hair, since Hallie (Grace Gummer) insisted that a person cutting her own hair is a psychological warning sign. Lisa states she doesn't know whether Maggie cut her own hair or not, and in the process reveals that she doesn't know what happened to her former best friend in Uganda. This prompts Jim to insist that Lisa talk to Maggie about it, that she needs someone to talk to, but Lisa doesn't seem that responsive to the idea. But Jim is adamant, even going so far as to tell Lisa that she's smarter than she gives herself credit for, and that most people, including himself, aren't good enough for her.

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The meeting with Lisa is a companion scene to the eventual meeting with Maggie, as Jim talks with her about her hair, confirming that she chopped it all off because it reminded her too much of Daniel. "I'm alive and he's not," Maggie says, solemnly, adding that she wishes she were as strong as Jim or Mac. Jim instead tells Maggie to focus on the fact that she's still alive, and stating that what happened to Daniel wasn't her fault, saying that she did the right thing in trying to get Daniel out of there. Maggie, appearing fairly normal for the first time since the Uganda incident happened, decides to recount the story of when she first noticed Jim. It was his first day at ACN, and while Jim thinks the memory is likely going to be about when he tripped over Mac's luggage, it's actually a more reserved moment. Maggie recollects a moment where Jim clicked on a yellow news alert that no one else cared about. “You couldn’t help yourself,” she says, as if in acknowledgment of Jim's moral core, since it seems there's very little that Jim doesn't care about in some form or fashion. For as much as he might insist that Maggie is a person who frequently does what's right, Jim is someone who doesn't always recognize that same capacity in himself. He's a good guy, and the episode (and the season, really, given his criticism during the Red Team meetings) seems to argue that ACN is better for having someone this dedicated to all sides of the story. This was a great episode for John Gallagher, Jr., who is one of the better actors on the show, even when he's put in storylines that aren't always the most compelling, like the hit-or-miss relationship with Hallie (although it's kind of adorable this week, as Hallie assures Jim over Skype that he isn't blowing it with her, and even thanks him for the Romney interview by rewriting and publishing a story forwarded by Neal).

Jim isn't the only person whose romantic prospects are looking sunny either, as Sloan finally makes her move on Don. Through some solid detective work, and help from Neal (Dev Patel), Sloan discovers that Don was the person who purchased the charity copy of her book that featured her forged autograph. Turns out the bidders on the book were all names from movies such as The Sweet Smell of Success, as evidenced by the movie poster in Don's office. These aliases were used to drive up bids for Sloan's book to save her the embarrassment of realizing no one wanted to buy it. And so she storms into the studio, marches over to Don...and lays a big kiss on him. It's a scene that doesn't need dialogue, and Munn finishes out the season as the show's secret weapon, an actress with the best comedic timing of the ensemble, and one of the more likable presences in the ensemble.

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As for Will and Mac, their fiery breakup gets rehashed, as Will suggests that Mac confessed to cheating on him because she wanted to break up. He then reiterates that the engagement ring he bought her was a practical joke he knew she'd find out about, adding that he returned the ring the same day he bought it. At this point, Mac knows Will is just trying to hurt her, and it's a realization that plays across Emily Mortimer's face with minimal dialogue. When she does speak, it's enough to put Will in his place. “I brutally hurt you, and that’s a fact. But in my lifetime, I’ve never done it intentionally,” she says, leaving Will to consider how badly he's messed things up with her. Yet he doesn't reach his epiphany until Charlie comes to him to reveal that they aren't going to resign, as he realizes that his observation about the Genoa controversy ("except for the things we got wrong, we got everything right") applies to his relationship with Mac. Even though things went to hell after the infidelity, their relationship was pretty much the truest thing either of them had.

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And so Will rushes back to his office and takes the engagement ring from his drawer and finds Mac, pulling her aside and finally making a proper confession about the ring, and about his feelings for her. “I didn’t return it because I’m in love with you, and will you marry me?” Will asks, breathlessly, in a scene played as much for comedy as for emotion, and working on both levels. "I think you should say yes. But no matter what you say, there’s no chance I am ever going to hurt you again. And no matter what you say, I am going to be in love with you for the rest of my life. There’s no way out of that. That’s just a physical law of the universe. You own me. No matter what you say, I will never stop.” It's my favorite Jeff Daniels scene of the season, and it's immediately followed up by an equally triumphant moment, as he sighs "Thank God" when Mac says "yes" and then envelopes her in a big, relieved kiss. As if on cue, Reese declares that he won't be accepting the resignations of the ACN crew, which adds to the celebration when Will announces that he and Mac are going to be married, completely stunning the entire office. Everybody celebrates and we see the post-Election party, as Maggie and Lisa rekindle their friendship, and Maggie inevitably notices a yellow news alert that no one else cares about. Following Jim's example, she clicks on the link, showing that while Uganda left her terribly scarred, she's not about to let what happened trample her determination to do the right thing.

"Election Night, Part II" is a great denouement to a season that was as focused as it was dramatically satisfying. The Operation Genoa story provided a wonderful organizational structure for the season, and while overarching flashforward storylines don't always work, I thought there was some great storytelling in evidence here. Hopefully, the third season adopts a similarly focused approach, as these are characters who are at their best when given something to unite around. Their connections to one another are as important as the work they do, and as vital to them as the news they cover. That's a story worth telling, whether it always works out or not.