The Newsroom season 3, episode 3, “Main Justice” aired tonight and some big moves were made by the News Night crew to protect their own.
‘The Newsroom’ season 3, episode 3 recap
Gary returned to the newsroom to find the FBI rifling through the hard drives on every computer, and confiscating any and all materials they can get their hands on.
The News Night crew were not about to go quietly, no matter who they are up against. When Will tries to keep the peace, Charlie goes on the offensive. He gets Sloan, Jim, Gary, and Don to get ready to broadcast the FBI intrusion on their turf. When Don and Jim prove incapable of working anything in the control room, Maggie steps in and powers everything up.
Just as the go order is about to send them on the air, Mac’s FBI friend Molly stands down her crew. They agree to a one week ceasefire until a discussion can be had at Main Justice in D.C.
Maggie is still working on her EPA report, and after reading through it and highlighting the whole thing, she takes it to Jim to see how to frame the story to give it a little more… oomph. He keeps showing her how bored he is by the story, and she keeps zinging him on how he is incapable of doing anything without Neal there to talk him through it. Basically a typical Jim and Maggie conversation.
Leona and Reese break some bad news to Charlie. In order to water down the valuation of the twins stock shares, Reese and Leona were forced to sell the news division to a third party. They sold ACN to a man named Lucas Pruett. Charlie hosts a meeting to tell the News Night staffers and we basically learn that he’s rich, his company created a wi-fi accelerator, and he has ideas about how the news should be done.
They will be meeting and charming Mr. Pruett at the Correspondent’s dinner.
Jim is looking over Hallie’s contract for her new job, and he’s having trouble digesting the incentives package she was offered. The more page views Hallie gets on articles she writes for this new company, Carnivore, the more money she makes. Jim is concerned about the ethical conundrum of reporting the truth of the news versus paying someone for the number of people that read their article.
He also has concerns about what Hallie knows about Neal and he hints that her new page views-centered bonuses could complicate her loyalty to him and ACN (from where she was just fired).
There is a new VP of HR, and Don is forced to sit through a resuscitation of an office squabble involving Gary, a couple of female staffers that he’s slept with, and Justin Bieber signing the register at the Anne Frank museum. Don ultimately takes responsibility for the whole thing, dismissing the complaint from becoming a bigger problem. He is then informed that the VP of HR is going to be enforcing the no fraternization policy that has gone unchecked for a long time, and raises concerns for him about his relationship with Sloan. He sends the HR guy running in the wrong direction and takes off at a sprint to warn Sloan to not admit that they are dating if anyone asks.
Mac meets Molly in a steam room at a spa to discuss the matter at hand. Molly lets Mac know that they have compelling evidence against Neal, and that if there’s any way to let him know that he should come back and cooperate, she should get on that right away.
Mac meets with Don and Jim, who tell her that, yes, someone has been in touch with Neal, and she asks them to get him the message to come in. Talk about awkward.
We then move to the control room at ACN to see Maggie’s story about the EPA report live on air. Will begins the interview with Richard Westbrook from the EPA. He starts off by stating the facts about the CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and goes on to shock everyone in the room by basically saying that the levels represent an insurmountable problem. There is no way to reverse the effects of levels this high, and he uses a few different examples and scenarios to prove his point. Will keeps trying to re-phrase the problem to sound hopeful, but every time he does, Westbrook shoots him down and basically declares this the beginning of the end.
After the report, Mac, Charlie, Will, and Rebecca head to Main Justice to meet with the Assistant Attorney General of National Security. Charlie insists they want to report the story responsibly and not endanger anyone in the process. The Assistant AG tells them that they know that Neal is in Venezuela, a non-extradition country.
Will answers questions that the Assistant AG asks about the source. The official explains that he knows Will tried to make it so he would appear to be the party in trouble. After watching everyone be insulted, Will tells the man off. He explains that this had been bungled from the start, and that they would no longer cooperate with the investigation.
At the Correspondent’s Dinner, Maggie and her date have a confrontation with Hallie and Jim in which Hallie compares Maggie’s EPA report to a tabloid story. Maggie politely waves it off and walks away. Meanwhile, in an attempt to hide his closeness with Sloan, Don feeds a stranger a meatball, but is unsuccessful at hiding anything from the VP of HR.
Charlie meets Mr. Pruett (played by the one and only B.J. Novak), and it is clear within seconds of meeting him that this man does not make exceptions. From his drink order to the plan to meet Charlie, when details aren’t followed through upon, he becomes terse and more than a little perturbed. He goes on to address crowd-sourcing news, and how he finds the idea enlightening. Charlie seems terrified by the mere mention of the idea.
Outside on the lawn, a woman approaches Mac at her table and identifies herself as Lily, Neal’s source. Mac asks her to prove it, and Lily provides details that only the source would know. Lily tells Mac that unless she sees the story on air by the following Wednesday, she will upload it herself.
Charlie gathers everyone for a quick meeting, and Will finds himself served with a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice.
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