Thomas Sadoski has given an entertaining interview in which he discusses the critical reception The Newsroom has received, as well as the “glacial” evolution that his character Don has undertaken.

Jim and Maggie fans may be unnerved to hear Sadoski noting in his interview with Vulture that their relationship isn’t “necessarily an inevitability.” Fans’ reactions don’t seem to bother him either, saying, “I’m very well aware of the fact that I’m considered to be the person, or the character, who is holding up the one thing that people want to have happen on the show.”

This doesn’t mean Don won’t continue to improve over the second half of the season. Sadoski is sympathetic to his character, noting that “Don’s sort of not allowed to play with the cool kids, is he?” He goes on to highlight Don’s motivations, saying, “he’s thinking, I want to play on this team. But also, What the hell is happening? Is my girlfriend having an emotional affair?”

On the subject of critics Sadoski takes a pragmatic approach:

“Yeah, I mean, it’s hard to avoid the vitriol that came out in regards to the show when we first started.”

“I know HBO is proud of the size of our audience because we’ve been renewed. People who want to hate on us are going to hate on us. At least they watched.”

We can’t help but like Don more after hearing Sadoski discuss him. What did you think? Is Don really all that sympathetic, or is Sadoski just biased?