The second season of The Newsroom continues with the “Genoa Tip.”
The season's second episode begins in New Hampshire as Jim finally embarks on the Romney campaign bus. There, savvy and rival reporter, Hallie Shea (Grace Gummer) is introduced. She is very competitive, but takes subtle interest into Jim's life.
Back in New York, Sloan walks into her office to find Maggie asleep on the floor. After Maggie explains what happened with Don, Sloan helps her track down the YouTube poster at a Laundromat. They barter with the Sex and the Cityobsessed blogger in hopes she will take down the video and they eventually settle with a tweet from Sloan to boost the poster's fan fiction audience.
Maggie calls Jim to tell him about the break up and that she is moving back in with Lisa. Maggie explains that she is taking care of the problem before Lisa sees the video.
But of course, the blogger reposts the video and Lisa discovers it. Lisa chews out Maggie for lying to her and “being humiliated.” The confrontation ends with Lisa stating that the only relationship they have now is landlord and tenant. Lisa sends the YouTube link to Jim as a way to end their relationship.
Maggie's life is quickly falling part and she throws herself into work, specifically focusing on Africa. Convinced that Africa is going to be the next War on Terror base, she asks Mac for permission to go to Kampala, Uganda with associate, Gary. Just minutes after getting the okay from Mac, the two discover that Kampala might not be as safe as they thought. Worried she might change her mind, Maggie and Gary decide not to fill Mac in on the recent violent protests.
Meanwhile, Jerry brought the Genoa tip to Mac. The tip states that a black-ops mission used sarin gas on civilizations. Of course, Mac finds this hard to believe and she dismisses the tip until he can miraculously find some solid evidence.
As for Will, we see him become more and more tense as he realizes he is no longer the Jay Leno of primetime news. He turns down stories such as Troy Davis and a targeted American citizen drone strike because he fears the controversy. We also realize that losing the 9/11 news coverage meant much more to Will as his first time on the air was covering the tragic event on September 11, 2001.
Neal attends a Occupy Wall Street protest and is arrested. He is able to send the news crew some disturbing footage from the protest and Will uses it to get Neal out with void arrest. Before he is able to do so, Will loses it and confesses his anger for all that has been happening to a paper-pushing police officer.
The episode ended back with Genoa as Jerry discovered the evidence that Mac needed. Even though Mac reminds the source that he is about to reveal classified information, a military veteran confirmed the use of sarin gas in the black-ops operation.
While the Genoa operation is slow-paced, we can see that this is going to be the bulk of this season as the story unfolds.
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