This week, The Newsroom goes to Africa.
The episode begins with Maggie being questioned by Rebecca Halliday, the ACN lawyer. Halliday is worried about Maggie’s state of mind, so she asks her to talk about her experience in Africa. Maggie starts from the beginning with her and Gary Cooper leaving the office on September 30, 2011.
Neal got his Occupy Wall Street contact, Shelly, to go on the Nightly News. On her way to the set, she overhears Neal and Jerry talking about Genoa and how they need to find more information. Shelly just happens to know someone who previously wrote a story that sounded similar to what they were talking about. She says she can take them to meet the writer, but refuses to keep that promise after her five minutes on-air with Will. Back on his “fix journalism” kick, Will hits Shelly with all the usual criticism that the OWS faced and completely humiliates her.
We also get a glimpse of how Jim and the “freedom writers” are doing on the campaign trail. They struggle to get hotel rooms and they no longer have the same access as they previously had. While Mac isn't too pleased, we learn that Hallie’s boss is really mad about this new situation and threatens to replace her.
Desperate to find Shelly’s contact, Neal and Jerry tell Mac that all she wants is an on-air apology from Will. Mac asks Will to do so, but he won’t without knowing the details of the story which Mac does not want to give him yet. She convinces Sloan to try and flatter Shelly in hopes she will give up the writer, but flattery is not Sloan’s strong suit and her attempt fails.
We are back to Maggie. She continues her story by explaining how she and Gary were pursuing the Joseph Kony story in Uganda, but stopped to do a small segment at an orphanage first. Maggie bonded with a young boy by reading him a story over and over. The boy, Daniel, kept stroking her hair, and the teacher explained “He’s never seen hair like yours before,” he turned to the boy and joked, “That color is called blonde, Daniel, and it is nothing but trouble.”
The story cuts back to Jim who is hounding Romney’s campaign spokesperson when she finally curses him out on the record. In order for him to disregard the comment, she agrees to a 30 minute one-on-one with the governor. Jim asks her to give the exclusive to Hallie after hearing how her boss treated her. Of course, Hallie and Mac find out about this deal. Hallie is livid and Mac tells him it is time to come back. Before Jim leaves, Hallie changes her mind about being mad and finally makes out with Jim.
Back in New York, the team has another failed attempt, by Don, to convince Shelly to give up the potential source. Will then shows up to Shelly’s college classroom and apologizes to her. Apparently, they had already tracked down the guy, but Will felt that he should apologize anyways. After interviewing the writer, Mac and Jerry take their updated information to Charlie and he can no longer deny the evidence of Genoa.
The episode ends with Maggie back in the conference room talking to Halliday. After filming all day, they decided to stay one night at the orphanage. Awoken by gunfire, the group scrambles to get the children to a bus. Once they are on the bus, Maggie realizes that Daniel is not among them. She goes back inside to find Daniel under her bed, and puts him on her back. While running to the bus, a shot hit Daniel and killed him. After this incident, Maggie and Gary were immediately flown home. The armed men that night kept screaming something in a language that no one understood. Back in America, Maggie realizes that all the men wanted was the video camera.
Maggie is then shown standing in a mirror, recalling that night, and cutting off her blonde hair.
The Newsroom airs Sunday nights at 10pm EST on HBO.
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