Election Night: Part II

If you are not watching this show then you should be. This is the second part of another 2 part season finale' for this series and if you haven't seen the first part then go back before watching this one. I was never one for politics, love stories or drama but Aaron Sorkin has found a way to entertainment me while educating me on many political things I never knew I cared about. I sit at my computer and "Google" subjects they talk about just to stay informed and I find myself watching the episodes repeatedly. This season finale' episode was so good you would of thought it was ending the series. Also, for people already watching, while Sloan tracks down her book buyer, she does something at the end that will make you love her even more.

The second season of The Newsroom benefited, as it wraps up in the ninth episode, from the tight focus on a gradually developing story about the alleged use of sarin gas by the US military on civilians.The writers and directors guide us through how the evidence is built up and tested and the go ahead is finally given to air the story, after which it is challenged, with serious results.In showing us this process, Sorkin and company have given regular viewers a real insight into how our TV news is put together.The show unfortunately feels it needs to flesh out this story with a few too many romantic subplots, the weakest of these illustrated by a tedious scene here in the makeup room with Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer bickering.

The first season of "The Newsroom" almost quite literally lives up to its title: it hardly ventures from the confines of the ACN building to tell its stories. In this second effort, however, show runner Aaron Sorkin broadens the horizons a bit, and to generally better results.

Whereas in the first season each episode was based around a single news event, here there is a basic thoroughfare for all nine installments: ACN's uncovering of a story about the potential use of Sarin gas by the U.S. military on civilians. Not only does this give the season an arc that the freshman effort lacked, but the plot line itself is a great examination of how stories should (or shouldn't) be vetted.

But whereas in the first season that might have been the whole ball of wax, this time other satellite stories take our favorite cast members to new locales. For example...

-Maggie (Alison Pill) takes a trip to Africa (which produces the best single episode of the show thus far). -Jim (John Gallagher Jr.) covers the Romney 2012 presidential campaign, where he meets Hallie (Grace Gummer), a kindred spirit (and perhaps even a bit more). -The boundaries are pushed in the news center itself, what with Don (Thomas Sadoski) and Sloan (Olivia Munn) exhibiting some chemistry together.

One of my biggest complaints from season one was what I felt to be an over-reliance on goofy or slapstick humor, often abruptly changing the tone from a serious or important moment almost instantly. That instinct is tempered a bit this go-round, and thus a star improvement in my ranking.

That being said, "The Newsroom" is still too reliant on cutesy dialogue/wordplay and the S2 finale really let me down (up until that final episode, I was probably more on 8 stars). I also have never really "bought" the supposed romantic tension between Will (Jeff Daniels) and Mackenzie (Emily Mortimer). But for the most part, I found season two to be a more enjoyable watch than season one. I'm hoping for a similar improvement in the third campaign.