Gosh, this show, episode to episode, covers so much ground. Suffering from insomnia, McAvoy needs a sleeping aid, and goes to a psychiatrist (the son of his former psychiatrist who had since died), not expecting to share so many details of his life over the past few days. McAvoy has received a death threat after a recent unfortunate interview with a Santorum aid (he's black and gay). McAvoy's intent is to "encourage" the aid, Sutton Hall (Damon Gupton), to admit Santorum's in the wrong, but it is the way he goes about the interview that is clearly wrong. It is bullying. Hall, however, equips himself with integrity and class, addressing McAvoy's tactics and rough interview style of him by not throwing Santorum under the bus (both are advocates against abortion, and Hall considers Santorum a good man he believes can be President of the United States), although he does admit that the two don't agree on all issues. It was a diatribe of McAvoy regarding Santorum's rhetoric about how gay marriage would be a detriment to traditional, heterosexual marriage, not to mention his views on homosexuality in general. Trying to break Hall, however, places McAvoy under an unsavory light. He admits that he was a bully. During McAvoy's psychiatric session with Dr. Jack Habib (David Krumholtz), Will must relive the past days (and how his abusive childhood with an alcoholic father has left its scars), particularly holding onto the wedding ring that he planned to give to MacKenzie (showing her) and perhaps giving some bad advice to Sloan (she was asked by Don to be the broadcaster of the 10:00 show) about her flawed interview style during her economic show early in the afternoon.
The Sloan subplot is given a lot of storyline as she (fluent in Japanese) is requested to interview a Japanese friend she's known from the past for a long time (he's a spokesman for a nuclear company in Japan) in regards to the possible reactor threat: the levels possibly going from four-to-five-to-seven, with her using off-the-record information on air, spurning the rage of Charlie, especially when she speaks in Japanese to him, with an interpreter who speaks for him in English, as Sloan understands her shifty withholding of details, during the interview on the broadcast. Charlie and Sloan's shouting match in the newsroom, as well as, Don's attempts to assuage their argument provide some major melodramatic sparks. How Charlie finds a way to address the situation where Sloan holds on to her job and helps out the Japanese friend she led to possible dishonor (he hands in a resignation as a result of the interview) in the process flies in the face of the truth McAvoy's news team hold so dear. Terry Crews, as McAvoy's security thanks to the death threat, provides some good humor to augment a lot of drama involving heightened emotions and ill-advised mistakes during the episode. I haven't come across an even mediocre episode yet with this series: there's always a moment of superb acting or a profound/thought-provoking bit of dialogue/conversation (and sublime character development) that makes each episode so richly rewarding.
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