The Newsroom

3 Seasons | 25 Episodes | TV-MA

A volatile cable-news anchor and his ideological staff set out to 'do the news well' in the face of numerous obstacles in this HBO series.

1.We Just Decided To

In the series premiere, cable-news anchor Will McAvoy gets a new executive producer, a staff overhaul, and a breaking-news challenge.

2.News Night 2.0

Mac asserts her control of the News Night rundown; Jim takes a fall for Maggie; a breakup secret gets out.

3.The 112th Congress

Will's new approach rankles CEO Leona Lansing.

4.I'll Try to Fix You

A New Year's Eve confrontation lands Will in the tabloids; restraint is rewarded during a story.

5.Amen

The 'News Night' team finds parallels between the Egyptian uprising and a teacher protest in Wisconsin.

6.Bullies

Will keeps a long-standing therapy appointment; Sloan pushes too hard during the Japanese nuclear crisis.

7.5/1

The staff's anniversary party is cut short when they learn the President will be making an impromptu national address.

8.The Blackout Part I: Tragedy Porn

Will and Mac are forced to abandon their principles in order to boost ratings and land a Republican debate.

9.The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate

Will and the staff stage a mock debate for a pair of Republican Party officials.

10.The Greater Fool

Season One Finale. Will's future at ACN is jeopardized by a damning revelation; Jim and Maggie reach a crossroad.

First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin and Ian Reichbach Directed by Alan PoulA litigator named Rebecca Halliday interviews Will McAvoy about a News Night broadcast that alleged the U.S. committed war crimes in a black op named Genoa. Will reminds his lawyer that the story was retracted and the producer, who doctored an interview, was fired. Already irritated with Will's nonchalance, Rebecca is incensed to see that ACN's character witness, Maggie, now has short red hair after a traumatic trip to Uganda for a story. Rebecca reminds Will that his career - and the career of everyone involved in the broadcast - is on the line.Months earlier, the President of ACN, Reese Lansing, is shut out of a meeting with the U.S. House of Representatives to help draft the SOPA bill to combat internet piracy. Reese and Leona interpret this snub as deliberate retaliation for Will's comment that the Tea Party is the "American Taliban."Will broadcasts the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli. After the show, Charlie informs Mac that Ben Furusho, who had been covering the Romney campaign in New Hampshire, injured himself in a drunken mishap. The team needs another correspondent on the bus for a few weeks.Maggie approaches Jim to clear the air between them, and he snaps that their relationship is "only awkward because you want it to be." After their conversation, Jim marches into Mac's office and asks to go on the road with the Romney campaign. When he explains how desperately he wants to leave town, Mac relents. She recruits Jerry Dantana, a reporter from the DC bureau, to cover during Jim's absence. When Jim meets up with the Romney campaign, he receives a cold welcome, and is forced to drive behind the press bus.Charlie informs Will he's decided to pull him off the 9/11-anniversary coverage in light of the Tea Party comments. Will is upset, but half-heartedly agrees to "get the flu" around the 9th or 10th.Jerry joins the News Night team in New York, and is eager to report on drone strikes. As he's pitching to Will, Sloan joins his cause. Mac approves a panel on the issue and Jerry opts to bring in his own military analysis expert, Cyrus West. During the segment, West stubbornly and ineloquently argues for the use of drones. Mac encourages Will to jump in with a rebuttal, but he remains silent.Mac tells Jerry to book Jim's experts moving forward. West is eager to be asked back on the show; to make up for his poor performance, he offers Jerry a scoop that "makes careers and ends presidencies." The story is about a black-op called Genoa.At the rundown meeting, Mac announces Jim's absence and Maggie is notably upset. Neal pitches doing a story on Occupy Wall Street, calling it "America's Arab Spring." He trails Mac after the meeting adjourns, emphasizing the movement's growing momentum. She feels the story is preemptive, but encourages him to attend their General Assembly meeting that evening. Neal does so, only to learn that he's not welcome as a member of the press. He speaks to an activist named Shelley who explains to him that the movement doesn't trust the media to accurately portray the nuances of their cause. Neal expresses support and leaves his card.Charlie questions Sloan about Will's panel performance; she notes he made it explicitly clear that ACN is anti-terrorist. Sloan tells Don she wasn't serious when she implied he should ask her out. He assures her that he took it as a joke.In their shared apartment, Don packs while Maggie sleeps. She wakes to discover he watched a YouTube video of Maggie confessing her feelings for Jim in front of the Sex and the City tour bus. Don tells Maggie to move back in with Lisa and adds that he's not in love with her. He calmly leaves for a hotel.Mac meets Will at a bar where he admits that he didn't jump into the drone debate because he's upset about being taken off the 9/11-anniversary coverage. He's frustrated and tired of the uphill battle to earn back his credibility and the audience's love - a fight that Mac points out ironically mirrors her personal struggle with Will. He pledges to debate spiritedly from now on.Months later, Rebecca questions Mac. She reveals that the Genoa broadcast was the most-viewed program in the history of cable news. Mac begins a full deposition while Will and Maggie wait in the hallway.</div>

The Genoa Tip

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Jeremy PodeswaSloan finds Maggie sleeping on the floor of her office. Maggie explains she's moving back in with Lisa because she split up with Don and fills her in on the Sex and the City tour bus fiasco. Using Foursquare, she locates the blogger who posted the video at a laundromat in Queens. Erica agrees to pull the video, but only after Sloan tweets an endorsement of her Sex and the City blog. Jerry tells Mac about Cyrus West's tip, that U.S. soldiers used sarin gas on civilians. Mac is skeptical, but Jerry appeals for her trust: "If I were Jim, would you be paying attention?" Jerry locates the name West gave him: Gunnery Sergeant Eric Sweeney. Over the phone, Sweeney confirms that the black op called Genoa happened and that he was there. Will tells Sloan and Elliot they'll be co-anchoring the 9/11-anniversary coverage. He lies, saying it was his idea to step down in light of his comments about the Tea Party. "I'm not who I used to be right now," he concedes. Two control room employees find a tape of Will's first day on the anchor desk: September 11, 2001. The network's legal correspondent at the time, Will went on-air when the rest of his colleagues were unavailable. The footage reveals one of Will's first interactions with Charlie, who offers his support to the exhausted anchor. Will pledges to his audience that he'll stay with them all night. Ten years later, Will watches Sloan and Elliot broadcast the script he wrote. Don approaches Will about the story of a convict on death row named Troy Davis, whose execution date is fast-approaching. Don believes Davis is innocent because multiple key witnesses have recanted their testimony against him, and because of the personal relationship he's formed with Davis in the course of nine years closely covering his story. Don hopes to report a fresh angle on the old case by tapping into Will's experience as a former prosecutor. Will grants that he sees reasonable doubt in the case, but refuses to cover the story. Davis has received due process, Will maintains, and it's not their place to advocate. Cameron, the Romney campaign representative, blocks Jim from the press bus until a reporter named Hallie steps in. Despite the gesture, Jim quickly learns that Hallie isn't keen on making friends on the trail; she sees him only as a competitor. Maggie pitches "Africa" to Mac, who tells her to be more specific. Maggie calls Jim for advice, but when he's cold to her, she questions what he's doing in New Hampshire: "You're lost." Hallie overhears the conversation. After watching a tacky video Occupy Wall Street released, the News Night staff writes off the movement as a non-story. Neal goes to a rally to break the news to Shelly. Police enter the meeting and start arresting protestors without provocation. Neal takes footage on his phone and sends it to the office before and he's arrested too. Will bails Neal out, working as a prosecutor to void the arrest. Charlie informs Don and Elliot that in order to engage their audience, their show will implement a scrolling Twitter bar. The conversation is interrupted when Don gets a call informing him there's been outside lobbying against clemency for Troy Davis. Don becomes increasingly agitated when Charlie blocks him from reporting unconfirmed developments. Maggie arrives at her apartment to learn that Erica reposted the video and Lisa has seen it. Lisa believes Maggie purposely "parked" Jim with her to save him for herself. Their friendship is over, Lisa announces; from now on they only have a landlord/tenant relationship. Maggie pitches Africa to Mac under the angle of national security, as the war on terror is shifting there. Mac questions her preparedness, but Maggie argues she's ready to be a go-to team member. Just as Mac approves her trip to Kampala, Gary tells Maggie a deadly protest occurred there. They agree to withhold the report from Mac. Maggie contacts Jim to share the news, but he ignores her call. The team learns that an American Al Qaeda leader named Anwar Al-Aklaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Charlie and Mac agree that Will should publicly demand the memorandum authorizing his death be released. Still reeling from his deteriorating public standing, Will is wary of making too bold a statement. Later that evening, Mac's so frustrated that Will won't make a stand that she throws her drink at him. Will shows her what he's been writing—it's the script to make the demand. While Elliot is on the air, Don receives word that Troy Davis has been executed. The team breaks into the show, removes the scrolling Twitter feed and broadcasts the report. Over his drink, Will watches Elliot read Davis' last words, which contain a message of forgiveness.</div>

Willie Pete

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Lesli Linka GlatterWill broadcasts a clip from a GOP debate during which a deployed soldier's YouTube question is met with boos from the audience because he's gay. Will dubs the debate's participants "witless bullies and hapless punks" for standing by as the man is attacked.After the broadcast, Charlie and Will toast the segment's audacity; they're protected thanks to the tape of Reese admitting to hacking phones. Will gets word that gossip reporter Nina Howard has learned that he did not have the flu during the 9/11 anniversary. Charlie recommends making no comment, but Will decides to tell Nina the truth as part of his "mission to civilize."Aboard the Romney press bus, Jim spars with Cameron about the nonexistent details of Romney's debt reduction plan. Hallie cuts off Jim's futile questioning: "Learn how this works because you're driving the rest of us crazy." Jim is undeterred and continues to ask Taylor, the Romney campaign spokesperson, tough questions about the candidate's platform. He confronts Hallie about her attitude and learns she finds him condescending. She's no amateur journalist; she started her own website with an investor to cover women's issues on the campaign trail. Jerry and Mac meet Eric Sweeney, who tells them that Operation Genoa was a mission to extract two Marine POWs from Pakistan, during which U.S. soldiers used white phosphorous and sarin gas on civilians. Back in the office, Mac and a fully convinced Jerry present the story to Charlie. He is skeptical but advises them to follow up quietly. Jerry assembles a team to go through a list of the soldiers involved provided by Sweeney. They also turn to Twitter and hire a translator to interpret all the tweets from the area at the time of the operation. Will meets with Nina and tells the full story about the 9/11 anniversary coverage, on the record. She asks if he chose to pull himself off, and Will admits it was Charlie's decision. Nina respects Will's honesty and agrees not to run the story. Will asks her out on a date, but she refuses because she knows from the hacked voicemail that Will still loves Mac. Sloan consults with Don about an issue she's having with her executive producer, Zane. Don commends her position—she advises on moral grounds against investing in a company that makes drone missiles—but tells her she should listen to her EP. Later, Zane confronts Don about giving Sloan notes behind his back. Sloan defends her position and tells Zane off. Sloane also discloses to Don that she accidentally leaked the story of Will's fake flu when she canceled a wedding date with Nina Howard's book agent. She comes clean to Will, infuriating him, but Charlie realizes that Nina couldn't have gotten the full story from Sloan, since the columnist knew it was Charlie's decision. They realize that the leak must have come from Reese and confront him with their recording of his phone tapping confession. Reese admits to leaking the story; he's tired of being disrespected and he's not afraid of their blackmail. Charlie tries to remind Reese of their leverage, only to find there's no recording on the device. Fed up with Taylor's non-answers, Jim confronts her on the campaign bus, demanding she respond to real questions. He stages a protest and is joined by Hallie and one other reporter, Stillman, who get off the bus together and pledge to follow the campaign on their own and do actual reporting. Neal asks Mac why the Occupy Wall Street march didn't make the show. She expresses frustration at the movement's lack of a definable mission statement and absence of leadership. Neal argues for their importance and calls out why Mac might not be interested—she's part of the one percent. Impressed by his gall, Mac tells Neal to find a competent representative to go on-air. Maggie gets a slew of vaccinations in preparation for her trip to Africa and becomes unhinged as she learns the side effects include homicidal thoughts, depression and hallucinations. Her clearance has been approved provided the team tacks a human-interest story onto their agenda, so she and Gary are going to a children's orphanage in Uganda. Mac presents Maggie with a $100 bill. It's a tradition, Mac explains, to either come back with it or the story of where it went. Mac calls Nina Howard to thank her for not running the story. She questions Nina about the voicemail Will left when he was high. Nina fibs that the message contained only professional congratulations; meanwhile, she's inside Will's apartment after a date. Mac is about to pull the plug on Jerry's research team when his translator faxes a tweet from a user named @Hamni8 which references "Willie Pete", a name for white phosphorous. More tweets follow, describing Operation Genoa.</div>

Unintended Consequences

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Carl FranklinMaggie meets with Rebecca Halliday, who explains that she's representing ACN against Jerry Dantana in a multi-million dollar wrongful termination lawsuit. She asks Maggie about an interview Jerry conducted with General Stanislaus Stomtonovich. Maggie maintains the general never said, "It happened," but Dantana has alleged her word is unreliable after her experience in Africa. Maggie is offended that the case hinges on her state of mind, but reluctantly talks about her trip. A year earlier, Maggie and Gary fly to Entebbe. In exchange for access to the forward operating base in Uganda, the team agrees to do a human interest story about soldiers building an addition onto an orphanage. Gary films around the building. When he enters the classroom, the children erupt in screams -- they think his camera is a gun. Maggie meets a young child named Daniel, and, at his insistence, reads him the same book over and over. Daniel is captivated by her blonde hair, a color he's never seen before. It gets too late to drive back, so the crew is forced to stay overnight at the orphanage. The same night Maggie leaves for Africa, Neal briefs Shelley as she prepares to represent the Occupy Wall Street movement on News Night. As she gets camera-ready, Neal and Jerry lament their dead end; "Hamni8", the Twitter user who they believe described Genoa, is untraceable. As Shelley walks to the studio, she reveals she heard a story from a fellow protestor who wrote a report about the U.S. using chemical weapons on civilians. She agrees to lead Neal to the source in Zuccotti Park, but changes her mind after her on-air appearance goes disastrously -- Will rips her apart, citing the movement's disorganization and lack of leadership. Neal tells Shelley not to blame Will: "He didn't do anything to you, you tanked." She punches him in the stomach and storms out. Jim, Hallie and Stillman arrive at the hotel after the official Romney press bus. Upon check-in, the group realizes they've lost the perks of being officially affiliated with the campaign, including hotel reservations. The three reporters are forced to share one room. The next day, they follow the campaign bus by car. Jim and Stillman overhear Hallie's conversation with her male boss, who's concerned her "stunt" is hurting their campaign coverage. He's wildly offensive and tells her to "stop being a little bitch." At Mac's urging, Jim presses Taylor for a statement from Romney. She loses her temper and as consolation, offers Jim a 30-minute interview with the candidate. Jim donates the spot to Hallie. When Taylor informs Mac of what happened, Jim is pulled off the campaign. Hallie overhears that Jim gave up his interview for her. She confronts him; her personal and professional relationship with her boss is none of his business. He doesn't care if she's insulted -- he thought it was the right thing to do. Later, Hallie realizes the implications of Jim's actions. She tells him she's upset he's going home and kisses him. Jerry and Neal approach Mac with a deal. Shelley's prepared to bring them to her source if Will issues an on-air apology. The outlandish request is even more implausible, Mac explains, because Will is unaware of the Genoa story. Mac is saving him for the red team, a group who hears the story for the first time once it's finished to identify holes. Eventually, Will seeks out Shelley and admits that he was extra aggressive during her interview to burnish his reputation as a moderate. He confesses that he's having a crisis of confidence. Subdued, Shelley agrees to take Neal to her source, but Will reveals they've already found him. The man's name is Leon Deit. Mac and Jerry interview him and brief Charlie on his report, which seems to corroborate the use of sarin gas. Back in the African orphanage, Maggie and Gary wake up to gunfire from nearby cattle raiders. The adults rush to load the children onto a bus. Maggie realizes Daniel is missing and finds him hiding under her bed. Gary pries the bolted bedframe away from the floor, and Maggie carries Daniel towards the bus. He is hanging on her back when he's shot and killed. It wasn't until later that Maggie was able to translate the raiders' demands. They were yelling, "Give us the camera." After the incident, Maggie and Gary return to America. Maggie is sent to a psychologist who prescribes an antidepressant, which she does not take. Haunted by images of Daniel toying with her hair, Maggie cuts it off herself. She maintains that Stomtonovich never said "it happened" and she's fine, but Rebecca isn't convinced of either assertion.</div>

News Night with Will McAvoy

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Alan PoulWill gets a call from his father just as he begins the News Night broadcast. When he returns the call during a commercial break, he learns that his dad has been hospitalized for a mild heart attack. Mac encourages Will to call back and speak to him. Neal approaches Will with a tweet from a New York Post reporter who's claiming that the anchor snubbed her in a restaurant. Mac dismisses the issue, but Neal shows her another tweet with the #NewsNight from Jesse, a guest prepping to go on-air. As the Post reporter continues to tweet, Neal and Will work to formulate a reply. Mac is frustrated that Will is distracting himself from contacting his father. Mac confronts Jesse, a 20-year-old college student from the Rutgers Gay-Straight Alliance booked to comment about Dharun Ravi. She asks about his tweet, which implies he plans to come out to his parents on the show. Mac explains that News Night is not in the business of using anyone's intimate life as entertainment. The team on the newsroom floor learns there's been a bombing in Syria. Jim takes a call from a woman who says her husband is on the phone and trapped in the rubble. She patches her husband through and he asks for national coverage to expedite rescue efforts. Charlie and Reese question Sloan about nude pictures of her that are circulating online. She finally admits the pictures are authentic; her ex-boyfriend leaked them. Since Sloan gave him the camera and voluntarily posed, ACN has no legal means of pulling them down. Don finds Sloan on the floor of his office in the dark. She opens up about the scandal, explaining that she's devastated and shocked. Don promises that her humiliation will turn into rage and adds that Sloan deserves better than her dating history reflects. Charlie gets a visit from Shep, the press liaison for the Office of Naval Intelligence. He's come to ask about Jerry Dantana's investigation into Genoa. Charlie doesn't disclose any details, but Shep alludes to the use of chemical weapons. He hands over a helicopter manifest for Operation Genoa. Charlie realizes the document lists a euphemism for sarin gas. Maggie waits for an email containing the 911 call from Trayvon Martin's shooting. The file downloads excruciatingly slow while Jim hovers over her desk. Maggie compliments Hallie's writing, but insinuates the media's outrage about Sandra Fluke, including Hallie's column that was picked up by the Huffington Post, is phony and overhyped. The interesting angle isn't sexist white men like Rush Limbaugh, Maggie says, it's the stigma against sexually active women. Jim gives Maggie some unsolicited advice, telling her to be careful about going out after work. He can tell she's been drinking and wearing the same clothes days in a row. Maggie maintains the only thing Jim has a right to comment on is her work performance, which has not suffered. When the download finishes, Maggie edits the 911 call. The show airs her cut, but when Neal transcribes the full tape, he realizes Maggie botched the editing job. Jim disciplines Maggie for the mistake. She pushes back; the error only happened because she was rushing and she doesn't want to hear it from him, when he gave away their Romney interview. Eventually, she admits that she's afraid to sleep alone, so she goes out. Mac bumps Jesse's segment so the show can air the unedited 911 tape. Angry that he won't be on TV, Jesse calls Mac "a bitch." She tells him off for exploiting a gay teen's suicide to get his 15 minutes. Looking at Will on the monitor, Mac says she did Jesse a favor; seeking validation from a TV audience isn't practical. Neal unblocks the phone number from the man claiming to be in Syria only to find it's a hoax. Mac hops on their line to explain the only attention the couple will be getting is from the police officer at their door. Neal informs Don that World Net Daily has reported that Solicitor General Shimon Weingarden spoke to "The Righteous Daughters of Jihadi Excellence." Don realizes a dry joke he made has been published as fact. He leaves multiple messages for a WND reporter, and finally gets ahold of an editor who insists the story is legitimate. Don loses his temper, but Sloan cuts him off and suggests that Neal write up the real story. Sloan leaves the office and seeks out her ex, Scott, in a business meeting. She asks to speak with him, beats him up, and snaps a picture. He tries to follow her out but Don stops him. Mac briefs Will on the new segment. He explains that when he called to leave a message, his father had already died. The show goes back on-air and Will is silent for several seconds before announcing: "Well, I guess it's just us now." He finishes the broadcast.</div>

One Step Too Many

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Julian Farino Charlie, Mac, Jerry, Neal and Maggie conduct the first red team meeting for the story about Operation Genoa. They present Sloan, Jim and Don with seven months of research that have yielded five sources; Cyrus West's story, Eric Sweeney's testimony, tweets from Hamni8, Leon Deit's report and the helicopter manifest Shep gave to Charlie. The red team, especially Jim, is skeptical, but Jerry pushes back with conviction. Mac and Charlie plan to move forward with the investigation by questioning retired General Stanislaus Stomtonovich, an expert on chemical weapons whom they believe can confirm the mission. Mac and Charlie arrive at Stomtonovich's home. Despite a phone call the previous day, the general forgot they were coming. While he concedes the U.S. has chemical weapons, he's reluctant to answer further questions. Charlie finally mentions Genoa, and Stomtonovich agrees to be interviewed on-camera as long as his identity is concealed.Sloan finds Will watching focus group data of the previous night's broadcast. He commissioned the report himself, he admits, because he's concerned about his likeability rating. At home later that night, Will reviews his broadcast with Nina. She believes Will is being sacrificed so that Charlie and Mac can do the show they want. She advises him to go on a morning show the next day. Will books an appearance, which goes terribly. Humiliated, he immediately breaks up with Nina. When he arrives back at his office, Sloan is waiting for him. She hypothesizes that Will's need to be liked by the audience stems from his breakup with Mac and encourages him to embrace who he is.Via Skype, Jim and Hallie discuss their upcoming romantic evening in the city. Jim has planned dinner and a night at a hotel. His hopes of alone time with his girlfriend are dashed when Hallie asks him to invite Neal as date for her friend Aubrey Lerner. When the boys arrive at the Romney fundraiser to pick up their dates, they run into Taylor, who Hallie invited to join the group. At dinner, the talk turns to politics and Taylor reveals she was fired for suggesting changes to Romney's campaign strategy.Jim and Hallie head to their hotel where Jim notices Maggie drinking alone at the bar. They say hello briefly and head to their room, but their plans are ruined when Hallie learns she has to leave immediately due to a schedule change. On his way out, Jim stops to remind Maggie to be careful not to mention Genoa while she's drinking. Maggie retorts that she's been covertly working on the story for months. She leaves with the bartender.Mac runs into Don at a bar and fills him in on Stomtonovich's confirmation. Don believes Jerry, but he encourages her to consider all the consequences of airing the story, including the threat of protests and attacks against the U.S.Maggie and Jerry arrive to interview Stomtonovich at his home. The general is difficult about being interviewed; he refuses to turn off March Madness and because he was unaware that Maggie would be present, he makes her wait outside. Jerry asks about Genoa, and while the general admits the operation happened, he won't explicitly say that sarin gas was used in it. Back in the office, Jerry edits the interview so it appears as if the general demonstrably says sarin was used. He presents the edited version to the team, claiming it's the raw footage. Charlie is unconvinced about the general's reliability and asks for another witness. Jerry loses it; he's impatient and certain the story is ready for air.Weeks later, 'News Night' gets a call on the assignment desk from Lance Corporal Herman Valenzuela, a source identified by Eric Sweeney who the team believed to be dead. After the broadcast, in a deposition with Rebecca, Charlie explains that Valenzuela is very much alive; he missed their calls because he was deployed. His confirmation was what made Charlie green-light the story. Immediately after the program aired, the team realized it wasn't true.</div>

Red Team III

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Anthony Hemingway Don is furious when he's called into litigation by ACN's legal team. Rebecca explains that despite Jerry's illicit actions, his wrongful termination lawsuit is centered on a legitimate argument - that he served as the scapegoat for a larger institutional failure. Don concedes that the team found all the holes in the story, but not until after it aired.Staff members explain the events leading up to the broadcast weeks earlier: Jerry runs the third red team meeting - another chance to identify problems with the story. Will learns about Genoa for the first time and reveals he heard the same tip. No one asks if his and Charlie's source is the same person. Charlie, Jerry and Mac want to go forward with the story, but Sloan and Neal side with Jim, who takes a stand against Jerry. Don also dissents, as he's concerned about potentially putting soldiers in danger. Will makes the final decision by saying he trusts Charlie and Mac.Operation Genoa goes to air. Immediately after the broadcast, General Stomtonovich calls Charlie screaming; he never said sarin was used. Charlie fills in Mac and Will and the team chalks the outburst up to cold feet. The general's claim is impossible, Mac reasons, because they have the raw footage of his interview. Will is concerned and skips out on the congratulatory party to watch football in his office. Mac notes the play clock and Will explains its purpose.The morning after the broadcast, Charlie tells Will about the phenomenal ratings the broadcast earned. The team is anxious to hear from the Department of Defense. Finally, the Pentagon releases a statement in which they condemn the story and pledge to take legal action and declassify documents to disprove the incendiary claims. Mac polls the staff to see if they're still standing by the story: They are.The next night, Elliot's show rebroadcasts Genoa. During an on-air interview, Sweeney reveals that he sustained a traumatic brain injury while in combat. Don makes the call to abort the interview. Knowing that memory loss is a symptom of TBI, Mac and Will realize there's a problem with the story.The staff has a late-night meeting. Jerry explains Sweeney withheld his TBI deliberately to safeguard his credibility. Will demands to pre-interview Sweeney; if he's satisfied, he'll put him back on air. The team reviews their other sources and Maggie reveals she cannot vouch for Stomtonovich's interview because she wasn't in the room. Will's source advises to stand by the story.Charlie heads to Washington to get confirmation from his source, Shep. The men meet in an empty parking garage where Shep reveals his son relapsed and died from a drug overdose after he was fired from an internship at ACN. Devastated, Shep blames Charlie for his son's death and forged the helicopter manifest to get revenge. He tells Charlie to hold it over light, and when illuminated the message "F*ck You, Charlie" appears.Mac questions the remaining source; she's afraid she led Lance Corporal Herman Valenzuela during his pre-interview by baiting him with Sweeney's testimony. Valenzuela didn't offer new information, Mac realizes, he only repeated what she disclosed as Sweeney's story. She believes Valenzuela is only trying to protect his friend.Mac finds the original Stomtonovich interview and after checking the shot clock on the basketball game visible behind the general, realizes Jerry tampered with the footage. She fires Jerry and informs the team they must retract Genoa. Simultaneously, the team gets word that the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi is an act of terrorism. They're reeling and skeptical of their sources, so they do not report it as such.Five weeks later, Will reveals to Rebecca that Genoa was a real, successful mission that laid down white phosphorous to mark the target. The team wore protective gear in case the militants had biological weapons. Hamni8 didn't die in the raid; his prepaid phone ran out. Will admits to institutional failure and pledges that he, along with Mac and Charlie, will resign.Leona arrives from a charity event and Charlie offers the resignations. He's surprised when Leona rejects the idea entirely. Although she's stoned, Leona admits she loves ACN; she doesn't want to pay Jerry and aims to have Rebecca fight him in court. Charlie argues ACN doesn't have the public's trust anymore but Leona retorts, "Get it back."</div>

Election Night, Part I

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Jason Ensler Jim tells Hallie via Skype that Leona rejected Charlie, Mac and Will's resignations. Leona believes the honorable course of action is to not cave under the pressure of Jerry's lawsuit. The senior staff's plan to resign is now on hold. Rebecca informs Charlie and Will that if they quit, Leona will sue them. Charlie vehemently protests and plans to persuade Reese to reason with Leona. In response to Charlie's despair, Will appoints himself in charge of morale. Charlie reminds Will he can boost Mac's spirits by firing her, but Will refuses. ACN prepares for their election night coverage and Charlie emphasizes the importance of an error-free newscast to the team. Taylor, the former Romney spokesperson, has been brought in to join Sloan and Elliot on-air. Maintaining her ongoing rivalry with Jim, Taylor tries to ruffle his feathers by giving Maggie a tip on a story. Maggie approaches Don with the story: a Congressional candidate who had just condemned Todd Akin's controversial statement about rape was himself quoted years earlier as saying that "women often cry rape." Don puts a call into the candidate's chief of staff, who offers to trade a larger story to buy some time. Neal updates Sloan that a book she autographed was auctioned for $1,000 at a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy relief. Sloan is distraught when she realizes someone forged her signature. Neal discovers Gary signed the book, and Sloan tasks Neal with finding the buyer. Will and Mac prep for the broadcast. Mac hopes their resignations are accepted before the lawsuit is filed and the details of everything that's taken place in the ACN newsroom are made public. Will encourages her to drop the subject, but Mac is worried that Will is a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode at her. He's never forgiven her for cheating, she explains, so she expects he'll punish her forever for Genoa. Charlie crashes Reese's election night viewing party to plead with him to accept their resignations. Reese agrees with Charlie that the lawsuit publicly shames the company. He wants to fire the executive staff responsible, but Leona won't let him. Rebecca notifies Don that Jerry Dantana is suing him for "tortious interference" after Don referred to him as a "sociopath" to a potential employer. Jerry purposely listed Don as a reference so this would happen, Rebecca explains, because he wants ACN to settle. During the broadcast, Sloan brings up the elephant in the room, Genoa. As a PR expert, Taylor applauds the way she handled it. Elliot gives viewers a behind-the-scenes tour of the decision desk, a table of sequestered experts who call the elections for ACN. Kathy, a data analysis, calls in Jim to inform him that 'News Night' has preemptively broadcast election results for a district in Michigan. The premature report is Jim's mistake; he used the wrong state abbreviation on an update he gave to Maggie. Kathy is sure that the election result will be correct, but maintains they need to retract the call. Jim opts not to, and instead hopes no one notices. During a commercial break, Mac explains to Will that firing her is the right thing to do for both of them. She worries he hasn't done so because of how it will make him look. Will is offended that she believes he's so self-centered. He fires her, effective at the end of the evening's broadcast. Don's source calls back with a big story to trade: CIA Director David Petraeus plans to resign after the exposure of an extramarital affair he had with his biographer. The broadcast resumes and Will tells Taylor to ignore his previous request to avoid his personal politics. He instructs her, "Take me apart."</div>

Election Night, Part II

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Alan PoulAs election night coverage continues, Don confirms his sources will go on the record to report on the Petraeus scandal. Charlie, Mac, Don, Jim and Maggie discuss the merits of running the blockbuster story at the expense of the smaller one, which reveal a candidate's offensive comments about rape. The team ultimately convinces Don that it's more important to give voters applicable info than to bolster ACN's floundering reputation. Taylor asks Will if she can approach Jim about a position at her start-up media-consulting firm since the senior staff is planning to resign. Shocked, Will calls the team together and forbids their resignations, but everyone involved with Genoa is resolved to leave. The group is insulted, Sloan explains, that Will believes they would do anything but stand by him. Maggie and Jim moderate the very close race in Michigan. A pollster from the district calls Jim and questions ACN's call of the race. Jim stands by the premature report. Charlie stops by the election night party to plead with Leona to accept their resignations. Leona reveals she put the decision in Reese's hands. On his way out, Charlie collides with Lisa, who's working as a server at the party. Neal flags a picture he discovered from the party on Twitter, realizing an attendee is violating the company's confidentiality policy. Jim recognizes Lisa in the photo. Maggie encourages Jim to take advantage of the chance to speak to her. Jim approaches Lisa and apologizes for what happened with him and Maggie. Lisa reveals she always got the impression she wasn't smart enough for him. Jim denies this and explains the real reason they broke up is that he's not good enough for her. He asks Lisa to set aside her hurt feelings and reach out to Maggie. Lisa admits that she hasn't spoken to her roommate, but found hair on her bathroom floor. Jim confronts Maggie about cutting her hair. She explains that Daniel, the African boy who died, had never seen blonde hair before. Maggie tells Jim she first noticed him because he clicked on a yellow news alert story, but she wonders if she's cut from the same cloth as the rest of the news team. She is brave, Jim assures, and most importantly, she's alive. Will and Mac make a statement to Leona by setting up Elliot and Don to stand in for them during the broadcast. Their plan is to familiarize the audience with the team that would replace them after they've resigned. Once they're alone, Mac apologizes to Will for believing he wouldn't fire her out of vanity. She admits that at the beginning of their relationship, she was still hung up on Brian, but after they fell in love, she stopped talking to her ex completely. Will confesses that the engagement ring he told her he bought while they were dating was only a joke. Mac is devastated. Neal reports that Sloan's book went to an anonymous bidder using a character's name from "The Sweet Smell of Success." All the bids were placed under pseudonyms so the buyer could create the illusion of a bidding war. Sloan later sees a Sweet Smell of Success movie poster in Don's office. She puts the pieces together, marches into the control room, gives Don a signed book and kisses him. Furious about Jerry's frivolous lawsuit, Don tells Rebecca he's countersuing for intentional affliction of emotional distress. Taylor confronts Will about the large amount of negative stories ACN runs about Republicans and accuses Will of affiliating with the party so he can maintain creditability while attacking the GOP. Will defends being a Republican, but condemns the extremist faction of the party. Inspired by the staff's decision to broadcast relevant voter information instead of the Petraeus story, Charlie resolves not to resign. Will admits mistakes were made, but he can't let Mac accept the blame entirely, and grabs a Tiffany's box out of his desk. He finds Mac and admits he'll always be in love with her. He proposes and she says yes. Reese returns from a long walk and issues his decision – he's not accepting the staff's resignations. He couldn't do otherwise, Charlie announces, because the staff isn't offering them. Will announces the good news to the team: No one is quitting and he and Mac are engaged. As the team celebrates the election and engagement, Maggie clicks on a yellow news story.</div>

Boston

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Anthony HemingwayWill and Mac discuss their wedding arrangements in Will's office when Mac notices an explosion on a faraway monitor. A bomb has gone off during the Boston Marathon, and the ACN news team springs into action. Hallie wants to break in with news of the explosion from Twitter, but Mac insists they wait until they can confirm what happened. Gary confirms the attack with the FBI and Mac is ready to break in – after three other networks have already done so. Maggie and Elliot immediately depart for Boston to report from the scene. Just before they're about to go on air, Elliot has an allergic reaction and Maggie is forced to go on camera to do the report. Maggie fills in and kills it. Reese informs Sloan that AWM is going to miss its quarterly projections and that his twin half-siblings are going to come into a share of the company at their 25th birthday. When the stock price doesn't fall, Sloan deduces that the company is in the middle of a hostile takeover bid – this twins plan to sell their share to a company called Savannah Capital. Neal is contacted by a source who wants to send him an encrypted message. After buying an air-gapped computer with Will's assistance, he retrieves a flash drive from inside the men's room of a restaurant. When he opens it, he finds thousands of classified documents from the Department of Defense. The documents reveal that the US was involved in a PR effort in a foreign country named Kundu which led to deadly riots. Neal shares the contents of the documents with Will and Charlie, and Will realizes that while negotiating with his source, Neal unwittingly committed a federal crime– conspiring to commit espionage.</div>

Run

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Greg Mottola Neal meets with Rebecca Halliday to discuss his legal situation. Will and Rebecca advise against reporting the story -- the FBI will have no way of knowing a crime has been committed. Neal, however, feels compelled to report on it. Mac goes to a shooting range with her friend Molly, an FBI agent. She poses a hypothetical about Neal's case. Molly thinks it's unlikely he'd get anything more than a contempt charge. Jim finds Hallie stressed out in the office, refreshing the pages of media gossip websites. The night before, she posted and quickly removed a conservative-bashing tweet from the official ACN Twitter account. When the websites pick it up, Hallie goes to Charlie's office, where she's promptly fired. Riding the train back from Boston, Maggie overhears a government employee complaining about the president's lack of support for the EPA. She slides down in her seat and takes note of the conversation, then confronts her unwitting source. The man pleads with Maggie not to report the information, and though she's on firm legal and journalistic ground, Maggie decides to hold it for moral reasons. The exchange leaves a favorable impression on Jack, an ethics professor seated across from her on the train. Charlie and Reese make the case for supporting ACN to Reese's twin half-siblings. The twins plan to sell their shares of the company to Savannah Capital, which is unlikely to continue supporting the news operation. Leona enters the room and tells her ex-husband's kids what she really thinks of them. She offers to buy their shares for more than Savannah is offering. Now she just has to raise $4 billion. Rebecca and the ACN senior staff continue to discuss Neal's dilemma. Mac and Charlie feel strongly they should run the story, while Rebecca and Will argue against it. In the meantime, Neal excuses himself to use the restroom, then calls the PR firm named in the story for comment. In private, Will asks Neal to reveal the source to him so that he'll have some skin in the game, before suggesting he get somewhere safe and off the grid. Shortly thereafter, the FBI – led by Molly – raids the newsroom.</div>

Main Justice

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin and Jon Lovett Directed by Alan PoulIn the middle of the FBI raid on the newsroom, Charlie "orders" the crew to start broadcasting. Don, Jim and Maggie power up the control room while Gary grabs a camera. The ploy works and the FBI agents stand down. Rebecca Halliday negotiates a one week ceasefire with the government while the sides sort things out. Leona and Reese inform Charlie that in order to raise the money they need to keep the parent company, they'll have to spin off ACN. The news channel will be sold to a libertarian billionaire named Lucas Pruit. The crew is to meet Pruit at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, which Will had publicly vowed to never attend. At home, Jim reviews Hallie's contract for her new job at the online news start-up Carnivore. Jim is concerned that it offers bonus incentives for reaching certain page view thresholds, but Hallie takes his skepticism as a lack of support and belief in her abilities. Don meets with Wyatt, the company's HR rep. After dealing with a minor stir between Gary and a staffer – who thinks Gary plays favorites – Wyatt turns his attention to Don. He believes that Don and Sloan are in a relationship, a charge Don denies. After Wyatt leaves, he immediately runs to tell Sloan that they're not in a relationship. Maggie prepares a segment about the EPA report she received exclusive access to on the train back from Boston. She turns to Jim for help sexing it up, but he's equally unable to make it sound interesting. When the segment airs, the guest Maggie booked is hopeless about humanity's chances for dealing with the climate situation, making for an extremely uncomfortable interview with Will.The senior staff meets with the Attorney General's representative in Washington to discuss Neal's case. Before offering his assistance, Will asks for an assurance that Neal is safe, and the lawyer informs them that Neal has left the country for Venezuela, a country with no extradition treaty with the United States. Though he's initially cooperative, Will takes exception to the government's lawyer approach and offers little in the way of information about the source, whom he admits to knowing. Charlie meets Pruit at the Correspondents' Dinner and finds him to be young and difficult. Pruit presents his vision for the network – a vague notion of "disruption" and a hundred different channels of user-generated content. At the dinner, Mac is approached by a woman named Lily, who admits to being Neal's source. She tells Mac to run the story that week or she'll leak it to someone else. As Will takes pictures with his fans, he's approached by a nervous young man. He presents Will with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury.</div>

Contempt

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin and Deborah Schoeneman Directed by Anthony HemingwayRebecca Halliday runs the ACN staff through what will happen now that Will has been subpoenaed. Charlie, Mac and Will try to put the court order out of their minds as they meet with Pruit, who reveals that bringing them to the White House Correspondents' Dinner - which Will had vowed on air never to attend - was a power play to show them he won't be pushed around. He presents his vison for a news network centered on user-generated content, which rankles Charlie.In conversation with Jim and Hallie, Maggie's date Jack accidentally reveals that he and Maggie have been discussing their relationship - specifically, Jim's disapproval of Hallie's new job. When her publication, Carnivore, makes note of Will's appearance at the Correspondents' Dinner, Jim and Hallie's argument escalates.Charlie, distressed over the prospect of working for Pruit, asks Sloan for help lining up another buyer. She suggests meeting with Antoinette Dodd, a billionaire who seems to be in the market for a media company. The meeting goes great, and it seems like Dodd is ready to make a move.Charlie storms the boardroom to tell Pruit that Dodd is going to buy the company. But Pruit knows the truth: Dodd only met with them as leverage for another media company she was looking to buy. Pruit vows to bring Charlie into the 21st century - right after he drags him through the 19th and 20th.Wyatt, the company's HR rep, continues his effort to prove that Don and Sloan are dating. He has a letter, from Sloan, admitting to it - she wrote it when she was worried that Don had traded on financial information she had provided. But with the company about to be sold anyway, Wyatt admits his pursuit was just for kicks. Maggie and Jack argue over a new column Hallie wrote about her relationship with Jim. Jack tells Maggie that she's taking Hallie's side because she still likes Jim. Hallie comes to the newsroom to apologize to Jim about the column. A drunk Jim calls Hallie an "unbearable correspondent" and they argue about new media. When he compares her to a drug dealer, they realize it's over.With the source's new deadline approaching, Mac has the team scramble to prepare the Kundu story for air. Before they do, they need to make sure the original reporter's family has been taken out of the country. Mac flies to Washington to ask the source, Lilly, to extend her deadline. Lilly says she can't promise anything, and Mac unloads on her for staying hidden while Will and Neal have to deal with the consequences of her actions. Mac threatens to out Lilly to the FBI if she needs to.Don receives word that the reporter has left Kundu and Mac tells the team to prepare to air the story that night. Reese asks to meet with her and informs Mac that they can't run it - Pruit is afraid of the crippling fines they could incur and won't buy the network if they do. Don suggests giving the story to an old professor of his at Columbia.Will appears before a grand jury and refuses to name his source. In chambers, the judge asks them to work out a deal so he won't have to send Will to jail. Later, in court, Rebecca and the prosecutor argue in front of the judge. The judge asks for Will's opinion, and he admits that his heart is with the prosecutor. However, since the jail time can only be punitive, Will tells the court that it will not incentivize him to name his source. The judge holds him in contempt anyway.Mac decides she wants to get married before Will goes to jail. She sends out an email blast and the team gets to work planning a ceremony for later that day: Maggie gets flowers, Don and Jim purchase the ring, Charlie finds a musician, and Sloan buys a cake.Will and Mac get married, and immediately after, Will is taken to jail.</div>

Oh Shenandoah

Incarcerated for contempt, Will refuses to reveal the name of Neal's government source. Appearing to embrace Pruit's mandate to capture younger viewers, Charlie orders a reluctant Don to track down principals in a sexual-abuse case at an elite college. Sloan voices her objection to a new digital site built by Neal's replacement, Bree.

What Kind of Day Has It Been

<div class='episode-body-left-aligned' style='text-align: left'>Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Alan Poul As Charlie's friends and family gather to pay their respects at his funeral, Mac finds out she's pregnant. She shares the news with Will, who is both elated and nervous for her. He accidentally reveals her pregnancy to some of the other staff and word quickly travels. Jim and Maggie have been together for three days, and Jim recommends Maggie for a field producer role in D.C. Maggie is thrilled about the job prospect, but is put off that Jim isn't more ambivalent about her leaving town for it. Sloan involves herself in making sure they don't miss another opportunity to be together. Don and Sloan both feel responsible for Charlie's death. Don apologizes to Charlie's widow for what he believes was his role in bringing on the heart attack. She reveals that in every one of the fights Charlie had with the staff since Pruit took over, he was glad they stood up to him. She gives Don and Sloan matching gifts: Charlie's bowties. Pruit is having PR issues -- one of his companies is reportedly paying female employees less money; a separate story revealed he hired models to appear at his birthday party. Leona offers him some unsolicited advice. He doesn't have a PR problem, he has an actual problem. Neal returns from Venezuela and sees what's become of ACN Digital. He remotely shuts down his replacements' computers mid-story and chews them out for ruining everything he built. They're going to shut down the site for a week and rebuild it. At the reception after the funeral, Will spots Charlie's grandson playing a standing bass in the garage. He joins him on guitar and they play "That's How I Got to Memphis," a song Charlie introduced him to. At Leona's urging, Pruit promotes Mac to Charlie's role as network president. Don wants to stay at 10 o'clock, so Jim takes over as the new executive producer at 'News Night.' He offers Maggie his old job as senior producer so she can stay in New York, but she still wants to pursue the field producer position in D.C. They're going to try to make it work long distance. Three years earlier, Charlie watched Will peddle soft news for ratings and likability. Upset that his news channel wasn't doing the news, he sought out Mac. Fresh from Afghanistan, she spent her afternoons drinking at a bowling alley. Mac brought Jim on board, and helped facilitate Will's rant at the panel at Northwestern. Thinking of Charlie, the staff powers up the newsroom and gets to work. The broadcast rolls and they do the news.</div>