Truth, Lies and the FBI, The Newsroom “Run” 

Espionage, a cover-up and a hostile takeover are just some of the gripping stories that kept die-hard fans glued to their seats during the latest installment of HBO’s The Newsroom.

Neal is playing an extremely dangerous game and not even legal eagle, Rebecca Halliday can talk him out of it. Marcia Gay Harden reprised her role from last season without skipping a beat. It was great to see her back on-screen.

Facing possible prison time for downloading classified documents, Neal is bound and determined to convince anyone who is willing to listen to him, to air the story. The story being, a PR firm planted a false report in Africa, leading to violent riots, killing 38 people, including several Americans. According to Neal’s source, the U.S. government was behind it. To make matters worse, Neal admits to knowing that he was in possession of stolen documents. Digging a deeper hole for himself, Neal confesses that he asked for additional stolen documents and taught his source how to obtain them.

Meanwhile, Mackenzie doesn’t help the situation by meeting her FBI friend, Molly (Mary McCormack) at a shooting range and running the hypothetical story by her. Based on what Mac tells her, Molly assures her that a reporter in Neal’s situation who refused to divulge his source wouldn’t spend much time in prison. Of course, Mac believes her and insists that they go for it.

Will has a change of heart and agrees with Mac and in doing so, he tells Neal to RUN and takes the fall himself. When the FBI raids the ACN newsroom, Mackenzie’s friend Molly finds herself in the thick of things.

Neil follows Will’s instructions and leaves everyone else to pick up the pieces; however, based on the previews for next week, I get the impression that no one minds. It’s a family affair at Atlantis Cable News.

Speaking of the family, Reese’s half siblings, nitwit, Randy (Christopher Nicholas Smith) and his spitfire sister, Blair (Kat Dennings of 2 Broke Girls) battle it out in the boardroom with Charlie, Reese and Leona Lansing. The banter between Jane Fonda and Kat Dennings was brilliant – Emmy Award Winning material (In My Opinion)! The two strike a deal to the tune of $4 billion dollars. Leona promptly tells Blair and Randy to get out of her boardroom, but not before giving Blair a piece of her mind.

Upstairs in the newsroom, Hallie admits to Jim that she tweeted out some nasty comments about the Republican Party following the Boston Bombings. Other news outlets pick up the tweet and Charlie has no choice but to fire her. Later, Jim and Hallie meet up at a bar, leaving Jim and viewers wondering if maybe she sent the tweet on purpose to undermine what’s left of ACN’s creditability. Time will tell.

On a lighter note, Don and Sloan test each other and their relationship. The two go out to eat. Sloan insists on keeping up her image; therefore, sending Don to retrieve some of her favorite foods.

During their conversation, Don admits to buying some stock based on a private conversation with Sloan. This may lead to what some would consider insider trading. Here’s hoping that ACN isn’t facing any additional legal woes. Putting that aside, Don asks Sloan to meet his parents and she freaks out. It turns out that Don was just pulling her chain. Now to my favorite scene – Sloan screams out “SEX,” right before getting on the elevator with Don and Jim. It was an awkward and very funny moment. Later, she pulls a prank on Don, by telling him that she’s in love with him. He’s speechless. Sloan comes clean. Seriously? They are in love. The two of them are so much alike, that you just can’t help loving this couple.

Finally, alone and all grown up, Maggie overhears an EPA official (Paul Lieberstein) on a train ride back from Boston. She secretly tapes his conversation about the President. After talking with him, she decides to take the highroad and not report the story. Sticking to her morals, pays off in the end. He offers her an exclusive interview about carbon dioxide studies in exchange for her keeping quiet about his remarks. She also meets a law professor named Jack (Jimmi Simpson) who asks for her phone number. She willing gives him a business card. I’m not sure where this plot is going, but we have a few more episodes to find out.

If you want to go further Inside the Episode, here is your chance to hear what Newsroom creator Aaron Sorkin has to say about it.

The Newsroom airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.