Newsroom Recap: Will Goes to Therapy

So a couple of weeks back I joked about The Newsroom being Sorkin’s televised therapy sessions. Well, joke no more because this week Sorkin Will literally goes to a therapist to understand why doesn’t everyone appreciate his awesomeness why he’s having trouble sleeping.

This shot always cracks me up.

Is that George C. Scott reapplying Walter Cronkite’s makeup? Whatever. It’s the only thing keeping my head from exploding during these bloated opening credits. Then I see the episode title:

HAHAHAHA!

Of course, I’m laughing more from dread than amusement because what are the odds that Sorkin has any kind of self-awareness? We fade up and see it’s April 12, 2011. Will’s closing out a broadcast and flubbing lines right and left even though, per Mackenzie in the pilot, he LIVES when there’s no prompter.

Mackenzie follows Will into his office and mother hens him because he literally signed off “Thanks for washing us.” She’s concerned so she put together the worst possible eye chart which includes random Greek letters, geometry and periodic chart symbols. She counts on her fingers but knows the symbol for congruent? Continuity is your friend, Aaron.

This is all prelude for Will, the guy who lollygags his way into the office at 11:00, to let Mackenzie know he has insomnia. She suggests Ambien but Will says he he “doesn’t want to wake up in the middle of the Triborough Bridge eating eggs in his pajamas.”  A) What exactly does he think Ambien is and B) If he lives downtown wouldn’t the Brooklyn Bridge make more sense? Never mind.  It was just to set up Emily Mortimer to humiliate herself do a Groucho impersonation because she’s “fun” then duh to Will that he needs to sleep.

Or else you’ll think acting like this is a good idea.

Will admits that he’s seeing “his guy” Abe like he’s talking about a bookie or a drug dealer but is actually talking about his therapist, Abe Habib. He has a standing Wednesday appointment. Mackenzie’s all happy for him because everyone needs therapy but it turns out Will hasn’t actually been going. Just paying for it. Dick. Someone else could use that time. Oh, that would mean acknowledging someone else. Never mind.

Next morning and Will’s getting out of an SUV to go see “his guy.” President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho is his driver but sadly, has put on a suit. The entertainment value of this show would dramatically improve if he dressed like this:

But entertainment isn’t The Newsroom’s mission so we watch Will and President Camacho enter a brownstone then sit in a waiting room mocking the magazine selection. Like a tony Manhattan therapist wouldn’t have Town & Country or Vanity Fair or People. President Camacho can’t figure out why they didn’t just go to Will’s regular doctor. Because he asks too many questions. Like a therapist just says “Okey, dokey. Here’s your Xanax prescription.”