The Newsroom Recap: Springtime for Cairo and Madison

Charlie has to remind them that all these pieces are distracting them, first with Will’s disastrous dating life and now Mackenzie playing fast and loose with her professional ethics. Will barks that it only LOOKS like that. Will, if she knew he was thinking about running and she was still booking him it IS a breach of ethics. Will defends Mackenzie as being “annoyingly ethical” but Charlie just wants her to get her shit in order and leaves.

Will wants to know how she didn’t even know he was talking to the DCCC but she backtracks to how he never told her, even though he did just not the specifics but it’s time to place all blame for her incompetency elsewhere. She begs Will to know she would never use him that way and it was actually professional grease slick Wade who used her, even though she knew he was thinking about running, and Will smarmily offers that Wade seems like a nice guy and would be a fool to let her go. Then she gets all smurfy-eyed because she has the long-term memory of a cat and forgot how he belittled her in front of the whole staff about five minutes earlier.

There’s one thing that I’ve got, it’s my man…

Back in the meeting, Will wants to know about the stringer Neal found. His online name is “Amen” (Beat me senseless with that sledgehammer, Aaron.) which means “Hidden One” in ancient Egyptian and none other than Richard Engel himself is a fan. Will’s all “that’s nice about Engel” but still isn’t certain. Why? Oh, to let Neal get starry-eyed and compare himself with Amen and how they are the same person in that their fathers were mechanics, they helped raise their younger siblings, they’ll never graduate college (WHAT?) and they’re “idealistic” about the internet. Has he not found the porn, yet?

But he goes on that he was on one of the London trains that got hit on 7/7. How, in the chaos, he wanted to call his father but when he didn’t have service he shot footage on his phone instead and sent it to the local news. Will has to Big Daddy the whole thing and tell Neal that’s when he knew he wouldn’t be a mechanic and that he’s “Rudy.” This prompts a little squabble between Will and Mackenzie and really, Sorkin? Couldn’t you let Neal’s touching moment stand without Sorkining it?

Is it too late to go to 10:00 with Don?

Will keeps going on about how everyone’s Rudy including “the guy Neal found in Cairo.” Neal reminds Will that his name is “Amen” something they just established minutes earlier, and Will says “Thank you.” Dick. Neal chuckles and lets Will know the guy’s name is Amen and they can trust him. Will meaningfully glances over at Mackenzie, like it’s her decision, and she asks about his equipment. This leads to people peppering Neal with questions about how they’ll get the footage and whatever whatever, even though most ISPs have been shut down, there’s a smaller one serving the Egyptian stock exchange which they can’t shut down.