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Well, it's the beginning of the end for News Night! Don, Jim, and Dr. Dr. Sloan find out about Operation Genoa as the team responsible for disproving it. Due to the fact that Dr. Dr. Sloan and Don are awesome, the first meeting is hilarious and involves reindeer.
And in romantic foibles, Hallie is in town to see Jim! He's very excited and books them an expensive hotel room, but then Hallie goes and invites an alcoholic Ron Paul supporter and MTVU reporter (because of course, MTV News is terrible. I guess Sorkin never heard of the amazing Kurt Loder?) along to double date Neal. At the very last minute, Taylor the Terrific Romney Spokesperson invites herself along too, just to fuck with Jim. It's pretty great, until she reveals that she's just been fired. Things are nearly as bad for Jim, as by the time he gets Hallie back to the hotel room, she's suddenly called away to Colorado.
It might be even worse for Will, who is still with Nina (yay!) until she reinforces his love of focus groups and likability to the audience (which isn't great, due to his constant lecturing of guests and refusal to smile ever) by urging him to go on ACN's morning show. Unfortunately, ACN's morning show is watchable and fun, so Will ends up destroying lighting equipment and screwing over a cancer charity. He breaks up with Nina, like it's her fault that he's no fun on the air.
Don continues to be jealous of Dr. Dr. Sloan's dates, the latest of which is a football player for the Giants.
Also, Jim and Hallie run into Maggie at the hotel bar, where she's drinking alone until she leaves with a random guy.
Meanwhile, MacKenzie and Charlie go on a fun road trip! Because MacKenzie doesn't know how to drive, she runs over the trash bins in front of General Stomtonovich's house right before she and Charlie head in to ask him about Operation Genoa. In between college basketball games (it's March Madness), he agrees to talk on camera about it with Dantana.
Dantana and, for some reason, Maggie, do the interview, although Stomtonovich insists that Maggie leave the room. All she hears is Stomtonovich say "it happened." Dantana hears him refuse to say directly that Operation Genoa used sarin gas. He then edits the footage to make it look like Stomtonovich said it definitely did. Uh oh!
And then, at the last minute, the one Marine they hadn't talked to about the mission (because they erroneously thought he was dead) calls up and says he'll talk to them. They get nearly 6 million viewers.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!It's the "First Red Team Meeting," and MacKenzie is recapping the season so far for us (and telling it to Don, Jim, and Dr. Dr. Sloan for the first time): Cyrus West told Dantana about Operation Genoa and that whole sarin gas thing. Then there's a pause while MacKenzie, Charlie, Dantana, Neal, and Maggie stare at Don, Jim, and Dr. Dr. Sloan to see their reactions to this news. I think Jim is watching a basketball game on his phone or something? Or maybe he's asleep? Anyway, he's looking down at the floor. Don and Dr. Dr. Sloan just frown and stroke their chins. Also, why is Dr. Dr. Sloan on the red team? Isn't she just an economist/financial reporter/Elliot fill-in? There's no one else at ACN who might be more qualified and experienced?
Don asks how the Marines could have survived the sarin gas. Good job finding that first plothole, Don! But Dantana says the atropine they injected the Marines with was enough. MacKenzie et. al. tell the Red Team, who have helpful binders full of information to accompany the meeting, about Sweeney, Hamni8, the OWS NGO guy (who got pictures of the dead bodies, which is new information), and Charlie's secret source's helicopter manifest.
With that, MacKenzie asks if the Red Team have any questions. I have one! Has anyone bothered to actually go to the location in Pakistan where the sarin gas was supposedly dropped? Ask any of the people who live there? Look for any evidence, like the "mass grave" the NGO guy reported? Or are we just going to accuse the US government of a war crime based on, like, three guys' statements and some tweets? Because that seems problematic to me.
Jim's question is simply "sarin gas?" MacKenzie says she didn't believe it either, but if she saw eight reindeer take flight, she'd start believing in Santa Claus. Well, that would be dumb. Eight flying reindeer means that there are reindeer that can fly. That they have been enchanted by Santa Claus is an assumption. Assumptions aren't journalism. I don't care how many times NorthPole8 tweeted about it.
Jim points out that MacKenzie hasn't even seen eight reindeer – she's only talked to someone who says he has. Dantana says they've got more reindeer-related evidence than that, at which point Dr. Dr. Sloan can't help herself and points out that Santa Claus actually had nine reindeer. "Rudolph!" Don says. And that leads to several people trying to name all nine reindeer, which is awesome. Dr. Dr. Sloan keeps trying to name all nine reindeer, but she's missing one and then she loses count and has to start over again.
Dantana and Jim and their super-seriousness quickly ruin the fun with their insistence on talking about sarin gas. Jim says that the United States didn't use sarin gas in any of the wars it fought in the past (THAT HE KNOWS ABOUT), so why would it do it now to a village? Dantana thinks 9/11 changed everything. "We torture people now," he says. Jim also has a problem with Cyrus West, saying he's not reliable. Dantana protests that West's only crime was "not being good on television." Jim asks about the Marines who were rescued, but MacKenzie and Dantana insist that they weren't really aware of what was going on at the time and also they don't know their names and Dantana doesn't think they ever will.
They do have the names of the other thirty Marines on the rescue team, although only Sweeney would talk to them. Twenty-nine refused and one, Lance Cpl Herman Valenzuela, is dead. Hamni8 is gone – Dantana assumes he's dead while Neal points out that it could be that he couldn't afford cell service anymore. Yes, Neal, who was all about conspiracy theories and the Loch Ness monster once before, is reluctant to jump on board this one now.
Don finally asks if they can get someone to the location to see what's up, but MacKenzie says it's too hostile to Americans for them to try. Oh please. Just have Maggie read a book about Asia and send her! She can be the Asia expert. Anyway, it's very conveniently "too dangerous" to even find a local do some reporting for them. Jim asks what the Magical Mike Tapley, his military analyst, had to say about all of this. MacKenzie says they aren't telling him anything in case he lets on to the government.
"Charlie, be the voice of reason?" Jim asks. Nope! Charlie thinks it's all true, but not yet ready to air. Dantana, of course, begs to differ. Charlie says they reached out to other military people they thought might know something and be willing to talk, and came up with General Stomtonovich, who looks a lot like Stephen Root. Stomtonovich was a Marine general who retired shortly after Operation Genoa didn't happen. Charlie and MacKenzie have an appointment to talk to him about chemical weapons in Libya. They plan to surprise attack him with questions about Genoa.
"Do you understand what we're accusing them of?" Jim asks Dantana. "We do, Jim, yeah," Dantana says, just as condescending as Jim was to him. "And I think we're less concerned with what we're accusing them of than we are with what they did." Jim finally turns to Maggie, who hasn't had anything to say about this to the point that I'm not sure why she's even in the room, and asks if she's known about this for the last seven months and if she believes it's true. "Have we nailed down the number of reindeer?" Maggie asks.
It's the middle of the workday and Jim gets a Skype from Hallie, because why call or even do that iPhone Facetime thing when you can do a video chat on a guy's work computer in the middle of the newsroom? Hallie says she's excited to see Jim tomorrow night, when the campaign circus comes to town. Jim says she should be excited because he got them a suite at the Soho Grand. After her "event," they'll get dinner and then have "discretionary time" in the hotel room. Meanwhile, everyone who sits near Jim can hear this and would appreciate it if he kept his personal time sex plans quiet.
And then Hallie ruins everything by telling Jim she's inviting an MTVu reporter named Aubrey to the dinner with them. She thinks Aubrey and Neal will hit it off. So Hallie, the most anti-social person on that campaign bus, is now reaching out to MTVu reporters? Okay. But then Hallie promises that she'll be wearing "cocktail attire." Gary Cooper overhears it and urges Jim to do whatever Hallie wants so he can see her in cocktail attire.
Will rants about Republicans again and how the Congress has passed nearly zero laws and the ones it did pass are mockable. Except Will's to heavy-handed with the material and should leave the political/news humor to the Daily Show. In conclusion, he says, we are all doomed. Will watches the broadcast the morning in his office. A little chart scrolls on the bottom of the screen. Dr. Dr. Sloan walks in and pitches the upcoming Disney bomb John Carter as an economy story. Disney will lose $200 million but won't need the government to bail it out. How can it do so well in this day and age, Dr. Dr. Sloan wonders. And isn't it a paragon of capitalistic virtue, with it's employing of union workers? By the way, how many of Disney's good solid American jobs does it outsource? For some reason, Dr. Dr. Sloan doesn't include that detail.
Will thinks it's a good idea. Dr. Dr. Sloan notices that he's watching footage of himself. The chart on the screen is the results of a focus group Will asked ACN to set up for him. Charlie won't let him be tested, so he went behind his back to "check in" with his audience. Dr. Dr. Sloan clearly doesn't think this is a good idea, but decides not to tell Will about it at this time. Nor will she ask how well he tested.
Meanwhile, Charlie and MacKenzie are ROAD TRIPPIN' through a Maryland neighborhood that looks suspiciously like Los Angeles. Unless Maryland started incorporating stucco into its architecture recently? Anyway, Charlie and MacKenzie are ridiculous and can't find the general's house without crashing into the recycling bins on the curb. The general isn't too thrilled to see them out there with his overturned garbage cans, asking if this happened because they were texting while driving. "It was regular negligence," MacKenzie explains. Indeed, negligence is certainly a regular occurrence on this show.
Stomtonovich asks what they want from him. This is an unexpected question, as Charlie and MacKenzie had an appointment and now he doesn't seem to know who they are. He thinks they're magazine salespeople or Jehovah's Witnesses. Hm. MacKenzie reminds him that they talked on the phone just yesterday, and that seems to jog Stomtonovich's memory. "You want to know how chemical weapons are stored?" he asks. They sure do.
Stomtonovich invites them in but refuses to look away from his college basketball game because it's March Madness ("best sporting event on Earth," he calls it. I would disagree, but last season I finally did pretty well in an office pool and realized that March Madness can be a lot of fun when you're thisclose to winning $100 from it). So that's going on while MacKenzie asks him about combat munitions. Stomtonvich says that Libya still has chemical weapons even though it promised in 2003 it would get rid of them. The US has chemical weapons too, he says. He won't say if he's upset about that, just that chemical weapons are a tool to kill the enemy just like anything else and he's okay with the US having access to them. Not so much Libya.
Charlie asks if he's okay with the US using chemical weapons, and Stomtonovich says he doesn't want to discuss this anymore. "We think you do," MacKenzie says, reminding him that he's spoken out about this many times before, which is how ACN found him. Stomtonovich says he knows they're asking about sarin. "We never mentioned sarin," MacKenzie says. "We know about Genoa," says Charlie.
And then, because this is Sorkin, Stomtonovich comes up with an elaborate metaphor for chemical weapons out of the basketball game. It has something to do with free throws and knives but I couldn't follow it to tell you more than that. Charlie hands Stomtonovich the manifest he got from Shep; Stomtonovich says it's authentic. And agrees to an interview with ACN as long as his face is obscured and his voice is changed. And he can do it in his living room while watching basketball. Um. Yeah. Because none of his former co-workers will be able to recognize his living room on TV. Or his love of college basketball. MacKenzie says Dantana will be there tomorrow to talk to him. Stomtonovich asks how Dantana got the story. "Lucky tip," MacKenzie says. Yes. "Lucky."
Will is criticizing Republicans again! This time it's Rick Santorum. A guy who represents Catholics and is a Santorum supporter comes on the show, so you know Will is going to yell at him a bunch and be condescending. First he asks the guy if Santorum has to keep going on and on about his religion every day. For instance, Will says, the other day Santorum said climate change wasn't a problem because Jesus. The guy says Will is "distorting Rick Santorum's words" and then he's cut off by Will. "I don't think I am," he says, and shows another quote from Santorum. This one is about how the theory of evolution might be wrong and it's mean to religious people to teach it in school. And there's one about how students should "understand the full range of scientific views that exist and not just the controversial evolution.
The guy doesn't get to say much more before Will shows a clip of Romney from a recent debate saying we shouldn't chose our leaders based on their religions, only to later say that he will fight to "preserve America's traditions." Will demands that we be able to ask the candidates questions about their weird religions. "Well, like what?" the guy asks. Will says we should make sure we all have "the definition of 'creator.'" The guy says both Romney and Santorum "plainly meant God." "That's not plain to everybody!" Will says.
Speaking of god, thank god that we don't have to watch this anymore because we cut to Nina (yay!) watching the show with Will in his living room and advising him on how he could come across more likeable. "A smile would've make it folksier," she suggests. Also, he probably shouldn't bring up religion. Will asks what else he's supposed to talk about with the president of the league of Catholic voters, as if the guy got a chance to actually talk at all. Nina suggests that he not have that guy on in the first place. "You want guests that don't make you look so combative," she says. So … not conservatives or anyone at all related to conservatives? Or people from OWS. Or that Anthony Weiner woman. Or anyone. Maybe he should just stop having guests on News Night for a while, hmm?
Will says he thinks he's plenty likeable. "I think you're loveable!" Nina says. "Thank you," Will says. I think she kind of just said she loved him and he said thank you. Oops. "Your numbers are problematic," she says.
Jim and Neal arrive at dinner. Jim tells Neal that he wants this double date to be over as quickly as possible so he can move on to the hotel sex part of his evening. Here comes Taylor to ruin everyone's good time! Except mine. I like her. I hope she ends up on Terry Smith's show. "God, it's you," Jim says instead of "hello." Taylor scolds him for spending way too much time on Romney's advisor's Etch-a-Sketch comment. Jim introduces her to Neal, and she says she hates him due to his ACN association.
And then she drops the bomb: she'll be joining them for dinner! "I know you had a special night planned, so of course, I'm coming along," she says. Jim says no way. Then Hallie shows up in the cocktail attire we've heard so much about. Jim is very happy to see her. He's less thrilled about Aubrey, who is already drunk. Or "wicked hammered," as she puts it. She seems fun. Hallie also informs Jim that Taylor is "sad tonight" so she invited her along to dinner because she is the worst girlfriend ever. She hasn't seen Jim in a month and she's inviting the entire world to their first dinner together? I mean, I love the comedic possibilities but it doesn't make much sense. Aubrey says she's ready to "boot and rally," and they're off to the best worst dinner ever.
MacKenzie stops by everyone's favorite bar. Don's already there, drinking alone and reading the Red Team binder. Out in the open. Where anyone can see it. Um. MacKenzie tells him that they got Stomtonovich to confirm the Operation Genoa story and he's going to be on camera tomorrow. The bartender asks MacKenzie where "the gang" is. MacKenzie says they're off on various dates. Dr. Dr. Sloan, for instance, is with a New York Giant. Oh, I hope it's not Plaxico! Or had he already shot himself by March 2012?
Taylor interrupts Jim and Hallie's conversation to ask "what's the fucking obsession with Ann Romney's horse?" Jim explains that Ann Romney's horse can dance. "So fucking what, James?" Taylor asks, explaining that Ann Romney's horse is clever and an Olympian. Meanwhile, Neal tries to make conversation with Aubrey, asking how she got into campaign reporting. Her answer is a series of "likes" and also she's into Ron Paul.
Does anyone care what Maggie's up to tonight? No? Well, too bad because you're going to see it anyway. She's at a bar. The bartender recognizes her and knows her drink.
Nina wonders if Will's admiration for Charlie and MacKenzie is "blinding" him to how they're "using" his lawyerly skills as a cross examiner. Will protests that he's the master of his own destiny, although Nina points out that he basically does whatever MacKenzie tells him to. "Are you being sacrificed so that Mac and Charlie can do the show they want to do?" Nina asks. "It's the show I want to do, too," Will says. Nina says that if he's doing the show he wants to do, then it doesn't matter how many people like him. Which is great advice, I think.
MacKenzie asks Don if he trusts Dantana. Don deflects, saying she's only asking because Dantana isn't Jim, and MacKenzie doesn't trust anyone but Jim. Not even Don, Don says. MacKenzie insists that she trusts Don with her life. Don asks what the deal is with Dr. Dr. Sloan and the football player. He doesn't see how he can ask her out after she's been with a football player and "get it done in a spectacular fashion." Also, Don excuses, Dr. Dr. Sloan occasionally works on his show so he's her boss, sort of. MacKenzie points out that that doesn't really seem to be a problem. Don and Maggie dated, after all. Don says that didn't exactly work out too well. "Nothing that happened to her is your fault," MacKenzie says.
And on the double date plus one, Aubrey asks Jim about that Sex and the City Youtube clip, which is still one of the least interesting clips I've ever seen on YouTube. Taylor, upon hearing that there's an embarrassing story about Jim to discuss, asks for details. Neal tries to change the subject. Aubrey pulls out her phone to show Taylor the clip.
Nina suggests that Will go on ACN's morning show to "warm [him]self up" to the audience. "Just be you," she says. "Nebraska farm boy … you used to steal your mother's pies when she put them out to cool." "You're confusing me with a hobo," Will says. Nina urges him to go on the show the morning, which isn't too many hours away from now.
Some guy buys Maggie a drink. He's cute! But Maggie says she's "just hanging out alone tonight." "I'm just thinking my thoughts," she adds. Well, that shouldn't take long.
Taylor says it looks to her like Maggie made a "gaffe" in the YouTube video, much like the ones Mitt Romney has made that ACN keeps giving him hell for. They fight, and then Aubrey says they should all be libertarians like Ron Paul. "What the fuck did you just say?" Neal says, adding that Ron Paul is a "batty old crank." "They won't let Romney get his message out, either," Taylor sympathizes. Jim says if Romney really wants to get his message out, then he should appear on a network that isn't watched by the people who are already planning to vote for him. And he should talk up his businessman skills and stop ignoring the Mormon thing.
"It's been suggested," Taylor says. "And?" Jim asks. "I was fired," Taylor says. No! Not Taylor! But yes, she says she just got fired. This comes as news to Hallie. "I'm sorry. You were a good spokesperson for him," Jim says. Yes, she was. This is tragic. "You should go work for Ron Paul," Aubrey helpfully suggests. Again, I feel like Terry Smith could use Taylor's talents.
I guess Jim and Hallie managed to extricate themselves from all of that as they're in the hotel lobby time we see them. "It's just us now!" Hallie says. But no! It's not. New York City has 8 million people in it and five boroughs but Maggie is drinking at the hotel bar. Because hotel bars are fun places to hang out. Jim says hello. Maggie says she's meeting a "friend from college." Yeah, a friend named "Drunk and Easy." That's almost everyone's college friend! She asks Jim what he's doing in the hotel and Hallie says he's "fixing [her] computer." Well, that's awkward. Good call, Jim, stopping by to say hello to Maggie. "That was nice of you," Jim says to Hallie on their way out. "I doubt it mattered," Hallie says.
The hotel room is full of lit candles. How long as that been going on? Hours? Did the staff just light them and then take off? It seems dangerous. But Hallie likes it, so they make out. And then Hallie gets an email that she has to fly to Colorado for a surprise campaign event and her plane leaves in 90 minutes. Oh, romantic foibles!
MacKenzie asks Don if he's religious. "In my way," he says. "Me too," MacKenzie says. Man, they must really have nothing left to talk about. Then MacKenzie says that we "broke one of God's rules" by enslaving Africans, something we still haven't been able to "fix" in our society. "You and Will?" Don asks. Yes. That's totally the same. What is even happening in this conversation? Besides extreme self-centeredness, of course. Don says he's sure MacKenzie will meet someone. She asks him, again, if he trusts Dantana. "I have no reason not to," Don says. Well, he's not in the opening credits, so that's one reason.
Don Gets Serious and tells MacKenzie to think long and hard about running the segment, even if it does get approved. The world will be furious, embassies will be attacked, etc. And Don would know because he was at Newsweek in 2005 when the magazine reported that American soldiers at Guantanamo flushed a Koran down a toilet. They didn't. And Don thinks it led to the 7/7 bombings in London two months later. "I hope you're considering cause and effect," he says. "If we broke one of god's rules it might be best just to shut up about it." I'm surprised MacKenzie isn't blaming cheating on Will for the tension in the Middle East.
Jim takes his blue balls down to the hotel bar. Maggie's still there but her "college friend" is not. Maggie lies that she already left. Jim lies that he wasn't able to fix Hallie's computer. They manage to have a nice moment that isn't tense and awkward. And then Jim ruins it by "reminding" Maggie that when it comes to the Operation Genoa story, "secrecy is incredibly important." For all her faults, Maggie didn't blow that, as she reminds Jim. "Just be careful when you're drinking," Jim warns. "I will," Maggie eye-rolls. And then that guy who bought her the drink earlier swoops in to take her home. Or to his home. Or hotel room. Actually, they should go ahead and use Jim and Hallie's.
Despite how much better he is than them, Will stops by the morning show. The hosts talk about what a great athlete Will was back in high school and then they make him prove it by throwing a football through a tire. Every throw he makes gets a cancer research charity $1,000. Also they make him wear a football helmet. I kind of love the morning show team. There's the woman who's probably a decent journalist and who has resisted Reese's orders in the past, and there's the guy who just does whatever Reese tells him to. And now they have combined their forces to make Will look like an idiot. They are a great team.
Will fires the football into the stage lights, and that's the end of that appearance! He runs back to the green room, where Nina is waiting for him. And he dumps her because she didn't tell him to stop worrying about his likeability numbers. Nina says she thinks he should worry about them. "I was aiming for the fucking light tree!" Will says. He walks out. I'm very sad that this is probably the end of Nina on this show, and that she is being blamed for being a bad influence on Will somehow.
Will gets in to his office, where Dr. Dr. Sloan is waiting for him to smirk that he looked ridiculous and out of place on the morning show and those focus group numbers that said he was trustworthy and smart should've mattered to him more than whether or not people liked him. Also, she thinks now would be a good time to do a psychological profile of Will. She says he used to do the kind of show he wanted with MacKenzie. Then she cheated on him and made him sad, so he started doing a show that could make viewers like him instead. I'm not sure how being a bland newsreader makes one especially likeable, but okay. So he was happy for one hour a day when he was doing his show and miserable for the other 23 until MacKenzie came back to rescue him for mediocrity and make him do the show he's "supposed to be doing" and makes him "do the news." And while Will likes that, he won't be able to keep all of his "invisible friends." Great, but I'm still not sure how yelling at show guests is "doing the news." Also, it seems like Will is now miserable for all 24 hours of the day instead of 23. I think Nina might've had a point. It's not like Will and MacKenzie new version of News Night is going anything good for anyone or informing the American people's decisions.
Will comes back with the Eleanor Roosevelt quote about how "a woman is like a teabag." Okay! "You can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water." I'm sure he means metaphorical hot water. I'm sure. With that, Dr. Dr. Sloan leaves him alone because she doesn't think there's anything she can tell him that will make him feel worse than he already does. Will agrees. Dr. Dr. Sloan says that Will should just remember that science has only been able to find one other planet capable of sustaining human life in the entire universe so far. I'm guessing she's suggesting that MacKenzie is Will's OneTrueLove. Their relationship has now been compared to slavery and the vast depths of the universe.
Speaking of relationships, Dr. Dr. Sloan's date with the football player was pretty bad. He "ditched" her around midnight, she says, but she did end up hanging out with Savannah Guthrie. Dr. Dr. Sloan reports that she is a good dancer with amazing legs. She's also a few months away from stealing Ann Curry's job. Also why was she out after midnight on a weekday? Doesn't she have to be back on the Today show at like 5 a.m.? Will sincerely apologizes for embarrassing Dr. Dr. Sloan and everyone else by appearing on a morning show. "I love you, Will," Dr. Dr. Sloan says. "Thanks, sis," Will says.
Maggie and Dantana prepare to interview Stomtonovich. Dantana kindly informs Maggie that she looks tired. She basically ignores that, asking Dantana how she's supposed to get Stomtonovich sitting in front of his shelf full of Marine accomplishment medals and such in the frame and not the college basketball game. I want to know how Maggie is supposed to be the person setting up any technical aspect of this interview when that's really not her job. Maybe a camera person could do this? Dantana says they'll just blur the game out when it makes it to air. They might want to blur out a lot more than that when it makes it to air. It's going to be pretty obvious who News Night's source is when he's talking to them out of his own living room and is military honors that probably have his name on them are sitting on a shelf behind him.
Stomtonovich walks in. Dantana sends everyone out of the room except Maggie. But Stomtonovich wants her out, too, saying he was told he'd be dealing with Dantana, and had Dantana investigated. He didn't check out Maggie so he wants her out. Because Maggie won't be watching his comments right after they're put on tape? I don't understand the problem at this point. Anyway, she readily agrees to Stomtonovich's conditions. On her way out of the room, Dantana says they will be asking him about Operation Genoa, a classified mission, and that Stomtonovich will confirm that "it happened." "It happened," Stomtonovich says, just as Maggie exits.
With that, Dantana turns the camera on. He asks Stomtonovich what Operation Genoa was. "An extraction," Stomtonovich says. "Two Marines were taken by the enemy and I won't say more than that." Dantana asks if any "exceptional measures" were used. "Exceptional measures were called for," Stomtonovich says. He won't say exactly what those measures were.
Dantana, getting frustrated and impatient, asks if sarin gas was used. Stomtonovich says that, in the situation the Marines were in, "it is right, it is moral and necessary to use any means in that situation," Stomtonovich says. He won't say they used sarin. He'll only say that "if" they did, here's how they would have.
So Dantana heads back to ACN's D.C. bureau with the footage, jumps into an editing bay, and starts cutting out the "here's how" and keeping the "we used sarin" bit. Obviously, this is something you shouldn't ever do if you want to be an ethical journalist and not embarrass yourself and your employer. But we already knew something like this was going to happen, didn't we?
Dantana triumphantly shows off his (doctored) footage at the red team meeting. Stomtonovich says "here's how we used sarin." MacKenzie asks for the raw footage. Dantana shows her the "raw footage" that he cut together the other day. And he did a great job making it look untouched. After ACN fires him he might want to consider a career as a reality show editor. But still, Charlie says they don't have enough to go to air. Dantana can't believe it. Charlie says Stomtonovich isn't a 100 percent reliable witness. He has memory problems. "I want another witness," Charlie says.
Dantana says their country dropped sarin gas on a village and it's their job to tell the world about it. Also, remember, he's still angry about those drone attacks the president authorized. He angrily says that everyone else just can't accept that his beloved president committed a war crime. "What the fuck is going on?" he snaps. "We have it. How long before you're comfortable?"
"How long" ends up being one montage. Time passes. Republican candidates drop out, Romney becomes the presumptive nominee. Paul Ryan becomes his running mate, various Republicans do stupid and/or horrible things.
Tess suddenly gets a call. She tells the caller to hold and runs through the newsroom to alert Gary Cooper, who tells Jim, who tells Charlie that Lance Cpl Herman Valenzuela is on the phone right now. He's not dead after all.
Marcia Gay Harden pops in to ask Charlie what that's about. Charlie says there were two Lance Cpl. Herman Valenzuelas in the Marines. They found the wrong one, who was killed in action. The right one finally got their messages when he returned from his deployment. He was willing to talk to them. Once they got the word of the mission's crew chief, Charlie says, they had enough to air the report. "Anybody would've" gone with it, he says.
And, he adds, their Sunday special report got great ratings – even better than they'd expected! And five minutes after the show ended, Charlie realized they "had a problem" – "none of it was true." Looks like week we will finally get to see how everything unraveled.