After some pushback from Don and Jim, News Night airs its Operation Genoa special and it gets amazing ratings, much to Charlie and Will's joy. But then General Stomtonovich calls Charlie to categorically deny what the footage showed him saying and threatens to kill Charlie. Then the government categorically denies ACN's report and threatens all kinds of legal action. And Elliot interviews Eric Sweeney on his show the night, and Sweeney reveals that he once sustained a traumatic brain injury in combat. He lied to MacKenzie and Dantana about that because he was afraid it would ruin his credibility. And the Operation Genoa story begins to unravel …
MacKenzie wonders if she asked Valenzuela leading questions and if he didn't confirm ACN's report so much as he restated what she told him about it. OOPS.
Will's secret source turns out to be the same person as Charlie's – Shep, who, it turns out, has a son who was an intern at ACN. And ACN fired him on his 90th day of sobriety for talking shit about News Night on the evil evil internet. And that crushed Shep's son so much that he either relapsed and overdosed or he killed himself. Either way, he died and Shep vowed to get his revenge. I guess Charlie should've asked Shep about his family when Shep asked him all those questions about his. But he didn't, and Shep gave him a fake manifest with "fuck you, Charlie" written on it in invisible ink. OOPS.
And then MacKenzie learns about American sports for seemingly the first time in her life, and that basketball games have shot clocks – like the one in the corner of the screen during Stomtonovich's interview that MacKenzie realizes way too late is skipping around during the "raw footage." OOPS.
And MacKenzie cries in front of all of her employees. OOPS. I mean, that's not a huge career-ending mistake like the Operation Genoa stuff really should be, but, still. Control yourself in a professional setting.
Will, MacKenzie, and Charlie offer to resign, which they absolutely should. Really, they should have been fired as soon as they had to retract the story. Instead, Jane Fonda, who may or may not be high, refuses to accept their resignations because she just loves ACN so damn much. She tells them to get the trust of the American people back. I'm sure they will.