I need some kinda sign from you. I need an indication... some kind of indication that you -
You fully understand the stupidity of this?
How would you like me to behave?
It feels to me - I have to say - it feels to me that you think this is nuanced, that you think there are layers that have to be explored.
Well, for one thing, there's four lawyers in the room, filling out a... I don't know, I'm sure you're worth it. And you've been here five days - this is your fifth day? But that's my point. Why do we need lawyers who are worth it? Why do we need lawyers? Why do we need lawyers?
And you're saying that like it's not insane? You're saying that like it isn't... [pauses, leans forwards towards them, getting angrier with each sentence] Tell me what I'm missing. A producer comes up from D.C., he wants to make a name for himself in New York. He chases a story that's not there. And the story - it's not a kitten up a tree. Chemical weapons, serin gas, on civilians. He cooks an interview, he takes a pair of scissors to raw footage. Of a man on the street? Of a retired, three-star Marine general. We go to air, 48 hours it takes for the story to come undone, and with it Atlantis Cable News, ACN is brought to its knees! The producer's surgical strike is discovered, and that producer is fired. Does he write an open letter to the New York Times apologizing to the public, his colleagues, the three-star General and US Armed Forces? No, he sues us for wrongful termination. And I need to know - I need some kinda sign from you, Rebecca, because you're obviously - all four of you, you couldn't be stupid and afford haircuts this good - [Rebecca laughs at this comment] I need you to tell me that this is exactly as insane as it is.
I'm afraid I'm gonna have to infuriate you.
[outraged] He cooked an interview! He took pruning shears to the raw - Rebecca... If he doused the studio in kerosene and lit a Tiki torch, it wouldn't have done as much damage as Genoa, so where is the complexity? Where is the nuance?
His claim is he was a scapegoat.
I understand why he would feel that way, because it was entirely his fault.
March 2, 1955. A young black woman is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Alabama. Civil rights leaders and the ACLU rush to her side and she will be a symbol of the struggle against segregation. Her name is Claudette Colvin and she's 15 years old. She's also unmarried and pregnant. Civil rights leaders and the ACLU decide that Colvin is not the best foot forward and stand down. Eight months later, Rosa Parks happens, but during that eight months, a brilliant and charismatic young minister gets the attention of the community and is chosen to lead the bus boycotts. If Claudette Colvin doesn't get pregnant, if they'd gone in the spring instead of eight months later, Martin Luther King is a preacher you've never heard of in Montgomery.
Who is Giuseppe Zangara? I don't really know. He's a guy with a gun who fired five shots in February 15, 1933, killing the Mayor of Chicago. Why? Because Zangara was standing on a wobbly chair. And the Mayor of Chicago wasn't his target. It was the guy the mayor was shaking hands with, the newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt. If Zangara's chair isn't wobbly, Roosevelt never takes office and we swear in his running mate, John Nance Garner, a man whose political ideology was the basis for his opposition to a package of legislation that would be called The New Deal and we don't survive the Great Depression.
[Jerry goes to get out of the lift, but an angry looking Mac, having found out that he had trimmed the footage of a Genoa interview, confronts him at the door]
You forgot about the shot clock.
JJerry
Mac? [she pushes him back in, pressing the "G" button] Hey, easy does it.
The shot clock jumps. From nineteen, to three, to two, to fourteen.
[There is no response from Jerry, and she gives him an impatient look]
How do you not understand what you've done?
[They begin talking over each other]
JJerry
He said it before we were rolling, but I couldn't get it to say it on camera. He said it to me.
We have to retract it. Do you understand this..?
JJerry
Did Genoa happen? It happened. It happened.
...That we invented evidence to support a story of a war crime. A WAR CRIME!
JJerry
Maggie was there, she heard him say it. She's just fucked up. Yeah, it's a war crime, and it happened! We went into Iraq because he had these things. We don't torture, we don't use chemical weapons.
No one... No one... No one... No one..!
JJerry
I WOULDN'T HAVE DONE THIS ON ANY OTHER STORY, AND I WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT UNLESS I WAS SURE!
... Is ever going to believe us again.
JJerry
[after a brief silence] I think I shouldn't say anything more until I've talked to a lawyer.
[They reach the ground floor, and he leaves]
We're gonna resign, Leona. It's what has to happen now. Elliot Hirsch, Sloan Sabbith, Terry Smith, Dayside ACN, ACN. We understand the integrity of the news is more important--
Than one individual. That is beautiful. Not as beautiful as Daniel Craig.
We're not fucking around.
You will resign when I fire you out of petty malice and not before.
Firing Jerry was obviously the right thing to do, but it wasn't enough and we've known that for two months. Charlie and I have to go.
McMac. Can I call you McMac? Doesn't matter, I'm gonna anyway, McMac. Your head's up your ass.
Guy comes in here into my hizzy-- guy comes in here, cooks an interview, no remorse. It goes on air. You, I don't know what you'd do to Sherlock Holmes this thing. I wouldn't be able to figure it out and I'm the smartest person in the room.
Well, I wouldn't go that--
Oh, shut the fuck up, you Daniel Craig wannabe.
I don't want to be Daniel Craig.
Well, you should want to be Daniel Craig. Everybody should.
[catching sight of her own reflection in a window] You know, my makeup lasts a long time.
No, no, please, call me-- Continue to call me Mrs. Lansing.
Guy comes into my house which I love. Which I bet you guys didn't know. But I love it. I love ACN. You don't make me a nickel and you cause headaches for the divisions that do, but you make me-- You make me so proud. God, guy comes in here, cooks an interview, and this ends up with-- 'Cause he's unemployable he gets a $5 million settlement and the three of you leave? Oh, I don't think so. And McMac. That's a name that's really starting to grow on me. She doesn't have to go. Nobody's ever heard of her. But she's going to do the honorable thing. And what's expected of me, huh? Not to do the honorable thing? What's expected of me? [shouting] No, I do not accept your resignations! And Jerry Dantana's not gonna get one FUCKING dollar! [in a normal tone] I got some kick-ass courtroom outfits.
You have to accept our resignations and you have to settle. He'll take it to trial and win. There was an institutional failure and he was the only one fired.
Then you'll need a good lawyer. Lee, don't accept their resignations.
I already wasn't accepting their resignations, Becca. Don't horn in on my honorable thing. God, I mean, can't a lady have--
[in desperation] Leona, we don't have the trust of the public anymore!
If a news outlet doesn't have credibility, it doesn't matter what else it has. That's a fact. There are people here from Jane Barrow, Terry Smith, everyone at the DC bureau to Sloan Sabbith, Elliot Hirsch, everyone on Dayside, these people don't deserve to have a piano strapped to their back. Their credibility shouldn't-- (to Rebecca) When did you arrive here?
I think it's commendable and pretty shocking that you want to do something just because it's the right thing to do, but it's not the right thing to do.
I think you were responsible for a massive fuck up. I think Will was the face of a massive fuck up. I think firing a mid-level producer appears to be an abdication of responsibility. Now we're gonna have to read about Jim and Maggie and Don and Jim and Maggie and Don and Maggie and Mac and Will and did Sloan punch a guy in the face?
The train, she is wrecked.
I'm on the right team for once and I get really paid.
Are you saying you agree?
I think your resignation should be accepted immediately and we should write Dantana a check and get to the business of rebooting this once respected brand.
[sheepishly] My mom says I can't.
There's a difference between being tough and wanting to be. You and Mac are tough. Don's tough. I want to be.
You know when I first noticed you?
When I ran into the room and got tackled by Mac's luggage? Did you know--
No. It was funny, but I didn't notice you until later. There was a beep. It was an i News alert. But it was yellow.
[Flashback]
[Current]
Nobody was paying attention to it.
You clicked on it anyway. You couldn't help yourself.
You ran back into the building.
That's what I'd keep in mind.
TTaylor
It's after midnight now and I feel like I can ask a question.
TTaylor
Who did you vote for today?
You know I'm not answering that.
TTaylor
I thought you might because you revealed your party affiliation on the air last year.
I did. I identified myself as a Republican because I thought it was fair to give to the viewer given the commentary I was delivering.
TTaylor
A commentary that ended with you calling the Tea Party the American Taliban.
TTaylor
And in the body of the commentary - was a blistering indictment of Republicans.
Exactly the opposite. It was a blistering indictment of people who aren't Republicans.
TTaylor
Well, who's to say who is and who isn't?
TTaylor
I want to remind you you asked me to pursue this area.
TTaylor
And I'm wondering, with all respect, do you call yourself a Republican so you can make a claim to credibility when you attack the GOP?
No, I call myself a Republican 'cause I am one. I believe in market solutions and I believe in common sense realities and the necessity to defend ourselves against a dangerous world and that's about it. Problem is now I have to be homophobic. I have to count the number of times people go to church. I have to deny facts and think scientific research is a long con. I have to think poor people are getting a sweet ride. And I have to have such a stunning inferiority complex that I fear education and intellect in the 21st century. But most of all, the biggest new requirement, really the only requirement, is that I have to hate Democrats. And I have to hate Chris Christie for not spitting on the president when he got off Air Force One. The two-party system is crucial to the whole operation. There's honor in being the loyal opposition. And I'm a Republican for the same reasons you are. So I hope your voice gets louder in the next four years.
TTaylor
Well, I don't like losing, so count on it.
You ever read Jedediah Purdy, For Common Things?
He talks about cynical times. People having terminal irony with a studied refusal to hope or care openly. Does that sound like us?
No. Have you asked yourself tonight why we never reported the Petraeus story?
Remember? David Petraeus is resigning on Thursday.
It's because we never made the trade. The decision was that the other story had information voters needed, the Petraeus story didn't. Not that many voters. It would have affected maybe a few thousand, tops. In one district, one seat. As opposed to breaking two days early what will be a giant story. Breaking it in front of an Election Night audience. And the decision to decline the trade was made instantly and unanimously. Don pushed back reflexively, but he came around in seven seconds. Don. We've come a long way. I'm not resigning. And neither are you. What, are we out of our fucking minds? Dantana doctored the tape. That's what happened, Will. We know the truth and the mob doesn't. When did we decide it was an institutional failure? We waited 11 months. We know people who would have gone after the second red team meeting or even the first. You agree with what I'm saying?
I believe, except for the things we did wrong, we did everything right. And I can't live with Mac taking the blame for--
We'll get the audience's trust back. Like Leona said, we're gonna overcome the terminal irony. And the laundry list of embarrassing things in the complaint? I've got to tell you, I'm not embarrassed. The Zimmerman tape, Jim going to New Hampshire, Sloan punching a guy in arbitrage-- I actually like that one. [pause, he notices Will is staring off into space] I can't tell what you're thinking. [pause] Will? It's gotten strange now. Are you able to hear me speaking? She--
Except for the things she did wrong, she did everything right, too. The rest was me.
There's a story about a little kid who keeps shredding paper and his parents take him to all kinds of doctors to get him to stop shredding paper. And finally they take him to the most expensive doctor in the world who turns to the kid and he says, "Kid, if you stop shredding paper, your parents will stop dragging you to doctors." And the kid turns to his parents and says, "Why didn't you just say so?"
The point of the story is that the kid could make himself happy by just stopping. I think that's the point. I don't know. I've been trying to figure it out. But I didn't return it. Because I'm in love with you.
And because of-- Will you marry me?
I said will you marry me? And before that, I said I'm in love with you. That's-- that's-- That's what I'm getting at. I feel like I can do this so much better if I can have a second.
What in the fuck is happening right now?
If-- if I-- I don't ever want to not be-- No. I love you. I'm gonna go back to that. And will you marry me? And let me just say I really think you should. I think you should say yes. But no matter what you say, there's no chance I am ever gonna hurt you again. And no matter what you say, I'm gonna be in love with you for the rest of my life. There's no way out of that. That's just a physical law of the universe. You own me. No matter what you say--
[Announcing, to the office, their new engagement]
I'd like to present the future Mrs. Mackenzie Morgan McHale McA- that's not going to work.
