Loveday Writing

The job of a series finale is to bring a show to a satisfying and fulfilling close, wrapping up all story and character arcs. I felt that the finale did this perfectly.

The episode kicks off with Dale doing the bulletin on air on 7 November 1989, reporting on the Melbourne Cup. His performance is clearly off, and when he gets back to the bullpen, everyone is watching the comedy show that parodies him, much to his chagrin. There is also less audience feedback available for him to obsess over.

When Dale gets home with Nick, he listens to voice messages from Kay offering help, Bev, a co-worker wanting a meeting with him over the audience feedback, and Lindsay ordering him to show up to a crisis meeting (a second meeting, as he apparently missed the first one). Dale asks Nick to hit him and he refuses to do so, so Dale orders him to leave, and he ends up hitting himself across the face until he cries.

The next day, Helen wakes up, exercises, and fills out her diary cards. When she goes into work, she finds out from Leoni that Bill is re-configuring the show and they have lost the Czechoslovakia story. When she calmly confronts Bill about it, he lashes out at her for being emotional and unprofessional. Helen calmly tells him that she doesn’t want to work with him anymore and won’t be punished for not wanting to have an affair with him, telling him to go home. She walks out of his office and tells Leoni that the Czechoslovakia story is back in for the next episode.

Meanwhile, Bev informs Dale that his performance is getting negative feedback across the board, and the network want him to make an appearance on the comedy show that parodies him. When Lindsay tells him (in quite a creepy and ominous manner) that he’s the only one in Dale’s corner, Dale runs away.

Later, Helen calls Noelene at home and asks her to come in to work due to the changes happening overseas with the fall of Communism. However, Noelene refuses as her grandmother is visiting from Korea for the first time, and she has upended her family in the past for essentially empty promises at work. Meanwhile, Dale is listening to the increasingly negative feedback from the audience in his car, and when it includes a homophobic slur, he starts drinking heavily.

Meanwhile, as Helen is walking to the studio to film Public Eye’s latest episode, Vincent is waiting for her in the hallway and tells her that there is no show without Bill. She tells him that there were no issues on her part and walks away.

As Helen is filming, Dale comes back to work drinking and does the bulletin, drunk on air. During the broadcast he ends up breaking down, having an outburst live on air about the audience hating him no matter how hard he tries to please them. Lindsay and Dennis have the broadcast cut, and Lindsay tells him to walk away from the desk as he is done. Dale runs away and locks himself in the make-up room, where he calls Kay and asks her to come and see him. She tells him that she can meet up with him, but that he does need professional help. Evelyn then calls the bullpen to speak with Lindsay, where Jean answers and tells her that Lindsay and Dennis have it under control. Evelyn calls Jean out for knowing everything that happens in the bullpen and not doing anything about it, insulting her by saying she’s led a wasted life.

Dale walks out of the make-up room and runs away again, driving away and getting into a car accident, whilst Kay goes to help him but is convinced by Evelyn to stay away and take steps to change the narrative around Dale’s mental collapse and her part in it. Meanwhile, at Public Eye, Leoni tells Helen that Vincent wants to see her in his office, and that she got a tip from a police contact that Dale was in a car accident. Helen rushes to the scene and finds the press harassing Dale, and takes him back to her house.

The next day, Dale wakes up to find Helen sitting on the floor next to him. Dale asks her if she saw his behaviour on air and she says no, but that his accident and breakdown on air are on the front page of the newspapers, and the press are out front. When Dale reads the newspaper, he turns the page to find Evelyn and Kay sold their story, claiming he is a troubled man. Meanwhile, Lindsay talks about Dale behind his back to Richard, including stories about his sexuality and hiring Nick, and they talk about replacing Dale. When Dennis and Jean question whether Dale is being replaced and cared for, Lindsay admonishes them and walks away.

When Helen gets into work, she finds out that Paul Stricker (Geoff’s former producer) is covering for Bill, at Vincent’s request. Meanwhile, Dale’s mother comes to see him, telling him that reporters have been harassing her, but she ultimately tries to comfort him. Later that evening, Dennis and Jean go to see Evelyn, who invites them in and apologises to Jean for her earlier comments.

The next morning, Rob tells Noelene about East Germans going over the Berlin Wall and she immediately jumps into action. Noelene tells him that Helen wanted her to come in earlier and run the show, but said no as Helen couldn’t guarantee anything, and was saying whatever she could to get her to come into work. Rob tells her that Helen is not like that and knows that she is good. He then asks her if she wants to run the show, she says yes, but it’s not just about her. When Noelene asks Rob what he wants, he tells her that he just wants a few days a week with Hana, a few days on sport calling the footy, and one full day of just them as a family. Rob encourages her to go into work using a footy analogy (a sweet nod to her encouragement of him in season one when he anchored alone for the first time).

Meanwhile, as Helen and Dale watch the coverage of the Fall, Leoni calls with Greg Walsh, the boss on the phone. Greg tells her that Bill has returned to work, Noelene has come in, and Paul is staying on as an extra producer. Helen tells him that she wants Dale to come to work as an additional producer. When Greg refuses, she hangs up on him. Helen asks Dale if in the future he would consider working together again, as working with him was the happiest time of her life. Dale tells her that he doesn’t want to be ‘Dale Jennings’ anymore. She asks him who he wants to be, he tells her he doesn’t know yet.

Meanwhile at News at Six, Jean tells Lindsay that Evelyn is on the phone for him, as he scrambles to put together a bulletin on the Fall. It immediately becomes clear that Dennis and Jean are up to something when she tells Evelyn to call back in ten minutes. Meanwhile at Public Eye, Noelene and Helen work on editing coverage, when Noelene calls Helen out for not pitching her as a replacement producer, telling her that she only uses her power when it suits her.

Back at News at Six, Dennis and Jean encourage Lindsay to take Evelyn’s call, and he starts to become suspicious, but takes it anyway. Kay tells him that she and Evelyn have provided a detailed report of Lindsay’s behaviour, including threats and abuse, and have provided it to Richard. Lindsay laughs them off, and mocks Richard and his wife, unaware that he is on speaker in Richard’s office, and hangs up. Richard immediately calls him back and fires him. Lindsay tries to talk his way out of the situation and puts Dennis on the phone to defend him, only to tell Richard that he is ready to replace Lindsay. Lindsay leaves with a bottle of whiskey and a photo of Dale winning the Gold Logie, telling Dennis and Jean that they deserve each other, but commends them on how they executed their betrayal, telling them to get moving as it’s a big new day. Dennis immediately gets to work and takes over Lindsay’s office.

Meanwhile at Public Eye, Helen is in a meeting with the network board, Vincent, and Bill, where Vincent reprimands her for giving them an ultimatum. Bill sits at the table smugly, as Helen calmly tells Vincent she doesn’t agree to the terms of her contract, and tells them they have her number if they change their mind, knowing she does indeed hold all the cards. Bill walks out of the meeting and calls Helen a bitch under his breath, immediately quitting.

On Monday 13 November 1989, Helen is back at work, filming an episode on the Fall of the Berlin Wall, where it’s revealed that Noelene is her producer, and Dale is in Berlin as their correspondent. Helen tells Dale off-air that he did a great job and encourages him to explore the recently but unofficially reunited Germany. The season and series comes to an end with Helen signing off.

Overall, I felt that this finale was the best way to end the show. Throughout the series, Helen has been shown as emotionally and mentally unstable, and by this episode, she is a calm, controlled stable person who is able to help Dale as he goes through a mental crisis of his own. Helen is also shown to have gained the respect that she has long fought for and deserves. In turn, with Helen’s help, Dale manages to dust himself off, and although he essentially ends up back where he started as a reporter, he goes back with more experience under his belt and covers a major historic event that will change the world. Noelene’s career has skyrocketed, and she manages to have it all with a loving and encouraging Rob and beautiful daughter, Hana, by her side. Lindsay finally got his comeuppance in the most unexpected and satisfying way possible, and Dennis is finally running News at Six. Ending the show with a new world and decade on the horizon was perfect, as it ends the show, and its character and story arcs, on an optimistic and strong note.

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching and reviewing The Newsreader for the last three-and-a-half years and I’m going to miss it tremendously.

Stray Observations:

• Season 3’s timeline spanned from 21 December 1988 to 13 November 1989.
• The show as a whole spanned from 24 January 1986 to 13 November 1989
• The season’s timelines were:
  • Season 1: 24 January – 29 April 1986
  • Season 2: 8 July 1987 – 27 January 1988
  • Season 3: 21 December 1988 – 13 November 1989
• The historical events covered over the course show included:
  • Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
  • Halley’s Comet
  • Lindy Chamberlain’s release from prison
  • Russell Street Police Station explosion
  • Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s wedding
  • The emergence of the HIV/AIDs pandemic
  • Chernobyl Disaster
  • 1987 Federal Election
  • The Hoddle Street Massacre
  • Black Monday
  • The opioid epidemic
  • 1988 Bicentennial
  • 1989 Logie Awards
  • Lockerbie Bombing
  • Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
  • 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
  • Boycotts of South Africa’s Apartheid
  • The Fall of the Berlin Wall