Marv Putnam put the number of new subscriptions on a local billboard per Ned’s request and his delight, until Ken cuts the news to him that the billboard prompted subscribers to remember their subscription and unsubscribe.
The decline of subscribers fuels Ned to spark a pitch session among the staff to devise newsworthy stories–long-term, relevant stories. As Nicole points out, Toledo is not big enough for metropolitan yellow journalism, so Mare declares the team do a story on the criminal potholes over town, which did the trick for Ned.
Ned turns to HR to admit he and Mare are dating without Mare knowing. Lisa in HR seems comically invested in his sexual life. His insecurities about his compatibility with Mare come out, so he asks Lisa to file this information in a secure file.
Marv calls in Oscar to offer him one flat sum of 10 thousand dollars to buy out and run his Mr. Digit across all the pages in their news network. With his ego tied to his award-winning crossword, Oscar confirms that such an amount is a low-ball offer, and shoots for the stars with an over one-million-dollar negotiation.
Ken cuts this news to Esmeralda and, like Oscar, they too decide to milk Marv of funds, which backfires after the scheming duo culturally appropriate their version of Mr. Digits: Señor Número with a stereotypic caricature of a Mexican man. Once Oscar catches wind of how much he should actually negotiate for his crossword puzzles, he returns to Marv, desperately pleading to his good graces until Marv counterargues 25 thousand.
Ned, Mare, and the camera crew investigate the pothole, but Ked feigns lightheadedness to ditch the camera crew, which inaudibly commits to surveilling the couple. As a result, Mare invites them up for lunch to nourish her boss. Ned snoops through Mare’s belongings, and unexpectedly meets Mare’s father, who he offensively mistakes for a radiator repairman.
Once Mare’s dad makes it known his impressions of Ned, the couple return to the pothole that had apparently been filled. As they return to the office, Mare reveals that a park by her house is actually an exclusive golf course country club that pays zero property taxes, meanwhile the nearest park stands about 20 minutes away.
“I think we found our new crusade,” Ned exclaims.
There is a side storyline of Travis and Detrick going to The Jurassic Immersive Experience Park so that Detrick could push Travis to acquire authentic direct quotes, after Travis admits that he invents quotes for stories. Travis attempts conversation with the geeky attendees and recoils from his visceral judgment. When they return to the office, Travis effectively resigns as a reportorial style journalist due to his lack of ethics, but Ned safeguards Travis’ job and declares him a photojournalist due to the strong cover photo of the Jurassic article he furbished.
The Paper offers refreshing episode-to-episode continuity compared to its predecessor which had the advantage of longer running seasons with filler episodes. One can look forward to the newsroom investigating the golf course in a future episode, which is eerily similar to a season-long subplot to ABC’s hit sitcom Abbott Elementary.
Rating: 5/10
