Diksha Sundriyal
The second season of Peacock’s ‘The Paper‘ returns to Toledo in the aftermath of an award-winning night for the Truth Teller. The first season saw Ned Sampson trying to rebuild the team, bringing it back from the brink of complete shutdown. After a lot of ups and downs, he managed to show the world that his team held great promise, especially when they swept the Ohio Journalism Awards. However, winning the awards doesn’t guarantee future success. If anything, things get even harder for the group, particularly Ned and Mare, who have a new romance unfolding in secret. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Paper Season 2 Plot Synopsis
Having won several journalism awards, Ned and the Truth Teller team are excited about their next chapter. They meet a hitch on their first day back when their celebration is cut short due to the tragic and untimely death of a colleague. Meanwhile, Ned and Mare decide that it’d be better for them to explore their romance in secret. Moving on, Ned realizes that they need to find a new story, a crusade of sorts, which they can develop over time, ensuring that their readers have something to look forward to. Initially, the idea of covering a story on potholes seems good, but then, something better comes up. Ned and Mare discover that the Glass Club has been keeping a great portion of the land for their private use, leaving the locals to travel miles to find a park.
In between this, Ned and Mare also go to her house, where he meets her father. They try to find some quality time together at a weekend retreat, but both realize that they love to work. Ned forms a connection with a cop, hoping it will lead to the newspaper getting tips, but the trip to the shooting range turns out to be rather unexpected. He and Mare almost fight over a disagreement on a topic they discuss in their new podcast, Dueling Pencils. Meanwhile, Nicole climbs the ladder and gets a promotion, which means her getting Esmeralda’s office. Esmeralda, on the other hand, is demoted and has to adjust to the new reality of working out of a cubicle.
As Mare and Ned try to develop a story about the Glass Club, Marv strikes it down, revealing that they can’t publish anything negative about the club, which is one of their sponsors. At the same time, he also reveals that he is aware of Ned and Mare’s relationship, which creates some complications. When Mare floats the idea of briefly going to work with the Cincinnati Chronicle, Ned doesn’t oppose the idea, leading her to move away for the rest of the season. As Mare tries to find a good story at her new workplace, Ned returns to the investigation on the Glass Club when one of their employees mysteriously dies during a tornado.
What Happens to the Glass Club Story? Does Mare Come Back to the Truth Teller?
After Mare leaves for Cincinnati, Ned learns his lesson and decides to stay away from the Glass Club. But after the tornado, Adelola comes up with the story of a man falling to his death from the club’s rooftop restaurant. While Ned’s instincts tell him something is off, especially since there is no police report on the matter, he tries not to get involved in it, fearing what happened the last time. Eventually, however, he gives in to his instincts and ropes in the others to help him crack the mystery. At first, they think that the victim, Desmond, may have been killed, but the truth turns out to be much worse than murder. It turns out that the Glass Club has been bribing its way into building something that does not abide by the rules.
One of the things they ignored was the safety guidelines regarding the railing. The wall by the rooftop restaurant is way below the required height. This means that when Desmond fell to his death, he wasn’t pushed, but he most likely slipped, and would have been saved if the wall had been a bit taller. Even Marv agrees this is a great story, but when they consult the lawyer, the same problem arises. Since Marv sent an email to the Glass Club promising not to publish anything that would paint them in a negative light and mentioning their investment in the company, it constitutes a written agreement he cannot violate. They consider letting the cops know about it, hoping that when the investigation takes its own course, they will be able to report on it like any other normal newspaper.
Eventually, however, everyone agrees that it’s too good a story to be let go like this. Ned realizes that while the Truth Teller is bound not to publish it, the same thing doesn’t apply to the Cincinnati Chronicle. So, he and Detrick go to Cincinnati and explain the situation to Mare. Ned asks her to publish it under her name, sharing the credit with Detrick. When she presents the story to her boss and the new team, they all agree that it’s a great piece and give it a green light. With that, the story about the Glass Club goes out into the world, even if it is not through the Truth Teller. While the story showcases Detrick’s great potential, it also makes Ned realize that the Truth Teller cannot function without Mare, and he pleads with her to return. But things are not that simple.
Do Ned and Mare Get Back Together?
Ned and Mare begin the second season as a couple. They decide to keep their relationship a secret, but then she is forced to move away when he reports it to HR. Then, Nicole, who is angry with Mare for ignoring their friendship, spreads the rumor that Mare had been sleeping with the boss. Several rumors spring out of this, with a majority believing that Mare had an affair with Marv. But in the end, a slip from Ned’s end brings the truth out in the open, which does not sit well with Mare, especially considering that the rumors have started to affect her reputation at her new workplace. In the end, she decides that it’s all a bit too complicated at the time, and it would be better if she and Ned ended their relationship and moved on to their separate paths.
Mare briefly returns to Toledo when Ned falls sick, but her faith in their relationship is not rekindled. If anything, she leaves with her mind made up to sign the lease for a place in Cincinnati. It seems she is ready to start the new chapter of her life there, but then, Ned comes back with a proposition. At first, she thinks he wants to get her back, but then it turns out that his visit is entirely professional. He has nothing but the Glass Club story on his mind, and in the end, when he does ask her to come back, it is purely because he values her as a journalist. He agrees to keep things strictly professional between them, while noting that the Truth Teller and Toledo desperately need Mare to return, even though he knows she would work well anywhere in the world.
Ned’s appeals work, and Mare agrees to come back. At this point, it looks like they are both okay with being friends and colleagues. But then, as they leave the building, Ned reveals that when he was in the hospital, at what seemed like the brink of death, he realized that he is in love with Mare. He admits he cannot live without her, but he also knows better than to expect they will get back together simply because she has agreed to return to Truth Teller. Still, he says that as long as she is at the Truth Teller and close enough to see her every day, he will be fine. Of course, this is easier said than done and will lead to further complications in the future. Eventually, they are bound to get back together, but for now, Ned and Mare are officially not a couple anymore.
Do Nicole and Detrick Get Back Together? Will Travis and Adelola Get Together?
Apart from Ned and Mare, two other complicated romances develop at the Truth Teller. Nicole and Detrick dated each other in Season 1 but broke up because she wanted to remain casual and date other people, while he didn’t. Now, there is some awkwardness between them, which gets worse when HR Lisa finds out that Detrick is single and starts pursuing him. This makes Nicole jealous, and she tries to sabotage their relationship. In the finale, as Detrick gets busy with the Glass Club article, Nicole becomes even more adamant about getting him back. When he and Ned leave for Cincinnati, Ned points out that Lisa is a little crazy and makes the case for Nicole, who is a bit more put-together.
Later, however, Detrick realizes that Nicole has also hit another level of crazy when he discovers that she followed him and Ned all the way to Cincinnati just to give him a snack he likes. This makes him a little concerned, though, it is also hinted that he may be re-evaluating his current romantic connection, and that there might still be something between him and Nicole. While the fate of their romance is left on a highly uncertain note, things look much better for Adelola and Travis. They hadn’t been particularly close to one another, but things took a turn after they had a weirdly intimate encounter while fleeing from a tornado. Things were so awkward that they both didn’t talk to each other for a long time after that.
Their weird encounter has stirred some romantic feelings in Travis. As a result, he gets a bit more conscious around Adelola. But his efforts to talk to her are rebuffed as she refuses to acknowledge what happened. However, in the finale, she finally cracks when he brings her chai tea latte, showing that he cares enough to know what she likes or doesn’t like. They finally have a talk, where Travis says his piece, though the conversation isn’t entirely resolved. Travis leaves, hoping they will find a way to talk about it properly soon, hinting at his own feelings for Adelola. Surprisingly, she, too, seems to have experienced some feelings of her own, especially as Travis starts to express his own. While there is a lot left unsaid between them, there is a clear indication that the next season will explore their romance in more detail.
Read More: Where is Peacock’s The Paper Filmed?
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