Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Paper” Season 1, Episode 8.
On the eighth episode of “The Paper,” Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) unveiled a secret superpower as a salesman when he rescued Enervate from a PR nightmare after its Softees’ product Man Mitts — a supposedly flushable wet wipe — clogs up a sewage pipe for an entire city block.
And now, it begs the question: Is Ned a better salesman or journalist. We asked Gleeson to weigh in.
“He’s a better salesman — definitely a better salesman,” Gleeson says assertively “But he wants to be a better editor. So I think there’s something really inspiring about somebody who has stopped doing something they’re good at because it’s not fulfilling them anymore and trying to be good at something. He thinks he’s going to be amazing at being an editor, and he is incorrect about that.”
And that’s exactly what Ned tries to do in Episode 8, titled “Church and State.” As the newsroom’s editor-in-chief at The Toledo Truthteller, Ned decides that it would only uphold journalistic integrity if the newspaper covered the Man Mitts drama. But after some reprimanding from strategy manager Ken (Tim Key), who forbids Ned from publishing the story, Ned decides to quit.
Luckily, earlier in the episode Mare (Chelsea Frei) and Nicole (Ramona Young) discover a motivational video that features Ned from his days as the top toilet paper salesman at Softees. Mare then comes up with the bright idea to have Ned return to his post … but not as a journalist, as a salesman. The goal is to sell all the leftover Man Mitts so that Marv doesn’t find out about all the shenanigans.
“Stick and sell, people! Stick and sell!” Ned hollers out to his team. By the end of the episode Ned sells all of the mitts and the move forward with publishing the story.
“Sometimes the best way to serve the paper is by publishing an important story,” Ned says as the episode closes. “Sometimes it’s by quitting. And sometimes it is by selling a boatload of rebranded kitchen wipes. Today, it was all three.”
Gleeson says Ned’s most inspiring attribute is his willingness to drop a job his good at to pursue he enjoys and loves.
“The fact that he is willing to leave all that behind, all of the great things that lifestyle would have brought him to take this risk, to go and tell the truth and try and make the world a better place, I just think that’s so it’s really inspiring,” Gleeson said. “Then it’s really funny when it doesn’t quite go the way he wants it.” to.”
“The Paper” Season 1 is now streaming on Peacock.
