The Paper

Episode Reviews

Sept. 9, 2026—S2, E1: “The Best of Us”

Fresh off the Truth Teller’s sweep of the local journalism awards, Ned and the paper’s staff come into the office ready to celebrate. But when they reach the office, a space they share with the company’s toilet paper division, they discover that one of their toilet paper associates has died. And Marv, the company’s CEO, thinks the man’s death is front-page news.

Turns out, Marv might be right—but for all the wrong reasons.

We learn that Esmeralda “made out” with Bill, the guy who died, once, but she never made eye contact with him afterward. No matter: She masquerades as Bill’s longtime girlfriend to undercut Ned’s working relationship with Marv.

Meanwhile, Mare is confused about her own relational status with Ned: He ignores Mare completely the day after they kissed, and he invites himself along to a guys’ night out—wherein Truth Teller reporters Detrick and Travis will allegedly try to meet, woo and sleep with off-the-clock nurses. (We hear some crude commentary revolving around those future sexual exploits.) The episode hints at the relational fallout involving Detrick and another Truth Teller reporter, Nicole. (Travis tells the mockumentary crew that he’d like to get closer to Nicole, using some crass double entendres.)

Reporters go to the morgue to inspect Bill’s body and ask questions, which leads to a string of jokes involving both the condition of the corpse and, specifically, the condition of the man’s penis. (We hear that Bill’s bladder was full of alcohol, exacerbating the blaze that killed him.) Bill was apparently burned to death while cooking methamphetamines, and a co-worker of Bill’s takes several orders from Bill’s drug buyers, mistaking them as orders for toilet paper. When the Truth Teller’s awards celebration turns into a wake, Nicole says that she’ll need to switch the party’s “Victory Vermouth” to “Bill on the Rocks.” A few people drink wine at the memorial service, and Esmeralda insinuates that she got drunk during the previous evening’s awards gala. There’s a reference to margaritas.

Reporters uncover a song recorded by Bill (under the name Morphine and Ice Cream), where the dead man admits he used to be racist (before he made out with Esmeralda). They learn that he was a member of a group of mercenaries (where he apparently killed at least 47 people). A neighbor says that Bill used to show his guns to his kids.

Someone mentions that “If you could choose one person to die on this floor, it would not be Bill. Alexander would be in the conversation, but God has chosen to take Bill, and you can’t argue with God.” There’s a reference to Valhalla. Ned wonders where “it all goes,” shifting the conversation quickly to where Bill’s paycheck might go. (He hopes to funnel it into the Truth Teller’s budget.)

Characters say the s-word twice. Viewers never actually hear the f-word, but it is bleeped out three times and silently mouthed at least once. We also hear “h—” and the British profanity “bloody.” God’s name is misused twice (once with the word “d–n”), and Jesus’ name is abused once.

Sept. 4, 2025 – S1, E2: “The Five W’s”

Ned is preparing to publish his first edition of the Toledo Truth-Teller. He knows that local news may lag, considering that few on the staff have even read a newspaper, much less written for one. But when he learns that Esmeralda cancelled the Truth-Teller’s wire services—the Associated Press, Reuters and the like—Ned realizes that his fledgling news crew will have to be tossed in the mix immediately.

Ned tries to scrounge up some news on his own. For instance, he calls police headquarters, hoping that Toledo may be in the midst of a crime spree. When he learns that crime is pretty much down across the board, Ned asks, “Would you say the lower crime rate is the result of increased police brutality?” (The police spokesman hangs up on him.) Ned also calls the morgue and asks if it has any suspicious bodies lying around. When morgue officials say no, Ned encourages them to look in out-of-the-way corners for some. Later, the police call Ned and say that Toledo may have a serial killer on their hands: Or, at least, so it would appear, given the strange calls the morgue has received that day. (Ned celebrates the possibility of an at-loose serial killer before he realizes that the police might be suspecting him.)

Barry, the staff’s only real reporter, falls and hurts his leg, which sends him to the hospital. A fledgling reporter, Travis, goes to the fish and wildlife department, ostensibly to ask about the change in the limit of fish one can catch in Lake Erie. In reality, he’s there to talk to his ex-girlfriend (against, apparently, a restraining order) and confront her new beau. That leads to a physical confrontation, and that leads to Travis getting arrested. Another reporter quizzes a couple of local teens about what’s new in “skating, tagging, drugging.”

We hear that someone’s father had a long affair with an exotic dancer. Esmeralda accuses Ned of being “anal.” Ned, Esmeralda and a couple of people go out for lunch—which includes alcoholic beverages. (Ned is invited to stay “for cigars.”) We hear a crude reference to testicles. The s-word is used once, and God’s name is misused three times.

Sept. 4, 2025 – S1, E1: “Pilot”

The documentary crew behind The Office finds a new subject for its cameras in Toledo, Ohio, in the guise of the city’s local paper. They arrive just about the same time as the paper’s new editor-in-chief does. That new editor, Ned Sampson, is an idealist determined to turn the paper around. But that idealism runs headlong into a couple of walls: The paper’s lack of resources and its own managing editor, Esmeralda.

Ned’s barely walked through the door before Esmeralda sends out an email, telling the paper’s employees that Ned was not “me-too’ed.” Ned tells Esmeralda that the email was not helpful, strictly speaking. “I’ve also never embezzled or slapped a waitress,” he says. Esmeralda tells Ned that she was just trying to be helpful to nip any allegations (of which there were none) in the bud. Otherwise, the staff would be thinking, “I wonder what was his evil crime? Did he do it to a person? An animal? I hope he doesn’t do it to me!” Esmeralda offers to retract her email—which, of course, would make the staff think that Ned had sexually harassed someone—so Ned says to just forget about it and move on.

Esmeralda wears shape-hugging outfits and loves the attention of the camera crew. “You’re going to get tired, chasing my busy little body around with that camera,” she says, stroking her hips. We see a pinball machine with a risqué depiction of a woman. The newspaper’s corporate owner also sells toilet paper, the mascot for which is a buxom cartoon model. (The conglomerate’s strategy exec practically drools as he introduces the “model” to the documentary crew.) The newspaper offices feature an all-gender restroom, creating awkward discomfort among its users.

We hear a couple of references to religion. A newspaper staffer says of another that she suspects he was part of a special-needs hiring program: “Poor religious people with no skills.” Ned tells the camera crew that he loves challenges: “That’s why I’m so good at Lent.” An old black-and-white documentary, featuring the paper when it was in its prime in 1971, shows the newspaper’s publisher from the time standing by the newspaper presses. “I don’t mean to be blasphemous, but I worship at the altar of this machine,” he says.

Ned talks about cultivating sources “over whiskey in a smoky bar.” Esmeralda, who’s a native Italian speaker, tells Ned to be “not so self-defecating” (meaning, presumably, not so self-deprecating.) A character tells someone that it’s a death sentence to brake for deer. We hear an uncensored f-word, while several others (along with a slew of other profanities) are bleeped. Also uncensored: single uses of “d—n,” “h—” and a misuse of God’s name.