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I couldn't agree with you more, Sloppy. This subplot is designed to show that, as Diana says to Max at their first dinner, she's inept at everything but her work. It's pathetic and horrifying to see that she can never turn it off. The babbling about ratings and shares throughout the least sexy sex scene of all time may be a turnoff to the audience, but not to Max. He is flattered, as most men his age would be, that a younger woman finds him attractive. He twists the knife though, with his wife when he tells her he's grateful to be able to feel anything at all.
So, we learn that the side of Diana we see at work is the only side she has. The rootlessness Max feels at having been let go, coupled with the reminder of his mortality that attending so many funeral throws in his face, drives him straight into Diana's icy grip. What drew him to her is what drives him away. "You're madness, Diana." Yeah, but what does that make him? A journalist of the old school with a certain gravitas, whose power has been stripped away, only to be handed to his young, ruthless girlfriend. Her taking over the news division includes her plans to turn it into something that predates FOX and TLC by 30 years. Maybe Max should be appalled and outraged, but he lets go his pride and his principles for a life with Diana, one that's joyless, single-minded and frenetic because it's scripted that way.
Your typical romantic subplot has the characters talking about almost everything except work, going to romantic places, petting dogs and sharing cute conversation. This leads to gauzy, tasteful sex scenes, and yeah, this would be superfluous.
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