‘The Morning Show’ Season 3 Ending Explained & Finale Recap: Does Alex Save UBA From Paul Marks?

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Firstly, a big shout out to Mark Duplass, who has been constantly posting about mental health awareness on Instagram while candidly talking about his own struggle. Several weeks ago, I complained about how his character, executive producer Chip Black, got pretty much sidelined in the latest season of Apple TV’s The Morning Show. Well, I should probably retract that complaint after the latest episode, which also happens to be the season finale. Not that Duplass had a lot of screen time in it, but his impact was felt throughout. And in an uncharacteristically restrained season finale, Chip is the only one who got to scream and drop a galore of curse words, which is a huge deal.

It is sort of funny how the latest seasons of two big-ticket shows (the other one being HBO’s Succession) based their stories on huge corporate deals which are about to change everything. Of course, the HBO show’s approach was rather Shakespearean, while The Morning Show made it a point to give the good guys a win in the end. But like I said, it didn’t happen in the usual melodramatic way. The finale, in many ways, felt like a David Fincher movie. And I would say that is a good thing only.

Spoilers Ahead


What Happens To Bradley Jackson?

Holed up inside her apartment after her shocking resignation from UBA, Bradley Jackson refuses to talk to anyone and lets anyone inside. Cory pleads with her to open the door, which she doesn’t, but Bradley does let Cory know that Paul Marks is aware of the cover-up. Meanwhile, Paul feeds Alex a very different narrative regarding Bradley’s resignation. In his version, he appears to be rather supportive, having only given Bradley the information that he got from “a friend” in the FBI, and it was Bradley who decided to quit.

After her slew of texts fail to get any response from Bradley, Alex goes up to her apartment and tells her former co-anchor that she is not leaving until Bradley opens the door. That does work and Bradley comes out, but then she asks Alex to leave her bag and phone in the hallway. Despite their last conversation ending rather badly when Bradley brought up Paul Marks and Alex was not ready to accept the fact that Paul was bad news, Bradley tells Alex that she believes Paul has been surveilling her ever since she started to look into Hyperion. She also lets Alex know how Paul tried to silence her by threatening her with the information that he now possesses. She may be perplexed and confused, but this time, Alex decides to take what Bradley is saying into account. On her way back home, she purposefully texts Bradley, asking her to go back to Hannover instead of West Virginia, where Bradley originally came from. At home, when she engages Paul in a casual conversation regarding Bradley, Paul makes the rookie mistake of mentioning the word “Hannover”, proving Bradley’s speculation right.


What Does Cory Plan To Stop The Deal?

With Paul Marks’ plan of taking over UBA and selling it off, Cory was already on the back foot. Following Bradley’s resignation, he is now under investigation regarding alleged sexual misconduct, which has only made things worse. Of course, it only happened thanks to an article planted by Marks, which he himself has confirmed. But you can’t take down Cory Ellison, no matter what. Desperate to save UBA, Cory joins hands with Cybil and comes up with an alternative plan. Of course, going back to Sloan and the advertising executives who harassed Stella (if you remember) is not a good idea either, but desperate times call for desperate measures. This way, at least there will be an existence of UBA, and more than twenty thousand people will still remain employed.

Unfortunately, though, Cory’s plan doesn’t quite work out as his right-hand man Earl sells him out to Marks. Convincing Sloan and the advertising executives to back off didn’t prove to be much of a difficult thing for someone like Marks. Ambushing Cory at a dinner establishment, Marks gloats about it and offers Cory the chance to walk away with ten million dollars, with the investigation against him going away. If Cory fails to comply, Marks threatens to basically bury him in the ground. Unsurprisingly, Cory proudly rejects the offer and storms off before telling Marks that he’s not going to take anything from someone like him.


Does Alex save UBA from Paul Marks?

I criticized the show’s constant attempt to project Alex as the messiah who saves UBA for the first half of the season. That was valid considering what the character has done over the years. However, Alex appearing as the savior in the finale of the season seems fitting enough for her, especially after being fooled by Paul Marks. The TMS team manages to cause some damage to Marks by putting Chip in the show, who purposefully attacks Marks and reveals the plan to sell UBA on live television. Of course, he does it in the best possible manner, with ample profanity.

But Chip’s scathing attack on live television is definitely not enough to stop Marks from acquiring UBA, as the shareholders are pretty much ready to vote in favor of the deal and hand it over to Marks. Just when it looks all but certain, Alex arrives at UBA headquarters and presents an alternative to Marks’. The proposal is to merge UBA and NBN, two rival networks, which will subsequently cut costs and increase the effectiveness of two media giants working together as a single entity. This also explains Alex’s earlier visit to Laura Peterson, who is very much on board with the idea. I clearly didn’t see something like this coming from Alex. Marks is simultaneously surprised and frustrated. While the UBA board is considering her proposal, Alex finally pulls Marks to the side and holds him accountable for all his wrongdoings. Marks tries hard to prove his innocence, but with the arrival of Stella and Kate on the scene, his attempt goes in vain. Threatening to expose the whole story on live TV, Alex makes Marks take away his bid. After that, the merger of UBA and NBN is left as the only option.

During The Morning Show‘s ending, Alex does manage to save UBA, after all. We are not entirely sure how the merger will work, and considering the show has been renewed, we are going to see that in the next season. Meanwhile, Bradley’s statement pretty much clears Cory of the allegation, and the two kind of say goodbye to each other, with no love lost between them. Alex leaves Bradley at the FBI building and wishes her all the luck. Coming clean is the best possible course of action for Bradley, but will it land her in prison and effectively end her career?


Rohitavra Majumdar
Rohitavra Majumdar
Rohitavra likes to talk about movies, music, photography, food, and football. He has a government job to get by, but all those other things are what keep him going.


 

 

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