Picking up from exactly where they left off last week, Apple TV’s The Morning Show returns with a deliciously dramatic, extremely eventual penultimate episode of the season, which sets up the course for an explosive finale. Filled with nail-biting tension, a lot of scheming and screaming, the surprise return of an old face, and Cory Ellison understandably losing his marbles, this episode is basically everything The Morning Show fans love to see in the show. Let us take a closer look.
Spoiler Ahead
Does Alex Join Team Paul Marks?
Of course she does, which is not surprising at all. It doesn’t happen right away, though. Alex Levy does have a conscience, so she does spare a thought for what Paul’s plan would do to the many UBA employees who would lose their jobs after the company goes to ashes. But Alex Levy also wants power, and the idea of starting something on her own where she is her own boss is irresistible for her.
The decision to join Team Marks and give the plan her blessings comes from an uncomfortable encounter with none other than Bradley Jackson. It also gets fueled by a conversation Alex has with our old friend Maggie Brenner, who randomly pops up to see Alex and asks about her future plans after the deal goes through. To jog your mind, Maggie is the same journalist who previously made a fortune out of all the drama at UBA during the dark times of the whole Mitch Kessler thing.
Anyway, when Alex randomly comes across Bradley at the UBA HQ, she attempts to pull off a “Michael Scott paper company” on her by asking her to join the crusade. But Bradley appears to be very loyal to UBA and doesn’t entertain the proposal at all. In fact, she warns Alex about Marks not being what he seems like. This irks Alex, and she asks for substantial evidence behind Bradley’s claim, and all Bradley comes up with is something as vague as bad things going on inside Hyperion and people being laid off (we believe you, Bradley, since we know what’s going on). It eventually boils down to Bradley accusing Alex of not being able to see things as she is blinded by her feelings for Marks, which pisses off Alex further. After that, saying yes to Mark’s plan was only a matter of time for the most popular The Morning Show anchor.
And What’s Up With Team Cory?
At this point, there are clearly two sides that are trying to one-up each other, with two egoistic men at the helm of it. UBA CEO Cory Ellison now knows that once Paul Marks becomes the boss of the company, he is going to show Cory the door. But Cory’s advantage is that the person who is about to get his job in Marks’ regime is actually on his side. Yes, Stella Bak is now completely anti-Marks (as she should be), although she is pretending to be all cool in front of him. Secretly, though, Stella is running her operation to find dirt on the man who is about to become her boss. With Bradley and freshly fired Chip at her side, Stella does have some hope in the cause.
Meanwhile, as the fateful Friday when the deal is finally signed approaches, Cory’s level of anxiety is only getting higher. The sudden emergence of a mysterious LLC showing a lot of interest in buying UBA stocks makes it even worse. Cory puts Earl in charge of finding it (although we can now see what’s happening, and our suspicions will be confirmed later in the episode). He does ask Marks if he has a “friend” who’s behind all this, but Marks claims to have no idea about it at all. The two men appear to be very cordial to each other, which is ironic because we know for a fact that they hate each other.
Why Does Bradley Suddenly Resign From UBA?
The episode actually takes off with Laura, who is still dealing with the aftermath of her shocking findings about Bradley. Still undecided about what to do, Laura has a meeting with her boss at the NBN, who reminds her that their duty as journalists is to tell the truth, even if that comes at the expense of a loved one. Still unable to decide, Laura calls Hal and casually asks if he has ever been to DC, to which Hal blatantly lies that he hasn’t since school. This frustrates and angers Laura, and she texts Bradley to immediately see her.
Meanwhile, despite numerous attempts, Bradley fails to get anything substantial against Marks and Hyperion. On the other hand, Marks keeps looking for dirt against Cory but fails to find anything. A bomb drops on Cory when his ex-boss Cybil walks right into his office to reveal that Marks is planning to end Cory behind his back, and guess who Marks’ aid is? It’s none other than Fred, the rotten one. I am sure we all saw that coming, considering we already saw Amanda with Fred in the last episode. Cory has a meltdown after hearing the news, and in a moment of lunacy, he smashes his right hand into the wall and hurts it severely. He then goes to confront Alex, and the two have a screaming match that doesn’t reach a conclusion. Alex defends her action while Cory calls her out on her selfishness.
The other big confrontation of the episode happens between Laura and Bradley, which ends with heartbreak for both of them. Laura is furious for what Bradley did, and what is even worse is that she confided in Cory and not her. Laura also mentions that what Cory has done for Bradley is the kind of thing that people would do only if they truly loved someone. We do agree with you, Laura!
Back at the UBA HQ, Bradley’s terrible day turns into an absolute nightmare when Paul Marks walks in right before her show and reveals to her that he also knows about the cover-up. Marks threatens that if Bradley keeps looking into Hyperion, he will use that against her, which will subsequently ruin Cory and also affect Laura. Of course, Marks is willing to look away if Bradley does the same. Bradley Jackson is a lot of things, but she is not someone you can blackmail. So Bradley does exactly what you would expect her to do: thank everybody and resign from UBA on air. She knows what’s coming for her, but she is not going to let someone like Paul Marks blackmail her. This is a great move considering that if Bradley goes down, she will take Marks with her. However, Bradley’s sudden move has other aftereffects, as Cory soon finds out in a news article about him “grooming” Bradley with a rather disturbing photo of them together. As security approaches to escort Cory out of the building, the scene cuts to black, and we are left with a lot of anticipation for The Morning Show season 3 finale. With how things are looking at the moment, we can fully expect that to be completely chaotic.
