Our favorite screaming match is back for another round. We are talking about The Morning Show, arguably Apple TV’s biggest show in terms of both prestige and boasting big names. The Jennifer Aniston-Reese Witherspoon starrer was pretty much a runway success from the start, thanks to all the high-pitched character drama between its two lead stars and everyone else as well.
Almost two years after the second season aired, The Morning Show is back for its third season. This time, it is sort of the need of the hour for the people who have a thing for the “people just talking loudly and that’s all we need” genre. HBO’s Succession has ended, and we’ll have to wait for God knows how long for FX’s The Bear, but thankfully, Apple TV is here to rescue us with this pressure cooker of a show. Before going into what to expect from the upcoming season, let us do a little refresher.
The Story So Far
It all starts when, one fine morning, Alex Levy wakes up to the news of his dearest friend and co-host of the beloved The Morning Show, Mitch Kessler, getting canceled with a Me-Too allegation. To fill the Mitch-shaped void on the show, Alex impulsively brings in Bradley Jackson, an idealistic journalist with a very different worldview compared to Alex’s. Putting Bradley in Mitch’s chair is obviously a shrewd move by Alex in order to get back at Network CEO Cory Ellison, who has taken an interest in Bradley, which has threatened Alex.
Despite all of Alex’s scheming, Bradley continues to thrive and keeps influencing the show with her bold, courageous style. She talks about her own complicated personal life, goes off script while speaking to one of Mitch’s victims, and even manages to impress Alex’s trusted ally, the show’s executive producer, Chip Black.
Meanwhile, Mitch, unsurprisingly, doesn’t sit around and keeps putting up a fight against the hiring. He goes to the length of convincing Bradley to interview him. We do get to know that Mitch was, in fact, a perpetrator, and the victim happened to be a young intern, Hannah. Several other women, including another producer of the show, Mia Jordan, come forward with their histories with the now-infamous Mitch Kessler. It is further revealed that the toxic culture of exploitation of the fairer sex stems from the top of the network, starting with the president. Alex and Bradley eventually come together and end up exposing Fred on air, while Hannah kills herself.
As a consequence, Cory gets fired, Alex quits the show, and Bradley gets a new co-host. However, it is only a matter of time before Alex comes back, as there can’t be a morning show without everyone’s favorite, Alex Levy. The show cleverly inserts a coronavirus narrative, which adds an interesting layer to the already-running conflicts. Mitch goes to Italy and quarantines there. Bradley gets into a new relationship with another news anchor, Laura Peterson, who substitutes for Alex in TMS when Alex suddenly goes to Italy to confront Mitch. Chip tries his best to balance the tricky situation where nobody actually knows where Alex is, while Cory gets jealous of Bradley and Laura. In Italy, a dejected Mitch does find a companion in Paula, but after his confrontation with Alex, who confesses that she misses Mitch but also can’t get past his sexual misconduct, Mitch kills himself. This obviously put a dark cloud on everything that was already muddy enough. Alex catches COVID-19 but continues to work from home with Chip’s help, and in a riveting, honest segment, she says that she is not going to apologize anymore for being who she is.
What To Expect From Season 3?
From what we have seen in the trailer, the third season of The Morning Show is going to be as explosive as the first two seasons. Alex seems to be carrying on with her fearless, unapologetic personality from the season 2 finale. This doesn’t appear to be sitting well with Cory, as the two seem to be at loggerheads, which is unsurprising if you consider their equation.
This season’s main threat is going to be the network falling victim to something as relevant as a cyber attack, which is bound to bring shocking truths and carefully hidden secrets out in the open and cook up a lot of drama for the audience. At least that’s how it seems from the trailer, as we see a concerned Alex freaking out and Bradley reassuring her that she will always protect Alex.
The Aniston-Witherspoon pair is going to be the top draw of this season as well, just like the last two. But given that The Morning Show has always managed to properly flesh out characters like Cory, Chip, Mia, and even the new Network president, Stella Bak (played by the fantastic Greta Lee, whom you have seen very recently in A24 Studios’ Past Lives), we can assume that every actor is going to get their opportunity to showcase their talent. Steve Carell’s Mitch Kessler is obviously not going to be in the season, but we have a new character addition, who is played by none other than John Hamm. The character is most likely some sort of investor who would save the dying network from financial bankruptcy, but that’s definitely not all that he would do. It will be interesting to see how well Hamm gels into the world of this show, but considering his earlier body of work, including his breakout lead role in AMC’s Madmen, the actor seems like a very natural choice for The Morning Show.
Is Season 3 Going To Be The Final Season?
There is no confirmation regarding that yet, but from the trailer, the third season of The Morning Show does look like the endgame of the show. A particular scene between Alex and Bradley further hints at that. I am sure you all would be really sad if The Morning Show ended just after three seasons because a lot of you would probably want this to go on forever, and I can totally sympathize with that. But if it does turn out to be the final haul of Alex Bradley and co., then I can bet that they are going to go out with a very loud bang.
