With The Morning Show, escalation of drama in every episode is a sure thing. I mean, that’s what sells the show, and it’s also why we keep gobbling it up—no shame in admitting that. So it’s no surprise that the show would take that route in episode 3 of its fourth season after perfectly setting up all of that drama in the first two episodes. Everyone—especially Alex and Stella in this particular chapter—has to deal with the (rather unfortunate) consequences of their actions, while the others (read Cory Ellison mainly) get to enjoy the fruit of their smart moves. But like always, The Morning Show has a tendency to shock you; this episode has not one, not two, but three such shockers. Well, to be fair, I did see the whole “Mia reaching her tipping point (that’s also the title of the episode by the way) and calling it a day just like that” coming our way. And at some point, “Bradley and Cory getting hot and heavy” was also bound to happen. But the real shocker is an old villain popping up and (maybe) trying their luck at what seems like a redemption arc. Yes, I’m talking about Paul Marks, of course—so glad that Jon Hamm is back again, and it looks like he’s going to stay.
Spoiler Alert
Why does Paul help Alex?
Let us start with Alex. She may have saved her job (and the board seat) after instantly making the news with the environmental protest about the capitalist seminar with reusable energy; it has landed her company in quite a bit of trouble. Because one of the big-shot capitalists, Zeke Pemberton, also happens to run a lot of advertisements through UBN, and the company gets a lot of revenue out of it. With Alex maligning his ‘clean’ image, Pemberton has threatened to pull all his advertisements, which is not at all good news for UBN financially. Naturally, Celine and Stella are holding Alex responsible for this unforeseen situation, but Alex is also defiant about her stance—we also believe she did nothing wrong, right?
But since the world is unfair, now Alex has to go to the seminar and apologize to Zeke so that he doesn’t hurt the company. Miles is going to go with her to smoothen things over, as our artist happens to know Zeke. At the conference, Zeke doesn’t try to hide that he is mad at Alex for what she did, while Alex extends an olive branch. But she’s shocked to see none other than Paul Marks present at the seminar, and he seems to be pretty thick with Zeke. That’s obviously a big shock for Alex (and us too), but isn’t this the kind of thing you’d expect from someone like Paul Marks? Grabbing any sort of opportunity that benefits him, and in this case—rebuilding his image!
Alex also meets Ava Carlo, with whom she did a panel back in 2018. They both seem to remember each other very well. Ava happens to be the presenter at the conference, but according to her, she’s actually trying to fix the refugee crisis by making these capitalists invest in it. Alex eventually finds out that Ava and Paul Marks are actually in a relationship. She’s heartbroken by it, and doesn’t try to hide her feelings from Paul. Their relationship ended on a bad note, but Alex clearly seems to not be over it. Instead of being a jerk, Paul appears to be actually nice about the whole thing, reminding Alex that it was she who ended it (which was the right thing to do, in case you’re still wondering). He then makes Alex a proposal regarding the ongoing matter—running a story that paints the climate activists in a bad light, which is going to balance out things for Zeke. Paul gives Alex the file, and she asks her assistant to verify it. Upon seeing Alex, Zeke again threatens to pull his advertisements if Alex doesn’t run the story by the night. However, in a surprising turn of events, Miles tells her that Zeke is okay with Alex doing the news, and he’s not going to sever his ties with UBN. Miles is understandably surprised and asks Alex whether she has a ‘good’ relationship with Paul. Alex is surprised; she texts Paul (as the conference has started, and Paul can’t get away) what he would help her for. Paul responds with a ‘nothing,’ indicating he is not getting anything out of it. Now that doesn’t line up with the character of Paul Marks, unless he’s on the path of redemption, like I said earlier. But for now, I choose to remain skeptical, and so should Alex.
Does Stella betray Mia?
Don’t you think Mia and Stella are the two most unfortunate characters on the show? These two, no matter how hard they work or what they do, don’t ever seem to catch a break. Take Stella, for example—despite being the CEO of UBN, she is now at Cory’s mercy, thanks to him finding out about her affair. While Miles suggests it wouldn’t be a bad thing if Celine finds out about them, Stella knows for a fact that it would end her career at the network. So she has to push Cory’s agenda, even though she has always been very clear about not wanting Cory anywhere near UBN. Stella advocating for Cory getting the film division of UBN surprises Celine, as the UBN president was under the impression that Stella didn’t want Cory. What Stella doesn’t know is that Cory is playing a whole other game. Even though he has Stella doing whatever he wants, Cory finds a way in with Celine as well. These two have actually known each other for a long time—I guess Miles is the bridge—and Celine seems to be very much okay with letting Cory in if he helps her sell one of Miles’ paintings (which doesn’t look like a problem for Cory). They also address the topic of sidelining Stella, and Cory seems to be very much okay with ruining the career of his protégé.
Mia, meanwhile, is in line to become the head of UBN News—a chair Cory Ellison used to occupy once upon a time. A lot has happened since then, and Mia is most definitely the most qualified person to take up that job. With Stella, who’s almost her best friend, being the one who’s going to make that call, it looks very likely for Mia. There’s an issue, though—Bradley Jackson, who’s not doing well with The Morning Show, and Mia being the showrunner. It’s on her because she is the one who brought Bradley back. After Bradley fumbles on the show yet again, Mia is visibly angry, even more so, and she vents to Bradley. Bradley is apologetic for not getting her game right, but Mia says maybe it’s time for her to return to Virginia (we know for a fact that’s not going to happen). In spite of dealing with all this, Mia does her best at the interview. Celine has doubts over her, as she doesn’t think Mia has what it takes to make the news exciting and sexy, but Mia pretty much shuts her up with logic and examples. Not sure if that irks Celine, because after Mia leaves, she proposes to Stella that Ben should get the coveted job, not Mia. Stella is not only against it, but she also reminds Celine that it’s ultimately her decision, not Celine’s. Sadly for Stella, Celine plays the Cory card. She’s okay with letting Cory come on board, but Stella also needs to balance it out by making Ben the head of the UBN news instead of her friend. Stella has no choice but to accept, and when she breaks the news to Mia, the latter gets mad. The two end up having a fight where Stella ends up saying things like Ben is better than Mia and she’s still Mia’s boss, which leads Mia to quit her job and storm out of the building. Stella breaks down in tears, and that’s where we leave her for this week, and considering how things are, I’m unable to find much hope for Stella Bak as of now.
What is the update with the Wolf River Story?
We all know the reason Bradley Jackson is not doing well at her day job—her head is completely occupied with the Wolf River story. Now that Chip has figured out it was former production assistant Claire who was sending Bradley those texts, the first order of business is locating her and having the conversation. That doesn’t prove to be too difficult for the duo of Bradley and Chip, and they bring a freaked-out Claire to Bradley’s hotel. But Claire is unable to give them much; she says it’s Bradley who needs to find out what really happened. Chip is still not sure whether Claire is cooking up something because of her personal vendetta against UBN (technically UBA for her) or whether there really is something in all this. While Bradley and Chip argue, Claire leaves in a hurry, but she does leave Bradley a document about the Wolf River victims at the UBA. The most noteworthy thing revealed is the name of Bethanne, former head of UBA news, who has received a hefty sum of money, according to the document, which clearly means Bethanne was asked to kill the story. While Bradley deals with her day job, Chip travels to Connecticut to meet Bethanne. The former head of news denies spilling everything, citing an NDA she signed, but then, under the pretense of saving Chip’s number, she gives an important message to him that says the UBA archives from October 2018, titled the Wolf River depositions, need to be checked. Does this mean Bethanne is still paranoid that her phone is bugged and somebody might be listening to her? What in the “Person of Interest” is going on here, really? I guess we’ll have to wait for upcoming episodes to find out.
And finally, what happens between Bradley and Cory?
I have already said Bradley and Cory finally ‘doing it’ is not exactly a surprise, considering the kind of history these two have. Cory Ellison might be a cunning prick who would do anything for personal gain, but he genuinely loves Bradley Jackson, and he would never cause her any harm. That’s a stark difference between someone like Paul Marks and Cory, and I suppose, by now, Bradley also sees that. That’s why when Cory drops her a text about him being back in town and wanting to see her, Bradley is glad. All this while, she was thinking that Cory hated her for what she did to him. Technically though, Bradley never did anything, and she even cleared Cory of all the allegations—he didn’t do anything to her either. But it did cost him his job, a job that he used to love—well, it was the power he had.
Now that Cory is coming back, he wants to make sure that Bradley is okay with it. Even though they’re not going to work together, they’ll be in the same building and see each other. People are also going to talk about them. Bradley, however, doesn’t seem to care at all; in fact, she is the one who makes the move on him. He’s a bit taken aback, but of course, deep down in his heart, he always wanted this to happen. But the important question is, what does this mean for the future of both Cory and Bradley? Is this a drunken night thing, or is there going to be a “Bradley and Cory—new couple alert,” which will certainly shock everyone? Last but not least, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that Cory Ellison had something to do with the Wolf River story in the past. Since it’s The Morning Show, you can’t rule out that possibility.
