As the finale of AppleTV+’s satirical comedy series, The Studio, draws closer, for the first time in its run, we are presented with a plot that does not end with episode 9, and instead runs over into next week. We are introduced to a difficult situation that pans out for the protagonist, Matt Remick, and his friends, as he learns of a disturbing new development right before the CinemaCon event is about to be held. The Studio, episode 9, sees Matt and the others hilariously go out searching for their top boss, Griffin Mill, while both sides are heavily under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs.
Spoiler Alert
What does Matt envision for the CinemaCon event?
The Studio episode 9, begins with Matt Remick out for lunch with his mother, whom we see for the first time in the series. The two catch up on life, with Matt being asked about his job and also any romantic endeavors he might have embarked upon. He talks about the upcoming films that his studio has been working on and soon admits that he actually feels very lonely in life because of the absence of not just a lover but also of any friends. The man strongly feels that his coworkers at the studio, who apparently seem to be his friends, do not really care about him, and that there is no sense of friendship between them at all. But instead of consoling him or giving him some hope about life, Matt’s mother reminds him that his job is his utmost priority in life, since Continental Studios is everything to him, and if his stern decisions as a studio head must leave him lonely, so be it.
It is evident that Matt is not very close to his mother, with a certain level of formality existing between them, and so he does not hesitate to get up from the table to step out of the restaurant for a moment in order to collect a package. A woman named Gemma, whom Matt had gotten in touch with through his friend, actor and filmmaker Dave Franco, has arrived with a very particular delivery for him. Since Matt and his team at Continental Studios are soon about to leave for Las Vegas in order to attend the CinemaCon event, he has planned to host a gala party, in the old Hollywood style, as he calls it, at their hotel. By old Hollywood, Matt means that the new-age restrictions and inhibitions against merrymaking will not be in play at his party, and so, he arranges for drugs of all kinds at the place.
It is as part of this very party planning that Matt now meets with Gemma, who has brought him a delivery of psychedelic mushrooms as per his order. Perhaps as a usual part of her trade, Gemma asks Matt if he has done shrooms before, and he clearly lies and says that he is quite accustomed to it. Just to be safe, though, Matt asks her what quantity of drugs each chocolate contains, and Gemma replies that each holds two eighths, which becomes a crucial detail later on. Although the measurement is not very clear to Matt, he does not ask any further questions, probably to hide his ignorance about such things, and returns to lunch, which he hurriedly finishes before heading back to the office.
Matt is particularly excited about CinemaCon, not just for the lavish party that he is throwing, but more importantly because of the prospect of his studio making quite an impact at the event. Many experts, as voiced by popular entertainment journalist Matthew Belloni in his radio and podcast show, The Town, are anticipating Continental Studios revealing a number of promising films during the event, at which different film studios and production houses announce and tease projects they have been working on in a bid to get more theaters to agree to release the films. The Kool-Aid Movie, which has still not been canned even after the multiple controversies it’s been involved in, is definitely the most awaited project by Continental, with some even expecting it to have an impact similar to Barbie. But as Matt joins Sal, Quinn, and Patty on the private jet flying them to Las Vegas, he talks about the other films by the studio that are also expected to make a splash.
Matt is confident about their more somber presentations, like The Silver Lake, the Sarah Polley film seen in episode 2, and Alphabet City, the Ron Howard film starring Anthony Mackie. He, and even Quinn, believe that these two can even become frontrunners for the Oscars, while everyone else is hyped about the Kool-Aid Movie since it is supposed to be their blockbuster for the year. Sal is quick to remind them that Blackwing, which was finally confirmed at the end of the previous episode, should also excite audiences when it will be announced at CinemaCon, and although Matt is sure of this statement, he feels that Zoë Kravitz’s presence during the announcement will make it even more special.
As the team arrives at the Venetian hotel and casino in Vegas, where the exhibition event is being held, they meet up with Maya, who had flown in a day earlier, in order to arrange for the promotional material, since she is the head of marketing. Maya goes over the schedule once more, as Continental Studio’s presentation is scheduled to begin early the next morning, at around 7:30, with Dave Franco taking to the stage to reveal the trailer for Alphabet City. The announcement of Blackwing will follow, with Zoë Kravitz herself appearing, as she is about to reach the hotel later that night. Patty will then talk about The Silver Lake and also maybe present the trailer of the film, followed by Nick Stoller taking time to talk about the Kool-Aid collaboration. Matt will be up on the stage next, followed by the CEO of the studio, Griffin Mill, who will end the presentation with a gigantic Kool-Aid man dropping to the stage from above. With this foolproof plan for the event, Matt envisions a grand success for Continental Studios and is sure that their financial worries will soon be a matter of the past.
What is the concerning new development?
As Matt learns that Griffin has already arrived at the hotel, he quickly goes to meet his boss in order to ensure that the man is not having any trouble settling in. However, Griffin gives the protagonist some shocking news, which leaves both of them unsettled. The CEO states that he fears his career is about to be over very soon because he has found out that a hedge fund trader named Peter Blake has been stirring up the board members at the parent company that owns Continental Studios, Comworld. Blake wants to oversee a deal for Amazon, as the corporate giants want to acquire Continental Studios after having recently purchased MGM as well.
This is a seriously concerning development, given the fact that Amazon buying out the legacy studio would mean that Griffin, Matt, and the entire team would lose their jobs. Amazon would surely want to bring in their own new set of people, as well as restructure the studio to cater to OTT productions and streaming, meaning that it would cease to exist in its current state. Matt is saddened by this news not just because it suggests that he will be unemployed soon, but also because of the fact that his beloved studio, which he was immensely proud of for sticking to the original practice of making films for theatrical releases, will change forever.
As a resolution to this problem, Matt and Griffin both believe that if they can deliver a fantastic presentation at CinemaCon and excite audiences and critics with their new and upcoming projects, it might make the board members change their minds. At present, the protagonist has to not just bring in money for his studio but also convince the board members of the parent company that Continental can still be profitable. This would surely kill any talks of the takeover by Amazon, and the protagonist can save his job, as well as cinema, once again. Thus, Matt starts to encourage his team even more to give their best for the presentation, without being able to share the terrible news with them just yet.
How does Griffin get lost?
The lavish party is organized by Continental Studios that evening, and the guests arrive to indulge in the old-school style of merrymaking, which involves taking a lot of drugs. Griffin is seen drinking heavily and taking other drugs, which has already made him groggy and out of control, making it very likely that he will not be able to recover from the effects in time for his presentation the next morning. Patty is extremely concerned about this, along with Maya, and Matt is given the responsibility of telling their boss to ease off on the merrymaking. But like always, Matt finds it difficult to say things directly, and he instead suggests that Griffin take the shrooms in place of drinking more alcohol, as they do not have any hangovers or long-lasting effects.
This is when things really start to go out of hand, for the shrooms quickly become the actual cause of concern. As it turns out, Gemma had mentioned that each chocolate bar contained two eighths of hallucinatory mushrooms, with ‘eighths’ referring to 1/8th of an ounce, a commonly used measure for drugs. Thus, when she said that there were two eighths, she meant that each bar contained two portions of ‘eighths,’ about 7 grams in total, a significant amount of any drug. But Matt had misunderstood this, and he thought that each bar contained only 2/8th of a gram, or roughly 0.25 gram of mushrooms. Thus, when he asks Griffin to have the shroom chocolates, he unknowingly makes the CEO even more drugged, because of which he becomes even more out of control.
To make matters worse for Matt, Zoe Kravitz hungrily eats up three of the chocolate bars, without any idea that they are spiked with mushrooms, and then gets immensely high, along with the whole team of studio executives. They soon have to stop Kravitz from suffering a breakdown over the guilt of taking so many drugs unknowingly, since she too is supposed to be speaking on stage during the presentation the next morning. While Matt and his friends are busy getting Kravitz settled in a room at the very suite where the party is taking place, a completely drugged Griffin walks out of the place in search of more merrymaking.
Can Matt and his friends finally find Griffin in time?
The CEO of Continental Studios wandering out in public in a tremendously intoxicated state is very dangerous for the studio, and so Matt and his team immediately set out to go looking for the man. It is Quinn who first finds a trace of Griffin, as the latter tries to place bets at the casino with a lobster instead of betting chips, but she cannot get hold of him in time because of the emergence of Matthew Belloni. The entertainment writer seeing Griffin in such a state would definitely lead to scandalous articles being written on the matter, and therefore Quinn does everything she can to avoid such an occurrence. She manages to distract Belloni, but Griffin leaves the spot in the meanwhile. Matt, Sal, Maya, and Quinn are able to find the man once more, but as they panic and debate on what to do, Griffin falls over onto a gondola running through the fake canal outside the hotel, and they lose him once again.
Ultimately, in The Studio episode 9’s ending, Patty tracks down Griffin at the edge of the canal, and although it seems like she will now inform Matt about the same, quite the opposite happens. Patty gets hold of a phone from a random youngster and calls Matthew Belloni, leaving him an anonymous tip by comically changing her voice. She tells the reporter that he needs to come to the spot in order to get hold of a juicy piece of the story, and at this very time, Griffin is seen throwing up in a trash can in the background. This unexpected decision of Patty makes it seem like she has betrayed the trust of her team, but it might be that she acts in this manner only to seek revenge against Griffin, who had fired her at the beginning of the season. Perhaps Patty wants to replace the man and become the new CEO of the company, although she does not seemingly know about the talk of Amazon taking over, which would mean that she is doing all this in vain. However, it might also be that Patty actually knows about the possible deal with Amazon, and she is working to help Blake oversee the deal, as she might have been promised a role in the new version of the studio. But whether Matt can retain his job or if he has been thrown under the bus by Patty will be revealed only in the season finale of The Studio next week.
