Playing Them At Their Own Game
The Morning Show continues with the same format as the pilot, injecting a good dose of drama and characterisation into the show. Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon really shine here together too and help this drama stand out. With an open ending and plenty of questions left hanging over this one, The Morning Show is just starting to settle into a consistent rhythm. We begin with Bradley and Cory meeting in a New York bar where he offers her a job as a field correspondent for The Morning Show and surprises her by telling her he has set up a meeting with the producers for her. Meanwhile, Alex is surprised by her ex-husband when she returns home in the middle of the night from her visit with Mitch. She dodges his questioning though and tells her she couldn’t sleep after the hard day she had and went for a walk. As she heads to work the next morning, she tells her assistant Greg, that she’s very stressed due to the recent events and isn’t happy about receiving a journalist award. She later calls her manager Sarah, worried she might be replaced because the network hasn’t agreed on her new deal yet and insists that her new contract should include co-host approval. Fred gathers everyone in the studio for a meeting to tell them they need to work together as the livelihood of the network is hanging in the balance. Fred then tells Cory to find a list of potential men to be Alex’s co-host, going on to say that younger women will eventually replace her. Chip finds out that YDA has booked one of Mitch’s victim, Ashley Brown, for an interview and tells Hannah to do whatever she can to get her back. Cory then tells Chip to meet with Bradley Jackson. Alex receives a call from Sarah, telling her the network doesn’t want to let her have co host approval. She speaks to Chip about it and threatens not to do the show unless they guarantee that clause in her new contract. As she stands her ground, Chip has no other choice but to agree to it. Bradley arrives for her meeting with Chip and presents her ideas. He tells her that she’s being interviewed for a correspondent position and after some berating, rants about how The Morning Show is stale and they need better content. At the same time, Mitch meets with his business manager who explains that the network won’t be paying him anymore due to him violating the moral clauses which shocks him greatly. Hannah decides to visit Ashley in a bid to convince her to come on The Morning Show to speak out about her experience. Shocked to get an invitation after her meeting with Cory, she accepts and decides to stay in New York for now. Chip visits Mitch and tells him to stop trying to contact reporters to tell his side of the story. Mitch reveals that he wants to fight back and will hire a new attorney to get this sorted. Cory also tells him not to go but Mitch refuses, desperate to be heard. A stressed and emotional Alex arrives at the award ceremony with her daughter and ex-husband, managing put on a brave face for the cameras. Chip speaks to Cory about his meeting with Bradley and tells him that he doesn’t think she would be a good addition to the team. Bradley arrives shortly after and, much to the shock of everyone, decides to sit at the same table as Alex. They then meet in the bathroom where Alex realizes that Cory and Chip are keeping Bradley around to mess with her head. Alex then speaks to Cory and tells him once and for all that if she doesn’t get what she wants, she will walk away from the job. Alex then receives her award and after dedicating it to the women involved, she makes a bold move and announces that Bradley Jackson will be her new co host. The second episode of The Morning Show certainly ended on an interesting note. While it may be a little predictable that Bradley was going to become the co host, it was quite surprising to see how this was done nonetheless; Alex is ready to fight for her spot and seems to be playing the network executives at their own game. With both strong women set to headline The Morning Show, there’s bound to be some fiery confrontations in the episodes to come. The cast continue to offer good chemistry here, with the different character arcs developing at a steady pace. Whether The Morning Show will have influence to help Apple+ become a successful streaming platform remains to be seen, but for now the show is just starting to settle into a consistent groove.
