The Morning Show (Season 3), Episode 4: The third season of ‘The Morning Show’ presents the changing power equations in UBA and the fear of an uncertain future due to a constantly changing media landscape. In the previous episode, we saw Cybill being made to resign from the board for Leonard Cromwell to secure her position. This was a result of her racist comments toward a TMS anchor Christina. The episode followed a breakdown of systemic racism in this organisation.
Now the fourth episode shows the UBA employees coming together for the UBA Upfront party at the Hamptons. While Bradley and Alex revisit problematic relationships from their past, Stella, Cory & Mia realise some harsh realities of working for UBA.
*Spoilers ahead*
The Morning Show (Season 3) Episode 4 Recap:
Episode 4: The Green Light
Financial Burden at the UBA
The fourth episode shows the aftermath of the hacked emails scenario and the Cybill-related fiasco, which resulted in her leaving the UBA board chairperson seat. Cory (Billy Crudup) hoped this to happen since – he believed it would clear his path for UBA’s deal with Paul Marks (Jon Hamm). However, after Cybil’s exit, Paul decided to cut all ties with UBA because he did not want to associate with a place prone to debacles. So, Cory has to figure out another solution for their financial woes.
That’s where Stella (Greta Lee) comes into the picture. Cory expects her to crack a deal for UBA with a company named Ellipse. Greta hopes a fitting reward if she manages to crack a deal of $300 million in ad sales. Cory stresses the fact that their future depends on this deal, meaning – it dictates whether they even have a future or not. Meanwhile, he puts on a smiling face as the UBA’s CEO and gets back to work. Alex (Jennifer Aniston), who isn’t aware of the deep trouble UBA is in, is concerned about her docuseries not being on air. Cory lays out the bare truth – the deal with Paul is off and UBA is in a dire situation.
Greta’s Unfortunate Experience
The UBA execs start putting pressure on Cory considering the low revenue figures in the recent past. He smooth-talks them into not rushing into finalising any decision. Meanwhile, Stella gets in a meeting with two privileged white men, who happen to be ad execs from Ellipse (played by Logan Hulick & Kyle Louis). Their hostess at the restaurant – Erica – (Emmie Nagata) is Asian-American. Their racial identities need to be mentioned since the drama works around the power dynamics between them.
These white execs make Stella overspend on a meal. In short, they torture her into submitting to any of their whims. Stella does not say anything against their sexist remarks toward Erica. She also indulges their demands to make the deal happen. But they start playing lowball to make her spend more and more. So, she asks Erica to send water in the glasses instead of alcohol. Erica agrees to it, but it backfires on her. These arrogant pricks expect her to lick the spilt liquid from their table in exchange for agreeing to the number that Stella wanted for the deal.
Stella falls into a conundrum – should she be an ally to a fellow Asian-American person being harassed or should she just subject Erica to this humiliation as a part of her journey? Begrudgingly, she chooses the latter. Afterwards, while talking about the status of their deal with Cory, she hints at the lengths she had to go to achieve it. Cory reminds her of how her sacrifice to take a moral stand has helped several UBA employees with their job security and health benefits.
Paul’s Ego
During his discussion with Alex about the troubling state of UBA, Cory mentions that Paul’s ego got hurt when Alex bailed on a space trip with him. As a result, she decides to take charge of this matter herself. Alex meets Paul and invites him to join her for a surprise. She takes him to an amusement park she worked at, in the early years of her career. He gets confused – why is Alex showing these inconsequential details to him? That’s when she apologises for bailing on his space launch.
Alex hints at her complicated history at UBA where men tried to dictate her destiny. She mentions that she took out her frustration on him. Eventually, they get on a roller-coaster ride together and then, play arcade games. He wonders why she is trying to secure the UBA deal so hard if her influence can also get her work elsewhere. Alex feels she owes this to UBA after their years of support. Nevertheless, Paul makes her consider her own value beyond UBA’s tag attached to her.
Bradley & Laura
After the issue with their video, Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) starts to speak with Laura (Juliana Margulies) again. Their playful interactions reflect their improved relationship after processing the trauma of office politics. After Cybil’s public confrontation, Cristina (Nicole Beharie) becomes more upfront about her requests and expectations from UBA. Mia (Karen Pittman) somehow convinces her to come to the meeting at the Hamptons. Later, Bradley brings a source to speak about the on-ground situation in Ukraine.
To her surprise, Mia speaks in Russian with this person and manages to get a deal. Then, she calls Andre (Clive Standen) to get him to cover the situation on the ground in Mariupol while not revealing that he is working with UBA. Finally, at the UBA Upfronts meet-up, Christina shows up but decides to leave soon after. Bradley also arrives and starts networking with the suited businessmen, for UBA. Laura rescues her from that boring ordeal and takes her to explore Cory’s room.
Christina’s Stance
In the UBA Upfronts party, Christina meets Leonard Cromwell (Stephen Fry), who recently replaced Cybill as the board chairman. She asks him about the promises that Cybill only gave vapid responses to. Cristina asks if the money coming into their organisation is being used to address the pay equity gap. Leonard expects Christina to not worry if her salary is increased. But she warns him to help the others at UBA, who are the victims of this issue or she will make it a public issue for UBA.
Christina makes Leonard worry about the brand image after presenting an example through her recent confrontation with Cybil. It does enough to make Leonard take the matters seriously. Later, Yanko (Nestor Carbonell) informs her about UBA’s bad financial state. He wants her to not be a part of the ‘culture wars’ in the organisation. Meanwhile, in Cory’s room, Bradley and Laura see a bed from the Archer’s Grey. This is the same hotel that Bradley and Cory both stayed at. Laura makes a joke in poor taste about Cory’s affection for Bradley. It breaks the semblance of connection Bradley started feeling for her.
The Morning Show (Season 3) Episode 4 Ending Explained:
After spending most of the day together, Alex and Paul stop by a food stand. The man working there recognises Alex and insults her right away. While Alex does not retort, Paul gets furious at him. He calls out the man’s misogynistic views and refuses to let him insult her. While walking away, they talk about this incident. She says she does not let such reactions affect her since these men with fragile egos, consider her as their punching bag to take out the frustration they have against the women in their lives.
Does Alex manage to get a deal for UBA with Paul Marks?
After his conversation with Stella about the Ellipse deal, Cory notices Fred Micklen. After their fallout from the Mitch Kessler era, Cory kept his distance from this man, who sympathised with a sexual abuser. During their dialogue, Cory learns a surprising fact about UBA’s new deal – the folks at Ellipse have asked Fred to keep an eye on UBA. It frustrates Cory since this means Fred might cause issues with UBA’s existence.
At the time, Laura was apologising to Bradley for making her feel uncomfortable. Cory shows up there, in his frustrated state, and tells her to network with ad execs. He believes she owes her this much, considering all that he has done for her. In the recent past, he may have paid the ransom to terrorists to resist the leak of Bradley’s personal photos. By then, Mia shows Greta the photos that Andre clicked in Mariupol. Greta expects them to go on air immediately, but Mia believes they need to wait until they ensure Andre is safe. But, Greta does not wish to waste any time and expects to share it before any other news outlet. So, with a heavy heart, Mia agrees to do so.
Cory informs Stella about the issue with Fred, who is consulting Sloan off the books. She gets angry at him since he did not do due diligence before sending her for a traumatic experience. Now, Cory says he will take matters into his own hands. After this conversation, they walk out to see a helicopter arrive there. Once it lands, Alex walks out with Paul Marks, which both surprises and delights Cory. He sees it as a sign of hope for their future deal. So, it seems highly likely that Alex managed to get a deal for UBA with Paul Marks.
