The Morning Show (Season 3) Episodes 1 & 2: The second season of The Morning Show on Apple TV+ was largely set around the time when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. The predator anchor Mitch Kessler had fled the country. His long-time Morning Show co-host Alex Levy is replaced by Bradley Jackson. Meanwhile, Alex’s associate, Chip Black, had moved to a small town to work for a small network. Alex convinced him to come back with her to UBA for her return. While ego-driven voices tried to kill Hannah’s story, a documentarian offered Mitch a chance to tell his narrative.
Amidst this, Alex paid Mitch a visit to Italy, which shook things up for both. After reflecting upon his actions, he took his own life. On the other hand, Alex succumbed to the virus and faced backlash for meeting her old colleague. Finally, she decided to take charge of her narrative and became a voice for UBA Network’s online vertical at the time.
Now, the third season shows Alex returning to The Morning Show while Bradley takes the evening spot in UBA’s daily schedule. Cory tries to cut a deal with a tech giant to secure the Network’s future in the constantly changing media landscape.
Spoilers ahead!
The Morning Show (Season 3) Episode 1 ‘The Kármán Line’ Recap:
Alex & Bradley’s Present
The third season begins with an obituary for Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston), with the year of her death being 2022. While we have a mini heart attack watching it, we learn the reason behind it. Alex is going on a short space trip in a suborbital rocket with a tech-giant businessman, Paul Marks (Jon Hamm). Chip (Mark Duplass) does not feel the obituary is necessary. But Alex does not trust Cory (Billy Crudup). She believes he will do things just for the sake of the numbers. Chip tries to relieve her stress that they will return to Earth. Later, during an interview with a mindfulness guide, she finds herself introspecting upon whether she has allowed herself to immerse herself in anything beyond her work.
Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) starts working for an evening news show. For a while, she has worked on an abortion-related piece. A woman named Luna Garcia (Yuli Zorrila) from Texas is fighting for justice, and Bradley wants to support her through her work. Before going on the set, she assures Luna that they will meet soon. While she wants to fulfill this idealistic goal, Cory tries to strengthen his friendship/work relationship with Paul for a specific reason. He wants Paul’s enormous wealth to ensure UBA’s future and not face any issues as the network did with the streaming platform. But he does not inform Alex that her going to space is to help secure this deal. So, Alex is right. Cory does have an ulterior motive rooted in the business of their network.
Alex’s Proposal
Alex decides to make a proposal to Cory, which he considers bold and extreme. She knows her worth for the UBA in her 20 years of having worked there and how crucial she has been for its revenue. So, to have a say in its future, she wants to be a partner in the business with double profit participation and a seat on the board. Since he does not seem to accept her worth, she mentions how underappreciated she feels. Later, Cory informs Stella (Greta Lee) and Cybil (Holland Taylor) about Alex’s proposal. It comes at a time when UBA is suffering from a financial setback. So, Cybil does not wish to burn any more of their reserves. On the other hand, Stella considers layoffs in this scenario.
Stella meets Bradley to share sad news – UBA will not go forward with Bradley’s piece on medical abortions. Bradley considers it a shock coming from someone like Stella, who wanted to change the place for the better. Stella sees the bigger picture. UBA has not been neutral on this issue. But for the upcoming elections, Bradley is a face that both political sides can trust, as per Stella’s judgment. That’s why she is taking this step. Meanwhile, for Bradley’s journalistic work, the American Alliance of Journalists plans to honor her. Over there, she happens to bump into Laura Peterson (Julianna Margulies). Since their relationship did not end on a good note, that bitterness is reflected in their dialogue.
Bradley’s Autonomy
Bradley learns that Stella will get to do the medical abortion piece instead of her. Cory justifies it by saying News is Stella’s department. But Bradley cannot contain her disappointment and starts drinking. After receiving her award, she cryptically expresses the same disappointment. Alex senses that Bradley is upset about something and follows her. Bradley talks about her story about Luna, who crosses over the border into Mexico every month to get abortion pills for women who can’t go to the nearest clinic. But because of the decision from the senior professionals at UBA, Bradley cannot report on it.
Trip to Space
While Alex acknowledges its importance, she asks if Bradley can let go of this particular story. Due to her years of experience, Alex understands how important it is for Bradley to settle into her new role. The next day, Alex and her team travel to Paul’s organization. Turns out, Paul agreed to the UBA broadcast of their trip to ensure a deal of his with NASA. He shows Alex around the thousands of acres of land in his facility. That’s when she learns about Cory’s actual intent behind this trip. He deeply worries the future of UBA with the pace at which the media world is changing. Alex feels hurt on constantly being managed by someone. So, she impulsively decides to bail on their rocket trip broadcast to go cover the story of women from Texas.
It creates a state of panic for Mia (Karen Pittman), who asks Alex’s Morning Show co-host Christina (Nicole Beharie) if she would volunteer to go on the market. But she refuses to be their guinea pig for their test. So, Cory travels to San Antonio to make Bradley accept to do it. Turns out, he called in his legal team overnight to provide Luna with all the help she needed. So, Bradley agrees to do it last minute without any space-related training that Alex had. Finally, Bradley and Cory join Paul in outer space, whereas Alex covers the story in Texas. While in space, Bradley speaks through a live broadcast on UBA and shares her experience with the viewers. Alex also sees it with Chip from a diner in Texas. While it starts off well, the broadcast suddenly gets disconnected. Alex sees it in shock. Did Bradley just end up risking her life instead of her? That might be going through her head.
The Morning Show (Season 3) Episode 2 ‘Ghost in the Machine’ Recap:
Technical Issues
The live broadcast of Bradley’s space travel with Cory and Paul gets suddenly disconnected, leaving everyone in panic. Turns out, it was just a technical issue that resulted in this mishap. While everyone feels better knowing they are safe and sound, Paul gets annoyed. UBA was supposed to make space look safe and appealing. Instead, the mess-up made it look dangerous and possibly ruined his future deals. Meanwhile, charges against Luna get dropped. However, Alex does not get a chance to meet her. After meeting Bradley on the flight, she meets Cybil to talk about Cory’s deal proposal with Paul.
Alex worries their news division will be ruled by an algorithm that will work as a mouthpiece for Paul’s tech company. Cybil assures her that the deal won’t go through. But the next day, in her meeting with Stella and Cory, she tells them to suspend Alex. Stella has another idea – they will keep Alex to spend more time on TMS since ratings go up when it gets aired. She plans to sell the bump upfronts. Later, Alex and Cristina interview Bradley on TMS about her space trip. In the middle of their conversation, the teleprompter goes off. For some reason, their team cannot understand what is causing this glitch. Chip and Mia get locked in their control room. Amidst this panic, suddenly, lights go off and create a panic.
The Cyberattack
Once the lights go off, Chip breaks open the glass to bring Bradley, Alex, and Christina out. In the dark, Bradley thinks they should take an elevator. But once they enter, the lights inside go off, and they cannot communicate with anyone on the outside. Out of nowhere, the server turns back on, and loud music starts playing. The UBA professionals believe it is a cyberattack. Then, everyone gets information about their personal evaluations sent. Cory learns that these terrorists have access to internal databases and some degree of emails. But the expert considers the situation might be worse.
Besides the databases, a personal video of Bradley addressing Laura gets leaked. Once she gets out of the elevator, Cory calls her to meet. That’s when she realizes the damage the attack has caused. Since Bradley was using their wireless data, UBA also realized that more of their personal data might be out. Laura tries to help Bradley in this difficult situation. But Bradley asks to be left alone. Meanwhile, Stella orders everyone to turn in their phones so that no more information gets leaked. Cory believes Paul is making this happen as revenge against the butchered broadcast. He thinks Paul is holding the network hostage until they meet his price in the deal.
The Morning Show (Season 3) Episode 2 ‘Ghost in the Machine’ Ending Explained:
Does the UBA network pay the ransom to resist the private information leak?
Stella tells Alex that she will have to do TMS five days a week as a consequence of bailing on their broadcast without any prior notice. Alex is surprised that Cybil is on the same page with this decision. On the other hand, Bradley asks Cory whether he told about their secret to anyone. She asks him to pay the ransom to the terrorists to ensure the video does not get shared further. Cory seems less confident about it since he isn’t in the good graces of Cybil at the moment. So, Bradley seeks Alex’s help. But Alex did not know about the leaked video at the time. So, their conversation does not go as Bradley had expected it to.
In the board meeting, Cory stresses upon the importance of paying the ransom to secure their private information. However, the board does not share his interest in that option. Cybil speaks out her doubt – what if the attackers do not stay true to their word after getting the ransom? So, every board member besides Cory votes against paying the ransom. Since Cory gets upset by this decision, Cybill calls out how he became CEO by staging a coup, not by merit but by opportunism. Meanwhile, Alex walks in on Chip and her director of development, Isabella (Hannah Leder), having sex in a room. She asks if Isabella was pressured into it by Cory. Eventually, she learns that the two have been in a relationship for a while and had also told HR but did not know how to inform Alex about it.
Stella tells Bradley to announce that they will not give in to the demands of terrorists. She asks if Bradley wants someone else to do it. But Bradley agrees to announce it herself. At the end of the episode, Alex arrives at Bradley’s house to apologize and then offers her company in her time of distress. In the office, Stella tells Cory to be cautious of a tech giant such as Paul and not get caught up in a fight with both sides. Once she leaves his office, Cory calls Earl to work on a document with details on the merger with Paul and to leak this document. Meanwhile, on Stella’s phone, we see a photo of her with Paul. So, there is more than what meets the eye with this new chapter with Paul. What stands out the most in this new season of The Morning Show is how it is taking real-life worries to build its tense drama.
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