The Morning Show Season 4 Premiere Recap: Careful What You Wish For — Plus, Grade It!
Alex is boss, Bradley is back, and Cory is broke.
That's the big news to come out of The Morning Show's Season 4 premiere. It's all intriguing, of course. But if you've been watching the Apple TV+ series for a while, you know that what's going on behind the headlines is often a heck of a lot more interesting, sexy and/or ridiculous in the best way possible. And I am pleased to report that is certainly the case in this week's hour.
Read on for the highlights of Episode 1.
'WE WANT TO DEFECT' | We come back into the action two years after the events of the Season 2 finale. The UBA-NBN merger went through, forming a new network: UBN. Stella is Chief Executive Officer. Alex is head of talent. They work closely with board member Celine Dumont (played by La Vie en Rose's Marion Cotillard). Chris is still at The Morning Show, which Mia still executive-produces. It's basically Lilith Fair up in here!
The 2024 Summer Olympics are coming up, and Stella — along with new news boss Ben (played by The Good Place's William Jackson Harper) — is hype about the network's fancy new AI, which can reproduce an anchor's voice in real-time in a bunch of different languages. Think of the possibilities! And do not, for one second, think about how this could all go horribly, nefariously awry!
Early in the episode, Alex prepares for a pre-taped interview with Roya, a teenage Iranian fencer who'll represent her country at the games. The negotiations for the sit-down have been considerable — for instance, Alex is not to stray from the benign topic of sports — and the fencer and her father are accompanied by a handful of very serious-looking minders. Right before the cameras roll, though, the fencer's father slips Alex a note that reads "We want to defect."
The interview begins according to plan, but then Alex starts asking political questions, and the minders quickly bring the taping to a halt. Voices are raised as Ben tries to calm the Iranian officials, which Alex sees as an opportunity to pull Roya into a quiet corner and ask if she truly wants to defect. She does.
So Alex hastily whispers instructions for Roya to take a freight elevator down to Alex's waiting car. After the teen takes off, Alex pulls a fire alarm, upping the chaos and giving Roya's dad the opportunity to slip out and join his daughter. The defectors make it, but barely — they're kicking away their handlers as they try to close the car door — and there's a car crash with an unsuspecting motorist as the Iranian officials give chase. But Roya and her father are free... and Alex has some questions to answer.
BRING BACK BRADLEY! | "We survive the rapist, chase away the billionaire, then a teenager walks in, and we lose our heads," Celine says later. Alex is in trouble, and Stella's job is in jeopardy, as well: Turns out, Roya's father works for Iran's nuclear operation, and UBN is at danger of losing its 12-year contract on the games. "If we lose the Olympics," Celine explains, "we lose the network."
So, what's the plan? With Chris, a former Olympian herself, on deck for a lot of Paris games-related coverage, Mia suggests bringing Bradley back: Stella likes it, because Ms. Jackson has red-state appeal. Alex hates the idea, but it doesn't matter: Mia's already booking her ticket to pay the wayward blonde a visit.
"In prison?!" you might ask. After all, Bradley did obstruct justice and lie to the feds. The last time we saw her, in fact, she was scooting her boot into the FBI to turn herself in. But no, sillies: Bradley is white, famous and pretty — no jail time for her! Instead, she's teaching at a small college and leading the boring, though free, life of a normie. When Mia shows up at Bradley's home to pitch her a return to the network (Alex is "excited!," Mia lies smoothly), Bradley politely, definitely shuts her down.
Later, though, Bradley gets an encrypted message from someone named gaiawarrior96 who knows that she turned Mia down and who informs her there's a story she needs to investigate: "A cover-up at your old network." The mystery messager goes on to explain that people are being poisoned and no one gives a f—k."
Bradley asks follow-ups, including about the identity of whoever's on the other end, but all she gets is a link to a story about the Martel Chemical Plant causing cancer and animal deaths. "Someone KILLED this story," gaiawarrior96 writes, urging Bradley to look into it because "You're the journalist." Bradley starts to type "not anymore" but then erases it and instead sends "WHO ARE YOU." The only response she gets: "IT'S NOT SAFE."
Next thing we know, Bradley's federal handler is at her place, and she's telling him she's going to New York. "You are only free right now by the grace of the U.S. government," he says sternly, reminding her that she was never prosecuted and the feds kept her name out of the press. In exchange, if she comes across anything in New York (or elsewhere) that they should know about, they expect her to let them know.
MEET MARTIN LEVY | Alex remains concerned about Roya and her father, so she makes contact with her own dad, Martin (Watchmen's Jeremy Irons), an academic who has connections at the State Department. Their relationship is chilly on the whole; Martin is generally disdainful of his daughter's career — he'd prefer she were a "real journalist" — and he refuses to help her. "Keep out of this, whatever it is," he says dismissively. "Don't become involved."
While she's there, though... he's about to become dean of his university's law school, and he asks her to speak with a student who's writing a profile on him for the alumni magazine. He wants family anecdotes and such: "Something frothy and light, the sort of thing you're good at." Alex reluctantly agrees.
CORY'S SECOND ACT | If you're thinking, "Where in the world is Cory Ellison?," allow me to fill you in. The disgraced former UBA CEO is producing a big-budget movie that's been derailed by the aftereffects of a fire ("Orange smoke?" he cries to the poor person giving him the news over the phone, "What, did they make Trump the Pope?") and the abrupt departure of its lead actress. Throughout the hour, he works his way down a list of A-list ladies, all of whom won't take the part, and winds up tracking down Alex's agent, Doug, at a party. Doug wants nothing to do with Cory despite Cory's adamant assertion that he was found clear of any wrongdoing. Still, Doug advises, lay the heck low, man! (Spoiler alert: There is no galaxy in which this will happen.)
PUT SOME MILES ON IT | Stella's got a racy little romance going on, we learn during the course of the episode. His name is Miles (Aaron Pierre, Genius), and they pretend not to know each other at a bar yet go back to his place and get it on. The reason for the subterfuge becomes clear near the end of the episode when we see Celine's man stop by to see her at the network — and it's Miles. Stella, you minx!
JUST LIKE OLD TIMES | Back to Bradley, who arrives in Manhattan and immediately swings by Alex's penthouse. Alex makes it known that she didn't approve of bringing Bradley back, even though Mia and Stella are on board. Those women "don't know what you did," Alex points out. "I just don't think you should be reporting the news right now. You crossed a line."
As they argue, Bradley counters that Paul Marks is living just fine, despite crossing hundreds of lines, and she can't understand why Alex didn't go public with all the dirt she gathered on him. After Bradley storms out, Alex calls Cory. "Bradley is back and starting TMS Monday morning," she tells him. "You and I are overdue for a catch-up, don't you think?"
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the season premiere? Grade it via the poll below, then hit the comments with all of your thoughts!