“The Morning Show” is another series that’s guilty of going 2 years between every season, but luckily we’re in an odd numbered year and the Apple TV+ mainstay is finally back. The series is currently at 67% on RT but each season, the scores have climbed. “The Morning Show” is also one of Apple TV+’s most watched series behind only “Ted Lasso” and “Severance”. “The Morning Show” has also been nominated for a significant amount of awards and has won it’s fair share, including multiple Emmy’s.
It’s hard to keep viewers interested with a 2 year release schedule, but the series has been able to maintain a steady fanbase heading into it’s season 4 premiere. After a season finale that seemed to banish Mark the billionaire mogul, a popular guest star played by Jon Hamm, season 4 picks up in April of 2024, as Alex (Jennifer Aniston) and company are getting ready for their coverage of the Olympics. Warning, beyond this point there are spoilers for anyone who is not up to date on “The Morning Show” and it’s season 4 premiere from Apple TV+, titled: “My Roman Empire”.
After a season finale that seemed to banish popular guest star Jon Hamm, season 4 picks up in April of 2024, as Alex (Jennifer Aniston) and company are getting ready for their coverage of the Olympics.”
The series brings us back to the fictional network UBN (formerly UBA) where the new CEO Stella (Greta Lee) is holding a meeting with staff from ‘TMS’ about A.I. and impending layoffs. The word mutiny comes up after the meeting, which did seem tense. The series is setting a baseline for the stakes right off the bat and it also let’s us know that ‘TMS’ has lost half of it’s staff in the last 2 years, which have been incredibly rough for the network. Stella promises the worst is over, but nobody seems to be buying it…. Including us viewers. The next scene takes us to Hollywood, where Cory (Billy Crudup) has adapted and is living his new life, working on movies. Cory’s movie is being affected by wildfire smoke, which is a subtle nod to what many California residents went through in the L.A. wildfires earlier this year. Given the fact that Crudup won multiple Emmy’s playing the role of Cory, it’s no surprise that the show would opt to continue to follow his character.
One character who is noticeably absent from the first episode is Chip, played by Mark Duplass who was also nominated for an Emmy for his work on the show. Chip is brought up briefly by Alex, who sees an article about Chip’s documentary screening at Cannes. Chips’ co-dependent, toxic relationship with Alex was one of the main attractions of the series for the first three seasons, but the two seem to have made a clean break in season 4. Duplass is listed on the series IMDB page as appearing in all 32 episodes of the series like the other top cast, but it’s unclear how big his role will be in season 4. The actor gave an interview about season 4 which was more vibe than anything and didn’t clarify any details on how big his arc would be or how involved Chip gets with Alex and ‘TMS’ in the upcoming season.
After the detour to Cory-town, the episode cuts back to the UBN team getting ready to interview an Iranian fencing prodigy. The episode quickly evolves into something more cloak and dagger as the fencers father ends up being a nuclear scientist who wants to defect with his daughter. Alex instinctively helps the pair escape, which even includes a dramatic car chase and high speed accident. This is a unique take on news behind the scenes in a new age of political violence. Given the choice that could end your career, what would you do? Throughout the rest of the episode, Alex follows up about the Iranian defectors, which makes her seem a bit naive, but also more human. It’s unclear whether Alex will take a more activist type role this season, or if this was just inserted into the story here for the premiere. The act of helping the Iranians gets Alex somewhat sidelined and creates a staffing shortage. That shortage causes Stella and Mia (Karen Pittman) to brainstorm bringing back former anchor Bradley (Reese Witherspoon). Bradley had also been banished after the events of season 3 due to her inappropriate handling of evidence involving her brother in the J6 riot.
Overall the story here is solid, but sometimes the script is a bit dramatic and removed from reality. Some of Stella and Alex’s lines towards the end of act I are very wooden and don’t appear to be being delivered to anyone and more for the benefit of the audience. Cory’s story and struggle to deal with the allegations about his relationship with Bradley eventually come front and center as the character shakes off the wildfire smoke only to have his lead actress quit in the middle of a shoot. UBN’s efforts to bring Bradley back into the fold take up the most of the story’s space in acts II and III, while it becomes obvious that Alex doesn’t want her around.
Ultimately the 2 characters have a confrontation and Alex is honest that she doesn’t want Bradley back, while Bradley pushes back on Alex and accuses her of hypocrisy for not running the story about billionaire Paul (Hamm) that she was entangled with. This show has always done a fantastic job of showing the reality that there’s always two sides to every argument, with no participant ever perfectly right or perfectly wrong. The overall story choice to have this season take place in our timeline, but in April of 2024, 7 months before the election is a brilliant one. Everyone knows what’s coming in the news and the real question becomes, how will each character react to this news? How will the characters react to the election?
The episode takes an odd detour before the third act with Stella and her somewhat familiar romantic partner. The scene drags on and although it adds some sex appeal, it doesn’t add much to the story in our opinion. The payoff for this comes later when we realize Stella in sleeping with her boss’ man. This storyline clearly won’t end well and it’s obvious there’s a ticking time bomb out there that the writers can blow up whenever they want. The final scene has Alex call Cory and let him know of Bradley’s return. Alex wants to meet up with Cory and it honestly paints Alex in an unflattering light. She’s going way out of her way to slam Bradley, who has made peace with her mistakes and was sought out by UBN. Bradley doesn’t appear to be in the wrong here and Alex sort of feels like a villain.
What do you think? Will Alex be the new big bad of “The Morning Show”? Will the skeletons in Bradley’s closet take down UBN and ‘TMS’? How will Cory fix his movie and will he go after Bradley? Will Stella be able to pull off the Olympics? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
