What’s that you ask? Why, that’s the sound of a chorus of angels singing in gorgeous harmony, because The Morning Show is back! We cannot waste even a second of time, because we have to go to space (yes, seriously) and it’s gonna be quite a journey to get there, both in the literal and metaphoric sense. A speed recap on the events of last season: Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) got gay with Laura Peterson (Julianna Margulies), Alex (Jennifer Aniston) yelled at Maggie (Marcia Gay Harden) in a hotel room in Vegas about a tell-all book she wrote, Cory (Billy Crudup) is in love with Bradley, and Steve Carell died. Oh, and Alex got COVID and did a live broadcast while hopped up on Red Bull and sweat. The entire second season took place in the span of three months, ending on March 16th, 2020. What a show!

We are jumping forward two whole years to March of 2022, and…my god, is Alex Levy dead??? LOL NO, of course she isn’t; she is just watching a draft of her obituary in case she dies in space. Because she is going to space! For like, ten minutes, but still! She thinks her obituary image is too peppy, and then she is off to torture Cory with her trademark calm and chill. She wants more power and to feel like she matters at the network, and Cory does what he can to appease her, which is…not much, tbh. But Alex has a hit steaming show to record, so she heads off and gets her ass dragged by Esther Perel, famed couples therapist and podcaster. Why is it that she can only find satisfaction for herself in work? What about with another human being?  Alex’s response? “Woah. Okay. Wow. Woah.” Journalism at it’s finest!

But what of our favorite newsroom gays? What happened to Laura and Bradley? It’s been two years, give us something, The Morning Show! Bradley is in bed, and there is a swath of raven hair in bed with her! Good sign! But alas, it is just a random hot dark haired woman! Bradley kicks her out, RATHER RUDELY, imo. Literally just like, offers her an Advil and is like “I gotta get to work.” Ice cold! Speaking of work, it seems to be a weekday morning, and Bradley is not on the set of TMS? Where else could she possibly be working?

Folks, the woman is not a born hostess.

These last two years have been good to Bradley, because she is the HOST of her very own show: uba’s Evening News with Bradley Jackson! I am going with the flow and believing she is good at it, because we pretty much just see her sitting on set at a big desk one time. Nice work if you can get it! I also want to think about the international implications for the gay community — the anchor of a major network news show is just like, out and about, cruising for hot brunettes? Where is she going? I am welcoming your thoughts! Also, remember how Cory was in love with her? It seems two years was not enough to heal…whatever happened between them! He asks how her speech is, she says she has a draft, it’s weird and seems like a bad work environment, but that’s uba for you!

And look, it’s not like Cory doesn’t have his own, weird sexual thing going on with…Jon Hamm?? They are sitting in a sauna together, sweating and talking in wildly grand metaphor, as Cory is wont to do. It seems like Jon Hamm (his name here is Paul, but let’s be serious) is thinking about buying uba. Also, he is the one who is sending Alex into space, and he wants to know what the deal with her is. You and me both, buddy! Thankfully, Cory has a bonkers monologue ready to go:

“She’s a survivor. That’s it. That’s what people wanna see right now. I mean, she got the broken marriage, she’s got the predation and the creepy co-anchor, and then she suffers through a biblical plague on live TV to become the one human people can actually relate to in this shit show of a so called democracy. I did not discover Alex Levy but I did bring her back from the dead. So to your question? Alex Levy is Lazarus. And that makes me Jesus. Except I am in more houses, seven days a week.”

ALEX LEVY IS LAZARUS! Say it with me!!! Jon Hamm isn’t buying it, but I am in, Cory! Also, kiss Jon Hamm, just for a sec. For me? Ugh, fine!

The golden light of homoeroticism!

Alex is forced to drop by TMS to talk about her intense training regimen and face the co-anchors that have taken her place in The Teacup. One of them is Yanko (UGH) but! One of them is Christina Hunter, played by Nicole Beharie, who is gorgeous and talented, and I am praying they do not do her dirty because come on CHRISTINA HUNTER? My name is CHRISTINA TUCKER? I see you, The Morning Show! She does not have much to do in this episode, sadly, aside from looking gorgeous and carrying the dead air between Alex and Yanko. Who thought YANKO should be the co-anchor??? He’s a WEATHERMAN! No offense to Al Roker, but not all weather guys have It, and Yanko definitely does NOT.

But enough of the table setting, let’s get to the meat of the episode! Bradley has a story about a woman in Texas who crosses into Mexico to get abortion pills for women who can’t travel the massive distance to the few still running clinics. Stella decides she can’t report on it, because Bradley has too personal of a connection to the story, and a history of…going off. Stella can’t risk the advertisers walking off, so there will be no story. This does unquestionably suck, and it does feel true to how a news network would make this call. Bradley…doesn’t take it well, surprising no one. It’s not that I think she’s wrong, but I can’t imagine this is the first time she’s had to cut a story due to C Suite reasons? Either way, it does not put her in a great mood for the big event of the night — the American Alliance of Journalists…Award? It doesn’t have a great title, and I think she’s the only one getting an award? It truly doesn’t matter because guess who shows up?

MOTHER

That’s right! Our favorite Lesbian in the News, Laura Peterson is back! They have an appropriately awkward conversation, where Laura basically says that she is responsible for Bradley getting this award. I guess because…if Bradley had never moved to Montana with her…then she wouldn’t have been able to return and do journalism? Tbh it’s giving Toxic Dyke, but I don’t really care because she is still very hot and still more emotionally healthy than anyone else on this damn show! Bradley leaves their interaction and heads directly to the bar, because what better time is there to get blasted than right before you win the First Amendment Prize for Serious Journalism? Cory tries to slow her roll, but she is on a tear! She rants about the Texas story, and he tries to say news is Stella’s division so he can’t interfere. “Would you interfere if we were together? Is that what it would take?” Hate to say it, but point to her! Still, I’m glad he took the bottle of champagne away!

FINALLY it’s time for her speech, and we learn she has won this prestigious award because she was UNDERCOVER AT THE INSURRECTION. That’s right, our girl was QUEERING the space, and the space in question was the Capitol building. She teeters up to the podium, tucks away her prepared remarks, and everyone girds their lions. I have transcribed her speech in full, are you ready?

“Thank you Alex. It’s been a whirlwind three years. And you know one thing I’ve learned as journalist? There will always—always—be someone who tries to silence you. So don’t let them.” 

Slam dunk as far I am concerned!

Nothing chaotic happens as the episode winds down — LOL OF COURSE CHAOS HAPPENS. Remember the whole space thing? Right. So Alex and the TMS crew head off to Texas, where Alex meets Jon Hamm and his…COO? Assistant? Body Guard? Whatever, his Tig Notaro! They look weirdly identical in a way I find kind of charming? Jon Hamm takes Alex on a bonkers ATV ride where he lets it slip that he is thinking about buying uba. Alex’s response, of course, is yell at Chip for a while, then find an excuse to run away and leave her space mission in the dust. At least this time her excuse is decent — Bradley’s source for the abortion story in Texas has been arrested, and she needs a spare camera operator to meet her so she can report the story. These blondes are trouble, I say! Cory intercepts Bradley at the airport and blackmails her to go to space. Yep, that’s right. He hints at something he did for her, and we get a flash of Bradley’s hands on something that might be a sink or a bathtub. PLEASE tell me she killed someone and he helped her cover it up!

What have these hands seen??

Whatever it is, it is potent enough that Bradley agrees to get rocketed out to space. Alex, ever the giver, agrees to cover her abortion story. These blondes are simply too chaotic. Alex seems to have a good time reporting some important news in the field, and well…Bradley goes to space.

THE WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE

Alex and Chip are watching from some random diner, and Chip asks if she regrets not going. She doesn’t, but she’s glad Bradley got to get up there and see it. And then the live feed drops. EPISODE OVER!!!! Can you believe?? No one is doing it like The Morning Show!

Check back tomorrow for a recap of episode two!

This The Morning Show recap was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors who are currently on strike, streaming series like this one would not be possible, and Autostraddle is grateful for the artists who do this work.

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