On The Morning Show Season Two Episodes Two and Three, “It’s Like The Flu,” and “Laura,” we’re introduced to the novel Coronavirus, find out what Mitch has been up to (sigh), and dive right into the Alex and Bradley dynamics setting up the season. Though in season one Bradley and Alex had a tumultuous relationship, to say the least, Bradley is almost expecting it to come back as them being civil coworkers. We can assume this is because she was told by Alex herself that she’s changed quite a bit, but… Bradley doesn’t see that.
It’s hard to see in which direction they’re taking the show, which is something kind of unexpected considering the premiere. We know, of course, that COVID-19 has become prevalent in the station, but that’s really all we know.
Especially with this re-introduction of Mitch.
There’s a part of the show that, even in the tiniest way, wants us to feel bad for Mitch. They layer this with near-constant talk of Hannah and the general atmosphere of what it was like to work with Mitch and Fred Micklen, which begs the question, why the hell are we even still talking about Mitch?
These spaces in time, and there are quite a few focusing entirely on Mitch, are instead great opportunities to introduce Stella Bak more, to deepen the relationship between Alex and Bradley, even to expand on characters we know and love, like Yanko and Daniel.
Instead, we’re forced to listen to Fred Micklen try to convince Mitch to fight the lawsuit of wrongful death.
Chip Black also returns as Alex’s producer, because duh, but it’s clear that neither he nor anyone around them wants Chip back. Chip says yes to Alex because it’s what he knows, and it’s what he’s used to, but we can see that he’s uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, I feel that Chip is someone else who shouldn’t necessarily be in the second season, or if he is, he shouldn’t be this big of a factor. Alex is an experienced anchor, she’s been in the business for years, but this may be too big for Chip.
Alex is, frankly, a jerk to Chip, and Alex isn’t exactly in the position to be rejecting help left and right, but she is. Alex says she’s changed, that she’s learned, but she’s still insistent on hiding the truth, on almost one-upping Bradley and Chip with what she knows and she thinks they don’t.
We meet Laura, played by Julianna Margulies, and it’s clear immediately why Alex is threatened by her. They’re… similar. Not necessarily in the obvious ways, but they both know how to get exactly what they want.
Then there’s the shocking moment that’s clearly supposed to elicit gasps, shocks, maybe even pearl clenches, when Bradley kisses Laura. The thought is great. The execution is great. The reasoning leaves much to be desired.
Bradley seemingly kisses Laura in a very much Eve-kissing-Villanelle-on-the-bus way, trying to distract her from the question Laura asks. The show can go about this two ways: let Bradley come out, or face the utter stupidity in 2021 of falsely leading the audience on about a possible LGBTQ+ character.
Daniel is constantly being swept into the background, which is exhausting and just overall dumb. The show takes COVID-19 and turns it into something seen as a joke by the anchors of The Morning Show.
Of course, there are plenty, if not a majority, of people who never thought COVID would get this bad, but laughing about social distancing, watching Daniel become trapped in Wuhan as I receive the notification of the USA hitting 700,000 deaths from the virus leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
What did you think of The Morning Show, “It’s Like the Flu,” and “Laura”? What are you looking forward to most? Was anyone absolutely losing it when Cory fired Richard for insinuating there was a built-in NDA? What are your predictions for the rest of the season? Let me know in the comments below!
