The Morning Show has by no means been recognized for its refined exploration of hard-hitting points. On the opposite, the present’s insistence on reexamining a lot of our current historical past—first the #MeToo motion; then the Covid-19 pandemic; and now the Black Lives Matter motion, racial and gender inequity within the office, and the eventual fall of Roe v. Wade—is sufficient to give any well-informed viewer some sort of whiplash. But at this level, anybody who remains to be watching this present (myself included) is aware of precisely what they’ve signed up for.
Instead of the soapy storylines involving the standard suspects at UBA, the most recent episode of the Apple TV+ drama decides to show the highlight onto one in every of its latest additions: Christina Hunter, a former Olympian who joined TMS’s roster of anchors a few years in the past. In the earlier episode, within the midst of the cyberattack, we noticed a frightened Chris name her husband and speak to her younger daughter, making her appear extra grounded and down-to-earth than just about all of her colleagues. (Go determine!)
The morning after the ransom deadline handed, the hackers determined to launch all of UBA’s inside communications, unearthing revelations that staff of coloration particularly have been lowballed in wage negotiations. Eagle News, being the vultures they’re, studies {that a} racist e mail—indicative of a probably poisonous work surroundings—was found in UBA’s information breach. (Who are we kidding? UBA hasn’t had an excellent work surroundings perhaps…ever.) We quickly uncover that the incriminating e mail in query was written by Cybil, the pinnacle of the community’s board, in regards to the hiring of Chris in the summertime of 2020.
Feeling the squeeze on earnings throughout the early months of the pandemic, Cybil was sad with the community’s determination to signal a two-year take care of Chris till somebody identified that they have been paying her lower than Bradley when she was employed as a substitute for Mitch Kessler. “We bought her at a steal. After all, Chris is standard sufficient to be on cereal packing containers,” one exec mentioned. But it’s Cybil’s reply that’s extra damning: “Aunt Jemima was on cereal packing containers too, and nobody’s shopping for her anymore.” (As chances are you’ll recall, the Aunt Jemima model title was formally discontinued in 2021, with all merchandise rebranded to Pearl Milling Company.)
After studying the leaked emails for herself, an understandably emotional Chris is named into the workplace of Cory, who’s given the equally unsavory job of making an attempt to “make issues proper” together with his worker in an try and keep away from a discrimination lawsuit. Chris is made to really feel like the one Black lady on the firm and begins to lean on her husband, Marcus, a profitable sports activities agent who, in accordance with press releases, “will probably be serving to her navigate the company politics of UBA.”
Meanwhile, Cybil, now persona non grata on the firm her grandfather based 45 years in the past, tracks down Alex, whom Cybil expressly requested Stella to punish the day earlier than for lacking the Hyperion launch, and asks in regards to the inside response to her leaked e mail. Wanting to defend herself from being “canceled” publicly, Cybil asks Alex to interview her on Alex Unfiltered as a way to “set the file straight” within the court docket of public opinion. “It’s humorous how now hastily it turns into about sisterhood and solidarity, as a result of now you want one thing,” Alex says when Cybil insists that she’s had her again when nobody else did at UBA. (Yeah, proper, Cybil!)
The writers, to their credit score, do a commendable job of inspecting the bounds and pitfalls of white feminism, which fails to acknowledge the intersectionality of ladies and the way race can intertwine with misogyny within the mistreatment of ladies. But for a drama collection that’s actually led by and constructed across the likeness of two distinguished white girls, will probably be attention-grabbing to see how far the writers are prepared to go on this examination of racial inequity within the office, particularly now that the present has three girls of coloration engaged on TMS on the similar time.
The subsequent morning in her workplace, Alex makes an attempt to pitch an unique interview with Cybil to Cory, Stella, and Chip. Alex says that, since Cybil has an hermetic NDA, Cybil’s solely shot at telling her aspect of the story could be on Alex Unfiltered. Although Cory is firmly towards the ask, Alex insists that the scandal is “our mess to wash up,” whereas Chip factors out that Cory would usually reside for this type of chaos. (Seriously, what occurred to Cory “Chaos Is the New Cocaine” Ellison? CEO Cory is rather a lot much less enjoyable.) After Stella says that an interview with Cybil could be the easiest way to point out that UBA is taking these points critically, Cory agrees beneath the situation that he will get to look at the primary minimize. Later that night, Alex exhibits up at Chris’ door with a proposal: Not solely will Cybil be doing the interview on TMS (yay, reside tv!), however Alex additionally needs Chris to run the phase. It’s truthful to say that Cybil isn’t pleased with these choices, however who cares what she thinks anyway?
Mia definitely isn’t blind to the racial disparity that exists inside UBA, nevertheless it takes conversations with Layla, one of many producers, and Chris, who naively believed that different folks wouldn’t query her value, to reopen her eyes to that actuality. Layla factors out that whereas inequality is baked into the tradition of UBA, they wouldn’t even be having this dialogue within the office if a wealthy and well-known Black lady wasn’t instantly impacted within the leak. “How fucked up is it, Stella, that I’m speculated to be working the machine and I’m a goddamn cog?” Mia asks hypothetically earlier than uttering one of the vital ridiculous strains of the season: “Maybe UBA is a plantation—simply with dental insurance coverage.”
The on-air interview between Chris and Cybil is framed like a heavyweight boxing match. While Cybil begins by apologizing profusely and taking full duty for her actions, Chris, with the assist of Mia and Marcus, asks one pointed query after one other: What model am I serving to UBA to promote in your eyes?… Do you suppose it’s potential to win again the belief of UBA’s staff?… In the curiosity of transparency, was I employed for a everlasting anchor place as a result of I’m Black?… I don’t perceive why you used a racialized picture when discussing me. Is that the way you see me? Is that the way you see us?
Beharie, the actual star of the episode, steals the moments between the strains, taking part in a younger journalist who can shift from quiet energy to vulnerability—and again once more—in the identical sentence. After revealing that she was examined greater than another one who has ever anchored the present, Chris asks Cybil if she treats the devaluation of staff of coloration as casually as she wrote that careless e mail, to which Cybil responds that Chris must be “grateful”—one of many worst buzzwords you may consider when discussing racial inequality—that she has a seat on the desk when so many individuals would kill to be in her place. “I feel we should always transfer on from this local weather the place racial divisions are exploited,” Cybil says. “But that’s each local weather, wouldn’t you say? But sure, we are going to transfer on from institutional racism after this break,” Chris responds earlier than strolling out, hand-in-hand with Marcus, with out saying one other phrase to Cybil.
Following that interview, Layla turns into Chris’ new anchor producer, and Cybil is pushed out of her management place on the board with a vote of no confidence. Stella even accuses Cory of leaking Cybil’s e mail—and weaponizing centuries of racism—in an try to shut a take care of Paul Marks. But as quickly as he arrives at an unique restaurant to inform Marks that he now has sufficient votes to greenlight the sale of UBA, Cory learns that Marks has been in talks with different legacy media corporations, together with NBN (the place Laura has now arrange store). Simply put, Marks says, UBA is now not a secure sufficient wager for his funding.
Let’s be trustworthy: Who actually thought it was a good suggestion to amass a media conglomerate that has managed to be the information greater than report on the information for the final three years? We all know he’ll come again to the desk in some unspecified time in the future. After all, the writers and producers wouldn’t get an actor of Jon Hamm’s stature to visitor star in solely a few episodes. But if Paul had any good enterprise sense, he would keep as far-off from UBA as potential.
Stray observations
- Before discovering out about Cybil’s e mail, Chris tells Alex and Yanko the story of how she met her husband at her first Olympic trials. Considering that so lots of the relationships on this present are/have been poisonous, I’m not solely rooting for Chris and Marcus however may also die on the hill that she is essentially the most regular particular person on this present. Let’s hope TMS doesn’t change her an excessive amount of!
- For some purpose, Mia and Stella determined it was a good suggestion to carry a gathering with disgruntled staff with out Cory or Cybil, and to the shock of completely nobody, Yanko used the casual dialogue as a chance to speak in regards to the politics of race: “First of all, race is a fiction, and it’s being weaponized. We all know that. We’re having the mistaken dialog. All we’re doing, Mia, proper now could be checking packing containers. We’re checking packing containers, we’re scoring variety factors on some spreadsheets in order that we are able to all really feel higher.”
- Yanko stays one of many present’s most fascinating characters to me. There’s an uncomfortable contradiction occurring with him, one which begs for a deeper exploration. But I wouldn’t maintain my breath.
- Mia raises a legitimate level throughout her evening out with Stella: Whether consciously or not, Stella “attaches [herself] to energy” wherever she will be able to discover it. Has her ethical compass been bent up to now that she could also be complicit in upholding the identical work tradition she as soon as avowed to disrupt?
- We additionally study that Stella used to work with Paul however didn’t have an excellent expertise with him. “If there’s one factor about Paul, he’s ruthless,” she warns.
- With Cybil gone, Cory should go toe-to-toe with Stephen Fry’s Leonard, who has already made it clear that he’s not curious about his BS. This must be a enjoyable dynamic!
