I’ve been saying it over and over again and it’s confirmed that The Morning Show has finally engaged us in the third season, following in the footsteps of the perfect Succession, where the themes of mergers, billionaires and the future of the media meet. And the result is a drama that leaves us breathless and wondering where they will end up.

In the case of the Apple TV Plus series, instead of a foreign billionaire like Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) buying a news network to cover his start-up losses, we have the American Paul Marks (Jon Hamm), who is a billionaire buying a news network to cover up his loss by making rockets. Their motivation is the same, their plan is similar (dismantling the company to sell it, leaving thousands unemployed) and the fact that they play dirty, ending and humiliating the lives of their immediate opponents is perfect material for a dramatic series. And, like Succession, there are no good guys. All sides are full of bad people, narcissists, millionaires, and opportunely empathetic when their lives are put in check. Even more in line with the HBO Max series, the conclusion of the season shows no signs of being ‘positive’: Stella (Greta Lee) warned from the beginning that Paul Marks was an unscrupulous and ruthless player. Only Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) refuses to admit the fact because, after all, he is her boyfriend at the moment. Who never?

Yes, people, according to reports, Artificial Intelligence is the keyword of 2023, but if the successes of these two series suggest anything, it is that “fear of billionaires” would be at the top. If it weren’t for the strikes that delayed the awards, Succession would be swimming in Emmys (deserved) and when they are awarded in 2024, the fever will have subsided. The Morning Show, on the other hand, will be more in the recent memory of an audience with a lot of content and yet thinking there is more missing. Where will the general greed end?

Still in parallel, the only person who can “save” the world as it is, and this deserves a parenthesis, is precisely Alex Levy, just as we were counting on Shiv (Sarah Snook) to stop Lukas from winning. Lukas and Paul are toxic men and typical of everything we women would like to get rid of, but they are such perfect examples of what patriarchy represents that they can easily manipulate men and women, weaponizing each one’s weaknesses against themselves. More than seeing her father’s empire dismantled in the hands of people she despises, Shiv fears that her brother Kendall (Jeremy Strong) will be the “winner.” She wanted to be in charge and if it weren’t for her, the only person who wouldn’t accept it would be Kendall so she lets everything implode, becoming the submissive female figure that we hate so much in this universe of men. It was devastating and paradoxical because Kendall was very far from a hero, even having omitted the death of a person (literally). Alex has the same conflict with Cory. She’s being manipulated by Paul, of course, but regardless, seeing Cory’s downfall is – for her – worth ending it all. And after what she suffered not just at his hands, it’s logical within the narrative of The Morning Show.

And what a distance we covered in the series! It was created with the aim of being an update of All About Eve, highlighting the female struggle for stardom in a morning newspaper, placing Alex and Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) on opposite sides. As the #metoo movement came, the dynamics changed to place them as an example of sisterhood, and all other current challenges, whether racism, lack of equity, ageism, sexual prejudice, or others, were on the agenda and behind the scenes of the fictional UBA station. On this channel, the queen has always been and remained the figure of Alex Levy.

Jennifer Aniston won several awards for her performance on The Morning Show, but it’s Billy Crudup as the histrionic Cory Ellison. The “executive monk” who is in love with Bradley was humanized this season, with revelations that still promise to be relevant. He is the son of a feminist activist whom none of the women seem to name, but of whom they are fans. With this perspective, it is curious to try to understand how Cory is so different from what his mother certainly taught him, although it becomes clearer why he is so dedicated and in love with Bradley. Bradley, as I have already assessed, is a woman with serious mental health problems, the main one always setting her up to implode what she has achieved. Her arc is complete: when pressured and blackmailed by Paul, she could kick the bucket like she did in previous seasons but gives in to protect her family and her girlfriend, Laura Peterson (Julianna Margulies). This love triangle is now the most interesting in the series, even though to our surprise we have had confirmation that Bradley’s relationship with Cory is still platonic, although it was clear that it was not. So the accusation that the journalist managed to climb the ladder by sleeping with her boss was kind of brushed aside. For now, anyway.

The penultimate episode of the season wisely excluded Mia’s (Karen Pittman) drama, which became irrelevant in the face of everything else. Christina Hunter (Nicole Beharie) starred in one of the strongest episodes of all of The Morning Show but subsequently fell into the trap of Alex and Bradley, characters who from the outside seem strangely suffering when they are famous and rich, even though in Christina’s case, the racism is something that changes the scenario. The problem is that Christina’s current crisis is being a journalist, an influencer who expresses more opinions and is no longer limited to the sports niche, where she started. Honestly, with the world falling apart, she is still privileged and doesn’t engage us. In fact, although it may mean that we see less of her, since UBA is imploding I hope she chooses happiness and accepts the new job. Alex certainly doesn’t have her in his priorities.

I wonder what Alex really wants. Did she ask to “have a seat at the table”, that is, to be a shareholder? Is it just asking to get it? Alex manages to irritate me even more than Bradley Jackson. Jennifer Aniston‘s overrated performance doesn’t help, her expressions are limited and frowning. Alex is empty in motivation and performance and it is up to her to display the few possible feelings. In the first seasons, she was more concerned with hiding her romance with sexual predator Mitch Kessler (Steve Carrell) as well as her sham marriage using feminism as a shield. She manages to turn things around, does what she wants at the station, and still complains that Cory doesn’t obey her. Now, once again dating a man of power, she has him in front of her to make her feel in control. Terrible!

And here’s the big problem with The Morning Show, one that Billy Crudup doesn’t have: Jennnifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon have to indulge their characters’ unabashed villainy for the story to work. With her maturity, Alex Levy would never believe or say that she is supporting the destruction of the network because she wants to build something from scratch and idealistic. A YouTube channel? She would be as “independent” as possible, but then she couldn’t forget that she dropped the interview with the real villain of the hour, her boyfriend, because she didn’t want to cement that her reputation was in the trash by being with him. Alex is no longer the journalist she pretends to be, just as Bradley is not who she thought she was. Only Cory is who he is. And now the series depends on Alex’s turn to “save” its existence.

And here’s the snooker on The Morning Show that doesn’t reach the same level as Succession. The Roy brothers’ dispute over the company was Shakespearean, and even more so, it was a moral as well as a material inheritance. The moralistic speeches they used were just disguised to fight among themselves to determine who was chosen by their father to take the crown. On The Morning Show, we see that Cory has a plan, sticks to that plan, and acts deliberately to achieve it. However, neither Bradley nor Alex are in the political power struggle like Shiv was, their commitment to the business is just a matter of ego. Furthermore, they seem completely unprepared for an executive journalism position, much less business leadership. But it is what we have. The few hours of “saving” UBA and stopping the merger seem irrelevant and insurmountable to me at this point, just as Cory and Bradley’s careers are beyond repair. From this perspective, Alex has already achieved his goal of imploding everything. The question is: what now?

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