Round Two: The Morning Show

The Morning Show: Season 1, Episode 2 “A Seat at the Table” (B+)

Well, this was quite the follow-up to an already very memorable pilot episode. I’m glad to see that the big scenes that both Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston got in the first hour weren’t one-time shots, and they both got to express themselves a few times in this installment. After being blindsided by the news about Mitch, Alex is reclaiming whatever power she can, demanding cohost approval and refusing to go on until Chip promised to get it for her. After she freaked out in the car on the way to the event and then got knocked down by Cory when he told her she’d never get cohost approval and that they had bought the award for her, she executed the perfect revenge by calling Cory’s bluff and publicly announcing Bradley as her new cohost. That’s going to be very interesting considering how much she hates her, and I suspect they’ll only end up becoming allies because Alex realizes she can use her to get what she wants and make Cory pay for being so cruel. Steve Carell got a few great scenes too as a man with far too much to say and few friends left. His “first they came for the rapists” bit was cringe-worthy, and it’s a relief that he decided to go home rather than crash the function. I like that we’re seeing a bit of the supporting players, like Hannah trying to get the woman who wanted to talk about Mitch to do it on their show and Yanko and Claire, whose secret relationship with “climate change” as a safe word might look very different under a new microscope. I’m definitely on board for episode three and beyond.