What I’m Watching: The Morning Show

The Morning Show: Season 1, Episode 8 “Lonely at the Top” (B+)

It took me a minute to realize that this was a flashback to a time when Mitch still worked on the show, and it was very effective to see him in such a comfortable setting that helped to explain how he was able to get able with a lot of his behavior. It’s so interesting to see how he’s portrayed by Steve Carell, who picked up a deserved SAG nomination for his performance, in a way that makes him mostly likeable but showed just how many buttons he was subtly pushing. Alex laughed off his comment about her wearing dresses like the one he pointed out, and the content of his surprise party showed exactly what kind of things he liked, namely in the form of Martin Short’s Dick Lundy, who experienced a downfall of his own sometime between the events of this episode and the previous ones. Paige was furious at him on their drive home because she knew about his affair, but that didn’t seem to lead to too many consequences for him. Asking for Mia to be taken off his team and for Hannah to be added to it seemed potentially problematic, but things got much worse when they flew to Las Vegas for the horrific shooting and he chose that moment to make a move on her. Gugu Mbatha-Raw was excellent in this episode, demonstrating her complete shock when he did that and she just didn’t know how to react. When he barely even acknowledged her in the hall, she marched straight into Fred’s office to report it, resulting in him offering her an on-the-spot promotion and clarifying that, when people do great things, they get rewarded. That was a heinous response which hopefully isn’t entirely true-to-life for similar situations, and seeing Weinstein’s abuse first being reported made the scene all the more devastating. The formation of a far healthier and more positive consensual relationship between Yanko and Claire at the same time was affirming, and I think we’ll have plenty to think about when we presumably return to the present in the final two hours of the season.