'The Morning Show' Episode 10 sees Bradley, Alex, Mitch Kessler, and Chip face the aftermath of their actions
The final episode of 'The Morning Show' season 1 concentrates on one thing. Will Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) successfully bring to the light the complicity by the upper-level executives of UBA Network in Mitch Kessler's (Steve Carrell) sexual misconduct or will Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) be able to stop her co-host from doing an interview that may very well prove to be the end of Levy's career and the show itself? To be able to prove that UBA's President Fred Micklen (Tom Irwin) knew about Mitch's predatory behavior, Bradley would have to do Mitch's interview and take into account a witness statement from someone she works with.
At the beginning of the episode, she is unaware that Hannah Shoenfeld (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the head booker of the show will be corroborating Mitch's statement. So when she is informed of the same, she ensures to take a step back to be able to do the piece responsibly.
Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup), Chip Black (Mark Duplass), and Mitch Kessler are in a hurry to put out Mitch's interview as soon as possible. They are worried that the entire interview will be shut down if they let any more time pass, but Bradley is unsure because she is not convinced about the witness statement. We did see Hannah tell Mitch that she will corroborate with Mitch about Fred's complicity in the past when she had attempted to bring Mitch's behavior to his notice.
Bradley is however unsure how all of this will unfold after hearing Mitch's account of what happened all those months ago in Las Vegas. She also knows Hannah personally and is worried about how that will affect the interview and that is why, even when she pressurized by the three men in the room, she puts her foot down. She says, "Unless I am in the place with Hannah where I have to be, this is not happening. Period."
There is a lot of scheming and manipulating that is happening in the backdrop of this interview. Especially, Hannah's statement. For instance, Chip prematurely divulging information about Fred's involvement in Mitch's sexual misconduct to Maggie Brenner of the New York Times works against him. Now, Maggie, who has received many favors from Fred in the past, including her first big story gives Fred a heads up but also tells him that she will be writing the investigative piece. Then we have Alex.
Bradley had wanted to have Alex by her side for the interview but it turns out Alex more worried about herself and her career. So instead, she has joined hands with Fred and the two are working on a plan to push Bradley out of The Morning Show as a host. In the meanwhile, Hannah, who had agreed to be Mitch's witness has now received an attractive offer from UBA. She is being considered for a top-level position in Los Angeles and the timing is certainly not a coincidence. Hannah has also been approached by Maggie as well.
So for Bradley to be successful, she has to line up a lot of details before she can confidently orchestrate this interview. Initially, when she approaches Hannah about the interview, things don't go too well. Hannah straight out refuses to be a part of it all and says, "I don't want to be a poster child for your cause." She feels that her life is being used as a tool to serve someone else's agenda and she is not okay with it. But the guilt of having said no catches up to her soon, and that is why she agrees to do the interview.
While this has worked out, what hasn't is the fact that Fred and Alex have already agreed on a new co-host, Daniel Henderson, and they have also come to terms with Chip being fired. Alex is aware that her producer of many years and a close friend is about to be used as a scapegoat to save the network, and yet, she doesn't have it in her to stop Fred. She is wooed by the huge contract, the co-host approval clause among other things and agrees to replace Chip with Marlin, a man that Fred had brought in despite Cory opposing the very idea. Alex, at this moment, is completely on the dark side, having solely put herself first before the well-being of anyone else.
Chip is informed of this decision by Fred himself, who fires him effective immediately. He is informed that the official announcement will be made the very next day. The only way Chip can come out of this in one piece is if Bradley succeeds in getting Mitch's interview done before then. She, of course, doesn't think she can pull it off, especially considering Fred has been fired. She also understands that Chip's intentions are selfish and in the face of Hannah's struggle with the trauma, Bradley loses it. She sees that no one cares about that one woman's struggle, and that is what gets to her the most.
So when she hears from Claire Conway the next morning that Hannah OD'd right before her interview with Mitch was supposed to take place, it all weighs down on her. It is this weight that drives her into leaving the show. Almost. And unexpectedly, it is Alex who fights back.