'The Morning Show' Episode 5: Alex Levy struggles to stay relevant in face of Bradley Jackson's charisma
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Episode 5
Alex Levy is many things: a brilliant co-host, a supportive friend, a mother, and a loving partner. She is also a woman who is terrified of being washed out and replaced by a younger, more charismatic woman. This insecurity makes her desperately cling on to loose ends as she tries to turn things around in her favor.
In the wake of her former co-host Mitch Kessler being outed as a sexual predator, and the kickass Bradley Jackson arriving as Alex's rival right away, none of this is easy.
In the first five episodes, ever since the allegations were made against Mitch, Alex's goal has been to establish her position and authority as a co-host on the eponymous 'Morning Show'. When she's not asserting her dominance over the network bosses' calls, Alex has had to struggle with the idea of the charming new face of the show, Bradley, becoming the new favorite.
Last week, we saw Alex struggle to keep it all together in front of their show's producer Chip as he informed her about the New York Times wanting to interview Bradley.
Alex might keep insisting that she doesn't need people to ask her how she's doing or making sure she's okay but, deep within, she is an absolute nervous wreck. This is made obvious on Episode 5.
After Bradley gets interviewed by the Times reporter, Alex tries to snatch the piece's focus away from her under the pretext of disaster management. She puts up a brilliant display for the soiree at her residence where everybody from the network is present, just so she can speak with the Times reporter about Bradley's interview. Her 'game face' on and decked impeccably from head to toe, Alex 's attempt at convincing the reporter falls short and the whole thing turns into nothing less than a disaster.
Right from the beginning of their conversation, Alex makes it sound like Bradley going off-script on the interview with Mitch's alleged victim was a planned stunt.
In Alex's recounting of how the interview happened, she makes herself sound like the one calling the shots for a typically feminist and sensational interview that allowed Bradley the scope to dig deeper into the network's accountability in all the instances of sexual misconduct.
According to Alex, she was the one who trained Bradley and conditioned her into taking up the spot next to herself on the one TV show that America wakes up to. But, sadly, the reporter sees right through Alex's poorly orchestrated facade.
The reporter tells Alex point blank that she isn't going to write some feminist fluff piece about Alex when she knew what Mitch was doing on the network's grounds and still kept quiet. This is when we realize this may be the beginning of the end for Alex. While Bradley might not have Alex's experience or credits, what she comes armed with is tough-as-nails integrity. Something that Alex clearly lacks given her own involvement in the matter.
'The Morning Show' drops new episodes on Thursdays only on Apple TV+.