'The Morning Show' Episode 5 will likely see co-hosts at loggerheads after Alex’s outburst and Bradley questioning her innocence
The Apple TV + 'The Morning Show' saw Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) beyond herself in episode 4 after Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) went off-script during a live interview with Ashley. Ashley, a former employee of 'The Morning Show' returned to the show to share her experience about former host, Mitch Kessler (Steve Carrell).
The interview is something the team had prepared for and prepped with Ashley for over a week. When Alex handed the interview over to Bradley, she was convinced by Bradley's producer Mia Jordan (Karen Pittman) it was the right thing to do.
Everyone concluded Bradley is the right person because she is new to the team and had never worked with Mitch. The audience wouldn't feel the interview is a set-up by the network to distance themselves from Mitch while aligning with the victims if Bradley were to do the interview, is the thought behind the decision.
A day before the interview, Bradley is in her dressing room when Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) visits her and puts a thought in her head. How many people at 'The Morning Show' can genuinely claim they were not aware of Mitch's behavior?
He wonders aloud if Ashley was ignored by her colleagues and that makes Bradley wonder why the interview did not include anything about the network or the people Ashley worked with. She addresses her concerns about the interview being one-sided.
Mia brushes it off and tells Bradley the interview they have prepped will make a big difference in itself without it being risky. Initially, it seemed like Bradley would go along with the idea.
Towards the end of the interview though, she goes off-script and gets Ashley to talk about how it felt to work in the company while she was going through such a tough time. The interview doesn't just touch upon the sexual misconduct allegations against Mitch, it also explores what happened between Ashley and Mitch behind closed doors.
Ashley recalls how it all started with harmless flirting, which led to a friendship intimate enough for Mitch to confess details about his failing marriage to her. It developed into an affair of sorts, and Ashley confessed that she gave in twice and performed oral sex in Mitch's dressing room.
Bradley, who listened to all of this patiently, asks Ashley an unexpected question. Did Ashley ever confess what she felt while all of this was happening to a friend at work?
Ashley hesitates but explains to Bradley she did not want to complain because she did not intend for Mitch to hear from someone she was complaining. After a little convincing by Bradley, Ashley reveals her colleagues pretty much knew what was happening but never addressed it.
Instead, Ashley was made to feel as if she was handing over sexual favors to ensure promotions at work. All this time, UBA [the network] had denied any knowledge of Mitch's conduct at work.
With this one interview, Bradley connected the network, the show and the people who worked for the show with a crime that could lead to many people losing their jobs, Alex included. She could lose everything if it all goes south.
During the emotional interview, Alex, Chip and even Mia tried to stop midway and steer Bradley to the original script. She ignores them and once the interview concludes, we see Alex lose her temper big time as she rages against Bradley for what just happened.
Bradley doesn't answer any of Alex's questions or respond to her accusations of being irresponsible. Instead, she asks one of her own. Did Alex know what was happening under her nose with people working on her show?
Was she one of the many people who turned a blind-eye to Mitch's attitude? Alex is visibly shocked when faced with the question, but it isn't clear if this is because she is worried about the truth surfacing or if she is simply offended.
After this emotional outburst by Alex and Bradley's response to it, it is clear that the show's co-hosts are not on the same page. This can be expected to affect their show and their off-screen relationship in the upcoming episode.
The next episode of 'The Morning Show' can be streamed on Apple TV+ on Friday.
