'The Morning Show' episode 9 sees Alex and Bradley's budding friendship turn into hostility of the worst kind
Contains spoilers for 'The Morning Show'.
Over the last few episodes, a steady dynamic had been building on 'The Morning Show' between newcomer slash almost rookie Bradley Jackson, and the queen herself - Alex Levy. But looks like trouble in paradise has never been more spiteful, neither the retaliative sting, this venomous.
It might be lonely at the top, true, but the reason behind the loneliness could be how difficult it is to share that position at the top - something we have seen Alex clearly struggle with as Bradley replaced Mitch Kessler after he was slammed with allegations of sexual misconduct. It's easy to have a partner in the climb - someone to share the journey with, and that was Mitch and Alex as a duo. Now with Bradley stepping in to become the new Mitch, Alex is struggling to accommodate. So when she slowly warmed up to the newcomer, Bradley, it channeled all these sides of Alex we didn't know she was capable of sporting off-camera.
From trying to rip Bradley apart on her first interview on the show, to overly criticizing her for going off-script in her interview with one of Mitch's accuser - Alex had made her distaste for the small-town journalist very clear. But over time, as the two covered the LA fires and were stuck in each other's company, Alex warmed up to the point where she felt comfortable enough to open up about her impending divorce with Jason. Bradley, in turn, shared her own family issues with Alex, and suddenly we thought that that two leading ladies had a shot at friendship. Our expectations were amped up by Alex inviting Bradley over for a one on one session to plan how to announce her divorce on the show - and sadly enough, this is where things blow up.
After all of that back and forth comforting and assuring each other to go out there and get them, when Bradley finally shows up at Alex's apartment, she can't contain Mitch's interview proposal for much longer. And when she spills it to Alex, despite her best ways to word it carefully and cautiously, Alex is far from pleased. What Mitch wants Bradley to do is conduct an interview to paint him as the victim, while exposing the complicity of the network in trying to silence the victims - something that both Alex and the network owner, Fred Macklen, are equally guilty of.
Upon hearing Bradley's suggestion, Alex loses her sh*t pretty much. Even though Bradley claims they can take down Fred together, Alex snaps back saying there is no together in this stunt Bradley is trying to pull off. As she says, "There is no us, there's you doing the interview and me getting f*cked." She cites the boys club and its sexist ways of silencing victims which is something that has happened forever, and will never stop. But acting in self-defensive paranoia of getting exposed or not, Alex's clearly unsettled state doesn't sit well with Bradley, who just says she will show herself out.
The next day, however, the two nemeses pull their own respective strings, and for the lack of a better term, snitch on each other. Bradley not so much, but Alex goes all out, spilling the details of this proposition of an interview to none other Fred himself. Fred plays the good guy, acting as if he had always known something was off about Mitch, and Alex plays along like she wasn't dying to bust Fred just moments ago. She is able to convince Fred that this Bradley commotion has gone on for too long, and they need to get rid of her, which is again something that only Alex Levy in her Miranda Priestly mood would do.
Bradley, on the other hand, doesn't take a second before approaching network head Corey Ellison about the whole fiasco. She brings up the prospect of an interview with Corey and even though he looks like he isn't all in, he gives his approval because she apparently 'had him at Fred Macklen'. But Bradley's admission carries a whole other tone than Alex's. Bradley calls Alex out on her bullsh*t but doesn't jump into conniving to kick her out the first chance she gets. And then there's Alex, who thinks she calls the shot but couldn't be farther away from the sad truth that it was Frank in the first place, looking to replace her with Bradley. Yet, at the end of the day, it all boils down to the friendship that was nipped in the bud because Alex Levy just can't take accountability, and maybe that will be her fatal flaw.
'The Morning Show' releases new episodes every Fridays only on Apple TV+.
