'The Morning Show' Episode 9: Bradley's conversation with her brother is the silver lining she needs after Alex snubs her purpose
This article contains spoilers for episode 9: 'Play the Queen'
Over the course of the last eight episodes of 'The Morning Show,' we have seen Bradley Jackson's problems evolve from having a dysfunctional mother and an addict brother to taking down the nation's biggest TV network bosses and talk show hosts like a pro. But now, as she clings on to the eponymous show within the Apple TV+ show, looks like her only ray of sunshine in the impending gloom is her addict brother, Hal.
In episode 9 of the show, accurately titled 'Play the Queen', we see Alex going behind Bradley's back and trying her best to snitch on her interests in caving into Mich's proposition of an interview that will hold the network complicit in silencing victims of his alleged sexual misconduct. But that isn't before she has given Bradley a piece of her mind, for pushing her under the bus by trying to dig deeper for the truth. Bradley's idealistic passion is rivaled by Alex's cynicism from spending a longer time in the industry than her and as Alex goes on and on, yelling at Bradley for the interview she's pursuing, we see Bradley quietly announcing that she will show herself out.
Visibly unsettled from Alex's unfiltered diss, Bradley turns to an unlikely source of comfort and solace, one that we wouldn't normally expect her to turn to when weathering an emotional turmoil like this. Bradley ends up calling Hal, her brother who's been in and out of rehab owing to his long-term drug addiction but insists to be working on getting clean finally. When Bradley calls him up out of the blue, the first question she hits him with is whether or not she broke up their family.
Bradley and Hal's alcoholic father had fatally hit a child while drunk driving and Bradley was the one who brought it to the cops - so the guilt of having her mother go off the rails following the incident, and her brother turning into an addict, works actively in Bradley's case. But it is her brother who is able to restore her peace and conviction while trying to convince her that none of this is her fault. He tells her the only reason he wants to get clean is that he finds it entertaining to watch Bradley take on the injustices and fight for the good she believes in. Hal claims he has had a front-row seat to Bradley's rebellion and wants to continue watching the rest of the world witness her enthusiasm for truth, and that is what spurs Bradley to believe in the truth she is fighting to uncover within the UBA network - something that could possibly steer the 10-episode debut season of the show to a second one for sure.
'The Morning Show' releases new episodes every Friday only on Apple TV+.