Julianna Margulies has made her entrance into *The Morning Show*. Margulies's character, Laura Peterson, a seasoned and influential journalist at UBA, has arrived to stir up the proverbial pot. To be honest, nearly every character on this show seems to be stirring some kind of pot—often multiple pots at once—usually without any clear understanding of why they’re doing it. The show is, in a word, chaotic. And it’s about to become even more so.
Laura is tasked with conducting the pivotal interviews with Alex and Bradley ahead of their much-anticipated reunion on morning television. It quickly becomes evident that Laura and Alex are not exactly on the same wavelength. You’d think that given Alex’s apparent leverage over her return, she would have a say in who conducts the interview, but that’s not the case. Alex’s desperation and paranoia are escalating by the minute, and facing a national interview with a journalist she doesn’t trust only exacerbates her anxiety. She desperately wants her return to UBA to be a triumph, but she’s constantly on edge, fearing that her complicity in past scandals will be exposed.
Last week, Bradley reminded Alex—and the audience—that Alex had been in cahoots with Fred, conspiring to get Bradley fired in an effort to maintain the status quo at *The Morning Show* before Hannah’s tragic death came to light. We’re also the only ones who know that Alex is doing everything in her power to ensure that her secret affair with Mitch (twice, no less) never sees the light of day. While the former makes Alex a fraud, especially in light of her newfound feminist-hero persona that she’s been flaunting, it’s the latter secret that Alex seems most terrified of being exposed.
Tension fills the room as the interview begins. Alex has already pushed Laura to conduct the interview in just four hours, despite Laura’s team requesting two days. She’s acting like a true diva, refusing to come out of her room until Laura arrives. She wants control, but she doesn’t have it. A question about Hannah throws her off balance, though she manages to get it cut from the final edit. She’s forced to sit through a scathing excerpt from Maggie Brener’s book about the toxic culture at UBA that she was complicit in, and it clearly infuriates her.
Finally, Laura lands the knockout blow: “What was the nature of your relationship with Mitch Kessler?” Alex is caught off guard—this question was definitely not on the approved list. Her pause as she tries to come up with a suitable answer is incredibly incriminating. “He was my best friend,” she finally says. Afterward, she lets Chip have it for allowing the question to slip through. Chip claims the question he approved was worded very differently, and honestly, it’s hard to tell if he’s being truthful. His forgiveness of Alex is borderline unbelievable. In the end, he saves her skin by editing out the long pause, making her “best friend” response seem more plausible. Still, he gives Alex a long, searching look, as if trying to determine whether she’s lying.
Alex survives her interview with Laura, but she’s still worried about Bradley being left alone with her. Even before sitting down with Laura, Alex had been warning—perhaps threatening—Bradley to watch what she says. The two women have lunch together, where Alex makes it abundantly clear to Bradley that getting their story straight about what happened during their first co-anchoring stint is in both of their best interests. Bradley launches into her usual “I know what I’m doing! I’m a veteran of this industry! We’re newspeople!” spiel, which she tends to repeat every few days to anyone who will listen.
Alex doubles down: No one can find out that she was working with Mitch to get Bradley fired, because that leads to Bradley interviewing Mitch behind Alex’s back and interviewing Hannah the day before she died. That last part hits Bradley hard. Furthermore, no one wants it to get out that Alex chose Bradley as her partner on a whim simply to spite the network, because that might raise questions about Bradley’s qualifications for the job in the first place. After that, Bradley seems to fall in line.
And yet, that Mitch Kessler question manages to unravel Alex just a bit. Alex is determined to ensure that Bradley is fully prepared to spend time with Laura, who is tagging along as Bradley sets out to cover the Iowa caucus (don't all these 2020 references make you shudder?). She calls Laura just as Bradley is about to board the UBA private jet, warning her that this isn't going to be some fluffy feature piece, alluding to the Mitch question as a cautionary tale. When Bradley questions why Laura would even bring it up, Alex's reply is blunt: “She’s not a very nice person.” She also takes the opportunity to clarify—with a touch of desperation—THAT SHE MOST DEFINITELY DID NOT SLEEP WITH MITCH. It seems the only lesson Alex has truly absorbed from this entire scandal is the art of self-preservation. Honestly, I’m half-expecting her to show up disguised as a flight attendant on the UBA jet, just to keep tabs on Bradley and Laura. I wouldn’t put it past this show to pull a stunt like that.
Anyway, that’s the emotional baggage Bradley’s lugging around as she steps into her interview with Laura. But Laura has her own set of marching orders. Before Alex’s interview, Cory pulls Laura aside for a chat. The two seem unusually chummy, so Cory feels comfortable dropping lines like, “You put the L in LGBTQ,” which has to be one of the most cringe-worthy ways to deliver exposition. There are probably 3,000 better ways to let the audience know Laura is gay, but as we’ve come to expect, this show prefers the sledgehammer approach. Cory is worried about Bradley’s performance on TMS and asks Laura to keep an eye on her, perhaps offer some gentle guidance. Take her under your wing, Laura—preferably a very capable one.
As it turns out, Bradley and Laura hit it off splendidly. During their walk-and-talk interview, Laura manages to put Bradley at ease, and Bradley opens up in a way that feels surprisingly vulnerable. She talks about how much this job means to her, how she once thought it was out of reach, but now that she’s got it, there’s no way she’s letting go. Later, at the hotel, Laura confides in Bradley about Cory’s request but admits she’s pleasantly surprised by Bradley. She thinks Bradley isn’t being utilized to her full potential on TMS—that she’s better than what she’s been given. Bradley is flattered, and maybe there’s a hint of flirtation in the air? Back in New York, after the airport, the two share a car ride, and Laura decides to ask one last personal follow-up question, just between them: “Did you actually get vetted for this job?” she inquires. You can practically see the panic wash over Bradley’s face—it’s exactly the kind of question Alex warned her about. Unable to find the right words, Bradley does the only thing that comes to mind: she kisses Laura. And then, to her surprise, Laura kisses her back. Now they’re making out in the back of a car? The moment had zero to minimal buildup, but here we are.
Not long after, we’re whisked away to the big day: Alex makes the long walk from her dressing room to her co-anchor desk once again. Alex Levy is officially back.
