Season 4 of The Morning Show has been, let's be honest, a bit of a wild ride. While each of the diverse character arcs and subplots has yielded some delicious fruit, they've also felt frenetic and scattered, not always coalescing into a cohesive narrative. Enter Episode 10, "Knowing Violation," which offers a surprisingly satisfying conclusion, weaving together various parallel strands in an effective manner. While some threads remain untied—what's in store for Senator Bro Hartman?—the majority is addressed in a rather fulfilling way.
Of course, Apple TV+ renewed the show for a fifth season before this season's premiere, so there's plenty of room to address issues like Bro's career shift, Bradley's deal with the FBI, and who will actually run UBN after the events of this finale. We'll cross those bridges when we come to them. In the meantime, there's plenty to discuss, so let's dive in.
As the finale begins, Bradley is a guest of the Belarusian government for 28 days. Her stay is marked by trying to sleep on a metal cot while the guards torment her with bright lights that never turn off and screaming metal music at an absurd volume. The Belarusians want the name of her contact, still assuming she's a spy, but Bradley is unwilling to give up her source. The primary tension revolves around whether she'll lose her sanity before her escape can be facilitated.
Alex and Chip are working tirelessly to facilitate her escape, but it's easier said than done. Their only viable option is to break the Martel Chemical story themselves, creating enough attention around Bradley's detention that the public, despite TMS's daily reminders, has started to forget about. Given that the EPA report doesn't match the internal data, it stands to reason that someone was bribed to falsify it, which would be front-page news. But how to prove it?
As we know from the previous episode's ending, Cory has the real EPA report, bequeathed to him by his mother before she took her own life. But Cory is now in a relationship with Celine and is still stung by Bradley's betrayal. The key question is whether his innate morality will triumph over his own short-term happiness and convenience. At first glance, it doesn't seem likely, as when he delves into the scandal, he realizes that Celine's family paid people off to bury it. Instead of threatening to report her, he offers to give her the authentic EPA report if she agrees to talk her family into getting Bradley released.
With a gentle nudge from Ben, Mia delves into the TMS production staff to uncover who tampered with Alex's AI avatar during the deepfake controversy. It turns out to be Bart, one of the producers, but he was, of course, acting on Celine's instructions. She was trying to push out the other senior staffers from the beginning, paving her way to acting CEO.
Armed with this information, Alex confronts Celine angrily and demands her resignation. However, Celine plays her trump card - she knows about Alex's private business with a Russian oligarch. The tables have turned. If Alex doesn't resign, Celine will ruin her.
Alex immediately seeks advice from Paul, who advises her to dig up as much dirt on Celine as possible. But for that, she needs Cory. As soon as she turns up at his place, Celine isn't far behind. Disgusted at the revelation that they're sleeping together - thus closing off her one viable angle for compromising information - Alex storms out. The next we see of her, she's publicly resigning on TMS.
One of the stronger elements of The Morning Show Season 4's ending is how it utilizes the relationship between Alex and her father, Martin, which hasn't been touched on since the excellent episode where they aired out their respective grievances. But Martin recognizes when someone has been forced out of the door, and since their recent unemployment has left them with a lot of time on their hands, he helps her brainstorm how to respond. Eventually, he advises her to sue Celine for wrongful dismissal.
Ordinarily, this probably wouldn't work, but circumstances conspire. The unexpected return of Miles throws Celine for a loop, and because he's so angry to learn that she has been filling his side of the bed with Cory, he confronts Cory with a truth that ends up bringing about Celine's downfall. Martha herself brokered the Wolf River cover-up deal in exchange for getting Cory, who was floundering in New York, a high-power job. On some level, she provided him with the EPA report to absolve herself of the guilt and give him the opportunity to do the right thing. And he finally does.
Alex and her father go live from the courthouse to announce their intentions to sue Celine and make public their very serious accusations about what she has been up to as acting CEO of UBN. The Morning Show broadcasts it live. And when Celine calls Cory to try and interrupt the circus, she doesn't realize that he has betrayed her until her self-incriminating screaming is being broadcast to the entire world. Cory set her up and gave Alex the original EPA report.
The Morning Show Season 4 ends with Bradley finally being released by the Belarusian government, and Alex is there to greet her in a surprisingly emotional reunion. Celine is completely ruined and leaves the country, with UBN being left in the capable hands of Ben and Mia (and presumably Alex and Bradley when they get back). There's no word on what Celine's departure will mean for Bro's political push, but it probably won't be good news. Still, he has a flourishing podcast and comedy career to fall back on.
