The Morning Show has seen its share of nefarious characters, but Season 4 has been notably lacking in this respect. While numerous individuals have committed heinous deeds or questionable actions for seemingly noble causes, a dominant malevolent figure who orchestrates events has been conspicuously absent—until the revelation that Celine was behind the Martel Chemical scandal cover-up. Even then, her malevolence was hinted at on the fringes of an episode focusing on Alex's relationship with her father and Cory's with his mother. It's only in Episode 9, "Un Bel Di," that Celine's nefarious agenda is fully revealed, setting the stage for a high-stakes finale that may see Bradley indefinitely detained by the Belarusian government.
Bradley's arrest at the Minsk airport on fabricated espionage charges serves as the catalyst for this tightly focused episode, bringing together a diverse array of characters as they grapple with the crisis of a UBN anchor being illegally detained in a hostile nation. While Celine's involvement is oblique until the end, her late revelation, when viewed in hindsight, imparts a calculated aura to the episode. Marion Cotillard excels in her role, even as a heinous boss archetype, but the mischievous glint in her eye when she thinks she's outmaneuvered others is a testament to why a seasoned actor like her was cast in what initially seemed like a functional but largely insignificant role.
According to the Belarusians, Bradley is carrying a suspect hard drive and may be engaged in espionage—which she is not, but that's beside the point in these kinds of scenarios. Thus, she's detained without charge until someone figures out what to do with her. She's able to record a brief video and send some of the Wolf River documents to Chip before being taken away, but that's the extent of her involvement in the episode. From there, it's up to everyone else to secure her release, with catastrophic consequences.
Alex turns to Ben and Celine to address the matter, but in doing so, she must explain Bradley's presence in Belarus, which alerts Celine that she's close to exposing Wolf River's misdeeds and UBN's cover-up. Like Bradley, Celine is largely absent from "Un Bel Di," leaving Alex to shoulder most of the burden. For this, she needs someone who can interface with the true power brokers in the region—in other words, Paul.
Paul is cozy with Russian oligarch Dmitri Ivanov, so Alex asks him to intervene. He initially refuses, claiming it's not as easy as she suggests, which is fair. But he later calls back to say he's invited Ivanov to be his guest at the opera, and that his mistress, Nadzeya, an actress whose series has been put on hold due to the Ukraine crisis. In essence, if Alex can do something to secure Nadzeya a gig, Paul is confident Ivanov will use his influence to secure Bradley's release.
In a scene that ranks among the weaker moments of The Morning Show's fourth season, Episode 9, Mia accompanies Alex to the opera—a moment of pure decadence amidst the intrigue and drama that has become the show's hallmark. As they sit in the luxurious theater, Mia's keen intuition alerts her to Chip's snooping around in Bradley's dressing room. Her curiosity piqued, she forces Chip to spill the beans, drawing her into the tangled web of intrigue that threatens to unravel everything.
And it's a good thing she did, for Mia proves to be a crucial cog in the complex machinery of the show's plot. Andre, on the ground in Minsk, is racing against time to secure Bradley's release, leveraging his position as a producer at UBN to make big promises to Nadzeya. All seems to be going according to plan—until it isn't.
Ivanov, the seemingly unyielding antagonist, refuses to play ball, demanding more than just career opportunities for Nadzeya. And it's fortunate for the plot that Mia speaks Russian, allowing her to overhear Ivanov's ulterior motives—a reference to AI software Paul is working on. The deal teeters on the brink of collapse, until Paul, perhaps out of lingering affection for Alex (if that can even be considered a strong enough word), calls his chief of staff, Amanda, and gives her the green light to make the necessary calls. The deal seems saved—until it isn't.
The trade falls through for reasons unknown to both sides, leaving Bradley indefinitely detained in Belarus. But all hope is not lost. In a twist that would have seemed unlikely even a moment ago, Cory, still reeling from his mother's death, spends most of the episode hooking up with Celine. And while his mother's floral calling is a bit of a mood killer, Celine is there for a different reason: to fish through her late mother-in-law's personal effects in search of any evidence about Wolf River. But she doesn't find anything—because it's right there in Cory's jacket pocket. He has the Wolf River Contamination Sampling report.
The big question now is whether Cory will do the right thing with it.
