‘The Morning Show’ Recap: ‘DNF’

10/25/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Jennifer Aniston, Karen Pittman, and Mark Duplass as Alex Levy, Mia Jordan, and Charlie ‘Chip’ Black in Episode 308 of ‘The Morning Show’ – ‘DNF’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 308 of ‘The Morning Show’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. Also, this piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

We live in an interesting time. Because now more than ever, our lives are under great scrutiny, whether we want to admit that or not. For the advent of social media, has indeed put a microscope over everything we say, and everything we do and that… has brought about some interesting results. Some are positive, such as when we are able to pour over an important moment or a person in real time, but it can be quite negative and stressful, largely because… we as a people are reactionary regarding social media. To the point where we fire off a thought in the moment, only for it to go viral and bring us unwanted attention because not everyone liked what we had to say, and of course… our lives are simply on display and that can be a pain for certain when people obsess over our moves.

But alas, that is the way of things in the 21st Century, and it is showing no signs of slowing down and well, what that part of life is like is top of mind today, because the next episode of The Morning Show on Apple TV+ took the time to explore it, and how difficult it can be to navigate when you’re in the public eye, and what it can push people to do when the pressure from it all is great enough, and ‘DNF’ accomplished such a feat, by picking up immediately after last week’s scandals hit the interwebs. For Chris’ post about what should be done with the court, went viral post haste and of course… the big news at UBA was that Alex and Paul Marks were suddenly a hot item, and well… it didn’t take long for those two segments to explore the theme in question.

For while Chris was getting praise off of the internet, as are people are wont to do when hiding behind a phone screen or monitor, they were also quick to offer threats and disdain and well, that put Chris in a weird place in this story. Wherein she was forced to throttle back as a journalist to keep the heat off of her, and where she felt lost and nervous when out and about. Simply because she didn’t know if anyone would make good on those threats. All of which served to remind us how a moment of emotion on the internet, can easily become a worst-case scenario for us. Regardless of good intention or spot on observation and of course, it was Alex that handled any further investigations into the matter.

Julianna Margulies as Laura Peterson in Episode 308 of ‘The Morning Show’ – ‘DNF’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Because she saw her world be turned upside down by the release of that photo. After all, the merger vote was on the horizon and here was the network, peddling commercials about a hard-hitting interview with someone that Alex was close to. Which made the edit difficult, and eventually prompted Alex to bump the interview to keep the scandal at bay. But even that didn’t help, because people called her out on her own show and the embarrassment of that led to Chip’s dismissal and disdain from Alex. The kind that prompted her to think deeply upon a new path, but more on that in a moment. Because we also need to talk about the fact that this episode correctly pointed out, that the internet is also forever and our secrets and bad moments are there to be found if someone looks hard enough, as Laura did here.

For she was concerned about Bradley and Cory’s close relationship, and that Bradley met his mom and well… that prompted her co-host to give her an easy way to figure out what was going on. Wherein all she had to do was search the web and search the hack and pull up text messages and emails and anything else she wanted and well, she did, and that led to shock for certain. Simply because, Laura was able to put two and two together regarding the whole mess involving Hal. Giving rise to a tough spot for Laura, since she was now privy to life-changing information and illegal doings and well, it is safe to say that this discovery could in fact bring about all kinds of trouble for UBA, and rightfully so, since it was a cover up, and it could also… accelerate Paul Marks’ new plans for the network.

Because he too was done with all the drama and the cattiness and began to wonder… if by chance the time had come to take a legacy network and blow it up and reinvent it with someone like Alex at the helm. Which was a stunning idea to come forth, but one that Paul was serious about, and one he will find help with. Which sets the stage for a very ugly, and unsettling end to the third season. Where years of work and battles to make UBA a bastion for something better, may come to an end to pay for space travel and to bring about a rebirth that might be worthwhile, might not. But while we wait to see, we can celebrate one smart episode. One that really did properly ponder upon the realities of social media and how it puts people through the wringer when it wants and well, it offered no easy answers on how to avoid that, it simply advised that we take caution if there is a chance, we can go viral. Because like it or not, the whole world is watching us, and they’re ready to chime in. Until next time.

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