‘The Morning Show’ Recap: ‘Ghost in the Machine’

9/14/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Billy Crudup and Greta Lee as Cory Ellison and Stella Bak in Episode 302 of ‘The Morning Show’ – ‘Ghost in the Machine’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 302 of ‘The Morning Show’. To revisit the Season Three Premiere, click here. Also, this piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

When we last settled in to discuss the phenomenal Apple TV+ series, The Morning Show, we talked at length about how the season three premiere, made it clear that this new year of storytelling was going to explore a great deal of concepts. Such as what kind of role news needs to take in this modern era of entertainment vs information, alongside the importance of workers’ rights and the challenges that the media now faces with the streaming revolution upon them, and well… that made for a juicy episode that we genuinely believed was going to be explored further, and quickly, in future episodes and well… that was definitely, mostly, the case. Since ‘Ghost in the Machine’ immediately picked up after the rocket launch to resolve a cliffhanger and move some of those plotlines forward.

Since we came to learn that Bradley Jackson was in fact, safe and sound… there was just an odd glitch in the system at UBA and well… once she landed, fallout took place. In part because Paul Marks was pissed, and thought UBA made him look the fool for no good reason other than to damage his business and his stock options, since Alex, the star… wasn’t on the flight and because of that glitch, and well… he wasn’t totally wrong there. Because we also came to learn that Alex partially wanted to flip places with Bradley… to shake things up and get the attention of Cybil. Who she could then inform about the merger, and how it was being done behind the Board’s back. Giving rise to a little bit of commentary about how sometimes… impromptu heroes are what keep the most important parts of our world honest and pure. But more importantly, it immediately dug back into the news related plot threads and made it seem as though, this was going to be a showdown episode.

One where Alex would once again stand tall to teach UBA a lesson in humility and decency. But alas… since this show loves to surprise us and take the story in fascinating directions, it opted to put all of those pertinent examinations on hold, to bring forth a crisis at UBA. For in the midst of a regular TMS broadcast, all hell broke loose. For everything went offline, and that was followed by emergency alarms. Leaving everyone to wonder if real chaos was happening outside the walls of UBA or if something horrible was happening within. Since there was no signal or information available. There was just panic and worry, and rightfully so, followed by a different type of panic and worry once the lights came back on and the reality of the situation settled in.

Holland Taylor as Cybil Richards in Episode 302 of ‘The Morning Show’ – ‘Ghost in the Machine’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

In that, while the building was safe, and no physical harm came to anyone… disaster had indeed struck. For this was a hack, plain and simple, and all of the internal communications of the company were in the hands of the hacker, and so was all the personal data of every employee in the building. Thanks to the fact that any device on the networks was accessed, and that… led to some tense moments and outright confessions. The kind that saw Bradley risk being outed because of a private and provocative message she sent out to her lover, and of course… the risk of so much more being leaked to the public hung heavy over her head. Such as the apparent tryst that she and Cory had somewhere along the line and that prompted Cory, to fight hard to pay the freight on the ransom that came through for this.

A battle he quickly lost of course, because no corporation will ever pay a ransom for something as simple as protecting data and their employees’ well-being. So, the company let it ride and all anyone could do was sit back and wait for the chaos. Which left Bradley in a tough place and left Cory pondering upon his next moves. Since he was convinced that Marks might be part of this somehow as a retaliatory move, and he wanted retribution for that. Also, he had to ponder upon how best to proceed at making waves at UBA and securing its financial future. Which prompted him to force hands and stir the pot as only he can, giving rise to a fascinating ending to a fascinating episode. Since we also learned that Stella has ties to Mister Marks, the kind that she clearly wanted to keep in the past, and really, in the end, this really was quite the surprising plot.

Simply because it really did appear as though this story was going in a vastly different direction. One that would have undoubtedly dug deeper into those fascinating themes. But the pivot was incredible and definitely offered up its own commentary, regarding the safety of our networks and the very real threat that hacking still poses, and it also asked some good questions. Such as what should a company do to protect their data and to make their employees feel as safe as their customers? Not to mention, it really looked at the human impact a hack can have on a person and truly… it will be interesting to see what the aftermath of this hack, and of Cory’s actions look like, as season three of this incredible show continues along. Until next time.

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