‘The Morning Show’ Recap: ‘The Interview’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Something that is truly unsettling in our modern world, is the sheer fact that some people in positions of power and notoriety, refuse to take responsibility, or own up the consequences of their actions when they do something wrong. Instead, these men deflect or place blame, or outright play the victim and cite conspiracies surrounding them. Which is infuriating to anyone who hears their story. Because it’s obvious they did whatever they did and seeing them fight their guilt at every single turn is pathetic to say the least, and it draws out something painful and ugly, leaving one to wonder exactly when there will finally be accountability for their actions. If anything, this is relevant to today’s discussion, simply because this kind of childish crap is something that is featured in the season one finale of The Morning Show.
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Because while Bradley and Chip and Cory work hard to finalize their plans to bring Mitch Kessler into the studio for one important interview in ‘The Interview’, Mitch continues to exhibit a nonchalant attitude about what he’s done. Something that leaves the audience wondering whether or not Mitch will ever understand the gravity and the lasting impact of his actions. Something that is reinforced by the fact that he’s happy to verbally spar with anyone who challenges him at this point in the story and that he seems a little too eager to get back on the air. Because the energy and focus he exhibits in these meetings, is something we’ve only seen when he’s on television. Which leads Cory to correctly believe that Mitch is seeing this as an audition and a power play, and that motivates him to remind Mitch in private, to not do whatever sneaky thing he is planning to, in order make himself look good, if he ever wants to be on the air again.

If anything, Mitch’s behavior and the plan that was being assembled behind the scenes to bring him into the studio, lead one to believe that perhaps this season finale will finally see Mitch offer up a mea culpa and genuinely try and make things right for a change. Which is a surprising idea to put into the minds of the audience. Because that’s a conventional ending for a show that’s anything but, and it just so happens that the episode didn’t divert from the theme it introduced in the slightest. In fact, it found a way to hammer home the need for people to understand the consequences of their actions and be held accountable for them in the most powerful and heartbreaking way imaginable, by way of Hannah’s journey in this particular tale. For she had to corroborate Mitch’s story, a duty that fell to Bradley to accomplish and this was a tough task for her to handle and for the audience to bear witness to. Because it opened up old wounds for Hannah and left her in a broken place. 

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Something that made Bradley wonder if by chance they needed to delay the interview in question or figure out another way to bring UBA’s transgressions to light. For she truly was concerned that this might send Hannah down an even darker road. But circumstances at the network ended that debate before it could even begin. Because shortly after Maggie made it clear that the Times had something juicy on UBA, Fred accelerated his timetable on the internal report that would make Chip look quite bad, and of course, that resulted in Chip’s firing. Which meant Bradley’s squad had to act now in order to get the ahead of the headlines the report would create and that’s when this story took its heartbreaking turn. For as everyone assembled and prepared to let Mitch tell his side of the story and bus roll the network in the process, Claire made a horrifying discovery, one that confirmed Bradley’s concerns about Hannah since she was found dead in her apartment.
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News that of course motivated Bradley to call off the interview and prepare her exit from the show. For this was her fault in her mind, and the sour nature of the network and the game playing she faced on a daily basis, were solid enough reasons to walk away from TMS. But some kind and honest words from Cory, and an open-air conversation with Alex motivated her to stay and it is a wonderful thing that she did. Because news of Hannah’s death and the reality of why it happened, inspired Alex to change her stance on well, everything, and she just let loose on the air alongside her co-anchor. Wherein they exposed the truth to millions upon millions of people, putting UBA’s and Mitch’s transgressions out into the open at last, and thanks to the team’s help, they were mostly successful and well, that’s an incredible way to end the first season of this poignant and powerful series.

Because bad people were finally held accountable for their actions, and nothing they can say or do will stop them from getting what’s coming to them. And more importantly, finally, Mitch Kessler is aware of the fact that all of his hubris and arrogance has caused great harm. For the hurt he inflicted drove someone to end their life and seeing his bruised and beaten face realize that in the closing seconds of this tale, is a satisfying shot indeed. For now, he has to live with all of that, and while it doesn’t bring Hannah back, his suffering is a form of justice for everything she went through. As to where we go from here however, is anyone’s guess. But there will be fallout from what happened here, big fallout for certain and that will likely be the focus of season two when it arrives. But while we wait for that, we can reflect upon a brave and bold first season of this show, one that didn’t shy away from powerful topics and left us with some new perspective on the real impact, of Me Too. Until next season.  

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