‘The Morning Show’ Recap: ‘Update Your Priors’

11/1/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Jon Hamm and Jennifer Aniston as Paul Marks and Alex Levy in Episode 309 of ‘The Morning Show’ – ‘Update Your Priors’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 309 of ‘The Morning Show’. To revisit the previous episode, clickhere. 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.
It wasn’t that long ago, that we talked in brief about how sometimes… we lose sight of our ultimate goals, in regard to The Morning Show on Apple TV+. Simply because we saw Cory take part in slightly villainous actions to keep UBA afloat, in fact, he’s taken part in a few this season to keep that dream alive. All because he lost the narrative in his mind, and he had forgotten why he took the job at UBA. Which at the time seemed to be nothing more than a few bad days for Cory, since he eventually refocused and made this hard deal with Paul Marks to keep the network working and telling the news, but it turned out… that moment and those discussions were nothing short of harbingers of doom.

Because if it was that easy for Cory to lose his way, if even for a moment, it most certainly could be just as easy for others to do so in the name of some kind of greater idea in their minds and well… that was precisely what the next episode of this incredible series took the time to showcase. For ‘Update Your Priors’ saw several heroes in this story, lose the plot if you will and make some powerful decisions that will change the course of the network and potentially the merger and that made for quite the powerful story. One that left the audience wondering what will come next for UBA. Especially when it comes to the stunning path that Alex Levy embarked upon in this particular tale.

For she was in quite the reflective spot in this story, and concerned deeply about whether or not dismantling UBA was the right call. For it was her home, it gave her so much and the thought of doing this seemed awful, really. Because it would mean the end of her legacy with the company, and the start of something scary and new, and for a time… she thought perhaps this was not the way to go. But having Bradley rebuff joining a new network, alongside a stunning fight with Cory (more on that in a moment) truly nudged her to follow Paul’s plan and destroy all that UBA stands for. Out of the belief that it had done nothing for her but bring her pain and suffering. When obviously, it made her into a titan of the industry and helped her to get her voice and her work out into the world. But alas, the promises of Paul, and the ugliness of the past few years, helped her to lose the plot, and she wasn’t the only one.

Reese Witherspoon as Bradley Jackson in Episode 309 of ‘The Morning Show’ – ‘Update Your Priors’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Because Bradley Jackson struggled in this tale. Simply because, while she was working to be a great journalist and find some intelligence on Hyperion, which she did, since she learned it was flat broke, and harboring safety concerns, others were looking into her. Because Laura was deeply bothered by what she discovered and she had to know if it was true, and sadly… she discovered it was, and she confronted Bradley about this. Because this was just too much to bear, and it was a problem through and through because lies came into play and so did Bradley’s journalistic integrity. Since she used her position to protect her family instead of reporting the truth. Which brought forth the end of her love affair with Laura and the end of Bradley’s career. Because Marks knew she was sniffing around and confronted her about it, and the fallout he could create for her if she pressed. So… she quit. Quit because she failed to do the right thing, by losing the plot.

In fact, the only person who didn’t lose the plot in this story, ironically, was Cory. Because Cory was focused on what the network could and would become post-merger, and he was working hard to execute those plans… until Sybil stunned him with the truth about what Paul had planned for the network. Which brought forth that fight between Alex and Cory and brought froth strife as Cory tried to quickly pivot and put Paul in his place before it was too late. Since Alex expressed what Cory knew to her lover/boss and well… Cory was too little too late in his efforts to immediately stop the merger and save the network. For Paul had been saving his ‘with cause’ grenade to fire Cory and used it at the last second… giving rise to a terrifying and uncertain future for this network.

Because just like that… we simply do not know what lies ahead, not with Cory and Bradley out of the mix. We only know that Paul Marks is ready to finish the merger and is ready to dismantle one of the old networks in this universe, and that is scary. Since so many will suffer in the name of a rich guy’s pet project and ego, making Marks the Musk-esque villain we hoped he would not be and leaving all of us in a nervous place. One where we will now countdown the minutes to next week’s season three finale. To see if Alex can come to her senses, if Cory can strike back and what will become of Bradley and the network for that matter as well, now that the eleventh hour is upon the good people at UBA. Until next time.

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