‘The Morning Show’ Recap: ‘White Noise’

9/20/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Holland Taylor and Nicole Beharie as Cybil Richards and Christine Hunter in Episode 303 of ‘The Morning Show’ – ‘White Noise’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 303 of ‘The Morning Show’. To revisit the previous episode, 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.

There are moments in our careers, where we are chosen to do something quite important. Where leadership decides we are the right person to fix the biggest problems being faced at our place of work and that particular honor, when we truly love what we do… pushes us to take those challenges head on, with a particular edict in place. In that, we will be the hero, and we do this the right way, so that we are viewed in the right light, and so those that we helped rise above their problems… truly believe in us and want to work with us or for us, for as long as is humanly possible. Which some folks, do succeed in doing when the career field in question… isn’t toxic in nature. Because a sour foundation and a bad environment to begin with, can cause people with even the best of intentions to lose sight and do things that go against the edict in question.

Which can of course, bring forth disaster and chaos and for proof… then look no further than this week’s episode of The Morning Show on Apple TV+. For ‘White Noise’ saw Cory Ellison, a man that has spent two seasons trying to be the guy to save UBA and put it on the right moral and financial path… finally succumb to the toxicity surrounding him in this place, and yes… it led to utter chaos. For early on in this tale, Cory saw an opportunity to run an end around on Cybil. Because it was revealed in a comb through of the data leak, that she said something racially incentive and gross in an email regarding Chris when she was initially being looked at to replace Bradley Jackson on TMS, and well… Cory was eager to get that out into the world. To make Cybil look the fool and sow trouble on the board, all so she would be ousted and that… would give Cory the opening he needed to get Paul Marks installed as the new owner of UBA.

But once that went public, alongside the company’s salary information… the chaos in question ensued. For once again, UBA looked to be out of control and was clearly morally corrupt, and Chris… had to deal with the reality that she was now at the center of the commentary, and the victim of a painful moment of hate. Which rightfully left her beside herself, as she tried to figure out a way forward without letting this ugliness get to her. And while she pondered upon that… it became evident to the rest of the team that wage inequality based upon race was happening at UBA. Which unleashed a new and justified firestorm. One that no one could control, because at last, there were individuals that understood the rot in the bones of UBA, and it truly seemed as though, Cory’s power play was about to let UBA spiral out of control… the complete anthesis of what he wanted to accomplish when he took the job.

Billy Crudup as Cory Ellison in Episode 303 of ‘The Morning Show’ – ‘White Noise’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

However, a surprise dropped into Alex Levy’s lap. The kind that could stabilize the situation and potentially give some sense of satisfaction to the staff members that felt as though UBA would let inequity and racism continue. For Cybil wanted to appear on Alex Unfiltered, to have someone familiar interview her and help her to set the story straight and well, to do damage control of course. Because Cybil rightfully looked like an a-hole, for saying what she said. In fact, she was an a-hole for saying what she said, and what better place to change the narrative and offer a mea culpa, than on Alex’s show? After all, she had Alex’s back, and did everything to keep her on TMS and at the network. Or at least, that’s the nonsense story she tried to sell Alex to get on the air and clear her name and well… that gave Alex quite the idea. In that… Chris should be the one to interview Cybil, on The Morning Show.

A move that Cory initially stonewalled until Stella made it clear that she knew the chaos he had sown, and well… that brought forth one powerful moment. Wherein Chris took her boss to task and left nothing on the table. A move that forced Cybil to ‘crash and burn’ as she put it, and deservedly so. Because she wasn’t interested in actually apologizing, nor was she willing to speak to real change coming to UBA from an equity and equal rights standpoint. She just wanted to the flip the script and Chris did not let her, and it was glorious, and it was the kind of reporting we only dream of seeing in real life when it comes to moments such as these, and well… that was more than the board was willing to tolerate and in the end, Cory got what he wanted, and truly thought his plan would now come to fruition. But there is a price we pay when we compromise our souls in this manner and lose sight of what we set out to do.

Because it shows others, we’re no different than the ones we promised salvation from, and people treat us different because of that… to the point where they have no problem offering up a little counter punch along the way. As Cory learned… when Paul Marks told him he wasn’t as interested as before. Which left Cory destitute, but well… he did bring this on himself for turning his back on his principles and really… that is what this stellar episode was about. The importance of conviction, of doing the right thing always, because to do otherwise… is to invite chaos. That was a fine lesson, one supported by some amazing commentary on the world as it stands, and the institutional racism that has yet to leave our world, and the class divide between the sexes and the races, and this show deserves a round of applause for pointing that out, and for offering up some advice on how fight back on such matters. And now that Cory and Cybil have learned some powerful lessons, we can turn our attention to what comes next at UBA in the wake of Hurricane Cory. Until next time.

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