The Truth Shall Set You Free
For anyone who has persevered with The Morning Show, this Apple TV+ Original rewards fans with a really strong finale, serving up the best dish for last this season. With plenty of twists, harrowing moments and excellent performances, The Morning Show manages to nail its finish perfectly whilst leaving things wide open for the second season. There’s still some closure here when it come to the main story though without given us too big of a cliffhanger to wait on, unlike so many dramas out there. We begin with Alex meeting with Chip’s replacement, Marlon, while Mitch meets with Bradley, Cory and Chip. He tells them that Hannah is the one who could corroborate Fred’s complicity, which shocks them. However, Bradley refuses to do the interview for now as she believes they are not prepared yet. In the tense atmosphere of the studio, Hannah receives a call from a recruiter offering her a producer job, but in the LA office. She later meets with Bradley who speaks to her about the interview she is planning to do with Mitch. However, Hannah gets upset as she doesn’t want her name mentioned. After Chip gives an emotional speech to his team, Bradley receives a text from Hannah who has changed her mind about the interview. They meet in her flat and Hannah starts recalling the events of that night in Vegas, including the aftermath of how Mitch and Fred treated her. After Bradley probes further on how this has affected her life, we see just how unhinged she is, blaming herself and also having to live with the fact that this is how she got a promotion. Alex has a meeting with Fred to talk about Chip’s replacement where he also offers her a new contract with co-anchor approval. As she leaves the building, Chip arrives in Fred’s office where he tells him that after the findings of the internal investigation, Chip is found to be negligent and involved so he fires him, effective immediately. Later that night, Bradley and Chip get together to discuss the interview but the latter warns her, revealing he has been fired. Bradley feels overwhelmed having to do this on her own but is also struggling to cope with what Hannah has to deal with. Chip seeks the help of his assistant Rena to plan for the interview and how they’re planning to sneak Mitch in without Alex knowing. We then cut to Clare as she heads to meet with Hannah. Unfortunately, she finds her door open and her neighbour calling the police as she is found dead, having choked on her own vomit. Just as Fred relays the news of Marlon replacing Chip, Bradley gets a call from Claire, revealing that Hannah died from a potential overdose. Hanging up, she heads back in the studio to relay the bad news, creating devastation all around. She calls Chip to cancel the interview and tells him the reason why, blaming them for pushing Hannah into this. Afterwards, she heads back to the channel to tell Alex the truth and that she has decided to leave as she feels responsible for Hannah’s death. Alex runs after her and tells her not to blame herself and reveals she made mistakes too, begging her not to go. After some dramatic moments with a fan, Bradley agrees to come with her just for now. As she goes back in, Cory ambushes her and tries convincing her to tell the truth about Fred. It’s Mitch’s turn to find out what happened to Hannah and from Chip’s mouth this time. The latter is unable to contain his anger and punches Mitch, revealing that he’s the one that leaked the story to The Times. As the show starts, Alex is unable to read the prompter and starts revealing the truth of what happened behind the scenes at the network. Deciding to do this together, Bradley reveals that Fred has been silencing female victims of sexual harassment. They tell the story of Mitch and Hannah while we see Fred rushing down to the studio. Mia locks the door though to stop him. Alex also admits to having not spoken out when she witnessed how the women suffered and apologies for it. Before the show get cut off, they manage to make an appeal to all the victims and tell them to speak out. The episode then closes as the camera focuses and zooms in on a sombre looking Mitch as he realizes what has just happened and the repercussions he will now have to face. The Morning Show has certainly delivered with its finale here and what a way to end things! If there’s one thing many shows struggle to do, it’s giving the audience a satisfying ending, especially if a second season has already been confirmed. While it does leave some things open, the drama manages to give a very satisfying conclusion, wrapping the main story up quite well. The show has been building to the famous interview with Mitch so it was a nice twist to not see this happen and instead have both women rallying together to denounce the happenings of the network. Both actresses have delivered some excellent performances throughout the season. The main focus of the episode will inevitably be the shocking suicide of Hannah which will certainly cause ripples in the second season. It’s so unfortunate that it sometimes takes a tragedy like this to occur before changes are made in society. Things are set to change at the network going forward and I really wonder what will happen for both main ladies. Will they still work there or will they end up collaborating on a different project? We’re left with some questions here but again, this finale does give us closure and manage to make this one of Apple+’s better shows to watch at the present time.
