WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Morning Show season 3, episode 9.
Summary
- The Morning Show season 3, episode 9 was filled with shocking reveals, intense arguments, and a thrilling cliffhanger, setting up an exciting season finale.
- Important storylines in this episode included Paul and Alex's new plan for UBA and Laura confronting Bradley about her secret.
- Bradley, Stella, and Chip's investigation into Paul and Hyperion goes sideways when Paul finds out and tries to shut it down.
The Morning Show season 3, episode 8 had a surprising ending with Paul and Alex’s new plan for UBA that was further explained in episode 9. While this was one of the biggest storylines of the episode, every scene was filled to the brim with revelations and twists. The Morning Show season 3 has managed to pack a great deal of plot into its 9 episodes thus far, and the season 4 renewal hopefully means every storyline will eventually be resolved.
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10 Christina Is Considering Leaving The Morning Show For Sports Broadcasting
Christina Hunter, a new addition to The Morning Show season 3 cast, had just one brief scene in episode 9, but it was an important one in setting up her future. In the previous episode, Christina faced retaliation for her Instagram post calling out the Supreme Court, which led to The Morning Show pulling her from covering abortion laws. In this episode, it was revealed that she’s looking to leave The Morning Show and UBA completely to go back to sports broadcasting. Like others, Chris doesn’t want to work for Paul, nor does she want to work for a company that is diminishing her voice.
9 Maggie Brener Returns
Maggie Brener played a big ing role in The Morning Show season 2 but hadn’t been seen since then until season 3, episode 9. She left on a bad note after Bradley interviewed Maggie about her tell-all book on UBA in The Morning Show season 2, episode 9. This made it a bit shocking to see her suddenly appear exactly one season later in Alex’s office, apologizing to her and congratulating her on all the changes she’s made to herself since they last spoke.
Off the record, the duo spoke about Paul buying UBA and what it might mean for the future of broadcast journalism. Maggie told Alex that she believed that even with Paul’s money, UBA only has a few years left before all the big news companies “cannibalize” each other. Despite all their differences and checkered history, there is clearly respect between Maggie and Alex, and it was nice to see the return of a familiar face in The Morning Show season 3.
8 Alex Wants To Start A New Company With Bradley
In their talk, Maggie also reminded Alex of how Bradley had stuck up for her, which is rare to see in the industry. Alex and Bradley haven’t shared the screen much in The Morning Show season 3 with Bradley’s promotion to the evening news, but they had some key scenes together in episode 9. When Paul sells UBA, Alex doesn’t plan on sticking around, but she also feels guilty about potentially leaving people behind. This is why she proposed starting a new business alongside Bradley and bringing other The Morning Show employees with them.
Alex shared her vision of a new company with Bradley, telling her she wants to “finish what [they] started.” Alex said since they’re both at the height of their careers, it’s time for them to be their own bosses. Yet, Bradley has been at UBA for just over three years while Alex celebrated 20 years with the network in The Morning Show season 3. Alex invited Bradley to be her partner and start over from the ground up, but Bradley is committed to UBA and told Alex she thinks Paul is the “wrong guy” to run things because of what she’s been discovering in her investigation on Paul and Hyperion.
7 Alex & Bradley Fight About Paul
Bradley’s accusations against Paul didn’t go over well with his new girlfriend in The Morning Show season 3, episode 9. When she asked Alex how well she really knew him, Alex got incredibly defensive, saying that people were probably just making things up to take Paul down. Similar to the line of questioning Alex received from her Alex Unfiltered interviewee last episode, Bradley told Alex she isn’t sure she could be objective when it comes to Paul and the deal because of their relationship. Alex was hurt and upset by this and left, potentially ending any future business partnership between them.
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6 Bradley, Chip & Stella Are Trying To Stop The Paul Marks Deal
After failing to meet with Kate in The Morning Show season 3, episode 8, Bradley, Stella, and a newly-fired Chip worked together in episode 9 to gain information from other former Hyperion employees to discover what’s really been going on with Paul’s company. They found that Kate and others were fired for raising safety concerns with Hyperion Two and that Paul is having his engineers work overtime for the launch without pay because he’s running out of the money needed to fund it. This news helps put Paul’s plan to sell UBA into more perspective, as he probably couldn’t afford to keep the company.
Additionally, they learned that Hyperion isn’t reporting certain complications that could make future launches more dangerous. When Bradley, Cory, and Paul went to space in The Morning Show season 3, episode 1, there was a brief connection issue that Paul blamed on the cyberhack, but they found it was actually Hyperion’s fault. When Bradley and Stella brought their findings to Cory to try and delay the deal while they continued investigating, he turned them down. Finally, seeing Cory for who he truly is, Stella tells him she’s leaving UBA when Paul takes over, which will leave Cory to deal with the inevitable mess alone.
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5 Laura Confronts Bradley About January 6
Laura spent the first half of The Morning Show season 3, episode 9 trying to figure out what to do about her knowledge of Hal’s involvement in the January 6 Capitol attack and Bradley and Cory’s coverup. She called Hal personally to slyly confirm if what she suspected was even true, and his nervous answers told her all she needed to know. Laura ultimately decided not to report them, but she did tell Bradley she wanted her out of her life, effectively ending their relationship.
It was an angry confrontation, reminiscent of their previous breakup, but this time it ended in tears for both of them. Bradley begged Laura to let her try and fix everything, but this time they were arguing about an act of treason. There is still love between them, so if Laura could ever find it in herself to forgive Bradley, there’s a chance for another reconciliation in The Morning Show season 4, especially given the revelations at the end of season 3, episode 9.
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4 Cybil Tells Cory About Paul’s Plan
Another character who made her grand return in The Morning Show season 3, episode 9 was Cybil, who had been removed as president of the board earlier in the season. At the start of the episode, numerous UBA shares were bought ahead of the shareholders' vote on the Paul Marks deal. Cybil later told Cory that she was the one who’d purchased them, as she wasn’t about to watch her family’s company go down without a fight.
Fred’s involvement in Paul’s plan predictably backfired when his wife excitedly let the details slip to Cybil, who relayed the information to Cory. This led to yet another confrontation in The Morning Show season 3, episode 9, this time between Cory and Alex. Cory told Alex that she was making a mistake while Alex said this all could have been avoided had he not kept her from claiming her earned power at UBA in the first place. Cory vs. Alex and Paul will be an exciting battle that won’t end without some metaphorical casualties.
3 Paul Threatens Bradley In The Morning Show Season 3
Paul found out about Bradley’s investigation into Hyperion in The Morning Show season 3, episode 9, and obviously has a lot he wants to keep hidden. Just before Bradley had to deliver the evening news at the end of episode 9, Paul went to Bradley’s dressing room to try and threaten her. He told her that he knew her secret and how Laura was now implicated by not reporting her. Paul reminded Bradley that she has the power to stop the truth from coming out by not looking any further into Hyperion. This fully cemented Paul as a villain, proving he hasn’t changed since he first worked with Stella.
2 Bradley Resigns From UBA Live On-Air
Immediately after Paul’s threat, Bradley went live on-air and made the completely unexpected announcement that she was reg from UBA. She said she was leaving for “personal reasons,” though viewers know it’s to protect Laura and Hal in particular. Bradley hadn’t warned anyone ahead of time and didn’t talk to anyone, leaving the network at a loss for what to do next. Hopefully, this isn’t truly the end of Bradley’s time at UBA, but she will have to face the consequences of her actions somehow in The Morning Show.
1 The Vault Published An Exposé On Cory
The shock of Bradley’s decision was short-lived as it was one-upped almost immediately at the end of The Morning Show season 3, episode 9 by an exposé published on Cory in The Vault. Paul had been digging for dirt on Cory to take him down and found out just how inappropriate his relationship with Bradley could be. The article said he had groomed Bradley and when she rejected him, outed him and Laura to the press.
While this isn’t exactly what happened in The Morning Show season 2, it finally revealed the truth about Laura and Bradley’s outing a full season-and-a-half later. At the end of the penultimate episode, security came to escort Cory out of the UBA building, which could suggest his removal as CEO. The Morning Show season 3 has been building pressure throughout, and the finale will have to deal with the result of everything finally meeting its boiling point.
