Subtlety is not a quality I’d associate with Apple TV’s The Morning Show. I never had a complaint about that, as the show works thanks to its hyper-melodrama, but when you are handling a story about credit stealing that led to a suicide attempt, some amount of sensitivity is probably needed. Not that the latest episode is any less entertaining than usual, but the approach it takes with this story doesn’t sit right with me. However, that’s just a personal opinion, and a recap article is not exactly the place to share my own viewpoints. But since I am doing it already, I should also mention that it is really frustrating to see this show continuing to portray Alex Levy as this messiah in the current season, and The Morning Show Episode 6 was no exception, sadly.

Spoilers Ahead

What’s Eating Bradley Jackson?

Trust Bradley’s brother Hal to mess things up every time he shows up, even when he appears with a wife and newborn baby. Hal, Cheryl, and their newborn daughter are here to visit Bradley, and Bradley is happy to see her brother finally not hellbent on ruining his and Bradley’s lives. Unfortunately, Bradley soon finds out that she was wrong. Hal is here to turn himself over to the FBI for what he did two years ago. Even though Bradley has already taken the trouble of fixing that, Hal now has a conscience and wants to “do the right thing”. Well, he clearly doesn’t mind leaving his wife, who has zero idea about all this, and a newborn baby behind, it seems.

Bradley understandably gets pissed and tries everything to get Hal in line, which includes taking Hal and his family to her studio and interviewing somebody who went to prison for the same thing Hal did. The man comes off as remorseful and regrets losing his family over this, but that doesn’t create any impact on Hal. The elder Jackson is a pretty stubborn guy, after all. And so is his sister, who refuses to take Cory’s help in preventing the impending disaster. Instead, Bradley bids a weird, scrappy goodbye to Alex and thanks her for everything she has done for Bradley. Alex thinks Bradley is planning to leave UBA, but obviously we know that Bradley is contemplating her imminent fall, thanks to her idiot brother.

However, Bradley Jackson does have someone in life who, despite her own problematic aspects, would go any distance to help her. That person happens to be none other than Laura Peterson. Just when you think things between Bradley and Laura have gone bad again, especially after a really bad date where Bradley has nothing but Hal on her mind, Laura does something you wouldn’t usually expect from her and saves the day. She visits Hal and seeks approval for her and Bradley’s relationship, as that would mean a lot to Bradley. Laura has no idea that Bradley’s concern about Hal is about something else, but the little visit seems to do the trick. Bradley unexpectedly finds a note from Hal that says that he has changed his mind. She has no idea how that happened, though, so we should all praise the lord, I suppose!

Who Is The Stanford Student?

Even though The Morning Show Episode 6 focuses on Bradley and Alex’s story arcs, the title of the episode refers to none other than the head of UBA News, Stella Bak. It is quite literal, as she is the one who got her tech idea stolen by none other than Paul Marks when she was a student at Stanford University. It was technically not stealing, as Stella did sign a NDA, but those are always used to shut people up, as mentioned by Alex during her interview with Marks, which happens to be the centerpiece of the episode. Stella is clearly pissed and frustrated with Mark’s acquisition of UBA, but she obviously can’t do anything about it. But when Alex decides to put Marks on “Alex Unfiltered”, Stella finds an opportunity to hold Marks accountable for his action. And the person she confides in is none other than producer Chip Black, who finally gets some long overdue screen time, although things don’t exactly go well for him on the personal front; more on that later.

Why Does Marks Offer The CEO’s Job To Stella?

With Paul Marks now on board, CEO Cory Ellison is clearly over the moon. And he doesn’t want anything that can potentially piss Marks off happening right before the deal. But Alex Levy has other plans, which are to put Marks under her own magnifying glass of judgment before the man becomes the UBA supreme. Despite Cory’s staunch disapproval, Alex approaches Marks for an interview, and he agrees instantly. That sort of baffles Alex, as she didn’t expect him to say yes that easily. Well, it seems like Marks has lost his heart to Alex Levy after all. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any other agenda.

We knew for a fact that the interview was going to be dramatic as hell, and The Morning Show did prove us right. Alex hits Marks with all the difficult questions and accusations against his company, Hyperion, and he keeps dodging them. But when she brings “The Stanford” student into the equation and reveals that the student made a suicide attempt thanks to what Marks did, he sincerely apologizes on camera and owns up to his past mistakes. Neither Alex nor Chip saw it coming, so it can be said that Marks now has an upper hand after all. Jennifer Aniston and John Hamm have surprisingly good chemistry here, and considering it’s The Morning Show, it was a given that things would happen between the two of them. So it is not surprising to see these two hooking up after the interview. I thought it was a bit insensitive for the show to go this way and show Alex and Marks all lovey-dovey under the sheets, that too with “Each Time You Fall in Love”, the Cigarettes After Sex song, playing in the background. Meanwhile, Chip abruptly proposes to Isabella, who says no, hinting at the fact that Chip has something for Alex as he always prioritizes her. Well, we are totally with Isabella on this!

Concerned over the interview causing any damage to the deal, Cory calls Marks early in the morning and is surprised to hear nothing but praise for Alex. Little does Cory know that Marks is actually planning to cut him loose and give the much-coveted job to Stella Bak after all. Does that make Paul Marks a good person? I am not so sure about that, but if his apology is genuine and it is coming from a place where he really wants to make up for what he did to Stella, then it can be assumed that the man is on the path of reform. However, it might just be a complete facade, and his offer to Stella is nothing but a bribe to earn her silence again. Either way, we are heading for a Cory versus Marks showdown in the upcoming episodes, and I have already chosen my side. Have you?