Pratik Handore
Apple TV+’s ‘The Morning Show‘ season 3 picks up a few months after the pandemic, and the first two episodes present Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon‘s Alexandra “Alex” Levy and Bradley Jackson with new challenges as CEO Cory Ellison plots massive changes at the network. Meanwhile, a shocking incident rocks the UBA and threatens to destroy the lives of its employees. As Cory is forced to make an important decision about how to deal with the hacking, the employees brace themselves for the worst. With plenty of interesting developments across the two episodes, viewers might be unable to keep up with everything. Therefore, here is a recap of ‘The Morning Show’ season 3, episodes 1 and 2! SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Morning Show Season 3 Episodes 1 and 2 Recap
The first episode, titled ‘The Kármán Line,’ opens with Alex Levy preparing for her upcoming trip to space with the aerospace company Hyperion, which will be covered on The Morning Show. However, Alex is concerned about her safety. Meanwhile, Bradley Jackson has moved to the Evening News and finally progressed in her career. Meanwhile, UBA CEO Cory Ellison meets billionaire Paul Marks to discuss a potential network acquisition. However, Marks and Cory disagree over the UBA’s valuation, causing a hold-up in the deal.
Alex discusses her space trip on TMS with co-host Yanko Flores and anchor Christine Hunter. Later, Alex meets Cory and discusses her new contract. She demands a seat on the board, but Cory refuses to approve the demand. Cory has a meeting with Cybil Richards and Stella Bak, with the former expressing concerns over Cory’s cost-cutting measures at the UBA. Stella asks Bradley to cut down a story about abortion in Texas, which upsets Bradley, and she reacts poorly at an award function.
Eventually, the crew travels to Texas for the space launch, where Alex meets Paul Marks, who wants to create excitement about his space tourism program through The Morning Show. However, Alex becomes upset when Marks reveals that Cory plans to sell the network to Marks. Alex has doubts about the space trip and decides to abandon the plans when she learns Bradley’s source in Texas has been arrested for stealing illegal abortion pills. With Alex AWOL, Cory is forced to replace her with Bradley, who arrives in Texas to free her source from police custody. Bradley goes to space with Cory and Marks while Alex covers the abortion protests in San Antonio.
The second episode, titled ‘Ghost in the Machine,’ opens with Marks expressing his displeasure over the broadcast malfunction that impacted the space launch as it reflects badly on Hyperion. After returning to New York, Alex speaks with Cybil about Cory’s plans to sell the UBA. Cybil reassures Alex that she will not let the sale happen. However, Cybil turns on Alex and scolds Cory for letting Alex think she has as much power as him in the organization. Stella informs Alex that she must spend more time on TMS as punishment for backing out of the space trip.
While Bradley appears on TMS to discuss her space trip, the control room experiences malfunctions, leading to a complete lockdown of the facility. Chip opens the control room door, allowing the staff and anchors to reach a safe location. However, it quickly becomes evident that the facility is under a cyber attack. Cory and Stella are forced into crisis management mode when Cory receives an email containing a private and inappropriate video message Bradley sent to Laura. As a result, all UBA staff are forced to concede their electronic devices as their personal data has also been compromised in the attack.
Cory learns that the hackers are demanding $50 million in ransom to prevent them from leaking the private data of UBA employees. In a time of distress, Bradley turns to Alex for help in convincing the board to pay the ransom and save face for her. However, Alex refuses to speak with the board after Cybil betrayed her and insists having her darkest secrets out in the open will only help Bradley. Nonetheless, Bradley becomes disappointed with Alex and retreats to her office. On the other hand, Alex also learns of the romantic relationship between her producer, Chip, and assistant, Isabella.
The Morning Show Season 3 Episodes 1 and 2 Ending: Does UBA Pay the Ransom Money?
In the episode, Cory meets the board to discuss the solutions to the hacking of UBA. He reveals that the hackers are likely Russian, but he has no concert proof yet. Cory proposes negotiating with the hackers and bringing the ransom to $25 million. He then insists on paying the ransom to protect their employees from being exposed to their private data leaking online. On the other hand, the leak would reveal Bradley’s relationship with Laura, outing her as a bisexual woman, which could be devastating for her career. As a result, it appears that Cory is trying to protect sensitive information about his employees and faces an uphill battle.
During the board meeting, Cybil argues that paying the ransom will reflect badly on the network. Firstly, the UBA has no guarantee that they can stop the hackers from leaking the data even after the ransom is paid. At the same time, Cybil also feels that a fraction of the ransom money can be spent to protect the network against future attacks. Furthermore, Cybil explains that paying the ransom would directly fund Russia’s war against Ukraine if Russia is behind the cyberattack. As a result, Cybil is vehemently against paying the ransom.
Ultimately, Cybil’s concerns appear legitimate to the board members, who vote against paying the ransom. As a result, the UBA employees are forced to brace themselves for their personal data leaking online, and Bradley breaks the news of the cyberattack on her show. However, Alex realizes her mistake and shows up at Bradley’s apartment and apologizes for her behavior. Alex offers to help Bradley with crisis management once the hackers leak her video and other personal information.
How Does Stella Know Paul Marks?
In the episode’s final moments, Cory is forced to rearrange his plans after the board refuses to pay the ransom. However, he does not seem worried about his personal data leaking online. Instead, Cory attempts to turn the situation in his favor by having a report about Paul Marks potentially acquiring the UBA leaking online while the hackers leak the UBA data. Meanwhile, Stella’s phone is returned to her after seemingly completing the security process. However, she checks a photo of herself and Paul Marks on her phone. The episode’s ending strongly implies that Stella is somehow connected to Marks and could be working together. On the other hand, Stella might be planning to make her own power move, using her connection with Marks as leverage.
Read More: The Morning Show Season 2 Ending, Explained
