The Morning Show's 'Unf-Kingbelievable' Alex Saves The Day When All Is Lost — Read Episode 4 Recap
Nearly all is lost in this week's The Morning Show until the episode's final moments, when Alex ex machinas her way into the role of UBA's champion. (Well, facilitator to UBA's champion. Whatever. It doesn't matter.) And the fact that her big move irks Cory as much as it saves his bacon? Well that's just entertaining, isn't it?
Meanwhile, did you know Mia speaks Russian? Read on for the highlights of "The Green Light."
UPFRONTS ARE BACK! | It's time for the UBA upfronts, baby! In a long tracking shot, Cory struts into a theater with the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" bumping on the soundtrack. It's the first in-person upfront — aka network presentation to advertisers — since the Covid pandemic, and Cory is PUMPED to get onstage and shill... because UBA is in desperate need of money. As Good Girls' Retta warms up the crowd with a few jokes at the network's expense, Cory practices his spiel in the dressing room.
Then we skip to later that day at UBA, where Alex wonders why her docuseries wasn't on the sizzle reel Cory showed to advertisers. "We are flirting with financial disaster," he says. "It is dire, Alex. No bueno." What about Paul Marks, she wonders? That deal is toast, he replies, adding a snarky "I guess he didn't like being cucked by you." To help repair the damage her rocket-bailing caused, he asks her to help him woo ad execs at a party that evening. She agrees.
CORY IS THWARTED BY AN OLD FOE | In the hours before the party, Cory scrambles to get the Sloan Management money guys from the season premiere to cough up enough cash to keep UBA's lights on. But they need a certain amount of assurance in the form of a solid ad buy. So Stella is tasked with wining and dining two really repugnant advertisers in the hopes of locking down a significant amount of revenue.
The ad bros are very into the idea of running up a giant food-and-beverage bill on UBA's tab; at one point, Stella realizes that she can't hang, and secretly asks their waitress to bring her water instead of gin for every subsequent round. The dudes figure out the ruse eventually, are generally dickish and uncouth, and then up the ante by asking the waitress to lick up a spilled drink off the table: If she does, they promise to lock in the ad rate they've discussed. After a tense moment, the waitress does as she's asked. Later, Stella cries in her car on the way to Cory's party but texts him that she was successful: They'll be able to get the loan.
All of that ickiness, however, turns out to be for nothing. Soon after Stella arrives at the bash, which takes place at Cory's house in the Hamptons, Cory is irked to see Fred Micklen — you remember, the guy whose job he took? — among the partygoers. Despite the grandeur of upfronts, Fred knows the network's revenue is down 23 percent in the first fiscal quarter of the year. And he knows that because he's working with Sloan Management, which means "Every major fiscal decision, you're going to be running by me," he tells Cory with glee. "I'm your sugar daddy."
ALEX IS ON IT | Turns out, though, that Alex has a plan of her own. She stalks Paul Marks on the street in SoHo and tells him to get in her car, because "I've got a suborbital surprise for you." They wind up at Coney Island, where they stroll the amusement park as she apologizes for skipping out on the rocket launch at the last minute. She assures him it had nothing to do with him. "I have a very complicated history with UBA, men trying to control my destiny, and that is not on you," she says. He appreciates her candor, but there's no longer a deal on the table. "That ship has sailed," he says. "Has it?" she tosses back. "You're here." And as he rides the Astro Tower with her, it seems like she's got a point.
As the evening progresses, we learn fun(ish) facts about Paul. He watched Alex's Covid special. He was put in a tough-love camp as a teenager. And he's certainly picking up what Ms. Levy is putting down. Still, he stops short of re-engaging in talk about buying UBA. "Let's just enjoy the day, OK?" he suggests. But they definitely do not enjoy when the funnel-cake vendor recognizes Alex and starts yelling about how she's a "c–k tease" who's responsible for Mitch's death. Paul screams back at the guy, but Alex pulls him away, saying that the abuse is part of the job. She explains that funnel-cake dude actually is mad at Mitch, not her, for not being who he said he was. Paul is visibly impressed with Alex's ability to take verbal abuse from a garbage person, which probably doesn't bode well for the future, but here we are.
ELSEWHERE AT THE UPFRONTS PARTY | Back at Cory's soiree, Chris finds new board chair Leonard at the bar and directly asks him if the money the network is pulling in at upfronts will be used to address UBA's racial pay disparity. When he hedges, she casually brings up her social media following: "Since Jemima-gate, I gained 200,000 followers. Maybe I should ask them what they think about this. TV loves a focus group, right?" He quickly replies that he'll raise the issue at the board meeting the following week.
Earlier in the episode, we watched Mia speak Russian (!) as she helped Bradley lock down a freelance photographer named Andre, who was going to get into the Ukraine city of Mariupol for UBA. The way Mia spoke to him made Bradley think there was a little something-something between them; Mia neither confirmed nor denied. But later, when Mia is at the party, Andre FaceTimes her to report that Russians are shooting civilians in the streets; he asks her to wait to run his photos until he's safely out of there. But under pressure from Stella, and without confirmation that Andre is OK, Mia eventually calls the network and has them run the photos that evening.
ALEX SAVES THE DAY | Cory, still smarting from the idea of essentially having to work for Fred again, tells Stella they can't take Sloan's loan, but that he'll figure something else out. "Good luck with that," she deadpans. And just then, a helicopter lands on the beach outside Cory's Palace of Sadness (™Mia): Alex and Paul get out.
Suddenly, Cory's — and UBA's — fortunes are looking up. "Unf–kingbelievable," Cory says in awe, "Alex Levy brought home the kill."
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!