The Morning Show Season 2 Episode 9, “Testimony,” is the penultimate installment of the season and, if anything, serves as absolute confirmation that the show has absolutely no idea what it’s doing right now. It is an entire mess, and I truly hate that for all of us, but there it is.

Look — love it or hate it, The Morning Show Season 1 had a clear arc, one that built up to the moment Alex and Bradley decided to out Fred and expose the coverups and corruption at UBA. What’s Season 2’s story? I truly have no idea. And with just an episode to go, that’s beyond frustrating.

Is it the encroaching threat of the coronavirus pandemic? I mean, there’s the big cliffhanger plot twist: The show has now decided to give Alex COVID in the earliest days of the worst initial outbreak in America but do any of us think this will be a story about anything other than how this impacts the insular world of The Morning Show?

I mean, they’re talking about building tents outside the hospital to house the influx of COVID patients and Alex is just…on her phone?

The Morning Show Season 2 – Photo Courtesy of Apple TV+

Is it about cancel culture? The show keeps throwing around words that seem like the folks in charge think it is, yet, The Morning Show still can’t manage to even figure out what it’s trying to say about Mitch’s life – or death.

This is, by the way, the *third episode in a row* that’s mostly All About Mitch, and I can’t get my head around why we’re wasting so much screentime on a man whose ex-wife has to basically guilt-trip people to go to his memorial service.)

I’d honestly be tempted to argue that the arc of the season is simply “Mitch dies”, but beyond the simple fact of his death, The Morning Show doesn’t really seem that interested in what it actually means — or even telling us why it happened.

The series showed us Mitch essentially choosing to die, but that fact has never been mentioned again, and hasn’t informed the fallout in any way. (There would, at least, be an interesting character angle to poke at if Mitch truly did believe he was beyond saving.)

“Testimony” features one of the season’s bare handful of scenes that feature Alex and Bradley together — it’s one of the best in the hour, and a desperate reminder of just how good the chemistry between Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon is.

So why is The Morning Show essentially refusing to take advantage of it? After the Season 1 finale, in which Alex and Bradley essentially chose each other and vowed to ride out the chaos of outing their network head as a predator together, they’ve barely interacted, and I have no idea what the status of their relationship truly is at this point.

Yes, Bradley’s easy take down of Maggie Brenner over her tabloid gossip framed as serious criticism new book is deeply satisfying — and her calling out of the misogynistic double standard that is applied to women in the public eye is especially welcome — but I kind of don’t know why she felt motivated to do it.

After all, she and Alex have barely even spoken this season — and Alex essentially abandoned her following the events of last season’s final. Why does she still feel this intense loyalty to her? I’d honestly love to know.

With just one episode to go in Season 2 — and Alex freshly diagnosed with COVID-19 — it seems impossible that The Morning Show will somehow manage to find some meaning in this madness. And that’s maybe the biggest disappointment of all.

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

As much as I liked the brief, surprise return of Claire, and the reminder that she and Yanko really do have lovely chemistry with one another, all it did was remind me that Yanko has truly become the Season 2 message whipping boy — some of the things that have come out of his mouth this season have just been epically out of character.
Also, after all that — Yanko didn’t even go to the service!! What was the point?!?
Was Mia even in this episode?
I get the feeling we’re supposed to think that Alex’s decision to quit TMS in advance of Maggie’s book release is somehow noble, but it isn’t not really. She keeps saying she’s going to get “canceled”, but is she? Or is she going to face some consequences for adult choices she made? At this point, I don’t know what The Morning Show wants me to think about Alex either. And that’s as exhausting as everything else.
I also think Alex knocking herself out in the middle of the night because she’s getting roasted on Twitter is not supposed to be nearly as hilarious as I personally found it.

What did you think of this episode of The Morning Show? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

Click to rate this episode!

[Total: 0 Average: 0]

New episodes of The Morning Show stream Fridays on AppleTV+.

Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

The Morning Show: Greta Lee on How Stella’s Shaking Up the System in Season 2 [Interview]

Lacy Baugher

Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.

The Morning Show Review: Testimony (Season 2 Episode 9)

Like this:

Lacy Baugher

Share on social media:

Like this:

Lacy Baugher