The Morning Show Recap: Let’s Make a Deal

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If someone had told me at the start of the season that Alex Levy and Paul Marks would be negotiating with a Russian billionaire at the opera to free Bradley Jackson from a Belarusian prison, I would have thought they were seriously unwell. Yet, that’s exactly what happens in the second-to-last episode of The Morning Show’s fourth season. It’s almost comical—do you remember when this show was simply about the people behind a morning news program?

Previously, Bradley was detained at the Minsk airport after meeting with a source related to the Wolf River investigation. Before communication was cut off, she sent Chip a video of her arrest and as many files as possible from her meeting with someone from Martel Chemical. Chip showed the video to Alex, who, feeling responsible for not having the proper travel documents signed for Bradley, shared it with UBN’s legal team, Celine and Ben. Alex explained the entire situation – why Bradley was in Belarus. When Celine learned Bradley was close to linking Wolf River to the Dumont family, she quickly suggested involving the State Department, seemingly more concerned for Bradley’s safety than protecting her family’s reputation or stopping the story from being revealed.

Celine has been successfully concealing her motives until now, but Chip Black is proving to be a difficult opponent. As soon as she starts questioning him about his account with Bradley, he senses she’s subtly trying to access their files. He doesn’t know her exact plan, but he’s certain it’s not good.

Cory Ellison is another key player who seems to fall for Celine’s manipulations, despite knowing better. We can maybe excuse this because he’s dealing with his mother’s death and recently stopped using drugs. Still, it’s strange – he’s usually good at seeing through people, yet he lets Celine comfort him and then skillfully draw him into revisiting old feelings, ultimately leading to a make-out session. It’s hard to believe Cory is genuinely in love with her, especially considering his recent obsession with Bradley, whom he seems to have completely forgotten despite her possible imprisonment. That’s a pretty cold move, even for him! It’s odd that he hasn’t realized he’s a significant liability in connecting the Dumonts to Wolf River, and Celine conveniently appears just as the Bradley situation is about to explode. For now, we can chalk it up to grief-fueled confusion and lust.

Celine is desperately trying to conceal Bradley’s arrest and the circumstances surrounding it, but Alex isn’t willing to wait for someone else to take action. While official channels seem appealing, both Alex and Chip realize the true power in Minsk lies with corrupt billionaires. They think Paul Marks might be their connection. And Paul, surprisingly, is still completely infatuated with Alex Levy. Despite her having ruined his life and publicly humiliated him, he’s practically begging to help, even if it means breaking the law and risking jail time. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation of how intensely he feels for her. Even Paul’s assistant, Amanda, is pleading with him to stay away, knowing that getting involved with Alex always leads to trouble.

Initially, Paul refuses to help Alex contact Dmitri Ivanov, a tech entrepreneur who has recently been sanctioned, regarding a possible exchange for Bradley. It seems crazy. However, it quickly becomes clear that Ivanov will be reaching out to Alex with a complicated plan to secure Bradley’s release. Alex finds Ivanov’s desperation strangely appealing. The plan involves Paul inviting Ivanov and his mistress – a Russian actress seeking work – to the opera, as Ivanov is a fan of Puccini. Mia, now part of the inner circle and with the help of her ex, Andre, who will pick up Bradley after her release, will also attend the opera separately. This allows Alex to meet with Ivanov and negotiate a deal while Mia distracts Ivanov’s mistress.

As usual, things are complicated on The Morning Show. Ivanov isn’t just interested in a TV show—he wants to get his hands on some tech. Alex and Paul huddle together in a closet, trying to work out how to make the deal happen while practically on top of each other—and definitely wanting to be kissing instead. Considering Paul just revealed he’s single, the attraction is obvious. Alex proposes a plan where Paul licenses his AI tech to UBN, allowing her to secretly pass it on to Ivanov without raising red flags with the authorities. Amanda jokingly describes it as “laundering a tech deal through [his] ex-girlfriend.” It’s funny to see Alex, who just weeks ago was asking what a deepfake even was, now discussing a complicated tech transaction.

Despite knowing it was a flawed idea, Paul went along with the plan. He told Amanda to begin the licensing process with UBN, and Ivanov concurred. It seemed to be working – Bradley was about to be released! Alex nervously waited for news from Chip, who was in turn waiting to hear from Andre. When Chip finally called, it wasn’t good news. Fighting back tears, Chip explained that something had gone wrong, the deal was off, and Bradley had been moved from the airport holding cell to an unknown location. Getting Bradley Jackson out was now much harder than they thought.

Alex, Chip, and Paul are shocked and upset about how things have fallen apart. The reason is clear: Amanda, worried about Paul and Alex, told Celine about their plan, hoping Celine could stop it. Celine then contacted her family, the Dumonts, who used their influence to sabotage Paul and Ivanov’s efforts. To protect her family’s reputation, Celine isn’t just delaying Bradley’s release – she’s working to prevent it altogether.

In Other News

It looks like Cory might be the only one who can prevent Celine from continuing her plans. The episode ends with him finding an EPA report about Wolf River hidden in the pocket of his dad’s leather jacket – a jacket his mother had saved. This report seems like a crucial clue!

It was a relief to see Alex finally apologize to Mia when she joined the Scooby Squad, especially after the mess he made with the head-of-news thing. Honestly, though, while I appreciate the apology, I still think Mia deserves better than UBN and should really consider finding a different job.

This season of The Morning Show quickly concluded Chris Hunter’s storyline with a dramatic scene: she publicly returned her Olympic medals to their true owner while on the air. It felt odd that no one from the Olympics was present to oversee the handover, and it made me question the show’s realism – something I hadn’t really thought about before!

Tig Notaro is fantastic as Amanda. Her entrance during Paul and Alex’s first “Friends with Oligarchs” meeting is memorable – she playfully tells Paul’s ex, “Seeing your highlights always makes me feel like something bad is about to happen.”

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2025-11-12 20:55