MARCH 2020 MACWORLD 21inko) called it “a giant, faultlessly tasteful
gift box filled mostly with packing peanuts.”
Ian Thomas Malone (go.macworld.com/
thms) labeled it “an elaborate disaster.”
Even our own Leif Johnson (go.macworld.
com/leif) wrote that the first few episodes
had him “wanting to hit the snooze button.”
Between that, the humdrum trailer, and
my general disinterest in behind-the-
scenes dramas, I didn’t rush to see The
Morning Show. In fact, I only really
watched it because of my job—as the
marquee show of Apple’s newly launched
TV service, I basically had no choice. But
by the time the final episode landed, I
didn’t want it to end. In fact, it’s been two
weeks since I watched the season finale of
The Morning Show and I still can’t stop
thinking about it. It’s not just that it was the
most compelling episode of the show’s
first season, it was some of the best
television I’ve ever seen.
BUILDING AND BREAKING
RELATIONSHIPS
There’s a scene near the end of the final
episode of The Morning Show where Alex
Levy (Jennifer Aniston) and Bradley
Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) switch roles.
For the better part of eight episodes, Levy
has been composed and guarded in public
(despite a slow breakdown in her personal
life), but here she lashes out at a passerby
who wants a selfie, letting her emotions
erode her professional veneer. Jackson, on
the other hand, sheds her naturally
combative nature to defuse the situation
before it has a chance to turn viral.
It lasts just a moment and is quickly
overshadowed by the final scene, but it
encapsulates the relationship between
the two co-anchors and deftly illustrates
how much each has learned from each
other in such a short time. Like Jesse
Pinkman and Walter White in Breaking
Bad or Dana Sculley and Fox Mulder in
The X-Files, The Morning Show is, at its
core, a platonic relationship drama. And
Levy and Jackson are equal parts
counterparts and companions.
It’s that dichotomous relationship that
makes The Morning Show so enjoyable.
Aniston and Witherspoon play off each
other like the veteran actors they are, and
watching them manipulate, deceive, feign,
and seduce each other is a joy to behold.
As representatives of the foils of
feminism—the wildly successful woman
who bites her tongue and looks the other
way in the face of a “boy’s club,” and the
unapologetic idealist willing to blow it all
up for the truth—they each come to the
realization that their power is superficial
despite the Me Too platitudes poured on
them by their co-workers. Both have
broken the glass ceiling only to discover
there’s another one right above it.
So they join forces to wrestle their