The fallout from season one with the revelations of sexual abuse by Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) and the suicide of one his victims inevitably takes centre stage in the ten-part second season. As network CEO Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) looks to rebuild the flagship breakfast program, so he invites Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) to return.
As with the first season, The Morning Show dips and weaves around the studio and into selective personal moments of the two anchors, Levy and Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon). Popular, ambitious, valued, the two are in a position to demand – and demand they do, with both looking to further bolster their careers: Levy with her own show, Jackson covering political issues.
Much fanfare is made of Levy’s return – only for her to disappear a week into her contract. Having spent years working with Kessler, Levy struggles with his absence and needs closure – and breathing space, uncertain as she is of her return to the network. Self-obsessed to the last, Levy heads off to Italy and Lake Como where Kessler is spending time in self-reflection. As Alex makes contact with her former colleague, so the breaking news across the globe is the early signs of the COVID pandemic. And Italy becomes an early European epicentre.
New and returning characters add subplots to the personal narratives, with the relationship between the legendary Laura Peterson (Julianna Marguiles), Alex’s temporary replacement, and Bradley Jackson core. But it’s the unfolding COVID drama and the reactions in the newsrooms that create the central news narrative to season two – and a palpable tension. The series itself was filmed during the timeframe and dialogue adapted to reflect the immediacy of the ‘outside’ world. It’s a necessary balance to the personal overblown melodrama developing in Italy where Kessler, though isolated and separated from his friends and family, is presented as a sympathetic figure beginning to recognise the wrong in his actions. It’s hard to swallow knowing his impact.
Rating: 64%
An Opinion or Two 