[This story comprises spoilers from the seventh episode of The Morning Show‘s second season, “La Amara Vita.”]
“You see people come. You see people go. And you realize how replaceable everyone really is.”
That quote, spoken by Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) at the begin of this week’s episode of Apple’s The Morning Show, holds a distinct that means by the finish of the tragic hour.
The former morning information anchor, who was fired over accusations of sexual assault and misconduct in season one, was giving an interview for a documentary and gave the impression to be speaking about his alternative on the morning present, the place he was beloved for 15 years, after the scandal. But in the remaining scene of the Italian-set episode, titled “La Amara Vita” (that means “the bitter life,” a play on La Dolce Vita), viewers understand the deeper that means of Mitch’s phrases when he lets his automobile drive off a cliff, marking his loss of life on the collection.
The episode ends with the surprising occasion, that means the characters in The Morning Show will stay in the darkish about the information till subsequent week. And that features Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston), who solely hours earlier had left Mitch’s Italian villa after a rollercoaster face-to-face reunion.
“The last conversation they had is Mitch sort of calling Alex out, saying, ‘Ok, I’ll do this,’” Aniston tells The Hollywood Reporter of Mitch agreeing to launch a press release to assist clear Alex’s status. “Basically,” she continues, “Mitch says, ‘I’ll support this narrative that you need to desperately have to save yourself, but I’m done? You can’t stand up for me?’”
The bottle episode pressed pause on the Morning Show drama in New York to observe Alex to Italy so she might pay her former co-anchor a shock go to. Mitch, who fled to Lake Como in the fallout of his #MeToo scandal, left a lot harm in his wake. And it rapidly turns into clear that Alex had arrived to gather on a few of her Mitch-imposed demons.
“For Alex, all she had is The Morning Show. She had burned so many bridges,” says Aniston, noting how her household life additionally suffered. “She didn’t really invest in anything except this show and her relevance. So much so, that she put herself in terrible situations and turned her eye to things that she shouldn’t have seen, but it didn’t matter because all that mattered was staying on top, staying relevant. And then it eventually all just crumbles.”
She continues, “In season two, we begin where she’s sort of taken a step back and is having deep moments of reflection and asking who she is and, who does she want to be? I think, for the very first time. I don’t know how much therapy Alex has had. But if there was any therapy, it was probably about: How do I get out of my marriage? I don’t know if there has been much self-reflection. And I think innocently, or naively, when she’s seduced by Cory [Ellison, played by Billy Crudup] to go back to The Morning Show, I think she believes that she can take whatever this newfound awareness and self-reflected wisdom she’s gained back into the hallways of TMS. But, that’s not possible.”
Adding, “Too many dead bodies buried.”
Alex, who has been so consumed along with her personal status in regards to her affiliation with Mitch that she not too long ago suffered a close to-breakdown, tells him she flew to Italy amid a looming pandemic to demand he launch a press release that she and Mitch by no means had a sexual relationship. Despite the lie — and following a heated argument between the longtime TV companions — Mitch agrees.
Jennifer Aniston, pictured right here with Steve Carell in “La Amara Vita.” The Italian-set episode filmed in California because of the pandemic.
Courtesy of Apple
From there, nevertheless, the episode evolves right into a deeper exploration into the intersection between Mitch’s twisty highway to redemption and Alex’s bumpy path in the direction of forgiveness. They combat and sling hateful phrases at one another. Then they make up and reconnect over an evening of consuming and dancing that leaves them reminiscing about their very own intimacy (they’d a secret affair years in the past — one that’s threatening to return out in Maggie Brenner’s looming inform-all), all main as much as her tense departure.
“That whole episode was such a beautiful symphony, like an opera that takes place with so many ups and downs and emotions and rage and resentment and anger and love and connection and regret and joy and heartbreak — that it just never ever will be the same again,” she says. “That’s brutal.”
Just as Mitch and Alex appear to achieve some extent of acceptance, information breaks detailing an excerpt from Brenner’s ebook that accuses Mitch of focusing on Black ladies in his office abuse.
“I guess I don’t have the tools to understand. Could you teach me? Teach me. Could you teach me, Alex? I want to be better. I want to be a better person, please. I want to be a good person,” Mitch begs of Alex, who tells him that simply because he didn’t imply to do what he did doesn’t make it OK.
Alex leaves, assertion in hand. And Mitch reacts by lastly letting his guard down with the Italian documentarian whom he has been spending time with and he sleeps with Paola (Valeria Golino). But, when leaving her home, his happiness is fleeting as he replays the occasions of his life again whereas behind the wheel late at night time. In the remaining scene of the episode, when an oncoming automobile veers him barely off a winding mountain highway, he lets go of the wheel and his automobile heads over the Italian cliffside. The remaining picture is a flashback from the night time earlier than of Alex hugging him tightly.
“It was a big question that would come up amongst all of us and the writers, which is: What happens to a Mitch Kessler?” Aniston explains of the determination to pursue Mitch’s story after the occasions of season one, driving the media drama into considerably uncharted post-#MeToo storytelling territory. “It was extraordinary [to explore]. Because, let’s see it. Let’s see what those people are going through and feeling and walking through. And wanting to be helped and wanting to understand. It’s like the world changed overnight and there’s a whole new playbook you are having to live by. Redemption, is that a possibility? Forgiveness? Are they inherently evil, dark people? Did they mean to do it?”
She provides, “And, for Alex, that was her best friend; that was her confidante. They had each other. And now The Morning Show is gone; now he’s gone.”
The first seven episodes of season two of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show at the moment are streaming.