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SPOILER ALERT! This publish comprises particulars from the primary two episodes of The Morning Present Season 3.
It’s been two years — in actual life and within the Apple TV+ sequence — since Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) signed off of The Morning Present from her front room, encouraging viewers to “keep secure and keep sane” within the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
Season 3 of the Apple TV+ sequence debuted Wednesday, and UBA is again up and operating. However who is aware of for a way lengthy. Over the previous two seasons, Alex has weathered fairly a couple of storms. It began with the sexual misconduct allegations towards co-anchor Mitch Kessler (Steve Carrell). Then, his sudden loss of life. She additionally survived being canceled after her personal actions, or lack thereof, got here to mild in relation to Mitch’s misconduct. And to prime all of it off, she contracts COVID. Her solely fixed? Work.
“She’s actually alone. She’s reinvented herself throughout COVID as a folks particular person and somebody you may belief. Somebody you may relate to, bearing all her flaws, and she or he truly turned extra interesting to the general public,” director and government producer Mimi Leder informed Deadline. “In order that was a part of her arc, in that she’s actually modified. She’s not this person who’s eliminated. She will converse to the folks. However she feels one thing is lacking in her life. So she’s targeted on her work, and it’s the factor that she will be able to depend on. That makes her really feel good, however she needs to be a frontrunner.”
In all her soul looking out, Alex has determined that she doesn’t need to sit round and anticipate issues to occur to her anymore. She needs to start out calling a few of the photographs. Or, at the least have a say earlier than the shot is named.
That turns into particularly clear when she learns of UBA chief Cory Ellison’s (Billy Crudup) plan to promote the corporate to tech mogul Paul Marks (Jon Hamm). Cory admits that UBA is in some deep monetary bother after the launch of their streaming service and the lasting impression of the pandemic. They’re going to want somebody with “more cash than God” to save lots of them. No matter his reasoning, Alex isn’t completely satisfied that he’s doing it in secret.
“She doesn’t belief Cory to vary UBA for the higher. She thinks of him as purely machiavellian, and I feel she’s proper” Leder stated, including: “She needs a seat on the desk, however getting that seat may cost her greater than she ever imagined when Paul Marks walks into the room. So I might say there’s this actual energy triangle between Cory, Paul and Alex in that a part of Alex’s arc. That’s the start of her arc, nevertheless it’s her discovering her voice and discovering her energy. And it’s a really heartbreaking, highly effective story and journey that she goes on to seek out that voice.”
Alex isn’t the one character performing some soul looking out within the Season 3 premiere. Within the first episode, viewers discover Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) internet hosting the nightly information for UBA. However, she doesn’t fairly really feel fulfilled, regardless of her rise to such a distinguished place. When she’s instructed to put off a narrative a few girl in Texas who helps smuggle abortion drugs throughout the Mexican border to ladies within the state who’ve restricted entry to reproductive healthcare, she begins to query whether or not she’s been taking place the proper path.
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However, if viewers know something about Bradley, it’s that she’s defiant. So, she flies to Texas anyway, intent on protecting the story. Elsewhere in Texas, Cory, Alex and others on the UBA staff are visiting Paul’s Hyperion firm, the place Alex is ready to launch into area on one of many firm’s rockets to rejoice her twenty years at UBA. Little does she know, that is simply a part of Cory’s plan to prime the general public for the sale of UBA.
When she finds out, she isn’t precisely keen to assist that trigger. Simply when she’s feeling like she needs to get again at Cory, Alex will get a name from Bradley asking if they will spare a cameraperson. Alex and her producer Charlie (Mark Duplass) take off to assist Bradley — who’s intercepted on the airport by Cory. He wants her to take over for Alex on the Hyperion launch, and she or he doesn’t actually have a alternative after Cory reminds her he’s been conserving a secret for her. So, Alex covers the abortion story and Bradley goes to area.
“When Bradley goes up, she doesn’t see the view. She doesn’t see the wonder. What I used to be attempting to essentially speak about in these moments in these silent photographs is that she feels lonely. She feels scared. One thing’s happening inside her. That’s what we had been attempting to depict in these moments up there. William Shatner spoke about that very eloquently when he went up. It wasn’t actually lovely. It was huge and darkish,” Leder mused.
Simply because the rocket makes it to the sting of area, communication with the ship goes darkish. For a second, the producers on the bottom must grapple with the concept one thing has gone terribly incorrect with the launch. And never solely that, they’re stay on air when it occurs.
Whereas the bottom management re-establishes communication shortly and everyone seems to be secure, it’s a poignant reminder of the risks of sending civilians on such harmful explorations.
“That’s why I did that shot the place [Bradley’s] strolling, and abruptly, she appears to be like up at this gigantic rocket ship and goes ‘Holy shit’ in her head. ‘I can’t go up there. It’s simply ginormous. I might die.’ It’s simply scary as hell. Once you’re in these excessive powered jobs, you do issues that you simply generally don’t even take into consideration which are insane,” Leder defined. “I keep in mind once I was directing China Seaside, I used to be up on a helicopter. My daughter was two years previous. And I used to be up there capturing and filming, after which I used to be like, ‘What the f*ck am I doing up on this helicopter? I’ve a baby. I’m a mom.’ It was the final time I ever went up in a helicopter. So we do issues that we generally don’t take into consideration.”
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As if all that isn’t sufficient, simply days later, UBA experiences a cyber assault. As Bradley is talking about her expertise on the fringe of area on the morning present, the whole lot goes darkish. Then, chaos ensues. The producers attempt to decide what’s happening. Is there an lively shooter? Is there {an electrical} drawback? At first, nothing is evident.
“I shot the entire thing handheld,” Leder stated of the scene. “Once we’re on set it’s very shiny, very completely satisfied… then we’ve our behind the scenes approach of capturing, which could be very easy and stylish. I needed to interrupt proper into mass chaos when the lights went out. The whole lot we did was designed and thought out. So it was actually enjoyable to perform a little motion sequence in the course of The Morning Present.“
As soon as they notice that the menace is digital, they begin to assess the potential injury and notice that this hacker has entry to the whole lot that’s ever touched the UBA wi-fi server. That features lots of secrets and techniques, just like the intimate video that Bradley despatched to Julianna Margulies’ Laura whereas the 2 had been courting. The hacker needs $50M to hide the video, which regardless of Cory’s finest efforts the UBA board votes towards paying.
The ramifications of that call are positive to be explored all through the season, as will Alex’s battle for extra autonomy inside the company construction.
“The themes of this season had been ladies’s company, ladies’s reproductive rights, abortion rights. What are the methods wherein ladies’s energy is being challenged proper now and undermined? Additionally…we needed to speak about the specter of the way forward for journalism and the menace to it everywhere in the world and the menace to journalists. Most notably, we needed to talk about the state of the reality. Our present could be very topical. These are all points which are occurring right here,” Leder stated. “Life mirroring artwork. There’s simply so many subjects on the market that make our present related.”
New episodes of The Morning Present Season 3 can be found on Wednesdays on Apple TV+. The primary two episodes are streaming now.
