The Morning Show season three
Jumping forward a couple of years from its second season to move from the beginning of the pandemic to the end of the worldwide lockdowns, season three of The Morning Show sees the staff of the UBA network’s titular morning show attempt to keep the show running and return to something resembling normalcy. However, this is far easier said than done: UBA is in dire financial straits, with CEO Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) courting a buyout from tech mogul Paul Marks (John Hamm), but even this is thrown into further disarray by a cyber-attack on UBA’s systems that deepens the cracks in the network’s façade, heightens tensions amongst the staff and exposes the institutional rot at the heart of the television industry.
The Morning Show has tackled heavy issues from its first season and continues to do so into its third, using the time skip between instalments, and the resolution of the show’s inciting drama, to explore new themes and ideas more head-on. These include social issues such as sexism and racism, as well as touching on broader ideas like the ways that personal narratives are co-opted and exploited under capitalist systems, the Covid-19 pandemic and the lasting effects it has had (and continues to have), and the encroachment of Silicon Valley bigshots into everyday institutions.
While there are a few missteps in the delivery of these complex topics, and sometimes it feels like the writing is pulling its punches, the series is generally careful to paint as nuanced and engaging a picture as it can, finding a solid balance between incisive commentary and compelling character drama. Both of these elements are bolstered significantly by the show’s talented cast, bringing the strong emotional range required by the piece’s ambitious writing and picking up the slack where the script occasionally falters to make sure every plot and character beat lands successfully.
Overall, season three of The Morning Show is a very different beast to those that came before it, representing a different slice of our collective history and socio-political climate in its tonal and narrative arc. It has its storytelling sights set high, eager to dissect and examine the often confusing and complicated times we live in now, and while it does sometimes fall short of its ambitions, it lands close enough to those narrative aspirations to make for an engaging and satisfying TV experience.
Umar Ali
The Morning Show season three is released on Apple TV+ on 13th September 2023.
Watch the trailer for The Morning Show season three here:
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