'The Morning Show' Season 2 Episode 4 Recap: 'Kill the Fatted Calf'

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A 'Morning Show' episode recap: Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) doesn't want to moderate a debate while Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) and other UBA anchors are eager for the job. While the competition for the moderator spot heats up, there's a development for Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) in Italy and the wrongful death lawsuit gets ugly.

Published on October 8, 2021

Another Morning Show episode recap is here. The Morning Show Season 2 Episode 4: “Kill the Fatted Calf” picks up where the previous episode ended. It’s Alex Levy’s (Jennifer Aniston) first week back. In the midst of her return, there’s a competition among the co-anchors. Meanwhile, the lawsuit on the AppleTV+ series continues as coronavirus (COVID-19) gets closer. 

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from The Morning Show Season 2 Episode 4: “Kill the Fatted Calf”]

‘The Morning Show’ episode recap: Bradley Jackson and Daniel Henderson both want to moderate the Democratic debate

Bradley and Daniel Henderson (Desean Terry) both want the same thing in the episode that, according to AppleTV+ began streaming on Oct. 8, 2021. They want to moderate a high-profile debate. Both anchors make it clear they want the gig but Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) and Stella Bak (Greta Lee) have other ideas. They want Alex to do it. Except there’s one not-so-tiny problem. She doesn’t want to. Alex refuses when Stella pushes her on the idea. And when Chip Black (Mark Duplass) attempts to get Alex to reconsider he gets a not-so-nice hand gesture in response. 

Daniel goes to Mia Jordan (Karen Pittman) to make his case. He asks her to bring it up with Stella. When Mia does just that she finds out what Stella thinks of Daniel, that he doesn’t have “it.” This, of course, gets back to Daniel who, as a result, goes off-script and sings a song to Alex live on air. 

As for Bradley, she takes a different approach. After some advice from Laura Peterson (Julianna Margulies), the host of UBA365, she decides to apologize to Cory for her behavior on New Year’s Eve. So she goes to him and they have a conversation that ends in a hug. 

Later it’s revealed Bradley nor Daniel got the gig. After a conversation with Stella Alex agrees to moderate the debate. 

Laura Peterson confronts Bradley Jackson about her sexuality

In the midst of talking about wanting to moderate the debate, the topic of Bradley’s sexuality comes up. Laura says she’s going down the same path she did when she was at UBA in the ‘90s. That is before she was pushed out for being gay. At one point, Laura suggests Bradley use her sexuality to her advantage when lobbying for the moderator position. But the conversation quickly becomes heated — Bradley breaks a vase and storms out — after Witherspoon’s character says she doesn’t define her sexuality.

It seems Fred Micklen is attempting to launch a smear campaign against Hannah Shoenfeld as the wrongful death lawsuit continues

As the anchors compete for the moderator position, Cory has a potential crisis to deal with. He finds out Fred Micklen (Tom Irwin) is trying to attack Hannah Shoenfeld (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), UBA’s head booker who died of an apparent drug overdose in season 1, in the press. Fred’s supposedly trying to plant false stories about her in the press to disparage her name while her family’s wrongful death lawsuit continues. 

After some investigating Cory discovers he can’t stop the stories from getting published. So he goes to the board but things don’t go well. He has an intense conversation with Cybil Richards (Holland Taylor), the head of the board, and it ends with her refusing to do anything.

Mitch Kessler finds out he might have coronavirus

This wouldn’t be a Morning Show episode recap without an update on COVID-19. Season 2’s been hinting at the pandemic and now it’s no longer in the background. It’s front and center for disgraced UBA anchor Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell). He’s still in Italy after befriending Paola Lambruschini (Valeria Golino) in the Sept. 24 episode “It’s Like the Flu.” 

Following an interview for a documentary film, Paola discovers the man she interviewed tested positive for COVID-19. The problem for Mitch? He and Paola had dinner together that night and during an awkward moment, she even kissed him on the cheek. So now Mitch is looking at a lengthy quarantine possibly with Paola.

Watch The Morning Show Season 2 on AppleTV+. A new episode drops every Friday at 12 a.m. PT, or 3 a.m. ET, on Apple’s streaming service. 

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