The Morning Show S4E6 Review: Why Celine Might Be the Real Villain You Missed

I had to stop this episode a few times just to breathe. Not because of some cheap jolt, but because The Morning Show Season 4 Episode 6 sneaks up like a betrayal you did not see coming. The season has been slow-cooking its mess: Cory under the Wolf River microscope, Bradley moving ahead with Chip, Stella trying to keep the network upright while an AI rollout sputters and a not-so-public relationship lurks in the background. Now it all breaks loose. And the person at the center? Celine Dumont, played with glacier-cold precision by Marion Cotillard.

The spotlight finally moves off Alex, Bradley, and Cory

For once, the episode takes the camera off the usual trio — Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston), Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon), and Cory Ellison — and hands the mic to the people who have needed it for a while. Karen Pittman and Nicole Beharie continue to be wildly underused, but Greta Lee finally gets a proper showcase. About time.

Stella gets her hour, and Greta Lee makes it hurt

This is Stella’s crucible. Lee plays every beat with a quiet, bruised intensity. From an opener about smashing through glass ceilings and still bleeding for it, to a press conference that turns into public self-immolation, you can feel a career slipping through her fingers in real time. The humiliating twist: an AI version of Stella is trotted out to manage optics, and it proceeds to blurt out her insecurities, her exhaustion, and her affair. The real Stella just stands there, paralyzed, as her own likeness does irrevocable damage. It is excruciating, and it is the best the show has felt all season because it stings like something that could actually happen.

Wolf River goes from background noise to a bomb

Just when it seems like the show is teeing up Cory as the obvious villain again, the floor shifts. He learns that his own mother may have quietly smoothed his path into the company years ago — unsettling, but survivable. The real shock is the link between Fred and Celine. That connection reframes her entire boardroom iciness as a long-game strategy, not just raw ambition. If Cory was a puppet in this saga, somebody else has been working the strings with steady hands.

Bro Hartman does the one thing nobody here ever does: he chooses loyalty

I cannot believe I am typing this, but Boyd Holbrook’s Bro Hartman becomes the moral center of an episode that needed one. He turns down an Olympic gig out of loyalty to Chris. It is bold and costly and it actually means something. In a world of backroom deals and amnesia-level ethics, he picks principle. The ripple effects are immediate: Chris is vindicated, Stella’s footing gets even shakier, and you can practically see Celine measuring the corner office.

A public AI faceplant that doubles as a career obituary

The press conference is the car crash you cannot look away from. The idea was to use an AI Stella to deflect and control the narrative; instead it confesses the very things the real Stella tried to lock away. Watching her freeze — unable to stop the playback — is brutal. And yes, Celine is right there for it, wearing the tight smile of someone who can already hear the engraver etching her name on a CEO plate. Stella leaving that stage is not damage control. It is surrender.

What actually goes down

• Stella, overwhelmed and exposed, reaches a breaking point as an AI clone of her torpedoes the press conference by revealing her insecurities, her affair, and her burnout.
• Cory uncovers that his mother may have indirectly opened the door for him at the company, but the bigger revelation is a tie between Fred and Celine — the kind that suggests Celine has been playing the board for years.
• Bro Hartman turns down an Olympic hosting offer out of loyalty to Chris, a choice that boosts Chris, further undermines Stella’s position, and works out nicely for Celine’s power climb.
• Miles backs out after being swayed by Celine’s tears; he sends a quick apology via text. Yes, a text. Cold.
• The episode sidelines Alex (Jennifer Aniston), Bradley (Reese Witherspoon), and Cory to let Greta Lee carry the hour — and she does, with an understated, gutting performance.

The ending: Naples, a letter, and a throne someone else warmed

The final stretch is a punch to the ribs. Stella quietly boards a flight to Naples. She leaves a letter for Mia that basically says: keep swinging. Meanwhile, Celine sits on the ashes of the day like it was exactly the chaos she ordered. The cruelest part is how mechanical it all feels: Stella’s downfall was not just orchestrated — it was automated.

And Miles bailing with a watery-eyed nudge from Celine, followed by a quick sorry-not-sorry text, drives home the thing this show loves to remind us: people in power rarely play fair, including the ones you thought were on your side.

So where does that leave Cory?

He is complicated, finally. More than the show’s quippy shark. Maybe he returns to torch the rot. Maybe he sweet-smiles his way right back into the big chair, secrets in tow. Both versions feel disturbingly plausible.

Is Episode 6 worth your time?

Absolutely. It is one of the most emotionally precise hours this show has delivered in a while, and it is not interested in comforting you. No tidy bows. Just grief, betrayal, and the quiet devastation of a woman who tried to fix the system and got chewed up by it instead. If you like sharp monologues, corporate chess, and characters setting themselves on fire for the job, this one hits hard. It is not cozy TV. It is more like attrition.

Was Celine always five steps ahead? Is Cory a pawn or a kingmaker-in-waiting? And does Stella deserve a comeback, or did the show just write the period at the end of her sentence? Drop your take. The Morning Show Season 4 is streaming now on Apple TV+.