The Morning Show Season 4 Episode 9 Review: Alex’s High-Stakes Gambit—Can It Save Bradley or Sink Them Both?

This week, The Morning Show cranks the stress to a level that feels almost rude. Bradley barely shows up, yet she owns the hour. She flies to Minsk, gets detained, and suddenly every storyline snaps into focus around one question: how far will these people go to save each other, their careers, and their secrets?

The essentials

• Bradley lands in Minsk and gets all her devices confiscated. That includes the laptop with the Wolf River reporting on it, which turns her from a nosy anchor into a high-value problem fast.
• She shouts that she is an American journalist. It does not help.
• Alex refuses to wait it out. She activates Paul Marks, leans on UBN, and works backchannels.
• The wildest swing: Alex tries to win favor by licensing Paul’s AI software to a key player, Ivanov, during a tense backstage-at-the-opera negotiation.
• Meanwhile, Chris quietly returns her Olympic medal to Elaine. Small moment, big heart.
• Cory and Celine finally cross the romantic line. It feels inevitable and messy in a way that suits both of them.
• Then comes the gut punch: despite Alex and Paul’s maneuvering, Bradley is arrested on conspiracy charges. The plan falls apart.
• The twist that explains everything: Celine uses her family power to kill the deal and block Bradley’s release. She cares about Cory and still engineers Bradley’s downfall. Both things can be true.
• One last breadcrumb: Cory finds a Wolf River report stashed in his jacket, which screams setup for his next move.

Bradley in Minsk: the story vs the cost

Watching Bradley go from fearless to powerless is rough. Once the authorities take her phone and laptop, she is not a journalist working a story anymore; she is the story. And because Wolf River lives on that laptop, the stakes are not just personal ethics and professional duty. They are geopolitical. The episode keeps her screen time tight but lets the threat loom over everything.

Alex’s rescue attempt: bold, smart, reckless

Alex does not hover and wring her hands. She makes calls, pulls strings, and punts past the line of sanity when necessary. The opera backstage meet with Ivanov is the kind of scene this show does well: elegant venue, sweaty stakes. Offering a license for Paul’s AI as leverage is exactly the kind of move that makes you want to applaud and also check her for a concussion. But that is the point with Alex right now: brilliant, decisive, and absolutely willing to risk the whole board if she thinks it gets her friend home.

Cory and Celine: feelings with collateral damage

The chemistry between Cory and Celine has been simmering, and this episode finally lets it boil. It works because it is not clean. Celine can genuinely care for him and still pull the rug elsewhere. She is not twirling a mustache; she is picking a side. And her family’s influence is enough to upend a carefully negotiated release and turn Bradley’s situation from bad to worse.

Chris’s quiet beat

Amid the chaos, Chris returning her Olympic medal to Elaine lands like a small bell in a loud room. No speeches, no spotlight, just a simple act that rounds her out beyond the anchor desk.

The ending: the trap snaps shut

For all the maneuvering, Bradley gets booked on conspiracy charges. The escape route Alex tries to pave collapses under Celine’s interference. It is cold. It is calculated. And, annoyingly, it makes sense from Celine’s perspective. The final tease is Cory finding that Wolf River report tucked into his jacket, which reads like a challenge: time to choose who you are, Cory.

Worth your time?

Yes. It is tense, sometimes infuriating, and very alive. Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston carry the heavy stuff without breaking a sweat. Billy Crudup and Marion Cotillard turn the Cory/Celine plot into something you cannot skim past. Some of Alex’s choices feel borderline reckless, but that volatility is exactly what makes the hour move.

The Morning Show Season 4 Episode 9 is streaming now on Apple TV. If you are into pressure-cooker drama with moral knots and messy relationships, this one delivers.