As chaotic as “The Morning Show” can be, elements of every episode transform its jumble of emotional subplots into silk and gold. Foremost among them is Billy Crudup’s Cory Ellison, a CEO with a florid master-of-the universe monologue for any situation. He mixes metaphors, sprinkles them with malapropisms and knows nobody will call him on any of it . . . because if they did, he’d accuse them of small thinking.
When Cory needs to assert control over his corner of the universe, he commands a room full of underlings to think less like suits and more like trained assassins. When he needs an equal or rival to think twice about coming for him, he riffs like a jazz great. And sometimes it works. As Greta Lee’s news president Stella Bak tells him, he can make people feel anything is possible. “It’s really effective. It’s probably why I took this job,” she says.
But no conqueror gets to the mountaintop without burying a few bodies – and as the third season careens to a close, Hyperion titan Paul Marks (Jon Hamm) has unearthed a few that are grave enough to end Cory’s career at UBA.
In this exclusive clip from the third season finale, “The Overview Effect,” as Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) is forced to face the damning choices she’s made in her recent past and Alex (Jennifer Aniston) contemplates her future, Cory’s mask slips enough to see a side of him that isn’t entirely confident his career will survive the impending board vote on the Hyperion-UBA deal.
And if you’ve been watching this season, there’s only one person to whom he can reveal that vulnerability without being severely judged or punished for it. Watch the clip, via YouTube.
The “The Morning Show” Season 3 finale releases Wednesday, Nov. 8 on Apple TV+.
