‘The Morning Show’: Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon Remain Great Frenemies While Season 4 Goes off the Rails

Alci Rengifo

There is an irony in becoming a certain kind of hit show. If the premise was founded on a particular talking point, then you need to find new ways to become relevant with each new season. Such is the fate of Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show,” which keeps getting renewed even as the plotlines zigzag all over the place. We may never get tired of watching Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon work together in this story’s enjoyable frenemies dance. This remains its key enjoyment as the writers desperately look for ideas in every recent headline. Season four still retains entertaining energy despite plowing deeper into soapy melodrama.

The new season begins in April 2024 with the essential updates on its main characters. Following the wrenching finale of season three, Bradley (Witherspoon) now teaches community college in West Virginia. You may recall she had turned in her brother Hal (Joe Tippett) to the FBI for his involvement in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. This means the feds are still keeping a close eye on the former news reporter. In New York, Alex (Aniston) is now working under the shadow of the UBA-NBN merger and rising debates over the use of AI. The Paris Olympics are also on the horizon. Ahead of the big event, Alex is tasked with interviewing an Iranian athlete and her father. The two shock Alex by secretly letting her know they actually want to defect. She finds a way to distract the regime handlers keeping an eye on the Iranian pair and helps them escape. This will start a whole new round of headaches for Alex and her bosses, Stella (Greta Lee) and Mia (Karen Pittman). Bradley gets pulled back into the journalism game when an anonymous tip claims UBN covered up environmental contamination by the Martel Chemical Plant. People and wildlife have apparently been killed as a result.

These days 2019 feels so distant. Back then “The Morning Show” premiered as a strong reaction to the #MeToo movement and our national reckoning with sexual harassment and abuse of power. Now it seems the show wants to comment on everything with soapy flair. Along with updates regarding other main characters like Cory (Billy Crudup), who is now in Los Angeles making films, or Yanko (Nestor Carbonell), now eager to propose to his girlfriend, more new characters are introduced. The great Marion Cotillard plays Celine, the board president of UBA-NBN. She is entertainingly ruthless and icy. In a clear nod at the times, the company has brought in Bro Hartman (Boyd Holbrook), a right-wing podcaster who looks like a classic bro. His main function early in the season is to constantly annoy Alex with his flirtatious banter. Another notable joining the cast this season is Jeremy Irons as Alex’s father Martin Levy, a critical law professor. He is a classic estranged dad who provides a window into Alex’s past. Since Martin has worked for the government in the past, the two engage in a reunion where scars and regrets linger beneath the surface.

The Martin storyline is one of the stronger this season only because it’s a bit more grounded. Much of the rest is a series of wild twists and turns with more turns. At times it feels as if the show doesn’t know where to pay attention. Alex gets into hot water with the government and her superiors over the Iranian defection which poses geopolitical problems due to Iran-Israel tensions over Gaza, and financial ones with the company delicately protecting its Olympics coverage investment. Then we swing over to Bradley who is brought back to UBA after Stella and Mia conveniently decide they need a middle America face back on TV. Witherspoon can still bring genuine emotion to the role, as in a scene that turns into dark farce when she returns on the air and fumbles explaining her brother’s case involving Jan. 6. Behind the scenes, Stella is having an affair with Miles (Aaron Pierre), Celine’s husband. Piling on top of that is how Cory finds out about the affair and uses it to basically blackmail Stella into getting back into UBA with many, many perks.

“The Morning Show” has a great cast that maneuvers through this overwrought maze. There are moments that can still remind us how it became such a popular series. When Bradley comes back to UBA, Alex has a sit down with her in private that turns into one of those blunt, nearly uncomfortable exchanges. Alex tells Bradley she just doesn’t think she should be here. Aniston truly shines in such a scene with that smoldering ferocity we were cheated of when she was doing so many rom-coms early in her career. Yet, what is there left? For the fans probably plenty since this show can theoretically keep plucking from news developments for more seasons to come. For the rest of us, it is becoming old news that’s hard to believe. These actors continue to merit our attention while the material will only inspire devotion from its biggest fans.

“The Morning Show” season four begins streaming Sept. 16 at 9 p.m. ET with new episodes premiering Wednesdays on Apple TV+.