REVIEW #78 The Morning Show (2019-present)

The Morning show created by Jay Carson for Apple TV follows a morning news show in New York just as one of their lead anchors Mitch Kessler is fired for sexual misconduct. It is set during the 2nd wave of the me too movement, where so many brave victims come forward to tell their story of sexual abuse or misconduct. We see the fall out within the news studio and the hunt for Mitch’s replacement.

CAST & THE ACTING 

The acting is something that really stood out for me in this series, each of the characters seems to be having a personal battle with themselves and those battles are personified on screen really well. Jennifer Anniston plays Alex Levy one of the lead anchors on The Morning Show and best friend of the fired Mitch Kessler. She finds herself having to deal with the fact that he’s gone and she is now alone and also the guilt and perhaps denial that she could have done something to stop him. Anniston does brilliantly in this role and it’s probably one of her best performances in my opinion. Steve Carrell plays Mitch Kessler the arrogant and powerful lead anchor on the show who is fired for sexual misconduct, adamant he is not guilty he works tirelessly to try and get his life back. I haven’t seen Carrell in a role like this before and he actually does really well, his character is meant to be a real charmer who has a way of winning people over which he even does to the audience. This is the trait he uses to coerce and the severity of his actions are realised the more the series goes on. Reese Witherspoon plays Bradley Jackson, the opinionated journalist that by her surprise is chucked in at the deep end to replace Mitch. She almost leads the series, navigating her way to the truth within The Morning Show, trying to be genuine to herself whilst also being a success. I also want to mention Gugu Mbatha-Raw, she played Hannah a colleague at The Morning show and a victim of Mitch Kessler. Her acting was brilliant and perfectly portrayed the trauma that really hit home in the last few episodes. The acting across the board is really good, every cast member brings something different with their character which is really nice to see. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

The storyline is a brave one, to tackle such a sensitive subject in the me too movement needed to be done so carefully so that it done justice to the real victims who bravely come forward. I must admit in the first half of the series I was unsure if that was the case because it was almost convincing the audience that Mitch could be innocent and certainly had me questioning it. However as it went on and more and more was revealed, I believe they done this to show how these predators turn on the charm to get away with their crimes and it was actually an effective take on it. Another positive aspect of the series is the character exploration, we really got to see why these characters are who they are. Bradley was effected by her family and upbringing, Mitch almost felt untouchable due to his power and salary within the show and Alex was struggling with potentially losing the love of her daughter because of the dedication to her job. This help build strong feelings towards the characters and got us as the audience invested and hooked on their story. What I also liked is how they covered the entire aftermath of the me too movement, the positives and the negatives. Overall I think the plot was rather gripping, revealing more and more of the truth as the show went on but in a really organic way and not a cliche sudden reveal at the end.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

There wasn’t any special effects that I can think of but this is another series where it just isn’t needed and with such a sensitive subject you don’t need anything that might distract the audience away from the plot. The cinematography was good though, I especially liked the music they matched to scenes I think they were nicely paired and worked well. A lot of Mitch’s scenes in his home were really dark which I believe represented what he has done and the hole he now found himself trying to get out of. 

OVERALL (7.8/10)

I enjoyed The Morning Show, the acting was brilliant across the entire cast and it was probably one of the best performances I’ve seen from Jennifer Anniston. It was also nice to see Steve Carrell in a different role compared to his usual comedy performances. The plot was good and I believe dealt with the me too movement really well. The criticism I would have is perhaps how for at least the first half of the show it looked like they were building it up for Mitch to be innocent or at least trying to get the audience to feel some kind of sympathy towards him, which given the final couple of episodes, I don’t think they should have done. However I think they were just trying to create a genuine experience, where people could be fooled by the charm of these predators. The cinematography was nice and did represent the character on occasions through lighting and other methods like that. I would definitely recommend giving it a watch if you have time!

Thanks for reading

Callan