![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4f218bf77ae8b104da06eeb7e271bce93b-The-Morning-Show-Photo-040601.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n Stella should know that the first rule of AI is never trust a robot with your deepest, darkest secrets.
\n Photo: Apple TV\n <\/p>\n
Oh, Stella Bak, what have you done? It feels devastatingly full circle that Stella\u2019s career at UBN began with Cory Ellison telling her to take the Head of News job and burn it all down, and it ends with her doing exactly that, except the only real victim here is herself. (I mean, an AI CEO going racist on main can\u2019t be great for shareholders, but that will bounce back.) The moment The Morning Show introduced AI in the season premiere, you knew it was going to blow up in someone\u2019s face. I just did not ever think it would blow up this spectacularly.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be clear, it\u2019s not that Stella deserves to be so utterly humiliated on an international stage and her entire life imploded in the span of five minutes whilst standing next to Kara Swisher. She\u2019s been treated like shit by a whole bunch of powerful people in her life. And that thing about her assuming her father was disappointed she couldn\u2019t even pull off a suicide correctly when she tried to kill herself during the Paul Marks debacle? Chilling. Still, she has done some terrible things and time and again has shown herself to be out for No. 1. When she meets with Mia and Marcus to discuss Chris\u2019s future at UBN since all Chris\u2019s big interview on Bro Hartman\u2019s show did was make people love her more and she has a lot of leverage as far as negotiating her contract goes, it seems like Stella won\u2019t be giving in to any of Mia\u2019s demands for Chris out of pure spite.<\/p>\n
Mia (and Chris) are well aware that Stella somehow scrounged up enough money to make a lucrative deal with Cory Ellison, of all people. And she also knows that Alex Levy has co-anchor approval. Still, Stella refuses to budge; regardless of how much momentum Chris has, she refuses to give in. Mia reminds her old friend of the one piece of leverage she and Chris have: Chris can walk. The face of UBN\u2019s Olympic coverage will be more than happy to sit Paris out. And then for good measure, Mia finishes up the exit interview she never really got to have with Stella by calling her hypocrisy out: Stella swore she\u2019d lift up underrepresented groups of people at the company when she sat in the big seat, yet here she is, \u201csurrounded by white people, stepping on women of color to stay in that chair.\u201d It\u2019s the \u201cyou\u2019re not one of us, you never were\u201d kicker that really undoes Stella Bak.<\/p>\n
Chris\u2019s boycott of the Olympics coverage is just one of many problems the UBN CEO has converging on each other at the moment. Stella has also returned from her AI cave to inform Celine that the tech they threw $250 million at, the tech they have been basically selling the Olympics on, is nowhere near ready to go public. Something\u2019s off: Stella\u2019s AI counterpart seems to work just fine, but the demos designed for Alex, Chris, and the other UBN personalities are apparently leaning into the \u201cartificial\u201d portion of their name. On top of this, they are just days away from the big O24 conference, in which they promised spectacle, surprise, and awe when it comes to their Olympics coverage reveal. Now, they have neither superstar Chris Hunter nor Stella\u2019s AI baby to show off. Celine is certainly not pleased with her CEO. Well, okay, technically, I guess you could say Celine is quite pleased since her greatest desire is to get rid of the woman sitting both in her chair and on her husband, and this plays right into her hands. Still, she has to pretend to be very, very displeased.<\/p>\n
When in panic mode, many people often find themselves doing things they never imagined they would have to do. In this case, Stella wants Alex to get Bro Hartman to sign on as her Olympics co-host and replace Chris. He\u2019s the splashiest name UBN has (in such a short amount of time, at least) and grabs a different demographic than Alex. Stella has Alex meet with Bro at one of his standup shows and persuade him to take the gig. Torture on so many levels.<\/p>\n
No, Alex and Bro do not hook up yet, but wow, they\u2019ve never been closer to that moment physically or metaphorically than they are at that bar. When Alex asks Bro what he wants in return for the Olympics gig, something he\u2019s been clear he does not want to take on, he tells her sex more than once before revealing his heart\u2019s truest desire: Bro is planning to get into politics and to be taken more seriously once he does, he wants to host UBN\u2019s presidential debate in November. (If we really have to relive the election this season, I\u2019m going to hurl myself out a window.) The request is not a joke. Nor is the sexual tension I\u2019m really buying into between these two. Don\u2019t let me down, show!<\/p>\n
Alex, Celine, and Stella have no real option but to agree to Bro\u2019s ask \u2014 although their \u201cyes\u201d has a big ol\u2019 asterisk. As Celine points out, there\u2019s no way the Commission on Presidential Debates will let this go through. They can let those guys crush Bro\u2019s dreams. It\u2019s a win-win for them, according to Celine. Unless, like, you\u2019re worried about personal morals at all.<\/p>\n
While it doesn\u2019t seem like anyone is worried about the status of their soul on this show, things do seem to be getting to Stella. Not only is she agreeing to this terrible plan with Bro, but she also has so much angst that she tries to take Miles up on his offer to run away together, a dream that we all \u2014 including both of them \u2014 know is just a dream. They have a huge argument about how both of them are in this relationship because it\u2019s easy and not at all real, and Stella leaves, enraged.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Stella finds herself seeking comfort from someone else. Herself. Well, the AI version of herself. You know things are bad when the only person you can turn to is the computer program you designed to look and talk and think like you. She asks herself about her record as a CEO and whether she has helped bolster diversity at UBN. AI Stella gives her a resounding no. And then Human Stella goes off about how she is racist and sexist, and she does step over people who look like her to gain power. She admits to the time she made an Asian waitress lick up a spilled martini to close an ad deal. The Iranian Olympian who defected is mentioned. She also starts talking about her relationship with Miles. If she\u2019s in love. If she should make a run for it. You know this is all going to come back to bite her. I mean, the first rule of AI is never trust a robot with your deepest, darkest secrets, and if anyone should know that, it\u2019s the queen of AI, Stella Bak. But she doesn\u2019t know that guys, and it\u2019s about to become a problem.<\/p>\n
O24 is upon us. Surprising only Alex, Stella, and maybe Celine (can we ever get a real read on this woman?), Bro backs out of the Olympics deal. He doesn\u2019t want to fuck over Chris, and he, too, has realized that they\u2019re setting him up to fail with the commission. When Alex Levy feels guilty about a plan, you know it\u2019s shitty. Celine and Stella are moments away from going out on stage to unveil something that will blow people\u2019s minds and they have nothing. Until Stell has an idea: they can introduce her AI. The Alex and Chris AIs have issues, but hers should be fine, right? RIGHT?<\/p>\n
The press in the audience does seem pretty impressed at first. But then a reporter named Kabir from the New York Times stands up to ask a question, and everything goes to hell. Why does this reporter look familiar? Well, earlier in the episode, Chip met with Kabir, whom he used as a source for his documentary, to help him and Bradley track down the redheaded woman in the photos they found in Cory\u2019s emails. Kabir is very good at his job, but he has a price: He asks Chip for some kind of big, breaking news exclusive. Chip then goes to Mia, someone who hates UBN just as much as he does, to see if she might have any dirt for him \u2014 dirt that, if it were to go public, could perhaps also help her. Not only does Mia have something for Chip to pass on to Kabir, but she also shows up at O24 to watch this whole thing play out. Now, obviously, Mia had no idea things would go this badly, but still, coming to watch your former friend get torched in public is certainly a choice (\u2026that I approve of, what can I say, I\u2019m Team Mia).<\/p>\n
What is Kabir\u2019s question? Well, he\u2019s wondering if this AI is a \u201ctalent replacement tool or just a way to keep them in line?\u201d He goes on, \u201cI ask because I heard Chris Hunter is being denied contract parity with white anchors at UBN,\u201d and he calls out the fact that she isn\u2019t there today and, furthermore, is sitting out at the Olympics. It would be a damning question for anyone, but it becomes especially so once Stella\u2019s AI goes rogue and starts talking about how terrible DEI is, how at UBN they use Black anchors only when to the company\u2019s advantage, how Stella is a racist and sexist, and she even drops information about both the Iranian defector and Stella being in love with Miles, who everyone realizes is Celine\u2019s husband. It\u2019s a real worst-case scenario for Stella Bak.<\/p>\n
Stella resigns, of course. She also runs into Miles\u2019s very capable arms. Their little plan to run off to Italy, where apparently everyone escapes to after they ruin their lives in public at UBN, is now or never. They decide to go for it. Well, that is, until Celine also pays Miles a visit to remind him how much she gave up for him and that she, too, had an affair once, but will always choose him no matter what. It definitely feels like something suspicious is going on between these two, or at least, their love for each other is tied to something toxic, but whatever hold they have over each other, Miles doesn\u2019t show up at the airport. A sobbing Stella boards the plane to whisk her off to Naples alone.<\/p>\n
In the least surprising news, Celine is named interim CEO of UBN. How long will she last at the top? Well, that might, in a fun turn of events, depend on Cory Ellison.<\/p>\n
Cory goes to Alex as he spins out from Bradley accusing him of covering up Wolf River and ordering Earl to take care of the lawyer trying to get the story out. She has very little time for his pouting or his claims of being gaslit. (\u201cWelcome to life as a woman,\u201d Alex tells him.) She doesn\u2019t totally brush him off, though. She mentions that she was really surprised when he was initially hired. He was President of Entertainment, he worked on the scripted side, so why would Fred make him Head of News? She found it especially suspicious since it was only a week after she watched Fred Micklen chat everyone up at a White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner. This information sends Cory down a rabbit hole that leads to some wildly photoshopped pictures of Fred Micklen with \u2026 his mother.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s right, baby. All roads lead to Cory\u2019s mom. What a treat for us! He pays Mommy Dearest a visit that\u2019s as weird as you\u2019d expect. No, it doesn\u2019t include lobsters, but yes, it does include him discovering a pamphlet for an assisted suicide place in Zurich on her kitchen counter, which she brushes off since everyone her age is talking about it. Like Alex, Cory\u2019s mom does offer him at least one piece of important information. She didn\u2019t say anything to Fred about Cory that night, but you know who did? Celine Dumont.<\/p>\n
So maybe all roads lead to Celine Dumont. Cory hires a company to dig into the connection between Fred and Celine, and lo and behold, he discovers that around the time Cory was hired, Fred was secretly paid over four million dollars by the Dumont family. When he confronts Celine, her response is to ask him what he wants. This is basically a confirmation that Cory\u2019s suspicions are true \u2014 the Dumonts are the ones who covered up Wolf River.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Stella\u2019s voiceover throughout the episode, which is eventually revealed to be her apology letter to Mia, is full of very serious confessions, but what was with the film noir background music laid over the entire thing? That music tied to lines like Cory \u201ccame back like a migraine\u201d and \u201cmy inner straight white guy kept clawing his way out\u201d really sent me.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Stella\u2019s letter to Mia also encourages her to come back to UBN and take advantage of the chaos and power vacuum that\u2019s surely to arise once Stella leaves. There\u2019s a USB file attached to the note. Ooh, what other UBN skeletons are going to come to light?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Thanks to Kabir, Bradley tracks down the mystery woman. She turns out to be a former Quality Control Manager at Martel Chemical who was fired. She\u2019s still willing to talk.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cBradley Jackson is dead to me. If she was lying in the desert and I had ten gallons of water, I\u2019d take a shower in front of her before she got a fucking sip, is that clear?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Okay, but what\u2019s Kyle going to do with those third row Merrily We Roll Along tickets?<\/p>\n
VULTURE NEWSLETTER<\/p>\n
Keep up with all the drama of your favorite shows!<\/p>\n
Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n