It's Like The Flu

Alex and Bradley greet each other

**It's Like The Flu** is the second episode of the second season of *The Morning Show*.

## Short Summary

Stars struggle to accept new roles. The TMS crew comes together for an important dinner.

## Full Summary

Trash litters the streets, the remnants of New Years Eve.

Bradley goes to see Cory. She tells him he won't fix it. He has something to tell her so there's no more secrets. He tells her about Alex's return as co-anchor. He tells her to go upstairs and get some rest. He tells her it will all work out, but that makes her angry because he's lied to her enough. Life is just a series of disappoints with enough time in between that they catch you by surprise. He says he'll make sure it works out, but she doesn't believe him. She says she thinks she's coming down with something from standing out all night in the cold and doesn't think she'll make it in the morning. In the elevator, she starts to cry.

Mitch wakes up and cleans up from the night before. He steps out onto his balcony and enjoys the view. He sits outside on his deck, reading the paper, which is reporting on Hannah's family's lawsuit against UBA. Mitch leaves home and walks around town. He stops at a bar and has a drink while watching a soccer game. He joins his sons' birthday party via video call. As he climbs into bed, he gets a call from Fred, but he ignores it and tries to sleep.

The board debates how to deal with the wrongful death lawsuit. They talk about settling, but Richard doesn't want to do that as he doesn't think they have enough to prove culpability. Cory suddenly interjects to tell them to pay whatever the family wants. They can't make it go away any other way. Mandy Schaeffer says they'll have to coordinate with Fred's and Mitch's teams. Cory says they'll agree, but they need an NDA. Gerald suggests not having them sign an NDA as the bad actors are all gone anyway, so it just makes things sound worse than they are. Richard agrees and says there's kind of an NDA built in because Hannah can't talk. Cory tells Richard to leave because he's fired. He then tells Gerald and Mandy that Richard's the only one fired, but he needs them to leave as well. He asks them to keep him updated on the settlement.

Cory watches The Tea, a day time talk show, on mute, as captions scroll by, revealing that they're talking about UBA.

Doug leads Alex into the studio. He tells her to get in and out as quickly as possible, but she doesn't understand why it matters if anyone sees her. He tells her the network has poured a lot of money into her homecoming and doesn't want it spoiled. Plus the deal isn't quite done. Alex tells Doug to get it done because she wants to see her office on the executive floor. This is where decisions get made and she controls her own fate. Suddenly, a woman calls Alex's name. She says Alex is her hero and leads the people around her in a round of applause. Doug and Isabella lead Alex into her new office and she takes in the view.

Cory talks about UBA+ on the phone. Stella comes up behind him and tells him Alex is there. He asks if anyone saw her, but Stella doesn't know. Kyle tells Cory that Cybil is on line two and says it's urgent and about Bradley, but Cory walks away with Stella. He asks if the release is ready to tell everyone about Alex's return. Stella says Bradley needs to be game once the press starts.

Cory knocks on Alex's office door and she tells him it's open, so he comes in with Stella. They all sit on the floor and Cory introduces Alex to Stella. Cory reminds her that they're not announcing her return until Monday. Doug apologizes and says Alex was just so excited, they couldn't stay away. Cory asks Alex if she has any ideas what primetime Alex will look like. Alex says they're kicking around some ideas. They're not ready for a pitch yet. Isabella comes in and tells Alex she needs to go down to the studio because they put in a new kitchen. Stella warns Alex not to go to the studio. Cory says her return is going to be huge news, but they don't want to blow it. Doug says that's assuming it closes, but Cory says it'll close. Alex asks if she needs to meet with Bradley to plan the PR blitz. Cory says they're hammering some things out with Bradley, but it'll be good. He says Alex can reach out to Bradley and let her know how excited she is to be back. Stella and Cory get up. Cory invites Alex and Stella to have dinner at his place the next night to talk about what Alex's return and her move to primetime looks like. He makes it clear Doug's not invited. Alex accepts the invitation and so does Stella. Once they're gone, Doug says Alex couldn't have planned things better. She's in a great position. Alex says she was broken, but Doug says at least it paid off. Doug goes to leave, but Alex stops him and asks if he managed to get an advanced copy of Maggie's book. He says they're keeping it under strict lock and key, but he's confident she'll be fine. Besides, she has her own book. If they want the truth, they can get it from her.

Cory tells Stella he knows she's not enthusiastic about Alex's return, but she needs to help make it work. Stella says Bradley needs to get on board within the next few days or they have some hard decisions to make. Cory says he'll handle that. Stella also suggests inviting Mia to the dinner, but Cory says then no one else can come.

Rena tells Mia about the dinner. Mia asks if they've heard from Bradley and they haven't. Mia tells Rena to clear it with Cory's office and invite Bradley to the dinner. They'll find out if she's feeling better.

Bradley thinks the offer is bad, but Jeff says it's a good offer. A woman reminds her of the other things she was offered, but she doesn't think they're good enough. Bradley is insistent that she's not going back until Eric is gone. They hurt her. She gave them her whole life. Jeff says her being out like she is makes the network look foolish. Bradley says they made her look foolish. Jeff asks if it's about Alex. Bradley says it's about them doing things behind her back. Jeff says she doesn't have the leverage to ask for more and encourages her not to blow it all up. Bradley's phone is ringing. It's UBA. Jeff suggests she takes the call. Jeff says they'll get back to this later, but Bradley tells him to sit back down. Bradley knows they've only worked together for eight months and he has a long relationship with UBA, but she doesn't care. They need her. The fact that they haven't fired her when she's been out sick for three weeks is proof of that. The first reason they can't fire her is the wrongful death lawsuit in a case where she was the whistleblower. The second is that they're about to announce that Alex and Bradley are back and she is Bradley. After a few moments of silence, Bradley says the meeting's over and walks out. Jeff says to give her a minute and she'll be back.

In the hallway, Bradley answers a call from RJ. He tells her about the dinner at Cory's. She says she'll go if she's feeling better, but they need to invited Daniel and Alison as well. He says he'll talk to Cory's office. He asks if she thinks she might be feeling better tomorrow and she says she might have to be.

Alex gets in the elevator and pushes the wrong button before remembering and pressing the correct one. When the doors open on the second floor, she gets out instead of staying until she's reached the lobby. She sees a posted for The Morning Show featuring Bradley and Eric. Alex draws a lot of attention as she walks around, but frantically tells Lindsey that she's not there. She runs for her old dressing room, now Eric's.

Eric's in the room and is honored to be in Alex's presence. She apologizes for being in his dressing room, but he says he's just keeping it warm for her. Eric begs her to stay for a minute instead of leaving. She congratulates him on his move to evening news and he asks her how it feels to be reuniting with Bradley. She's surprised he knows as no one is supposed to. Eric got the sense they didn't leave on good terms, but Alex says they're good. Eric's worried Bradley will never speak to him again and asks if she has any advice on that front. Eric says Bradley makes it hard to be her friend, a remark which upsets Alex. She advises him to keep thoughts like that to himself. She and Bradley aren't close, but they only worked together for three weeks, three very difficult weeks. He's worked with Bradley much longer than she did. If they're not friends, the problem is him. She leaves suddenly.

Mia asks Daniel why he's still at the station. He says things were supposed to get better. She says some things have, but he knows about Alex's return. Daniel asks if she saw that someone in Washington state has the novel coronavirus. They're not admitting it can be transmitted person-to-person. Despite this, Mia says they're only giving the story a minute. She cites all the other stories they have to cover. He asks if they can talk about it more next week, but she doesn't know yet. They have other stories. Mia asks if Daniel's going to the dinner and confirms he doesn't really have a choice.

Mitch is eating gelato and looking at the front page of the New York Times. A young woman comes up to him and tells him it's not okay for him to be there. He can't just invade her favorite gelateria. He asks her to keep her voice down, but she refuses and draws others' attention to him. He says he just wants her to speak to him directly in a normal tone of voice so they don't ruin others' gelato. She says he already ruined *her* gelato. She dumps his gelato on his paper and tells him to go away. Paola Lambruschini intervenes and tells the woman to stop harassing Mitch. The woman says if Paola knew who he was, she'd understand. Paola already knows who he is, though. She tells the other lady that she doesn't think the world should have to change everything so that women like her are always comfortable. Mitch was just sitting there trying to eat his gelato. He didn't do anything to her. If he did, she'd have a reasonable complaint, but she's just kicking him while he's down to feel better about her life. The woman then calls Paola Mussolini and says the world has passed her by. Mitch tries to leave, but Paola stops him and starts singing about Mussolini. Mitch puts on his cap and walks away. Paola says the woman has scared off the celebrity and asks if her friend got everything. Another woman sitting nearby is filming them on her phone. Paola says she fought for the woman's right to be an asshole and doesn't want her to make Paola regret it.

Once the woman has gone back to her seat, Paola follows Mitch and he thanks her. He asks her if it isn't frowned upon to sing about Mussolini on the streets of Italy. Paola says she frowns upon Americans calling anything Italian they don't like Mussolini. They talk about the confrontation he just had with the woman, whom Paola says is just smart enough to be stupid. She had no idea what she wanted from Mitch. If he apologizes, she says it's insincere. If he tries to do good for the world, it's self-serving. There's no satisfying way forward. Mitch thinks Paola must be crazy to have done what she did. She laughs and says being crazy has finally paid off and she wants to pick his brain. He says he needs to get home now and tries to beg off, but she's insistent. Finally, he agrees and gives her his number. She calls it to verify it's really his number. When it rings, he holds his phone up as he walks away from her.

Chip answers a call from Bradley. He knows she's been out at The Morning Show. He thought he'd miss The Morning Show, but he's happy at his new work. He has a life and he's engaged. She congratulates him. He says his fiancée is helping him become the person he wants to be. He asks what's going on with her. She says she hasn't really done anything interesting with her down time. She tells him about the deal they've made to bring Alex back. They're giving her everything she wants, which doesn't feel great for Bradley. She feels like she's messed up and they're bringing her big sister in to fix her mess. She asks Chip for insight on Alex. She seems open sometimes and shut off others. Chip advises her to watch out for Alex. She can make you feel very good and very bad very quickly. She's looking out for herself. If he ever sees her again, he has some things to tell her.

Cory welcomes Alison into his place. She brought wine. Most of the others have already arrived and the guest list has grown and now includes Ty and Yanko. Ty asks Yanko and Daniel if Alex likes to make people wait on her. Yanko tries to be diplomatic, but Daniel says she's entitled.

Alison and Mia asks Cory how it is living in a hotel. Stella asks why Bradley and Alex aren't there yet. Cory leaves to take a call from Cybil. Cybil says there are pictures of Bradley out getting ice cream and she doesn't look sick. She's making them look like idiots. Cory tries to make excuses, but Cybil tells him to fire Bradley. Cory says he will.

Bradley answers the door and finds Cory, who asks her if she's coming upstairs because she was invited and it's the right thing to do. When she waffles about coming, he tells her she thinks she's sticking it to everyone else by not coming to work, but she's only sticking it to herself. At a certain point, it will only hurt her. He went through a lot of trouble to get Alex back to help her. She needs to understand that Alex coming back will be good for everyone. The success will give her a green light to do whatever she wants to do, including covering the hard news stories. If she doesn't, she's only messing up herself. Bradley asks if this is the personal apology her agent negotiated, because it sucks. Cory tells Bradley goodbye.

Cory goes back to the dinner and tells Stella he doesn't think Bradley's going to make it, while Alex is just late, which is typical for her. There's a knock at the door and Yanko lets Alex in. Alex exchanges greetings with everyone and meets Ty. Alex asks where Bradley is. Cory tries to get everyone to the table to eat, but another knock at the door reveals Bradley. Alex and Bradley share a long hug. Mia says she hopes both of them are ready to get back to work. When Mia asks if Bradley's feeling better, Bradley says she's pushing through.

Alex apologizes to Daniel for what she did to him. She says she's a different person now, but he says she's the same person who screwed him over. He turned down a co-anchor job because they made an agreement. Alex didn't know that, but that doesn't make it any better. She asks if it would have been better if she never told the truth about Fred on the air. He's glad it got said, but he became collateral damage. And Hannah shouldn't have had to die to wake her up. Alex apologizes and promises to do whatever it takes to help Daniel move forward. She can't go backward. In her heart, she's sorry. He doesn't accept her apology. Cory tells everyone dinner's ready and seats Alex and Bradley next to each other.

The group is discussing the novel coronavirus. Alison says it's like having the flu, but Stella doesn't want that either. Alison had SARS and says it was wonderful. Daniel doesn't want them to joke about it because people are sick. Daniel wants The Morning Show to cover the virus, so Alex suggests putting Daniel on a plane. Daniel says he's going to Iowa, but Alex says Bradley can cover the caucus. Daniel says it doesn't have to be him, but the show needs to talk about the new coronavirus. Stella says it's not exciting television, but Mia says Daniel's right and they'll figure it out. Yanko says if they can get the sham impeachment trial out of the way, they can clear up some screen time. Stella is appalled and asks why he thinks it's a sham. Before the conversation can continue, Cory draws everyone's attention to him and makes a toast to Alex and Bradley and reveals their plans for her grand return, including one-on-one interviews with Laura Peterson. Everyone toasts to them.

Alex confronts Bradley and asks her if everything is okay. She thinks Bradley's upset with her for some reason, but doesn't know why that is. Bradley denies it. Alex asks Bradley to get together and work on ideas. Bradley tells her to call RJ, her assistant, as she does all her scheduling through him. After she walks away, Alex says goodbye to everyone, saying she has to go let her dog out because she has a dog now. She reminds them she left the job for a reason and she's done a lot of work on herself since then. She's had therapy and didn't ever plan to come back, but she did miss it and she wants it, so she wants them to focus on the future because she's back. When she leaves, Bradley follows her. Cory tries to stop her, but she brushes past him.

Bradley confronts Alex in the hallway, saying things will have to be different if they're going to resume their partnership. Bradley says she wants this and she's good at it and held the show up since Alex left without telling her. Alex says she told Bradley, but Bradley says she called a week after she told the network and talked to her for a minute. She promised to check back in with Bradley, but never did. Bradley's mad because she's the one who was taking the network down and included Alex in that while Alex was trying to get her fired. Alex is sorry she failed at that. Bradley says when she first joined the show, she did everything everyone asked just trying to get along because she thought they were a team. But they're not. Everyone's out for themselves. Bradley says if they do this, she's not Alex's sidekick. They're equals. Alex says that's what Bradley should do. Alex apologizes for not calling, but says they worked together for a month and don't owe each other anything. Bradley asks what about Chip. Alex stops the elevator and Bradley says Chip hasn't heard from Alex either. They worked together for fifteen years. Alex leaves on the elevator.

Bradley goes back to her hotel room and screams into her bed.

Alex stands on her balcony with a drink. She goes in and plays with her dog.

Mitch is watching television when there's a knock at his door. It's Fred. Mitch knocks the wine bottle out of his hands and reminds him that the network paid $119.2 million for him to go away. Mitch wants him to leave and shuts the door in his face.

Alex is driven somewhere.

Daniel is on a flight to China and hears an announcement that the flight will take over 23 hours.

Bradley and Eric continue to host The Morning Show. She and Eric hug on camera.

Cory watches the feed from his office. He takes a call from Mandy, who says Hannah's family won't settle. They gave an amount they knew the network couldn't agree to. $119.2 million. Cory recognizes it as a message that they want it to go to trial.

Chip is looking for his keys. The doorbell rings and he's surprised to find Alex there. She tells him about her talk with Bradley. She asks him to come back and be her producer. Chip looks back at his fiancée and then asks when he starts.

## Cast

### Starring

* Jennifer Aniston as Alex Levy
* Reese Witherspoon as Bradley Jackson
* Billy Crudup as Cory Ellison
* Mark Duplass as Chip Black
* Greta Lee as Stella Bak
* Nestor Carbonell as Yanko Flores
* Karen Pittman as Mia Jordan
* Desean K. Terry as Daniel Henderson
* Ruairi O'Connor as Ty Fitzgerald
* Steve Carell as Mitch Kessler

### Guest Starring

* Janina Gavankar as Alison Namazi
* Tom Irwin as Fred Micklen
* Holland Taylor as Cybil Reynolds
* Will Arnett as Doug
* Katie Aselton as Madeleine
* Hasan Minhaj as Eric Nomani
* Patrick Fabian as Jeff
* Mark Harelik as Richard
* Hannah Leder as Isabella
* Victoria Tate as Rena Robinson
* Markus Flanagan as Gerald
* Shari Belafonte as Julia
* Michelle Meredith as Lindsey Sherman
* Ali Astin as Woman at Gelateria

### Co-Starring

* Theo Iyer as Kyle
* Traci Belushi as Angela Cody
* Terryn Westbrook as Fay Ohoa
* Erika Ringor as Mandy Schaeffer
* Judah Mackey as Teddy Kessler
* Benjamin Mackey as Jeff Kessler
* Kristina Hayes as Sally
* Rebecca Klinger as Tammy
* Hayley Keown as Female Assistant
* Rachel Danyew as Rachel Danyew

## Notes and Trivia

* Filming the dinner scene was the first time the core cast had been together since before the pandemic.