Confirmations

Mia tells the crew that Mitch died

**Confirmations** is the eighth episode of the second season of *The Morning Show*.

## Short Summary

TMS races to report an unconfirmed story.

## Full Summary

Cory wakes up and opens his curtains.

Bradley gets up and sees her brother on her couch.

Rena finds Mia asleep on a couch at the studio.

Cory exercises in his place.

Bradley rides to work.

Chip drives into work as well.

Laura wakes up.

Mia wakes up and gets dressed.

Cory is asked about Maggie's book as he enters the studio, but he comments only on Mitch's behavior, even after the paparazzo asks about the allegations that he specifically targeted Black women and if Bradley really likes women. Cory meets Stella in the elevator and she says he's in early. He says UBA+ is worldwide, so there's no such thing as early or late. He has a call with Shanghai Studios about licensing. Cory then talks to Stella about something she asks that upset him. She asked if he was okay, but how he is, how she is, doesn't matter. She can't care about other people's feelings as they'll just drag her down. He tells her to come by his office with Gerald and Linda after his call because they need to strategize how to make the TMS bombshells work for them.

Cory tells Chip he made a good call with Laura as their ratings were great. Things spiked when The Vault piece hit, which Cory puts down to good timing. Cory wants Chip to tell Alex to get her rest. Chip says he was about to talk to Alex right now. Chip goes into Alex's office and calls her. He searches her office as he leaves her a very angry voicemail.

Aflamu asks Lindsey if Laura would really not show up. Lindsey hopes not as they're selling her pretty hard, but Lindsey wouldn't blame her. Lindsey tells Layla she left an apostrophe out of it's, but Layla doesn't care. She just needed someone to look at it before she showed it to Mia. Everyone knows Mia was the producer referenced in the remarks about Mitch. Layla tries to give Mia the copy for the story about the excerpt to Mia, but Mia says she trusts Layla and doesn't want to read it.

Bradley, Daniel, Alison, and Curt talk about what's coming up on the show, including Laura. Once they're done, Julia says they're clear and have 30 minutes until showtime. Bradley races off the stage and asks Gordon if Laura is there. Bradley wants to talk to her before the show starts. Gordon says she'll be there soon and he'll tell Laura to stop by. Bradley then asks RJ to book her brother a flight back to West Virginia and have a car pick him up to take him to the airport. She then goes into her dressing room and calls Laura.

Laura says she's just getting off the elevator. Bradley asks if she wants her to come to Laura's dressing room, but Laura thinks it's best not to push it. Bradley wants to see her before the show. Once Laura's in her dressing room, Bradley apologizes again and says she sent Hal home. Laura says she didn't ask Bradley to do this and it's a lot to take in. She needs her head in the game before she does a show. Bradley says Laura's put her head in the wrong place. Laura says she needs to let in hair and makeup and there's not enough makeup in the world to make her look like she's enjoying herself.

Laura and Bradley are counted in as the show begins. They agree it'll be a good show.

Chip watches on the television as Bradley reports on the virus. Madeleine is led in and hands Chip some keys. He apologizes for taking her set back and tells her not to read into it. Madeleine asks if there's any sign of Alex and Chip says she's vanished into thin air. Madeleine thinks she just needed space. Chip says maybe she made a bad career choice if that's the case. Madeleine says she'll show up somewhere and Chip suspects that place will be the morgue. Madeleine thinks that's morbid and not funny. Madeleine misses Elmira Chip, but that Chip is dead. Madeleine says Alex will show up. She asks if Chip needs anything and he kisses her. She's all his for the weekend, but he doesn't want to wait. No one's around. They can even do it in Alex's office. That comment turns Madeleine off. They argue over it and Madeleine ends up leaving.

Cory says there's no such thing as bad press. Gerald asks if he's read the excerpt. He did, but he doesn't think it was necessarily bad. All the people are gone. Fred's gone and Mitch is as good as dead. They're the heroes, himself and Stella. Gerald's phone rings and he puts it away. Mia's still there, but Cory has a way to spin that. She's overcoming. Linda says they did hire Alex and Chip back. Kyle interrupts to tell Gerald his assistant is on line two and says it's urgent. Gerald leaves to handle that. Cory says Alex and Chip are nothing to Mitch and Fred. It's a redemption story. Gerald comes back and says he wants to share what he's heard with the group. He puts the caller on speaker and asks him to repeat the question. On the line is Luca Romano, a reporter for Il Gazzettino newspaper in Mestre, Italy. He asks if they have a comment on the death of Mitch Kessler. Gerald asks if he's verified the death. Luca says they were told he was in a car accident near Riva. Stella quietly asks if that's near Lake Como, as that's where he was when the girl yelled at him. As Cory sends Stella out to start to verify the claim, Gerald says the network has no comment until the claim can be verified. Cory calls after Stella to get Alex into the studio.

Curt finishes the weather report, reporting warmer weather coming. Laura jokes with Curt and tries to get Bradley in on it, but Bradley ignores her and moves on to tease the next story.

Stella finds Mia and tells her they have an unconfirmed report that Mitch is dead and Cory wants Alex to report it. Mia is stunned. After a moment, she calls Gayle, Gordon, Joel, and Layla over to her. She tells them what she's just learned and sends Joel and Layla to find out whatever they can so they can be the first to report the story. They need two confirmations and they won't report until his family has been notified. Gayle and Gordon need to help with the show. Gordon says that's fine, but says Chip knows the show backwards and forwards. Mia says Chip will be busy and sends then off to do as she asked. Layla asks if she's okay. Mia says she is, but tells Layla to pull the story on the excerpt until they're sure. Mia knocks on Alex's dressing room door and Chip answers. He starts to talk about how he can't understand her position as a white man. She tells him to shut up and then tells him Mitch might be dead. She needs him to get Alex to the studio and she'll handle everything else.

Chip calls card services and asks for a representative. He finally gets through to Shane and uses Alex's social security number and security questions to pose as her and ask for the last charge on her card, pretending he tried to use the card and it wouldn't go through. The last charge was two days ago, at Milan Linate Airport.

Mia checks with Joel and Layla to see if they've found anything. Layla finds a Twitter post with a picture of the car with the front end smashed. She can see the license plate and starts to check the registration.

Gerald, Linda, Stella, and Cory meet again. Gerald says it could either help or her the book if Mitch really is dead. People won't want to pile on a dead guy. Cory thinks the opposite. He asks Stella where they are with Alex and Stella says they're getting her. She questions if Alex reporting it is the best decision. Cory finds it compelling. Stella gets a call from Wendell, which Cory knows means word is starting to spread. She answers the call on speaker phone. He says he's heard the rumors and promises that it's TMS's story if the story is true. They haven't been able to confirm it, but they did hear he was taken to Hospital Sant'Angelo outside Como. Stella hangs up and says they need to figure out how to harness this so he won't have died in vain.

Mia tells Joel the name of the hospital. Layla learns the car was registered to Clay Becker, who owns KVPQ, a UBA affiliate. Mia gives her the contact information for Clay and tells Joel to call the hospital.

Joel asks Chip over the phone if he's gotten Alex. Chip says yes, but it's taking a second. The news is hitting her hard. As he talks, he searches Alex's dressing room. Joel says nobody's reporting anything beyond a few tweets and the car being registered to Clay Becker. And the hospital. Chip asks for the name of the hospital. He wants to call them.

Aflamu shows Mia something on his phone. She says she saw it and she's going to talk to everyone on the break. Mia watches as the show continues. Once Julia says they're clear, Mia goes on stage and calls everyone's attention to her. She has Donny cut the feed and then she tells everyone about Mitch. She knows the news might be difficult for some of them as they worked with Mitch for years. But since it's not confirmed, she wants everyone to keep doing what they're doing and not spread the information, as it's highly confidential. Mitch was a human being with a family and now they have to get confirmation before they do anything. She sends everyone back to work. Alison asks how sure they are. Mia says something happened and they're sure of that. The network wants Alex to break the news if there's any to break.

Chip gets through to the hospital ER. He asks the nurse if they had an American patient there. She says there was nobody named Mitch Kessler. When he describes Mitch, she says they had someone like that without ID. She doesn't know if he's alive. She asks him to leave his number. He says he doesn't care about that, but asks if there was a woman with him. She says there was and she didn't look good, but she doesn't know the woman's name. The woman asks Chip to call back later and hangs up. Chip gets a text message from Mia asking if he's almost back.

Chip goes to see Cory, bypassing Kyle on his way in. Chip tells Stella to get out so he can talk to Cory. She stands up to him, refusing to leave. Chip finally confesses that he hasn't seen Alex since Vegas and now he thinks she might be dead. He knows no one knows Alex went to Italy because Isabella told him that. Cory calls for Kyle to get Isabella in his office immediately. Chip knows Isabella won't tell him anything because she hates his kind. Cory sends Stella to talk to her instead.

Mia starts typing a text to Mitch asking if he's there. Before she can decide whether or not to send it, Layla says Clay Becker called back and is holding for her. Mia takes Clay's call and he tells her it was his car. Mitch was staying at his place in Italy. He looked into it and his understanding is that Mitch is dead. Clay didn't feel like it was his place to tell Mitch's family. Normally the hospital would do it, but Mitch didn't have his license or passport on him. Mia hangs up the phone and says they need second confirmation to run the story. She'll write the copy herself.

Mia finds Rena lying down. Rena apologizes, saying she felt dizzy, but she's fine now. Mia tells her to stay because she wants to talk to her. Mia apologizes for snapping at her yesterday. She processes through her feelings about learning that they're saying Mitch targeted Black women, leading her to wonder if Mitch really liked her for her or because she's Black. And she's been lumped in with a bunch of women who were legitimately victims. That's where she was yesterday and she took it out on Rena. So she's sorry for that. And she thinks she knew the real Mitch, but the book doesn't get the real him. And the real him is dead now and it's sad. Now she has to sum up his life in two minutes.

Isabella says she has Alex's passwords because Alex doesn't remember them. She doesn't get into Alex's accounts. She'd be fired if she did. Stella says Alex might be dead. Isabella doesn't thinks he is. Stella says they know Alex went to Italy, that Mitch died there in a car accident, and there was a woman with him when he died. Alex will understand, if she's not dead.

Chip and Cory wait in Cory's office. Isabella tells them over the phone that Alex booked a flight to Teterboro that's supposed to land in an hour. They hope she was on it. People are going to figure out she was in Italy and they'll have to figure out what to do about that. Chip vomits on the table and then leaves. Cory calls for Kyle.

Bradley, Alison, and Laura do a report on school bullying. Backstage, Gayle gets a note and tells Bradley over her earpiece to get to the hallway as her brother is there and it's bad. Bradley continues the report, introducing Lee Bauer, who was bullied at school. Once they're clear, Bradley runs off stage.

In the hallway, Jimbo is leading Hal around. Hal spots Bradley and says that's his sister. Hal is intoxicated, but Bradley says it's okay and sends Jimbo away. Bradley tells Hal he needs to leave. Hal asks if he reminds her of their dad. He knows she's ashamed of him. She leads Hal to the break room and gives him some coffee. She tells him to shut up because they think Mitch Kessler died. Laura comes out to ask Bradley if she's coming back soon. Hal recognizes Laura from the article. Bradley begs him not to do this here. Hal asks if Mitch killed himself. Bradley says it was a car accident. She doesn't know if he killed anyone else. Hal tells everyone that their dad killed a kid driving drunk while they were in the car. Bradley's angry with him for saying that and says he needs to leave. When he gets belligerent, Laura tells someone to get security. Security comes and two of them escort Hal out as he calls for Bradley to help him.

In the bullpen, everyone's on the phone looking for confirmation so they can run the story.

Chip drives to Teterboro.

Mia writes about Mitch.

Laura consoles Bradley, who thinks she can't go back on set. Laura says she can. People judging you is a bitch but it doesn't kill you. Bradley asks if she's a horrible person. Laura says no, but she needs to take a look at her life. She asks if Bradley's ever had therapy. Bradley admits she's afraid they'll tell her she's crazy. Laura says she's not. She just learned behaviors to help her survive as a child and they're not helpful anymore. Her family really messed her up. She loves them, but she can't fix them. Laura says it might be time she steps away from them. Bradley says it's not really Hal's fault how he is. He has bipolar disorder and they have terrible parents. Laura tells Bradley that she understand that it's not Hal's fault, but it doesn't matter why. He's bringing chaos to Bradley's life and he isn't interested in changing. She has to think about herself and what's right for her. Laura's had to walk away from family, too, and knows it's not easy. Bradley can't imagine leaving Hal. Laura says she can put him in rehab if he wants to change, but she might have to walk away. It's her life, not his.

Chip is waiting at Teterboro when the plane lands. He watches as Alex gets off. She hugs him and says she's glad he found her. He then tells her about Mitch. She refuses to believe it. He says he didn't have ID and they're waiting on a second confirmation. Alex asks Chip for his phone and pulls the paper with Paola's number out of her purse.

Paola answers the phone and tells Alex that Mitch is dead. She wasn't with him in the car, but she was later at the hospital. She tells Alex Mitch loved her and then hangs up.

Alex starts crying.

In Chip's car, Alex asks if Paige and the kids know. Chip doesn't think so. Alex wants to tell her and wants to do it in person instead of going to the studio. Paige needs to hear it from someone who cares about him.

Mia answers a call she thinks is Chip, but it's Alex. Alex says she's not coming to the studio and that's her decision, but she has the second confirmation. She tells Mia they're going to tell Paige in person. She'll let Mia know once Paige knows so they can go to air. Once she hangs up, Alex gets a large number of voicemail notifications. She wonders if something happened while she was gone. Chip says he was just worried about her, but she can delete the messages. As he says that, the angry message he left earlier int eh day plays and she listens to it over his objections. He says he was really angry and apologizes. They argue over why each of them is angry at the other. They each agree that they hate the other.

They pull up in front of Paige's house and Alex gets out. She knocks on the door and Teddy answers. She asks him if his mom is home and then goes to get her. Paige comes to the door next. Alex tells her that Mitch is dead. Paige thanks Alex for telling her and Alex offers to talk if she needs it. Paige just scoffs and then tells Alex she's always known they slept together. Most of the time, she didn't know the women he slept with. But Alex knew her. And she wasn't forced like some of the others. Alex says it was only twice, but Paige isn't consoled by that. Paige says she's sorry for Alex's loss and then shuts the door in her face.

Alex gets back in the car and calls Mia to give her the go-ahead to go to air. Then she asks Mia to put Bradley on. Once Bradley's on, Alex tells her she's the right person to break the news because everything is changing and Bradley was the start of that change. Alex appreciates that and Bradley.

Laura says they're interrupting with breaking news and hands it over to Bradley to announce Mitch's death. She eulogizes Mitch, talking about both his highs and lows during his career.

## 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
* Julianna Margulies as Laura Peterson
* Nestor Carbonell as Yanko Flores (credit only)
* Karen Pittman as Mia Jordan
* Desean K. Terry as Daniel Henderson
* Ruairi O'Connor as Ty Fitzgerald (credit only)

### Guest Starring

* Janina Gavankar as Alison Namazi
* Embeth Davidtz as Paige Jacobs
* Joe Tippett as Hal Jackson
* Katie Aselton as Madeleine
* Hannah Leder as Isabella
* Victoria Tate as Rena Robinson
* Tara Karsian as Gayle Burns
* Markus Flanagan as Gerald
* Joe Marinelli as Donny Spagnoli
* Joe Pacheco as Bart Daley
* Shari Belafonte as Julia
* Eli Bildner as Joel Rapkin
* Amber Friendly as Layla Bell
* Michelle Meredith as Lindsey Sherman

### Co-Starring

* Theo Iyer as Kyle
* Aflamu Johnson as Aflamu
* Meredith Scott Lynn as Linda
* Guilford Adams as Curt Savage
* Patrick Bristow as Gordon
* Choni Francis as RJ Smith
* Porter Fasullo as Lee Bauer
* Sean James as Jimbo
* Judah Mackey as Teddy Kessler
* Countrified Wedman as Paparazzo
* Matt Adler as Shane Card Services
* Jim Pirri as Luca Romano
* Dina Morrone as ER Receptionist
* Dan Givezan as Wendell
* Steve Apostolina as Clay Becker