Laura

Alex and Bradley have lunch

**Laura** is the third episode of the second season of *The Morning Show*.

## Short Summary

Bradley covers the start of campaign season while Alex prepares for her big moment.

## Full Summary

***Wuhan, China***

It's 4:09 AM and Daniel is asleep in his hotel bed when he's abruptly shaken awake by Ian, who tells him to get up. They have to get out of Wuhan before 10:00 AM as they're locking the city down.

Ian and Daniel race through a busy train station. If they don't make this train, they won't be able to leave. There's a crowd of masked people also all trying to leave. Jun asks what they're doing and learns the train officials are checking temperatures to screen people for symptoms before they get on trains. They get to the train but are not allowed own. Daniel tells Ian to tell the conductor who they are. They're finally let on the train and Ian admits that he instead told the conductor that his mother was dying in Beijing. As the train pulls away, they watch the crowd of people that didn't make it.

Cory, Stella, Mia, and Alex watch a trailer promising an important announcement on The Morning Show.

As they leave the screening room, Alex notes that they've been very busy. Cory says it's a big deal and they're all over the moon. Cory then asks when Alex is sitting down with Laura. Stella says they're having trouble scheduling that because Laura wants two days. Mia says she wants to follow Alex as she says goodbye to the quiet life she's been living. Cory likes that, but Alex doesn't think she needs two whole days. Alex then says she asked Chip to be her producer. She knows Chip was Fred's scapegoat and didn't deserve to be thrown aside like he was. He's the best producer she's ever had and that's who she wants. Cory asks Stella to get to work on that. Alex says she's excited for Monday's announcement.

Rena, Lindsey, Layla, Isabella, and Joel work on the show, which needs to be big and special according to Mia. Mia comes in and warns them that Chip is coming back to produce Alex. Rena is excited while Layla is shocked. Mia wants them all to get on board with it. Lindsey asks her what happened with Daniel and Mia says the network is quarantining him for 14 days in the Beijing Hilton.

Daniel is filmed in his hotel room. He reports that on their fifth day of quarantining, they all feel fine. His report is streamed onto The Morning Show, where Eric and Bradley are reporting on the virus. They end the report and say it's time for the big announcement. They call Alison, Ty, and Yanko over to announce that Alex is returning as of February 10th. Stella and Cory watch from backstage as balloons and confetti fall onto the stage. Once the camera is off her, Bradley immediately drops her smile.

Stella tells Cory the immediate reaction on Twitter is positive. She pretends she's excited. Cory goes toward the stage and tells Bradley she even got him excited and he already knew the surprise. Bradley says she wants to moderate the debate in Vegas. He says he has to defer to Stella on that. Bradley doesn't want to get edged out just because Alex is back. She wants people to think of her when they think of political discourse. Cory says Laura Peterson will be interviewing her while she covers the Iowa caucus. He knows she's having lunch with Alex, but she ignores that comment and just re-iterates that she's going to moderate the debate. Cory doesn't like the way she's talking to him. She gets called back to set.

Fred's excited to be enjoying Italy, but Mitch is annoyed by his presence. Fred wants the two of them to work together. He says Hannah's parents don't have a case and trying to settle was generous of them. Mitch realizes he doesn't feel guilty at all. Fred asks Mitch how Hannah was before the encounter. Mitch says Hannah was stable. The only time she seemed out of sorts was when they were covering the Vegas shooting. Fred refuses to pay millions of dollars for Hannah's death. He wants for Mitch to talk to the network with him and push them to file a motion to dismiss. Mitch tells Fred to leave him out of it.

As Alex gets out of her car, she's asked about her return to The Morning Show. She answers a couple questions then says her friend is waiting and enters the restaurant.

Inside, Alex joins Bradley at the table. Bradley want to talk as they left things on bad terms. Alex talks about losing touch with reality and tells Bradley she's trying to put herself in other people's shoes more. She's very sorry for leaving Bradley like she did and not calling. Bradley thanks her for the apology, but says she's still going to compete with Alex for things and not just let her have them. Alex is excited about that, but then worries when Maggie Brener approaches their table. Alex tells Bradley to let her do the talking. Maggie says it's exciting that the two of them will be working together again. She says she'll be watching. After she walks away, Alex expresses her disdain for Maggie, but Bradley thinks she's perfectly nice. Alex asks if Bradley spoke to Maggie for her book and Bradley says she did, but didn't say anything bad about Alex. She's worked in the business long enough not to let a reporter make her say something she doesn't mean. Alex is still worried she's not prepared for people like Maggie and Laura. Bradley thinks Alex is trying to poison her brain before her interview with Laura. Alex has had bad experiences with Laura and doesn't trust her. She's trying to protect Bradley and wants them to get their facts straight. Alex says there's so much drama and speculation about how they came to work together and she doesn't believe it's anyone's business but theirs. Bradley agrees. Alex wants them to decide what to say happened on her last day of work. She doesn't think people need to know she announced Bradley as her co-anchor to get back at the network. That's why they need to have the talk and Bradley agrees.

Cory tells Mandy that he doesn't want them to file a motion to dismiss the wrongful death lawsuit. He wants them to keep it under their control. Kyle comes in and says they closed down 1%, but the Dow and SP were both down 1.6%, so it's kind of positive.

Valerie comes into the room where Alex is getting ready and tells her and Chip that Cory, Mia, Stella, and Teresa are all outside. Chip wants Alex go to greet everyone. Laura hasn't yet arrived, so Alex doesn't want to go out. Chip knows what Alex is doing and doesn't want her to do anything that could paint her as a diva. Alex says Chip is welcome to go out there himself. He goes to leave, but reminds her that his deal hasn't closed yet.

Chip leaves the room and sees Cory and Stella schmoozing Gordon. Cory welcomes Chip back and introduces him to Stella. Chip goes back to check on Alex as Laura walks in and Cory goes to talk to her. He tries to convince her to return to UVA365, but she put almost 20 years into that show already. Laura then says Alex only agreed to four hours and she's late even for that. Cory says she's a genius and she'll get great stuff from that four hours. Cory asks Laura for a favor. He wants her to coach Bradley a little while they're together in Iowa. Alex finally emerges and Laura excuses herself.

Alex and Laura greet each other with a hug and pose for pictures alone and then with Cory and Stella. Then they sit down for the interview. Laura orders everyone non-essential out of the room as they only have 3 hours and 57 minutes to get it done.

Stella tells Cory it wasn't a good idea to bring Chip back. They need to talk to Alex. Cory says that has to wait until they're not in a tailspin. Stella doesn't want to be contrary, but she wants to make things better. She wants to build things, but can't do that if the ground isn't live. Cory hears that, but the power to make those changes comes with success and they need to keep Alex happy so she can be successful.
Laura continues to interview Alex. They talk about Alex's last day at The Morning Show. Then she asks what advice Alex would give to her younger self. She says she'd worry less about success. Laura asks if she feels the important things have been fixed to improve the environment at UBA and she says she does and it'll never go back to the way it was. Laura asks about Hannah without saying her name. Alex says she doesn't feel comfortable talking about that because Hannah valued her privacy. Laura talks about Maggie's upcoming book, of which she has read an excerpt that painted The Morning Show as a place rife with sexism and ageism. Alex says that lines up with her experience to some degree. Laura asks about Alex's relationship with Mitch. Alex hesitates for a moment before saying Mitch was her best friend. Then she says that Mitch was a lot of things to a lot of people. She is firm that she doesn't talk to Mitch anymore.

Paola tells Mitch she's a documentarian, but she wants more consistency in her life, with hard deadlines. Mitch offers to send some of her work to someone. Mitch's phone buzzes, but he ignores it because he knows it's Fred. Paola suggests he should check it in case it's his kids. He checks his phone and sees a report that Alex is returning to The Morning Show. He excuses himself and Paola grabs his phone. He tries to stop her from looking at it, but she sees the report and laughs about that upsetting him. She thinks he should pity Alex for choosing to live in her past. She encourages him to move on and use his brain for something else. He can't undo what he did, but he can help people going forward. She wants him to do a documentary with her about a case in Italy where a court overturned a rape conviction because the defendant said the victim was too ugly to be raped. Mitch says he can't do it and leaves.

Alex says goodbye to the crew as they leave. Once they're gone, Alex asks Chip what that interview was, especially the question about her relationship with Mitch. She feels it was inappropriate. It was an accusation, not a question. Chip says he didn't approve that question. The version he approved was very different and he thinks she's overreacting. They have a lot to do before her return. She has her own book coming out where she can tell the real story. She's still working on the Mitch chapter and he offers to read it over for her. She says she'd love that. He says goodnight because she has a big morning coming.

Yanko introduces the weather on Groundhog Day. They then cut to the groundhog, who does not see his shadow. They celebrate the early spring. Yanko says that groundhog is his spirit animal. Once he's done, Julia says they're out.

Alex sees a commercial advertising her interview with Laura.

As Bradley gets ready to board her flight, Alex calls her and tells her there's something she needs to know. She tells Bradley Laura crossed a line with her and the interview is not the puff piece Bradley thinks it is. She tells Bradley about the question Laura asked about Mitch and warns Bradley to be on her guard. Alex denies having had sex with Mitch. Gayle calls Bradley to board.

Bradley finds Laura on the flight joking with the others.

Ian tells Daniel they're not going to do a segment with him on The Morning Show because they're running long, but they'll try again tomorrow. He's angered at being bumped from his own show. He pulls up the feed for the show and sees Bradley interviewing the chair of the Political Science department at the University of Iowa about the caucus.

Laura asks Bradley if it's her first caucus and she admits that it is. It's been a big leap for her, moving to The Morning Show. Bradley's been working toward it for a long time. Laura asks her about the big leap and how it happened. Laura asks her what it feels like to be at this stage in her career at this point in her life. Bradley grew up thinking some doors wouldn't be open for her, but then she found something she was good at. Then she started to feel like she'd never make it, so she convinced herself she didn't want it. And then everything changed. She reached a point where she realized she didn't have the control she thought she did, so she did something rash. And then she worried she'd lose it after working so hard to get there. They have a charged moment, then Bradley drops her coffee cup, breaking the tension.

Daniel calls Mia and complains about being sent to China and then quarantined and then bumped. People need to know what's coming, but Mia says it's not impacting Americans. They need ratings. Daniel stops answering her and then hangs up on her.

Ty tells Yanko that it's not appropriate to call something your spirit animal. Yanko thinks that's silly, but thanks him for the heads up.

Chip walks into UBA. He congratulates Rena on her pregnancy. She's happy to see him, but Layla isn't. Rena says some people think he shouldn't have been brought back. They'll get over it, but they need some time. He says it's fine. He just wanted to see her and say hi.

Chip watches a recording of Alex's interview. He says he didn't approve the question, so he asks them to tighten it up.

Bradley reports to Noorean Gill that she spoke to someone at the DNC and they won't have results that night. Alex watches the broadcast from her bed as she tries to write about Mitch. She texts Bradley, asking how the interview went.

Bradley asks if everyone's going to bed. Laura says she's tired, but not sleepy. Gayle says she's both tired and sleepy, so she's going to bed, leaving Laura and Bradley alone together. Bradley doesn't know how she feels about her first caucus. Laura reminds her there are 49 more of those. Laura says Cory asked her to look out for Bradley, like mentor her, but Laura doesn't think she needs it. Bradley surprised her in a good way. Laura doesn't think The Morning Show is using her in the right way. People who stay on The Morning Show are the people who can't do anything else. Bradley is bigger than that. Bradley was also surprised by Laura, which Laura knows means Alex talked about her. Laura asks how Bradley's relationship with Alex is. Bradley doesn't answer, but they go inside together.

Alex wakes up to a reply from Bradley saying the interview went great. Alex replies to ask if Laura asked anything invasive.

Bradley rolls her eyes at the text and doesn't reply. She asks Laura if she got everything she needed for the interview and Laura says she did. Laura says now that the cameras are off and she sees how awesome Bradley is, she asks to ask a personal question just between them. Laura asks if she was actually vetted for The Morning Show. Bradley stares at her for a moment, then leans across the car and kisses her. When she pulls back, she apologizes, but Laura pulls her back in.

Mitch watches The State of the Union. He closes it and then messages Paola to tell her he'll do the documentary with her.

Daniel, Ian, and Jun pack up and leave their hotel room.

At The Morning Show, they say goodbye to Eric. Chip watches from offstage.

Alex watches the interview again, focusing on the question about Mitch.

Cory also watches the interview. He gets a call from Fred and ignores it.

Alex steps out of her dressing room and walks to the stage. She's welcomed with applause. She takes her seat next to Bradley and gets last looks. Julia counts them in and the show 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
* Julianna Margulies as Laura Peterson
* 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

### Special Guest Stars

* Marcia Gay Harden as Maggie Brener
* Valeria Golino as Paola Lambruschini

### Guest Starring

* Janina Gavankar as Alison Namazi
* Tom Irwin as Fred Micklen
* Hasan Minhaj as Eric Nomani
* Ryan Alexander Holmes as Ian
* Hannah Leder as Isabella
* Victoria Tate as Rena Robinson
* Tara Karsian as Gayle Burns
* Andrea Bendewald as Valerie
* 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
* Erika Ringor as Mandy Schaeffer
* Choni Francis as RJ Smith
* Danni Wang as Jun
* Patrick Bristow as Gordon
* Krishna Smitha as Noorean Gill
* Jesse Wang as Chinese Conductor
* Lee Chen as Traveler
* Michael Gallagher as Paparazzo #1
* Countrified Wedman as Paparazzo #2
* Warren J. Marks as Crew Member
* Tara Burrows as Editor

## Notes and Trivia

* The scenes taking place in Wuhan were filmed at Anaheim Train Station because it bears a strong resemblance to an actual train station in Wuhan.