Frozen Fever Full Episode
Liese Hittson
Ahhh this episode spent waaaay too much time on things I did not care about (Chip being pathetic, Plot device being lost) and not nearly enough time on all the important things like whether Noted Lesbian Laura Peterson and Bradley broke up or are doing long distance and what Noted Lesbian Laura Peterson wears on her ranch in Montana. Also, question of the cash from the end of the last episode? Where we supposed to understand that it was a refund from rehab and that's why this episode starts with Bradley hunting Plot device with no explanation? Is it supposed to be an open thread for next season. I'd be fine if they don't get a season 3 BUT we get a spin off 'The Evening Show' where Mia and Stella get to shine while they produce Noted Lesbian Laura Peterson's evening news/current affairs show.
Friends, countrymen, malinged newsroom anchors. We have made it! It\u2019s the finale, the last time I will grace your inboxes with these lunatic recaps! I am not sure what I expected when I started this little project\u2014honestly it was primarily an exercise to get myself to write more and to keep me from tweeting unendinly about this show. It\u2019s been an absolute blast, and though we don\u2019t know if The Morning Show will be back for a third season, if they are, well, you know I will be too!
Bradley is handing out missing fliers for her Plot Device amid crowds of New Yorkers, all of whom I suspect are like\u2026\u201Dis this bitch for real or did she time travel here from 1991?\u201D Where did she print these? At work? Does her hotel room have a printer?? Did she just make her assistant make them?? Alas, we\u2019ll never know. She sees an unhoused person sleeping on the street\u2014 is it Plot Device? No, just another struggling person that Bradley doesn\u2019t know and thus does not care about. Touching!
Alex returns from the hospital to her Penthouse of Sadness as news reports play over her wandering through her apartment to stand despondently on her balcony. We hear Daniel reporting that Alex has taken a personal day, and that the network is aware of the statements she made at Mitch\u2019s memorial. They were leaked statements, he reminds us, so perhaps it is none of anyone\u2019s business! Consider that! But also, they have heard the outcry from everyone about Alex coming back from a hotspot and endangering her coworkers and they will be investigating. I am not quite sure what that investigation would look like, they know she went to Italy, she already admitted it? What is there\u2026to investigate?
Upstairs, Cory is meeting with HOLLAND TAYLOR and some guy who I recognize from something. He looks very punchable! They are talking about some big event they are going to do that will BLOW the minds of anyone who watches and then the masses will simply fall all over themselves to subscribe to uba+. HOLLAND TAYLOR, ever the voice of reason, and the only one in a mask, dares to ask if having an event right now is the best idea? What would it cost to postpone? Cory cannot postpone! This is a LAUNCH event! To be clear, I have never in my life heard of a network hosting an person event to launch a streaming service, I am hard pressed to believe it is a thing that happens. But simply when has that ever stopped the minds behind The Morning Show? One of the other suits in the meeting is like well the cost of postponing would be\u2026 as if the actual logistics are the problem. Cory asks him and the punchable guy to step out so he can get to the REAL root of things, AKA the EMOTIONAL METAPHOR.
\u201CWe see the iceberg! It doesn\u2019t make you brave to steer the ship right into it!\u201D HOLLAND TAYLOR exclaims after taking off her mask. Unfortunately that is an accurate depiction of our general inability to adhere to mask regulations in a way that makes sense. But has HOLLAND TAYLOR considered that uba+ is not, in fact the Titanic? A brave assertion for Cory to make, given the many similarities between uba+ and the ship in question. (hubris, lots of money, doomed from the start.) No, they are like, Apollo 13? If they nailed it? Kay? HOLLAND TAYLOR thinks this is more Icarus than Tom Hanks. \u201CWE HAVE TOM HANKS\u201D Cory screams. I am sorry, that is a bridge too far, even for this show. You do not get Tom Hanks for an event to launch a streaming service, you just DO NOT. Also, the network is leaking money, people \u201Care opening HUGE short positions\u201D against them (go off Billions!) and perhaps Cory is investing too much of his own ego into uba+? Is it even about the streaming service? Or is it about him? \u201CThey are one and the same.\u201D Cory says, like a normal person. That is the last straw for HOLLAND TAYLOR, and she is getting out of this building that hosted a super spreader.
Stella and Mia are having a harrowing Zoom meeting (too soon!) with some uba suits. Yes, everyone Alex came into contact with is likely at risk to contact COVID, but Stella would like to point out the statistical improbability of Alex even having COVID. Advertisers are pulling out, and, as one suit notes \u201Cit\u2019s not like there is just one thing she can apologize for.\u201D TOO TRUE.
Ring ring! La Levy calls Stella with some news\u2014 she is the statistical improbability we were worried about! Now is probably a good time to mention that I am truly obsessed with the make up work done throughout this episode to make Jennifer Aniston, professional beautiful woman, look sick enough to have COVID but not like, sick enough that she is UGLY or anything. She starts off in a gold silk pajama set, it is incredible. Anyway, this lights a fire under Stella\u2019s ass, she tells Mia to get everyone home now, and then rushes Alex off the phone to start the damage control.
On the set of TMS, Mia brings everyone together to drop the COVID news. Everyone starts yelling, Resident Dark Angel Rena is pissed, but Ty, the Social Media Wunderkind (remember him??) wants to know if Alex will be okay. They have spoken\u2026twice to my knowledge, but okay! Sure! Mia sends everyone home, and Stella pauses to grab Daniel. Heyyyyy friend! Guess what! You are gonna host TMS from home! What an honor! But Daniel is not fooled! He knows he\u2019s only getting this honor because Alex has finally done something so irresponsible that the consequences have made it impossible for her to do her job! And he has a grandfather in LA who is at risk so he has to drive across the country without staying in hotels to go get him. \u201CAnd good luck to me, a black man, sleeping in his car.\u201D WOW, I love this subtle, gorgeous commentary on race! Stella wants Daniel to take this opportunity to prove to her that she was wrong about him. But he is done with being the news for people that have too much time. That is actually the most accurate description of a morning show that I have ever heard?? As he storms off, Stella tries to threaten him by reminding him that he is under contract. Okay, we all know I love Stella but girl! That is RICH. Remember when Bradley had a three week tempter tantrum??? Daniel thinks so too, and finally (finally!) quits. \u201CAnd by the way? My grandfather thinks I have the \u2018it\u2019 factor.\u201D Bro!!! That is SO embarrassing, you made so many great points just to burst the bubble like that?? Mia and Stella watch him walk away, then Mia wonders \u201CDoes Cory know about Alex yet?\u201D Stella is off yet again!
In front of a needlessly dramatic green screen thunderstorm (WE GET IT, IT\u2019S A DARK MIDAFTERNOON OF THE SOUL) Glen the uba suit is trying to get Cory to offer a six month trial for +. He is not having it, and the only thing on his schedule today is an interview with some filmmaker that Alex knows? A Paola? Cory doesn\u2019t have time to do Alex a favor, and tells Kyle to reschedule. Stella whips in and gives Glen an incredible \u201CWhat\u2019s upppp??\u201D like she\u2019s thrilled to be there. She starts hastily writing Cory notes, the first of which is \u201CAlex has COVID\u201D and the last of which is \u201CDESTROY THESE NOTES.\u201D All the while she is bantering with Glen about uba+ and it\u2019s actually very funny and an energy I wish she had gotten to play with more. Cory kicks Glen out (again, lol) and sighs that no one digs their own grave like Alex Levy. BOY ain\u2019t that the truth! Also, maybe Stella is too close? Maybe she should back up, just a bit? Just\u2026over there? Cory being deeply freaked out by germs and COIVD makes a ton of sense for him, I gotta say.
\u201CWho else knows?\u201D Well, Mia? And HR? Great! So we can do a contract trace! Not that Stella knows what the hell a contract trace is, but mostly it will be imperative that they keep this under wraps. Aside from the fact that that is a truly terrible plan, Stella admits that she did in fact already tell\u2026the whole staff and crew. No matter! Cory can spin this! Alex got back from Italy almost 14 days ago (she did????) and if she got there then yeah, fine, she\u2019s the living worst! But if she got it in New York? \u201CThen she is just a grieving woman who needs our sympathy!\u201D
Cut to Alex, CERTAINLY having a hellish go of it. She is sweating right through her silk pajamas, desperately trying to cool herself down via bags of frozen peas. Not to be a perv, but madam, maybe take off the LONG SLEEVED pajamas? Her dog appears, as if released by a ghost into the penthouse, and she calls the down to see where the hell he came from. Chip dropped him off, of course. She gasps her thanks and enters another fever dream as we\u2026
Slow pan up Bradley, lying in bed, still consumed with her missing plot device. She ignores a call from Noted Lesbian Laura Peterson, who is I guess already in Montana? We will not see her at all this episode, which is very disappointing but iconic that her last line on this show was \u201CI\u2019ll be in the bedroom.\u201D Down the hall, Cory enters his room, still talking about \u201CLaunch Day.\u201D
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