The Morning Show S3 review: Apple's jewel in the crown returns

• 📺 Where to watch The Morning Show Season 3: Apple TV+ from 13 September
  

• ⭐️ Our rating: 4/5
  

• 🍿 Watch it if you liked: Bombshell, The Newsroom and The Loudest Voice
  

• 🎭 Who's in it?: Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Jon Hamm, Julianna Margulies, Nicole Beharie and Karen Pittman 
  

• ⏰ How long is it? 10 x 50 minute episodes
  

• 📖 What’s it about? The future of the network is thrown into question and loyalties are pushed to the brink when a tech titan takes an interest in UBA. Unexpected alliances form, private truths are weaponised, and everyone is forced to confront their core values both in and out of the newsroom.

Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) and Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) have tackled Me Too movements, taken potshots at politicians and suffered through global pandemics across two seasons, making their imminent return to The Morning Show for another run more intriguing than any iPhone announcement.

Spearheaded by co-creators Jay Carson (House of Cards) and Kerry Ehrin (Bates Motel), who gave audiences an incisive character driven drama built around the Me Too movement. The Morning Show has carved its own niche in the dramatic landscape, garnering seven Golden Globe nominations, ten Emmy nods and a win for Billy Crudup (Cory Ellison).

In the aftermath of an opening season that introduced Mitch Kessler (Steve Carrell) alongside Alex Levy then branded him a sexual predator, Bradley Jackson morphed from network newbie to seasoned veteran over ten episodes.

It's a transformation which continued into season 2 where she struggled with personal demons, while Alex fought professional battles and Mitch faced a new life defined by public opinion.

Thankfully, season 3 takes everything that was excellent about The Morning Show and continues taking chances. The complexities of our central players and their competing motivations are still what makes this series work.

Alex may have risen through the ranks, but her insecurities and reasons for stepping back are still conflicted. That need for approval from the masses sits in opposition to her desire for peace and quiet throughout this season.

In the opposite corner, Bradley is still a confrontational nightmare that Cory can never completely tame, who seems intent on self-sabotage and wages war on her imposter syndrome every day. On a personal front she still processing her fling with Laura (Julianna Margulies), that came out of nowhere and continues to raise more questions.

Things are no better for UBA network president Cory Ellison, who hides behind his smoke screen of spin and struggles to keep everyone happy, while fighting fires from all directions.

In truth, this third season might introduce the formidable force of Jon Hamm (Paul Marks) to this show as a billionaire tech mogul, but his impact on story feels minimal in comparison to The Morning Show veterans.

Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) and Jennifer Aniston stand alongside their outstanding ensemble in giving this series genuine heart. The balance between real world debates and dramatic fictions never feels forced.

Although the absence of Steve Carrell’s Mitch Kessler is tangible at times, Emmy-winner Billy Crudup continues to give audiences something special in his creation of Cory Ellison. He's someone who has spent so much time inside the corporate machine, that his ability to have a real connection free from fabrication is impossible.

This third season is not only a perfect companion to its predecessors, but it also reminds audiences that beneath all the tub-thumping around real-world issues, The Morning Show continues to be a character driven drama packed with pathos.

Season 3 of The Morning Show premieres on Apple TV+ from 13 September. Watch a trailer below.