S02.E03: Laura

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

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

 

[Armchair Critic]

So Alex's intimate relationship with Mitch is going to come out? Looks like Chip is suspicious after seeing her reaction to the question in the interview.

Bradley and Laura... Alex is going to love that.

[funnygirl]

Bradley was clearly smitten with Laura from the moment she met her, but I'm not sure if kissing her in reaction to the question was sincere or a deflection. Maybe both? Bradley is reckless so it's hard to tell.  Laura is being especially nice to Bradley and I'm skeptical that it's mostly in an attempt to manipulate and gain trust. 

I can't wait to see Alex's reaction if (when) she eventually finds out about this. 

 

[dmc]

Is there a Best in the Morning Show blue ribbon I missed? 

Bradley needs to stop worrying about Alex and try to do better at her job.  Unfortunately I don’t think her covering the election is going to help her with the morning show.  I’m beginning to wonder if she’s ever watched a morning show. 

I do think Alex is trying to change.  Baby steps but I do see her making the effort.

I’m glad to see Cory finally tell Bradley she’s actually his employee.  

To me this episode felt like filler…

[BingeyKohan]

I continue to be very confused by the timeline here. During her walk and talk interview with Laura, Bradley talks as if the big on-air whistleblowing was only a month in the past but obviously that's not true since Alex is poised to come back the following week. (This episode also made it seem like almost no time passed after their on-air expose and Alex leaving the show when in the premiere I'd gotten the impression that they chugged along a bit after that before Alex had another off-camera sort of meltdown and actually walked away.)

 

 

[Beeyago]

9 hours ago, BingeyKohan said:

I continue to be very confused by the timeline here. During her walk and talk interview with Laura, Bradley talks as if the big on-air whistleblowing was only a month in the past but obviously that's not true since Alex is poised to come back the following week. (This episode also made it seem like almost no time passed after their on-air expose and Alex leaving the show when in the premiere I'd gotten the impression that they chugged along a bit after that before Alex had another off-camera sort of meltdown and actually walked away.)

 

 

Agreed. Sloppy.   And during Alex’s interview with Laura, I kept getting distracted with the views out of the ginormous windows overlooking NYC (I’m assuming).  It’s supposed to be early February yet there are flowers outside the windows and sailboats in the water??

Wasn’t a fan of this episode in general, hopefully it picks up. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Cory to Laura:

“You put the L in LGBTQ”.

Cringey!!! 😬🤭🥴

This is the best line that the writers can come up with? 😱

[bilgistic]

On 10/1/2021 at 1:44 PM, BingeyKohan said:

I continue to be very confused by the timeline here. During her walk and talk interview with Laura, Bradley talks as if the big on-air whistleblowing was only a month in the past but obviously that's not true since Alex is poised to come back the following week. (This episode also made it seem like almost no time passed after their on-air expose and Alex leaving the show when in the premiere I'd gotten the impression that they chugged along a bit after that before Alex had another off-camera sort of meltdown and actually walked away.)

 

 

Plus, wasn't Bradley on air with Hasan Minhaj (Alex's "replacement") for three(?) (six?) weeks after Alex's departure and THEN took three weeks of "sick time”??

[BingeyKohan]

4 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Plus, wasn't Bradley on air with Hasan Minhaj (Alex's "replacement") for three(?) (six?) weeks after Alex's departure and THEN took three weeks of "sick time”??

I really thought Alex had been gone for something like 8 months. Long enough that Bradley had hosted that celebrity bowling show she mentioned in the season premiere. 

4 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Cory to Laura:

“You put the L in LGBTQ”.

Cringey!!! 😬🤭🥴

This is the best line that the writers can come up with? 😱

So bad. But I also didn’t get what she said to him that prompted it. He puts the C-E in CEO? What’s the C E mean as far as he goes? Just his initials? That’s lame too, Laura!
 

Edited October 2, 2021 by BingeyKohan

[Snazzy Daisy]

53 minutes ago, BingeyKohan said:

So bad. But I also didn’t get what she said to him that prompted it. He puts the C-E in CEO? What’s the C E mean as far as he goes? Just his initials? That’s lame too, Laura!
 

Yupp, just his initials. What a lame way to reveal tidbit about Laura!

[ybrik]

Okay I may have benefited from having binged the whole show because I am not confused about the timing for this season. The season started off right after the last season then moved to a brief shot of March/April 2020 and then the actual start of the season was New Year’s Eve 2019-2020. The end of the last season was 8 months ago from there. Alex had her meltdown and when she left she didn’t comeback. She was gone from the show but didn’t announce her leaving right away. Apparently she let the network know a week ahead of when Bradley found out. 

When Bradley and Laura are talking/walking she isn’t referring to the expose being a month ago. She is talking about the moment she came to a realization about being on TMS. Basically it is talking about the first episode of the season on NYE. So the first episode was NYE. The second episode was around 3 weeks later in Jan 2020 and the third episode is the first week of Feb with Groundhog’s day and the Iowa caucus being that week. And ends the following Monday with Alex returning to the show. 

I did have a bit of a chuckle when I saw how Laura was dressed on the plane as it looked like something early season 1 Bradley would wear especially with the leather jacket and then by the end of the episode she and Bradley are kissing. I do wonder where this is heading because not sure what Bradley’s motives are here. Is this genuine or was this because of the vetting question? 

Not sure how Mitch is going to play into the larger storyline this season as it did seem his storyline ended at a good spot last season. 

Really wondering how COVID will play into the overall arc of the season. Right now it is on the periphery but it is getting closer to being a bigger part. 

[chitowngirl]

30 minutes ago, ybrik said:

Not sure how Mitch is going to play into the larger storyline this season as it did seem his storyline ended at a good spot last season. 

Really wondering how COVID will play into the overall arc of the season. Right now it is on the periphery but it is getting closer to being a bigger part. 

Mitch is in Italy which is going to get his very hard from Covid. And in a few weeks, New York will be a ghost town.

[Blakeston]

Mitch seemed disgusted by the idea of working on the documentary. Then all of a sudden he's onboard? Just because he was reminded of Trump's existence?

Huh?

[Kirbyrun]

On 10/3/2021 at 10:38 AM, Blakeston said:

Mitch seemed disgusted by the idea of working on the documentary. Then all of a sudden he's onboard? Just because he was reminded of Trump's existence?

Huh?

I think it goes a little like this: Mitch is (rightfully) full of self-loathing and also assumes (rightfully) that the world does not want to hear from him.

When he sees Trump, it reminds him: This motherfucker raped and harassed multiple women and now he's the president! I'm not as bad as he is, am I? If he gets to go on with his life, sure as hell I should be allowed to. Maybe it's not a big deal if I narrate some documentary...

(I want to add here that I'm not invested in Mitch's storyline, nor do I think a redemption arc for him is a good idea storywise. But the above is me putting myself into the head of the character.)

Edited October 4, 2021 by Kirbyrun

[Johnny Dollar]

Instead of just reminding Bradley that he’s the boss, Corey should’ve told her she’d be fired if she ever acted like that in front of the other staff again. Who the hell does she think she is?  I feel they’re ruining the Corey character.

They need to provide some back story for the Stella character to explain what she’s done to merit being the head of the entire network news department.  But characters coming out of nowhere to take on major roles seems to be normal on this show (Hasan Minhaj, Holland Taylor, Stella, Julianna Margulies).

Why is it that the background views of Manhattan always make it look like they’re in Hoboken? (the Alex/Laura interview, Alex’s apartment).

[TV Diva Queen]

It was weird that Bradley kissed Laura like that - I mean, isnt this whole thing about sexual harassment in the work place?  Yeah, Bradley isn't in the position of power with that couple, but Bradley could be doing it to (in her mind) make Laura go nicer to her in the interview and harder on Alex.  I get that Laura was an active participant, but it was weird to me.  YMMV

[rejnel]

Quote

But characters coming out of nowhere to take on major roles seems to be normal on this show (Hasan Minhaj, Holland Taylor, Stella, Julianna Margulies).

Yes, and this is part of the bigger problem this season--it's unclear who we're supposed to invest in or (even more critically) what's at stake--both overall, and from scene to scene. 

To an extent, this dates back to the pilot and centers on Bradley. After watching the scene three times, I still don't know what she was screaming about in that coal miner interview, or what that said about her character. It didn't lose me as a viewer, obviously, because there was plenty of momentum to other storylines. But they still haven't started to connect the dots on that character. She's Eve Harrington AND she's a wide-eyed idealist AND she's a loose cannon AND she's carrying a great responsibility for her family back home AND she's a manipulator who kissed an interviewer to shut her up and/or was overcome by feelings and ISN'T the calculating player other scenes tell us she is AND . . . ? I like complexity in a character, but this is just confusion. The writing's confusing, and the actor can't make it work by shouting all her lines. 

But scene to scene, there's a lot of this going around. Corey ended up my favorite last year, from hate, to love to hate, to flat-out love as he proved in a weird way the most honorable person at UBA. And now I don't know what's going on with him. I loved Chip, especially under pressue ( and most especially his eating scenes!) and now he's just kind of floating around. Mia, Janko, a couple of others from last season are either gone or just wandering in for quick transactions. I'm still interested in Alex, but I'm not sure where her story's headed, since ALL she does now is hedge and play it safe. The law suit stuff has potential, simply because of that bold gesture of the family asking for the same money used to buy off Fred. 

As you say, characters coming out of nowhere don't help. And what's anybody's endgame? 

I also find the amount of fillers and botox on the female characters downright distracting. Not a judgement, just a creeping uncanniness. Like "that Julianna Margulies doll is oddly life-like" and "is that Marcia Gay Harden under there?" 

[bilgistic]

4 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

Instead of just reminding Bradley that he’s the boss, Corey should’ve told her she’d be fired if she ever acted like that in front of the other staff again. Who the hell does she think she is?  I feel they’re ruining the Corey character.

They need to provide some back story for the Stella character to explain what she’s done to merit being the head of the entire network news department.  But characters coming out of nowhere to take on major roles seems to be normal on this show (Hasan Minhaj, Holland Taylor, Stella, Julianna Margulies).

I'm not saying you're entirely wrong about the first paragraph. Bradley is an employee, but she, like every employee, deserves to be treated fairly and with respect and she was shut out of a (two?) major decision(s) with significant impact upon her job.

My kneejerk reaction about the second paragraph, is this: Why question what  Cory's "merit" was to be the news president last season? And what he'd done to be gifted Fred's former channel president job after Fred was found to be harassing/abusing women?

Why question why only women and people of color are "coming out of nowhere to take on normal roles". Holland Taylor and Julianna Margulies in particular have been working for decades in TV and movies. Greta Lee and Hasan Minhaj have both been working publicly in entertainment for about 15 years.

Not only for this reason, but because there's a major plot point in the show that women in lower positions were harassed/abused, it's important that we be conscious of our biases.

[rejnel]

4 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Why question why only women and people of color are "coming out of nowhere to take on normal roles". Holland Taylor and Julianna Margulies in particular have been working for decades in TV and movies. Greta Lee and Hasan Minhaj have both been working publicly in entertainment for about 15 years.

The poster asked why CHARACTERS were coming out of nowhere to take on major roles. And it's a valid question. Why not, for example, keep developing Mia, Daniel, Yanko, Alison? (Daniel's got a promising start to a story this season, but the rest of them are really at the edges.)
The actors you mention (other than, for me, Margulies) are terrific, and their characters have potential. But it's never a good sign when show runners just keep bringing in new faces at the expense of developing stories for existing characters.

Edited October 4, 2021 by rejnel
closing parentheses!

[Sweet-tea]

21 hours ago, TV Diva Queen said:

It was weird that Bradley kissed Laura like that - I mean, isnt this whole thing about sexual harassment in the work place?  Yeah, Bradley isn't in the position of power with that couple, but Bradley could be doing it to (in her mind) make Laura go nicer to her in the interview and harder on Alex.  I get that Laura was an active participant, but it was weird to me.  YMMV

I thought it was weird too. 

Quote

Laura is being especially nice to Bradley and I'm skeptical that it's mostly in an attempt to manipulate and gain trust. 

The first thing I thought was Laura is trying to get close to Bradley so she can get dirt on Alex. I guess we’ll see how it plays out.

Given the timeline, COVID is going to play a big role on this show. This is disappointing to me because I welcome a relief from the constant news coverage. 

I can’t figure out where they’re going with Mitch. 

I was distracted by JM’s frozen face especially the forehead. 

Edited October 5, 2021 by Sweet-tea

[Johnny Dollar]

Corey didn’t exactly come out of nowhere to take over for Fred. His backstory was that he was the hot shot, up and coming star promoted from their entertainment division to bring some life to the news. Having him promoted from the head of the news division to network president isn’t exactly a stretch. On the other hand, I have no idea who Stella is. And where was the Holland Taylor character last year when all this shit was going down. I want to know more about these characters before I can be expected to care about them. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Besides all of that, it IS weird to see Juliana Marguiles on this show!  She has such a major reputation for not getting along with other women on her own show, so the fact that she'd want to work with Jen and Reese is really surprising.

Also....... there ARE LESBIAN ACTORS!!!!!!!!!

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Maximona]

On 10/5/2021 at 7:36 AM, Sweet-tea said:

I can’t figure out where they’re going with Mitch. 

Mitch in northern ITALY?

My guess:  He's gonna get COVID.  Dunno whether he dies or lives on (as Mother Teresa. 😊 )

[BrownBear2012]

On 10/3/2021 at 12:17 PM, Kirbyrun said:

I think it goes a little like this: Mitch is (rightfully) full of self-loathing and also assumes (rightfully) that the world does not want to hear from him.

When he sees Trump, it reminds him: This motherfucker raped and harassed multiple women and now he's the president! I'm not as bad as he is, am I? If he gets to go on with his life, sure as hell I should be allowed to. Maybe it's not a big deal if I narrate some documentary...

(I want to add here that I'm not invested in Mitch's storyline, nor do I think a redemption arc for him is a good idea storywise. But the above is me putting myself into the head of the character.)

As I recall, Matt Lauer tried to pull the same move with the Today Show...he made an aggressive push to be reinstated after a weak apology for his transgressions...after the "former guy" was successful in getting the nomination and then winning the election.

[Kel Varnsen]

I know I am way late to this but it is really weird to be watching the COVID plot play out kind of in real time as a historical thing. Especially because most other shows I have seen deal with COVID it was just there and people dealing with it in their lives. It especially freaks me out because I remember being in Mexico on a family vacation when Kobe died, and then we flew back home and were in Toronto airport trying to clear customs at the exact same time as the last flight out of Beijing before Air Canada suspended flights to China. And the customs area was full of people and all the border agents cared about was if you had been to Wuhan in the last 2 weeks (I could have had a carry on bag full of cocaine and I am not sure they would have cared). Daniel trying to get out of China really reminded me of that.

Of course looking back I was also a bit freaked out when Mia told Daniel she could hear him breathing on the phone, because difficulty breathing is on of the screening questions I have to ask my kids every day before school.

Also not pleased to see Juliana Margulies show up. The Good Wife started out great but they dragged it out way too long.

[GiandujaPie]

Very late to this, but just watching it now. I finished Season 1 and am starting Season 2. Since we are now 3+ years removed from the real-life circumstances of this show, it is a little funny to watch how much they downplay Covid and basically treat Daniel as Chicken Little in regards to his warnings about it, even though he was quarantined for 2 weeks. 

I remember the optimism of NYE 2019, not knowing what 2020 was going to end up like. And I also remember having the same attitude of many on the show, downplaying how serious Covid was. I think if I had watched this at the time it originally aired, I would not have found it as amusing as I do now, because it was still too close. But it is kind of funny to watch it now, especially as so many shows just pretend like Covid never happened. I don't want it in my face all the time, but it would be more realistic if more shows would at least acknowledge that it happened and still has current repercussions. 

I don't know why Chip agreed to come back! He seemed like he was happy with his new fiancee. And then suddenly we see him back in NYC with Alex without her. I really hope that he had a discussion with her and she either agreed with his decision or that she dumped him when he decided to come back. 

I'm not sure why we need a Mitch redemption story but I'm enjoying the scenery of Italy and I too am anticipating some big Covid storyline to come out of the location. On to the rest of the season!