The Morning Show-Apple TV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok I guess it is just me but I didn't understand the mom/FBI lunch/yes,no connection?

The DOJ is looking into the proposed deal between Paul Marks and UBA. The show is extremely vague about why, though it's pretty normal for there to be quite a bit of regulatory scrutiny into the purchase of a major media company, so that at least tracks. There are also frequent references to Marks maybe not being the most ethical person, mostly with references to how some of his tech (which he bought from Stella for a steal back when she was part of that incubator) is being used for racial profiling in police enforcement. That does sound shady but also it's unclear what implication it would have on him buying UBA.

Anyway, one of the people who thinks Marks is shady is Cory's mom, who also has a ton of political contacts, and she apparently is one of the people spearheading an effort to get the DOJ to look further into the deal. She has apparently been taking numerous calls with people at DOJ to press the issue.

So Leonard (the Stephen Fry character, who I think is board chairman now that Cybil is gone) tells Cory to deal with it because obviously no one at UBA wants Cory's mom to torpedo the deal with Marks, which is necessary to the company surviving without a major bailout.

So Cory goes to his mom's to get her to stop poking at the deal with her DOJ contacts, and he takes Bradley with him for.. reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This week's episode was bizarre. The Evening News anchor just doesn't show up because the exec wants her to have dinner with his mother? Where they went to get her help, but when she offers her help her turns her down? Jennifer Aniston's character kisses her new boss in an open office? Seemed completely nonsensical this week.

Yeah, a little out there. But I enjoyed having some backstory on the show's most complicated character.

Can someone do a good psychoanalysis of Cory's mom, and her effects on Cory? This storyline was awful and sad, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take from it (except for sympathy for Cory).

I love to psychoanalyze fictional characters, thank you so much for asking.

I think Cory's mom is completely enmeshed with him, and that as a single mom to one son, she used him as a replacement partner. He's her emotional support and has learned to validate and appease her to keep her happy, so that he could in turn get the validation and support he needed as a child. But a child should not need to take care of their parent's emotional needs in order to get validation and support -- a child should get those things from their caregivers no matter what. So this dynamic tuned Cory into a classic co-dependent people pleaser. That behavior has no doubt served him well in his career, where he has ingratiated himself with a lot of different people with enormous egos (from deep pockets like Paul Marks and Cybil, to celebrity talent like Alex, Laura, and Bradley) by knowing how to massage their egos in the right way at the right time. But it has come at a cost, as by always looking to please and serve others, he struggles to develop truly mutual relationships with anyone.

Even his attraction to Bradley is concerning because while on the surface it seems healthy for him to be interested in someone so fiercely independent, it's apparent after meeting his mom that a major part of his attraction is that Bradley is fiercely independent in the same way his mom is, and that even Bradley's rejections and efforts to distance from him have likely repeated patterns with his mom that have been going on since childhood. He probably needs years of therapy to untangle his enmeshment with his mother and learn what it looks like to have a relationship where the other person's needs are not always paramount, and where serving those needs doesn't require sacrifice and flagellation on his part.

As for Cory's mom herself, it's harder to assess with only a handful of scenes, but there's definitely a high level of narcissism at play, specifically a vulnerable narcissism where she is use to eliciting sympathy from Cory (and maybe others) in order to get what she wants. We also know so little about her background, what happened to Cory's dad, her upbringing, etc., so just much more difficult to assess. But the enmeshment and narcissism are the main components to her character from what we've seen.

I will need you to recap every episode of every show I like from now on, thank you

If there is genuine interest in this, I think I might need to look into a newsletter because this is pretty much my dream job.

As the OP of psychoanalysis request, I will subscribe to your newsletter. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This week's episode was bizarre. The Evening News anchor just doesn't show up because the exec wants her to have dinner with his mother? Where they went to get her help, but when she offers her help her turns her down? Jennifer Aniston's character kisses her new boss in an open office? Seemed completely nonsensical this week.

Yeah, a little out there. But I enjoyed having some backstory on the show's most complicated character.

Can someone do a good psychoanalysis of Cory's mom, and her effects on Cory? This storyline was awful and sad, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take from it (except for sympathy for Cory).

I love to psychoanalyze fictional characters, thank you so much for asking.

I think Cory's mom is completely enmeshed with him, and that as a single mom to one son, she used him as a replacement partner. He's her emotional support and has learned to validate and appease her to keep her happy, so that he could in turn get the validation and support he needed as a child. But a child should not need to take care of their parent's emotional needs in order to get validation and support -- a child should get those things from their caregivers no matter what. So this dynamic tuned Cory into a classic co-dependent people pleaser. That behavior has no doubt served him well in his career, where he has ingratiated himself with a lot of different people with enormous egos (from deep pockets like Paul Marks and Cybil, to celebrity talent like Alex, Laura, and Bradley) by knowing how to massage their egos in the right way at the right time. But it has come at a cost, as by always looking to please and serve others, he struggles to develop truly mutual relationships with anyone.

Even his attraction to Bradley is concerning because while on the surface it seems healthy for him to be interested in someone so fiercely independent, it's apparent after meeting his mom that a major part of his attraction is that Bradley is fiercely independent in the same way his mom is, and that even Bradley's rejections and efforts to distance from him have likely repeated patterns with his mom that have been going on since childhood. He probably needs years of therapy to untangle his enmeshment with his mother and learn what it looks like to have a relationship where the other person's needs are not always paramount, and where serving those needs doesn't require sacrifice and flagellation on his part.

As for Cory's mom herself, it's harder to assess with only a handful of scenes, but there's definitely a high level of narcissism at play, specifically a vulnerable narcissism where she is use to eliciting sympathy from Cory (and maybe others) in order to get what she wants. We also know so little about her background, what happened to Cory's dad, her upbringing, etc., so just much more difficult to assess. But the enmeshment and narcissism are the main components to her character from what we've seen.

I will need you to recap every episode of every show I like from now on, thank you

If there is genuine interest in this, I think I might need to look into a newsletter because this is pretty much my dream job.

As the OP of psychoanalysis request, I will subscribe to your newsletter. Thanks!

+1 That was fantastic, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Fun fact, Jennifer Aniston had a replica made of the Valentino dress she wore to the Golden Globes in 2010 for the event scene. That's why the designer made a guest appearance.
https://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2409407/jennifer-aniston-golden-globes-2010-07/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok I guess it is just me but I didn't understand the mom/FBI lunch/yes,no connection?

The DOJ is looking into the proposed deal between Paul Marks and UBA. The show is extremely vague about why, though it's pretty normal for there to be quite a bit of regulatory scrutiny into the purchase of a major media company, so that at least tracks. There are also frequent references to Marks maybe not being the most ethical person, mostly with references to how some of his tech (which he bought from Stella for a steal back when she was part of that incubator) is being used for racial profiling in police enforcement. That does sound shady but also it's unclear what implication it would have on him buying UBA.

Anyway, one of the people who thinks Marks is shady is Cory's mom, who also has a ton of political contacts, and she apparently is one of the people spearheading an effort to get the DOJ to look further into the deal. She has apparently been taking numerous calls with people at DOJ to press the issue.

So Leonard (the Stephen Fry character, who I think is board chairman now that Cybil is gone) tells Cory to deal with it because obviously no one at UBA wants Cory's mom to torpedo the deal with Marks, which is necessary to the company surviving without a major bailout.

So Cory goes to his mom's to get her to stop poking at the deal with her DOJ contacts, and he takes Bradley with him for.. reasons.

Wow — I thought the DOJ was poking around the insurrection footage and would subpoena uba/Reese, etc etc. I guess I should pay closer attention.

[Anonymous]

And thanks for the explainer!

[Anonymous]

This was such an odd episode. What was the purpose of Stella’s college friend seeking her out? And I’m sorry, but the scenes with Cory’s mom were awful. And yes, the overreactions around the Dobbs leak were stagey and made me cringe. Very preachy.

Jennifer Aniston’s voice is bizarrely low. I clearly have nothing good to say, so I’ll end my rant here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok I guess it is just me but I didn't understand the mom/FBI lunch/yes,no connection?

The DOJ is looking into the proposed deal between Paul Marks and UBA. The show is extremely vague about why, though it's pretty normal for there to be quite a bit of regulatory scrutiny into the purchase of a major media company, so that at least tracks. There are also frequent references to Marks maybe not being the most ethical person, mostly with references to how some of his tech (which he bought from Stella for a steal back when she was part of that incubator) is being used for racial profiling in police enforcement. That does sound shady but also it's unclear what implication it would have on him buying UBA.

Anyway, one of the people who thinks Marks is shady is Cory's mom, who also has a ton of political contacts, and she apparently is one of the people spearheading an effort to get the DOJ to look further into the deal. She has apparently been taking numerous calls with people at DOJ to press the issue.

So Leonard (the Stephen Fry character, who I think is board chairman now that Cybil is gone) tells Cory to deal with it because obviously no one at UBA wants Cory's mom to torpedo the deal with Marks, which is necessary to the company surviving without a major bailout.

So Cory goes to his mom's to get her to stop poking at the deal with her DOJ contacts, and he takes Bradley with him for.. reasons.

Wow — I thought the DOJ was poking around the insurrection footage and would subpoena uba/Reese, etc etc. I guess I should pay closer attention.

I do think that issue could come back up. A sort-of open ended DOJ inquiry into the deal could absolutely wind up bringing attention to things UBA would prefer they not pay attention to. The fact that Marks and UBA share an interest in keeping regulators/investigators out works in favor of the deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was such an odd episode. What was the purpose of Stella’s college friend seeking her out? And I’m sorry, but the scenes with Cory’s mom were awful. And yes, the overreactions around the Dobbs leak were stagey and made me cringe. Very preachy.

Jennifer Aniston’s voice is bizarrely low. I clearly have nothing good to say, so I’ll end my rant here.

Stella's college friend showed up to remind Stella that Marks is a horrible boss who treats employees like garbage, regardless of his apparent remorse and changed behavior he claimed in his interview. The friend showing up led directly to Stella telling Cory about Marks' offer/plan to promote Stella and oust Cory. She was choosing the good boss she trusts over the bad boss she doesn't. Though it was confusing because in the conversation with Mia, it really seemed like they both agreed that it betraying Cory doesn't matter.

I found the scenes with Cory's mom hard to watch but compelling as background on his character.

[Anonymous]

I loved the whole “just stay for a small simple dinner” and then there was a full-on lobster extravaganza lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, yes, the Dobbs thing was so overwrought; having the characters all quote facts off the tops of their heads was pretty unbelievable (and not enjoyable!) And I was kinda with the vapid models in the bathroom with the other new Morning Show anchor - talk about an over-the-top reaction to a leaked story that she barely had time to read, much less internalize.

Totally agree that this was Sorkin-ish, but done much poorly.

Side note - I really like the Jen Aniston-Jon Hamm pairing; they have real chemistry.

I was watching thinking the opposite about Aniston & Hamm. I kept thinking how two hot people come off so tepid together? Just remember him in Mad Men and he was on fire with pretty much every woman they paired him with...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This week's episode was bizarre. The Evening News anchor just doesn't show up because the exec wants her to have dinner with his mother? Where they went to get her help, but when she offers her help her turns her down? Jennifer Aniston's character kisses her new boss in an open office? Seemed completely nonsensical this week.

Yeah, a little out there. But I enjoyed having some backstory on the show's most complicated character.

Can someone do a good psychoanalysis of Cory's mom, and her effects on Cory? This storyline was awful and sad, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take from it (except for sympathy for Cory).

I love to psychoanalyze fictional characters, thank you so much for asking.

I think Cory's mom is completely enmeshed with him, and that as a single mom to one son, she used him as a replacement partner. He's her emotional support and has learned to validate and appease her to keep her happy, so that he could in turn get the validation and support he needed as a child. But a child should not need to take care of their parent's emotional needs in order to get validation and support -- a child should get those things from their caregivers no matter what. So this dynamic tuned Cory into a classic co-dependent people pleaser. That behavior has no doubt served him well in his career, where he has ingratiated himself with a lot of different people with enormous egos (from deep pockets like Paul Marks and Cybil, to celebrity talent like Alex, Laura, and Bradley) by knowing how to massage their egos in the right way at the right time. But it has come at a cost, as by always looking to please and serve others, he struggles to develop truly mutual relationships with anyone.

Even his attraction to Bradley is concerning because while on the surface it seems healthy for him to be interested in someone so fiercely independent, it's apparent after meeting his mom that a major part of his attraction is that Bradley is fiercely independent in the same way his mom is, and that even Bradley's rejections and efforts to distance from him have likely repeated patterns with his mom that have been going on since childhood. He probably needs years of therapy to untangle his enmeshment with his mother and learn what it looks like to have a relationship where the other person's needs are not always paramount, and where serving those needs doesn't require sacrifice and flagellation on his part.

As for Cory's mom herself, it's harder to assess with only a handful of scenes, but there's definitely a high level of narcissism at play, specifically a vulnerable narcissism where she is use to eliciting sympathy from Cory (and maybe others) in order to get what she wants. We also know so little about her background, what happened to Cory's dad, her upbringing, etc., so just much more difficult to assess. But the enmeshment and narcissism are the main components to her character from what we've seen.

I will need you to recap every episode of every show I like from now on, thank you

If there is genuine interest in this, I think I might need to look into a newsletter because this is pretty much my dream job.

As the OP of psychoanalysis request, I will subscribe to your newsletter. Thanks!

Yes I also will subscribe to your newsletter and donate to your Patreon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, yes, the Dobbs thing was so overwrought; having the characters all quote facts off the tops of their heads was pretty unbelievable (and not enjoyable!) And I was kinda with the vapid models in the bathroom with the other new Morning Show anchor - talk about an over-the-top reaction to a leaked story that she barely had time to read, much less internalize.

Totally agree that this was Sorkin-ish, but done much poorly.

Side note - I really like the Jen Aniston-Jon Hamm pairing; they have real chemistry.

I was watching thinking the opposite about Aniston & Hamm. I kept thinking how two hot people come off so tepid together? Just remember him in Mad Men and he was on fire with pretty much every woman they paired him with...

Same.

[Anonymous]

I just started watching and was surprised that Aniston could handle a more dramatic role, though her constantly trembling lips were aggravating. Carell is great in the Lauer role. Reese's character is shrill and grating. Crudup was icy gold! Looking forward to watching more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This week's episode was bizarre. The Evening News anchor just doesn't show up because the exec wants her to have dinner with his mother? Where they went to get her help, but when she offers her help her turns her down? Jennifer Aniston's character kisses her new boss in an open office? Seemed completely nonsensical this week.

Yeah, a little out there. But I enjoyed having some backstory on the show's most complicated character.

Can someone do a good psychoanalysis of Cory's mom, and her effects on Cory? This storyline was awful and sad, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take from it (except for sympathy for Cory).

I love to psychoanalyze fictional characters, thank you so much for asking.

I think Cory's mom is completely enmeshed with him, and that as a single mom to one son, she used him as a replacement partner. He's her emotional support and has learned to validate and appease her to keep her happy, so that he could in turn get the validation and support he needed as a child. But a child should not need to take care of their parent's emotional needs in order to get validation and support -- a child should get those things from their caregivers no matter what. So this dynamic tuned Cory into a classic co-dependent people pleaser. That behavior has no doubt served him well in his career, where he has ingratiated himself with a lot of different people with enormous egos (from deep pockets like Paul Marks and Cybil, to celebrity talent like Alex, Laura, and Bradley) by knowing how to massage their egos in the right way at the right time. But it has come at a cost, as by always looking to please and serve others, he struggles to develop truly mutual relationships with anyone.

Even his attraction to Bradley is concerning because while on the surface it seems healthy for him to be interested in someone so fiercely independent, it's apparent after meeting his mom that a major part of his attraction is that Bradley is fiercely independent in the same way his mom is, and that even Bradley's rejections and efforts to distance from him have likely repeated patterns with his mom that have been going on since childhood. He probably needs years of therapy to untangle his enmeshment with his mother and learn what it looks like to have a relationship where the other person's needs are not always paramount, and where serving those needs doesn't require sacrifice and flagellation on his part.

As for Cory's mom herself, it's harder to assess with only a handful of scenes, but there's definitely a high level of narcissism at play, specifically a vulnerable narcissism where she is use to eliciting sympathy from Cory (and maybe others) in order to get what she wants. We also know so little about her background, what happened to Cory's dad, her upbringing, etc., so just much more difficult to assess. But the enmeshment and narcissism are the main components to her character from what we've seen.

Are you an actual therapist ? Well done!