User Reviews

This episode takes place in the form of a flashback, and shows an incident of Mitch Kessler's inappropriate sexual conduct. Throughout the show so far it's been obvious that Mitch sleeps around, but there's always been a question as to how far it went. This episode deals with the issue incredibly well, it shows Mitch in his element presenting the morning show, shows off his cheeky yet often uncomfortable behaviour, sowing the seeds for what's to come. It shows his abuse of power, the mistreatment of the women he's had sexual encounters with, and highlights the culture in which he was allowed to get away with it. The last ten minutes are so incredibly poignant, and so excellently acted, you can truly feel the girl's pain and yet inability to stop it. Really commend the whole cast and crew on this episode.

This episode is outstanding. The writing, directing and acting are superb. It was so real that I felt like I was there. The actress who plays Hannah is amazing. I have been in similar circumstances and have felt and acted JUST like her. You could just see in her face the very moment she lost her power. This is what happens when someone who has power over you abuses it. And it can happen just like this. I've never seen a show handle it quite like this. And juxtaposing his behavior against Weinstein's at the end was brilliant. Bravo. So well done.

What is really chilling is reading some of the responses here!

The way this episode deals with the actions of Mitch is fascinating and probably an accurate reflection of some men in powerful positions in Hollywood. Mitch isn't Weinstein, he's not violent, but we see in this episode the way he uses his position to push out women he's done with - the producer who takes on Reese Witherspoon. It's the storyline with the always terrific Gugu Mbatha Raw as new up and coming producer, Hannah, that is the complex and unnerving one. Mitch is charismatic and friendly, but the way he pushes her promotion using his power at the network, then coerces her into an encounter was so creepy. He's not forcing her, and with some guy she met in a bar, Hannah would have shoved his away. But this is the big star of the show, some one with influence and power. There is no joy or pleasure on her face, she looks like a deer in the headlights as Mitch moves in on her like the predator he is. This less criminal but insidious coercion was truly terrifying! The fact Hannah ended up taking the 'pay off' of a swift promotion from the studio head, clearly wanting to appease her isn't a great look, but the way many people live. Do I make an issue or keep quiet and at least get something out of it? 'So this is how it works?' She asks.

Huge credit to the writers and brilliant director Michelle McLaren. I did think when I saw Mbatha Raw cast that there had to be something juicy coming up for her. You don't cast an actress of her talent and have them do nothing (she's been very much in the background for. It's of the previous episodes) As I said at the start, it's chilling that a number of commenters here see this episode and think 'what was wrong with that? They both got something out of it.' While by no means as obvious a villain as Weinstein, the Matt Lauer parallels are obvious. Also interesting to contrast it with the Nestor Carbonell and Belle Powley characters who while in a similar power imbalance, are shown to have a very consensual relationship. The Morning Show did a great job of telling a complicated story and showing how insidious abuse of power is.

I just watched the latest episode

Since this episode took place all in the past, Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) is absent from the episode, the void is filled by a great performance from Gugu Mbatha-Raw (who I watched in Motherless Brooklyn yesterday) as junior booker Hannah Shoenfeld, who has an encounter with Mitch in Las Vegas.

We needed this episode!! We finally learn a lot more about Mitch Kesser (Steve Carrell) for me it's been hard to see him as the shows bad guy. Yes, we've HEARD about everything he's allegedly done to and with women around the office, but we haven't actually SEEN any of it.

That changes in this episode, which is a look at the better days at TSM - back when men joke about inappropriate topics openly, and women laughed and went along with it.

Here's a day in the life of Mitch, pre scandal. Wake up; drink coffee made by his distant wife (who knows he was cheating on her) get driven to work by a chauffeur; arrive at work and be showered with praise; joke about seeing a woman colleague naked; make your producer and ex-lover feel uncomfortable in the hallway; go home; ignore your wife; play with your kids.

So his day is full of locker room talk, favoritism, and backstabbing (he's secretly planning to take Alex Levy's (Jennifer Aniston) juicier segments). But it's what happens in Vegas that esculates things, and is going to be a huge point moving foaward.

With only two more episodes left, I can't wait to see how this season ends, and bring on season 2!!

This episode is one of the best that has come out so far. It really highlights what I love about the show as a whole. It captures true emotion so so well, always blurring lines. It perfectly juxtaposes what went on at pre-Bradley Jackson UBA with the beginning of the the #MeToo movement. More specifically with Harvey Weinstein.

I cannot state how much I enjoy the show. They aren't afraid to shy away from the reality of how an environment like UBA, filled with power-hungry, disconnected, and cruel people, can really ruin people's lives and fill them with pain. They make you sit in that pain this episode. You can't hide from it. You're trapped. Unlike watching the fictional "Morning Show," you will not leave this episode feeling great, or even just good. But that is the point. And that is what makes this show so great.

Im excited to see where this goes over the next two episodes and even more excited that season 2 has already been announced!

Up until this episode, I let Mitch Kessler enjoy the benefit of the doubt.

Besides the fact that I love Steve Carrel so much, it really seemed like it's not a black and white matter and that are two sides (at least) to this story.

At the beginning of this episode, it looks like TMS is a fun place to work in, there are positive energies and everyone laugh with each other. Mitch is flirtatious but also the women around him.

But when it gets to the point of him and Hanna in the hotel room, it escalates quickly and I was completely shocked, just like she was.

This powerful man shows his appreciation towards your hard work when no one else seems to notice + the sad story of the shooting gets Mitch and Hanna close together.

But while another person might have called it a night, Mitch gets Hanna to stay by holding her tight longer than anticipated and by starting to kiss her neck and then actually get his hand in her panties!

It was a hard scene to watch but the impact is enormous!

This episode might be one of the best things I ever seen in television!

Bravo to all the fantastic actors! You're doing an amazing job showing the complexity of a work place dynamics.

I did not expect this from Steve at all, this character is so different than the Steve we all know. Steve plays a bad guy in this, the way he gets with the young lady made me cringe, this episode made me not like his character. Which only means he acted the hell out of that role. So sad people take advantage of others like this in real life.

At first, I thought, I would never allow another person to have that much power over me. But, then I pushed away my judgmental thoughts and focused on the story of this episode. This girl is young, trying to prove she can do her dream job, and feels very lonely in an emotionally voided environment. I put myself in that place in my mind and realized, yes, I might have been that girl in my twenties. That is what I liked about this episode. It was done in a way that gives visual to sexual harassment instead of someone just telling the story. It changes the perception of "she could have said no!"

As for the actors, Steve Carell is one of the best. He made me forget how much I love him by transforming into the most disgusting creep. And, I can't even talk about what Martin Short did to me. It speaks volumes to their talent to say you will turn off the screen and think "I hate those two!"

It does start off a little slow, but it ends with a dramatic drop the mic!

What to say about this episode? My title covers the breadth of my comments, but perhaps something else needs to be said. The show is very good, but I;ll say why. I am also made uncomfortable by the show, and tell you why there as well. Unapologetically, I'm not a fan of the language on the show, but I'm not oblivious to the fact that people talk like that. I'm also not oblivious to the dangers of sexual exploitation in our world which frames the context of every episode. Though I can see the show running its course on this subject matter, I believe they're also laying the ground work for additional seasons that cover much more than just sexual abuse. This episode especially dealt with so much that people know but don't often say, and for that reason deserves a review.

In every episode, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell have been explosive in their depth of character. For both to shed their masterful, comedic personas from Friends and The Office to adopt this gravitas is nothing short of awe-inspiring. You long to see them succeed even as a part of you desires that they also be found out for the pain they've caused. In that way alone, "Lonely At The Top" takes off the gloves and kidney punches the viewer into submission. The relationships and report established in earlier episodes, and culminating in this episode, almost capture you unawares. With such dialogue, cinematography, and situational reality, we would be foolish to NOT watch in rapt silence as the nagging thoughts and questions run through our own minds: "Wow, how could he not see what he's doing? How could she miss the effect this is having on her family? And have I been that blind in the past?"

This is where the review gets uncomfortable. The gritty despicableness of sexual acts being conveyed on the big or small screen, especially when it's non-consensual, puts the viewer in a strange headspace. Some enjoy seeing such things, the man's and woman's body, the actions themselves, though I don't doubt some may be able to watch them with a detached and ambivalent clarity. But I don't know anyone who does. I know people who talk about how so-and-so is hot, how they'd "do" her, or they'd love to bounce a quarter off that @%$ or tickle those abs. I truly admire those who truly CAN witness such scenes unaffected, but I'm not there. We see Mitch being incredibly caring toward Alex and Hannah, and saying such profound words that acknowledge the pleasure and pain they enjoy/endure with their privilege. But he also completely misses the inner turmoil they all endure, and how their lives have brought all of that together.

I appreciate the great skill shown in this show, from start to finish. And I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the art that was Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Girl, I know you're an actress but I BELIEVED YOU! I saw each cranial explosion of thoughts, the internal screams that couldn't quite surface as you struggled with what was happening and, then, how you were unable to be addressed like the human who needed your experience to be heard. You showed fire, confusion, fear, hurt, and a deadened acceptance that was absolutely chilling. And I hated every minute of it. Not only do I know you were an actress who had to play the role (and despite the acts being faked, there were some parts that could not have been anything less than what they were), but you are a fictional "stand-in" for women across the world who are abused and never see their abuser punished. And you're working in an industry that continues to blur the lines between what needs to be shown and what doesn't, which will unavoidably continue to call for women (young and old) to play those roles and tell those tales.

This episode wasn't just good; it was great. It was very well done, but it was uncomfortable. I am thankful this tragedy is being addressed by a show, but I would hope that it would not be a part in propogating the cycle to continue the hurt. We should all learn something by watching the many struggle with feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness. The reality that those who are hurt, and those who know something about the hurt, feel as though they can't come forward is a shame, and the reason who some many abusers and so much abuse can continue. Perhaps the worst kidney punch of them all is how this episode shows us the dangers of allowing fame, money, position, or fear keep so many from telling the truth. We can do better. We MUST do better. My daughter and son demand it!

Most of these reviews are focused on the episode from Hannah's side. What I thought was excellent was having the opportunity to see why Mitch would genuinely think he's done nothing wrong in a flashback, and understand why.

The solid answer was because people didn't say no to him. He was living in a fantasy as his reality. The scenes from his home life all the way to the birthday party. Unreal. His wife, sitting off to the side like a bit character in his life. He was surrounded by women who didn't challenge his actions.

The hotel room I was able to see how he saw himself. How he lived in a world where lines could be crossed because he never had any repercussions for crossing them- wife stays, girlfriend gets traded, attractive women automatically say "I like you too".

Favorite scene with Alex (Jennifer Aniston) -

Her heart-to-heart with Mitch - her best friend - after reporting on the Las Vegas Concert shooting.

No Cory in this episode was noteworthy as the show was missing something, but it feels like they tried to hammer home the #MeToo stuff in a way that didn't exactly help the cause. It almost seemed like they tried to make Mitch a sympathetic figure here until the final few moments.

A decent episode, but this show continues to not really live up to the hype.

Flashback episodes often get on my nerves, I often perceive them as a way of stalling and this one is no exception. I get some people can relate to Hanna's ordeal and I would even admit that it was well written just as were the other episodes, but it was pointless. I never doubted that Mitch was a predator and the way he forces himself on Hanna just corroborates what we already knew, the inappropriate comments he makes throughout the episode are reminiscent of some of the things I saw Matt Lauer say on live TV pre-#MeToo movement. Still, what was the point, especially if it meant no Reese Witherspoon during a whole hour?

*Spolier alerts * So just watched season 1 episode 8 and before this the show was fantastic and well written but this episode is not needed. It concentrates on Mitchea 50th before he got axed and events around it, certainly adds to his character styling but at this point if the show who cares as there is no need for back story telling when his character is just a tool anyway, leave it at that and get on with the show.