I love watching complex female characters that have multiple layers, like Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope from Scandal, Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey from Grey’s Anatomy, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy Summer from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Claire Danes’ Carrie Mathison from Homeland. The Morning Show takes that to another level. Sometimes, I don’t like the female characters on the Apple TV + series. I love Jennifer Anniston and Reese Witherspoon, but I don’t always like Alex Levy or Bradley Jackson. But I admire powerful women, and it’s what makes these characters so fascinating to watch.
Warning: Spoilers
When Greta Lee joined the cast in season two as Stella Bak, I was quite excited because there was a female character high up in the company. At times, she felt like the female version of Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup). This season, we are getting to see much more of her. We are getting to see a more vulnerable side of her, especially in The Morning Show season three, episode four, “The Green Light.”
Stella seemed ruthless since season two, which is why she reminded me of Cory. But she said that Paul Marks (Jon Hamm) is ruthless, which means he must be more ruthless than she is. While Stella is ruthless, she can feel remorse or at least some sort of feeling after letting the waitress lick the drink off the table. Cory told her to get the deal done, so she did what she had to. I wanted her to step away from the deal, but with the entire company on the line, it would have been hard to walk away.
This is clearly a dramatization and heightened version of the media industry. But there are ruthless people in the business, and some men have abused their power. Getting rid of Cybil Richards (Holland Taylor) has clearly not changed a thing. And bringing in Paul isn’t going to either, but with Stella’s past, this could lead to us getting to know her characters more and bring some interesting storylines. She already feels bad for what she was forced to do, and her past with Paul will come up. I guess now, it’s which lesser of two evils does she want to work with, Fred Micklen (Tom Irwin) or Paul? Or will Paul hand over the entire company to her, as the promo suggests? That would be an exciting season four.
But she didn’t take long to go back to ruthless again when telling Mia Jordan (Karen Pittman) to run with the photos even when the freelance photojournalist wasn’t safe. It makes Stella pretty complex when the incident with the waitress gets to her, but not the journalist risking his own life to get the news. Yes, he knows the risks, but that doesn’t mean he has to die for his job.
Given how ruthless she can be, it’s hard to like Stella as a character at times. On the other hand, it’s easy to love Greta’s performance this season. I hope The Morning Show will give her more great storylines and screen time in season four. Granted, we are not even halfway done with season three, and I expect more great things from Greta this season.
As much as I love Jennifer and Reese, as I said, it’s nice to see more of the other powerful and complex female characters on this show. There are so many of them. It doesn’t just all have to rely on the two biggest female names. And given this season is more about the business of a media company than just a show in the company, it makes sense to expand with the great actors on The Morning Show, especially one that is so high up in the company.
