‘The Morning Show’ boss reveals that WTF episode 4 moment – and why Stella agreed to the unthinkable

Showrunner Charlotte Stoudt dishes on her script notes and the scene that will “haunt” Stella.

A version of this article originally appeared in Entertainment WeeklyEmmys Kickoff Special Print Issue.

Stella Bak has to close the deal.

In episode 4 of The morning showIn its third season, the president of UBA News – played by Greta Lee – must woo two advertising agency executives in her quest to land a multi-hundred million advertising deal. This is no ordinary business: it’s do-or-die time, and he’s not about to disappoint his boss, network CEO Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup).

Part of Stella’s plan is to get the boys drunk while she – with the help of their server (Emmie Nagata) – drinks what they think is alcohol, but it’s just water. Once they’re with her, however, things take a turn: Zach (Brent Bailey) will sign on the dotted line for a lucrative deal… if the server licks a spilled drink on the table. He offers a $20,000 tip – which will, of course, be paid by Stella. At first, Stella tries to avoid the situation and asks the guys to leave the server out of it… but Stella reluctantly relents and assures the server that her credit card is good for money.

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“I wanted to capture the feeling that most people have had at work, at some point in their lives, when they’re asked to do – or ignore – something they shouldn’t,” explains showrunner Charlotte Stoudt. Entertainment Weekly. This is an extreme version of it, but I think the experience of making compromises is very common. I was also interested in seeing Stella in a way I never had before. The whole episode is about the tap dance that these characters have to do to fund the news coverage.”

Below, check out Stoudt’s annotated script page for the scene as she breaks down the action.

1 – Time to sign

After wining and dining advertising executive brothers Zach and Drew (Sam Boxleitner), Stella finds herself in a struggle “between ambition and integrity,” says Stoudt. “Stella is a moral, thoughtful character, and we wanted her to face a difficult choice.” But, as her script page notes, Stella discovers, “Oh, shit. Zach has teeth.”

Stoudt reveals that he questioned how important the server race was to the scene. “At one point, I felt uncomfortable and wondered if Erica, the server, should be white and not Asian,” she explains. “To Greta Lee and writer Kimi Howl Lee’s credit, they both thought the server should be Asian. I made this choice in the end and chose Emmie Nagata.”

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2 — The moral dilemma

In the script, Stoudt refers to this as a “key moment”. It’s “one woman asks another: Will you protect me or play by their rules?” She only has a second to figure out her next move, which Stoudt says is largely motivated by a single thought. “I think Stella imagines calling Cory and having to say, ‘We didn’t close the deal,'” she explains of Stella upping the ante to make the executives pay for the crass negotiating tactic that forces the server to lick a splash drink. “This failure seems unbearable at this point. That fear of failure makes Stella agree to this devil’s bargain.”

3 — Shook to the Core

“She feels she betrayed herself as well as the server,” Stoudt laments. “This is becoming a ‘never’ moment for Stella. It haunts her.” As the showrunner notes in the script, “Stella knows she will regret this decision forever.”

The morning show is available to stream on Apple TV+.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.