The Morning Show: Love Island
October 5, 2023 8:33 PM - Season 3, Episode 5 - Subscribe

Unexpected connections emerge, while the world is in lock down.

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posted by ellieBOA (5 comments total)
 
It seems as if Apple TV messed up and showed this episode out of order. I understand the idea of jumping around in time, but normally you get some kind of cue that it is happening. Not here. I had been thinking in the previous ep that a lot of stuff had seemingly happened off-screen; now it’s being filled in. Weird.
posted by adamrice at 8:53 PM on October 6, 2023


Yeah that threw me too. I actually turned to my husband and asked if this was a rerun somehow before I clued in.

I also found this episode very depressing. The flashback to the early days of the pandemic hit a little hard and made it difficult to enjoy the episode. But that’s more a statement about where I’m at, and not necessarily a critique of the show itself.
posted by eekernohan at 6:14 AM on October 7, 2023


@adamrice & eekernohan,
They briefly showed a 2020 graphic at the beginning, you might have blinked at the wrong time.
posted by oldnumberseven at 2:59 AM on October 8, 2023


I did see that, and it would have been obvious from all the anchoring news events being depicted, but I don't think that's adequate. Ep 1 of this season dropped us off in media res without any setup (perhaps fitting, considering the production company is called "Media Res"). Suddenly there's a new TMS anchor. And a billionaire with a rocket. And Cory has a new house. And Mia has a boyfriend. And whatever happened to that Italian documentarian? Eps 2/3/4 continue from there.

I was thinking "did a bunch of stuff happen last season that I completely forgot about?" No. Normally when you're going to hop around in time, you orient the viewer and point out "we're skipping ahead here." They did not really do that. They might have flashed a date on the screen, but I don't think that's sufficient framing. It's also a weird choice for a show that is not experimental in its storytelling—it has a bit of a documentary feel—so it comes out of the blue.

I can understand why they might not want to pick up where they left off at the end of season 2: as eekernohan points out, that was a depressing period of time. They want to hook you back in.

Also, in Ep 1, Hal was missing, which makes sense with the benefit of Ep 5's hindsight, but his status as an insurrectionist was overlooked entirely.
posted by adamrice at 9:34 AM on October 8, 2023


I was really struck by how it captured the mood of early-pandemic days, in comparison to how other shows have depicted it. Instead of characters on, e.g. SVU immediately taking off masks when they enter a room and start a speaking scene with someone, the writing here really snagged the mindset of the time and gave the characters consequensces for what's going on - figuring out how to work, being in a pod leading to the outing of a relationship, etc.

The title card was almost enough for me to signal the time shift, but I did have to stop and check the episode description to make sure I hadn't missed one. A distraction that could have been handled better.
posted by transient at 4:39 AM on October 9, 2023


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