‘The Morning Show’ Season 4 ending explained: Does Bradley Jackson come home from Belarus?

After tackling pre-Olympics drama, the dangers of AI, a heart-wrenching pregnancy loss storyline, an emotional farewell to a loved one, the departure of fan-favorite character, and more, The Morning Show Season 4 wrapped with an eventful, twisty finale that revealed the fate of Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon).

The Morning Show Season 4’s penultimate episode ends with charges filed against Bradley in Belarus after Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) and Paul Marks’ (Jon Hamm) deal with a sanctioned Russian oligarch fell through at the last minute. Why? Celine Dumont (Marion Cotillard) pulled the plug after Paul’s chief of staff, Amanda (Tig Notaro), tipped her off. To protect her family’s interests, Celine is willing to keep Bradley in foreign lockup — all while pursuing her ex, Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup).

With seconds to spare in Episode 9, Cory finds a copy of the original Wolf River Water Contamination Sampling Analytical Reports, which his mom left him after her death. As The Morning Show covers their star reporter’s detainment, Cory tries to decide if he should use his smoking gun…

Looking for The Morning Show‘s Season 4 finale recap? Decider’s The Morning Show Season 4 ending explained article has you covered. Is Bradley Jackson released from Belarus? Does Alex take Celine down? And does Cory do what’s right for UBA and Bradley, or protect Celine and his mother’s legacies? Answers (and major finale spoilers) lie ahead.

The Morning Show Season 4 Ending Explained: Does Bradley Come Home From Belarus?

Written by Charlotte Stoudt and Joey Longstreet, and directed by Mimi Leder, The Morning Show Season 4, Episode 10, “Knowing Violation” opens with Bradley being tortured in Belarus lockup. She lays on a metal cot with blinding fluorescent lights beating down, preventing sleep. After refusing to reveal her source, guards blast heavy metal music in hopes of forcing information out.

On Day 28 of her detainment, Chip (Mark Duplass) receives crucial Wolf River Water Contamination documents via FOIA request. While Cory is sleeping with Celine, actively trying to forget Bradley Jackson-shaped hole in his heart, Alex and Chip are working hard to get her home. After realizing the numbers in the EPA report and internal Martel emissions document don’t line up, suggesting Martel paid the EPA to falsify the report to cover up their crimes, Chip asks Cory for help and sucks him back in.

Crushed by her betrayal and his mother’s death, Cory coldly brushes off the request rather than race to Bradley’s rescue. But he takes Chip’s copy of the EPA report and has a lovesick flashback to the night he kissed and slept with Bradley. As the two lied in bed, Bradley said, “It’s like there’s you, and then there’s everybody else. But there’s you. And you’re always with me even when I don’t want you to be. You got in. I don’t know how you did it but you did.” As captain of the Bradley/Cory ship, I’m biased, but that sounds like a genuine love confession to me! Despite all the events that unfolded since, the question of its authenticity clearly still haunts Cory!

After comparing the documents and realizing the truth behind the story, Cory confronts Celine about her family’s involvement in Bradley’s imprisonment. She denies any wrongdoing, but rather than let her off the hook entirely, Cory says if her family helps get Bradley out, he’ll give them the original Wolf River EPA report to bury. Back at UBN, Ben asks Mia to look into unauthorized access of the Alex AI language model from a TMS computer that occurred back in May, and she learns CELINE got an employee to create the Alex deepfake. *GASP!*

Alex barges into Celine’s office, sure she has the leverage she needs to get her to resign, but Celine flips the script, telling Alex she has 24 hours to step down for her stunt at the opera. Desperate for dirt on Celine, Alex heads to Cory for help, only to learn he’s sleeping with her. Next time we see Alex, she’s resigning live on The Morning Show while Celine looks on in victory. But the CEO’s troubles are far from over…

After Miles learns about Celine’s affair with Cory, he gives Cory a brutal reality check, claiming he’s been Celine’s “fall guy” for years, and revealing the EPA report from his mom didn’t mean she was a whistleblower. He claims she buried the original report and paid a friend at the EPA to change the numbers so Celine would make Cory Head of News. His nightmare!

Alex’s dad races to her aide and advises her to sue Celine and UBN for wrongful termination. Before Alex’s press conference, Cory runs interference, advising against the move. But Alex knows the risks and doesn’t care. Her sole priority is proving the story Bradley was chasing is real that eyes will be back on her detainment.

TMS staffers watch Alex tell the world she didn’t decide to quit UBN, but was forced out by Celine, who was trying to shut down a story Bradley was pursuing that implicated her in a cover-up at the network. Against orders, they cover the story. And a flustered Celine calls Cory, who’s at the courthouse witnessing Alex’s frenzy firsthand. “Everything goes away if you can’t stop her. You. Me. Our future. All of it,” Celine warns. She urges him to tell Alex that if she doesn’t stop the games, Bradley will never come back home. Amidst the commotion, Cory asks Celine to repeat herself, so she shouts the words again, unaware that he’s passed the phone to Alex at the podium, switched to speaker, and helped live-stream her damning threat.

So how did Cory conspire to help Alex? The Morning Show flashes back to their run-in earlier and shows him telling Alex she’ll never find what she needs to take Celine down, because he has the evidence. Alex suggests his mom gave him the document to do what she couldn’t, so Cory makes the difficult decision to expose his mother’s wrongdoings to set things right for Alex, the network, and most importantly Bradley.

In the lead-up to the Olympics, the board preps to choose an interim CEO, and Ben and Mia are more united than ever. Celine leaves Miles without so much as a goodbye, hops a jet with her brother, and braces for her father to throw her to the wolves. And Paul heads to Alex’s apartment and expresses concern for what she’s about to do…

“This is on me now and I’m not gonna leave that airport without her,” she assures him, luggage in hand. It seems the two could have a future together after all, but first, Alex flies to Minsk National Airport, deplanes, and shares an emotional reunion with a broken Bradley on the tarmac. “Thank you for coming to get me. I’m sorry I fucked it all up,” Bradley cries. “No, you didn’t. I was wrong. The story’s out there. You don’t understand. You changed everything,” Alex replies. Until Season 5!

The Morning Show Season 4 is now streaming on Apple TV.