As chaotic as “The Morning Show” can be, elements of every episode transform its jumble of emotional subplots into silk and gold. Foremost among them is Billy Crudup’s Cory Ellison, a CEO with a florid master-of-the universe monologue for any situation. He mixes metaphors, sprinkles them with malapropisms and knows nobody will call him on any of it . . . because if they did, he’d accuse them of small thinking.
When Cory needs to assert control over his corner of the universe, he commands a room full of underlings to think less like suits and more like trained assassins. When he needs an equal or rival to think twice about coming for him, he riffs like a jazz great. And sometimes it works. As Greta Lee’s news president Stella Bak tells him, he can make people feel anything is possible. “It’s really effective. It’s probably why I took this job,” she says.
