“We have a board vote coming and your little make out with the prom king is creating a massive perception problem.”—Cory

As we close in on the end of the season, we are getting a ramp up in tension as all our season-long stories come to a head. And we left off with plenty of balls in the air as last week’s episode finished.

As we pick up, the truth of Alex (Jennifer Aniston) and Paul’s (Jon Hamm) relationship is out. It’s led to some frosty sideways glances from her co-workers and a lack of juice in landing interviews for Alex. And yet, she remains happily committed to the relationship. Though for most of the episode Alex and Paul remain apart.

Alex pushes her big planned interview with Paul, looking instead to cover the landmark Supreme Court decision. But the interview Chip (Mark Duplass) booked for her goes poorly. In the aftermath, the pair fight and Alex finally cuts the cord, firing Chip.

Paul is in Texas focused on his Hyperion project and it’s not going well. When he finally comes back together with Alex, she’s unhappy at UBA as well. With the deal near completion, he proposes they break up the network, selling it for parts as Alex gets a chance to build something new. She’s intrigued and it will certainly create some ripples in the future, no doubt.

Speaking of ripples, Stella (Gretta Lee) can’t let go of what Kate (Natalie Morales) told her about Hyperion. She turns to Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) to get the scoop. Bradley tries to chase Kate down but can’t get her story on the record. With Chip now a free agent, she employs him to help dig into Hyperion. They haven’t found the dirt, but they’re on the trail.

Unfortunately for Bradley, Laura (Juliana Margulies) also is hot on the trail. Her trail is finding what Bradley has been hiding—namely that she covered up for Hal (Joe Tippett). All she has is suspicions at this point, but a reckoning is coming.

For The Morning Show staff, we get movement on a couple storylines, too. First, Mia (Karen Pittman) discovers that Andre (Clive Standen). She’s pleased he’s alive but frustrated that he didn’t reach out. By the end of the hour, Andre has realized what he wants, making something of a sweeping gesture toward Mia. It’s been a difficult season, but this is one of the nicer storylines.

Unfortunately, things aren’t as nice for Chris (Nicole Beharie). She ended last week with a controversial Social Media post and the fallout has been something in this week’s episode. She starts by getting harassed on the way into the building. On the air, she’s relegated to mostly fluff pieces. And yet, some of the fan mail she gets picks up her spirits.

We see her return to the track where she runs so hard she comes up with an injury. It’s not the outcome she wants, but we see Chris is a fighter and she won’t let this keep her down.

Episode MVP: It wasn’t a great episode for most, but I’m going with Mia. She looks like she might finally get a little happiness.

Matthew Fox is a graduate of the Radio, Television and Film program at Biola University, and a giant nerd. He spends his free time watching movies, TV, and obsessing about football. He is a member of the FSWA. You can find him @knighthawk7734 on Twitter and as co-host of the Fantasy Football Roundtable Podcast.