\n<\/p>\n
Stella\u2019s crisis of conscience reaches its boiling point during a high-stakes presentation of said AI technology that goes off the rails, with the chatbot disclosing personal\u2014and very damaging\u2014information about Stella, leading her to resign from UBN. In voiceover, Stella maligns her descent from \u201csmart, hardworking, steady\u201d to \u201csomeone who does the job without expecting credit, who will shrink herself when asked, who won\u2019t cause any trouble\u201d at the helm. \u201cBe who they want you to be until you can\u2019t,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Says Lee, \u201cThe network broke her, but in all fairness, she\u2019s not a victim. She\u2019s someone who entered this position, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, full of ambition and drive. She was reimagining what the news could be. But the world was not moving in the same direction. I mean, here we are now, it\u2019s 2025 and DEI is considered, like, a slur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following her network fall from grace, Stella passes the baton to her trusted former colleague Mia (Karen Pittman<\/strong>), who managed to rise in the corporate ranks without getting consumed by the pressure to conform. \u201cWe ugly cried our way through that scene for hours. We have so much love for each other,\u201d says Lee, growing visibly emotional. \u201cKaren and I are both mothers. Both women of color. We have had to navigate certain spoken and unspoken challenges within the world, and there\u2019s so much that is unsaid between Stella and Mia in every moment that is completely understood without it being articulated. I still get teary when I think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n After the AI incident, Stella and Miles decide to run away together to Italy, but he stands her up at the airport after Celine gives him an ultimatum. But Lee has higher hopes for her character. \u201cI want her to be on a beach having a nice, tall tiki drink. Maybe I\u2019m projecting something,\u201d she admits, smiling. Still, \u201cThe ultimate liberation is to fail and to be unburdened by the weight of carrying the torch.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n