Jennifer Aniston reacts to that shocking 'Morning Show' death: 'It was so heartbreaking'

Spoiler alert! The following contains details from Episode 7 of "The Morning Show."

The sun has set on Steve Carell's "Morning Show" character Mitch Kessler.

The disgraced broadcaster, ousted from the early show amid accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse of power in the Apple TV+'s first season, drove off a cliff at the conclusion of Friday's episode.

Mitch's death crushed Jennifer Aniston. Her character, Alex Levy, considered her former co-anchor "Morning Show" co-anchor a close friend, and they also had an intimate relationship.

"It was so heartbreaking," she says of Mitch's exit. "It's done so beautifully, and it's very poetic, in a way. But that's (Alex's) only ally. That's her only friend. That's her one person she has in the world."

Mitch attempted to dodge fallout in Italy as the country began to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. In the episode, titled "La Amara Vita," Jennifer Aniston's Alex Levy visits Mitch to ask him to release a statement falsely claiming the two never slept together, as she worries a forthcoming tell-all will reveal. Their meeting is at first heated, but when she has to rely on Mitch, while stranded in Italy, she cries to him: "I don't know who I am, or what I'm supposed to be doing." She also admits that she misses him. Instead of arguing, they begin to enjoy each other.

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They drink wine and dance. "I don't want you to like me," he says, taking her hand. "I just don't want you to hate me." She reveals she thought she was pregnant once, after they slept together in Chile.

Their harmony is ruined when they watch a news report that says Black women were the target of Mitch's inappropriate behavior, upsetting Alex. "Mitch, just because you didn’t mean to do it doesn’t make it OK," Alex says.

"I want to be a better person," he pleads with her. "I want to be a good person."

But she can't help him. She has to leave. He asks her: "So you come here and you get me to tell the world that you are someone you aren't so you don't get canceled like I did, and then you will never tell anyone who you think I really am?" a

In the final scene, Mitch is blinded by headlights, and his car goes over the cliff. Instead of making any attempt to turn the wheel to stay on the road – because he's in shock, or because he's decided life isn't worth living anymore – he removes his hands from the wheel and closes his eyes. He sees himself dancing with Alex, and the screen fades to black.

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Aniston says Mitch's end acts as a catalyst for Alex's deep self-reflection.

"It's one of the many things that lead her to the brutal reality and facing who she is and who she refuses to actually be, because their last conversation is so poignant," she says. "Basically, 'I will do this for you in order for you to continue this façade of who you need so desperately to be. And yet you're going to throw me to the wolves.' So I think she has a real come to Jesus (moment) in terms of integrity and truth and who she is and who she really wants to be."

When Reese Witherspoon, whose Bradley Jackson replaced Mitch as "Morning Show" co-anchor, learned of Mitch's death in the script she thought "Noooo!" She was impressed with Carell's portrayal of an embattled show host, seemingly inspired by Matt Lauer, the former "Today" anchor who was ousted in 2017. He is accused of sexual misconduct and rape (charges he denies).

"I love Steve. He's such a great guy, and he's so wonderful to work with," Witherspoon says. "But I love what Steve did with Mitch. It's such a complicated guy struggling with the fallout, the human cost of cancel culture. He's sort of exiled himself, but he still has children. He still has an ex-wife. He still has a life. He still has friends and what do you do with the aftermath of a public shaming like that, and a rightful one, in that he did a lot of harm. So I just think he did a great job playing that, layering a lot of humanity on top of it."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jennifer Aniston on (spoiler) 'Morning Show' death: 'So heartbreaking'