It's back to school, a get-back-on-my-TV week. Usually, this makes me very happy, but this time I haven't found a lot that looks promising from the get-go. I will give you my list later, they all start in October anyway, but for now, I am more into rewatching my favorites from the first 2/3 part of the year. First, they should shift things around at the Emmys. Like the Oscars making room for five more movies, a TV awards show that recognizes what is going on has to expand his options. There are not that many good movies being made anymore, but we are inundated in good and great shows, picking one in each category is reductive, I guess that is also the reason why people don't pay too much attention to the ceremony.
Of course, it was great to see Matthew Rhys, Harry Winkler, Merrit Wever, Samira Wiley being called to the stage, and Jeff Daniels' speech was the best, talk about timing. Marlon has watched Godless and kept telling me about his and Merrit's performance. I've seen him in The Looming Tower, and the guy kills it, so glad he got another chance after the disappointment of The Newsroom.
But an award show doesn't reflect the joy of watching TV hese days as much as a good meme storm does. It's much more fun to get swallowed up by a Tumblr barrage of OITNB clips than watching canned introductions. I love the speeches, but a few minutes on Youtube is all you need.
If they want the Emmys to rock, they should add many more categories, small ones, specific ones, and let some people revel in the joy of the clips, explain why some performances were so excellent, chilling, heartbreaking. The writing riveting, the direction groundbreaking. Give us the reasons.
No award show can beat a good gab session, a podcast, a twitter explosion ( like the one after Sauls's Street Life compilation, or the death of Alison in the Affair (what bullcrap, and certainly not bull true, how much they like to spin it.)
Anyway, long story short just wanted to do a very small roundup of four overlooked performances that gave me the most joy this year. And that is the problem; you can't judge TV on a macro scale anymore, you have to go niche.
As always I concentrate on thrillers, horror and action shows. (so before I do: hooray for all the awards for the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!)
When OITNB ended last season with the inmates being divided, I dreaded this new season. That was no cliffhanger, but a crash in the ravine. I didn't want to look at a wreck all season. But no; this was one of the most coherent, and well constructed seasons, and four new faces hit it of the park: Badison, Carol and Barb were all perfectly cast; but Daddy Dominga Duarte played by Vicci Martinez stood out. There was one scene when Daddy was sitting at Barb table when the actress wavered, and I wonder if that was one of the first scenes shot. But outside that moment, Daddy managed to take over where Shaun left off. A lot swagger, soulful eyes, some cold-hearted calculations, and playfulness all wrapped into one. She was sympathetic while pimping out innocent girls, a genuinely despicable act. Her energy was palpable, when she kissed Daya, and when she sat crying in the shower, or when she goes along with the shiv plan. My favorite moment came during the kickball game when she decided not to charge but to throw back instead; insisting they were losing; naturalistic, fresh, and immensely charismatic.
All through Luke Cage, I wondered if they would dare kill off Alfre Woodward. Her performance as Black Mariah was just too much fun. The whole season spun around two words: Stokes and Harlem. A battle of the accents and I have to say, Hoeurlem wins by a long shot. Man, that woman can pronounce a word. I've been a fan of Alfre for years, and after her character's deserved demise, I hope she will get an HTGAWM show all for herself.
In Better Call Saul there are so many brilliant performances, my favorites are not even Saul or Mike, though I love them both, Kim Wexler played by Rhea Seehorn, of course, is a powerhouse role, one of my favorite female characters ever written. Kim is just so damn cool. Determined, a straight shooter, accurate, capable but no ball buster, no cliche Skyler here. As we have seen in this last episode, one of my favorites yet, Kim is game. A great surprise, I think everybody thought that Saul and Kim would split by now. Vince Gilligan did it again; now I have to wonder if the future Kim is not in a worst place than Saul. Did she come away unscathed? But enough about Kim because the performance I enjoy the most is as Nacho Varga played by Michael Mando. He is the of Better Call Saul's Jesse Pinkman. Vince can write a good anti-hero, criminal, in for it only for himself, not in control and still the moral heart of the story. Like Jesse Nacho looks on its way out every single episode, but like I hope he will survive all this, and be able to drive away from Alburqueque screaming.
One of the shows that surprised me the most was the Britsih Unforgotten. It is an addictive show. A Brit Cold Case. The central duo of investigators DCI Cassandra 'Cassie' Stuart and Sanjeev Bhaskar as DI Sunil 'Sunny' Khan are terrific. Their banter is cheeky, their gravitas immediate. They are very normal, almost Ken Loach documentary style real life people. Their bond sacred, it makes you scream at the TV when a misunderstanding almost spoils it. Sunil is adorable, his relationship with his daughters funny and tender. And Cassie is a marvel; it's her eyes, bright and tired at the same time, they focused on each of the witnesses and suspected, and peels layers off in the determination of finding out the truth, with patience and empathy. Great show, great actors.
What are yours overlooked favorite performances?
