THE ARTIST | Giancarlo Esposito
THE SHOW | by Netflix Kaleidoscope
THE EPISODE | “Pink: 6 months after the robbery” (January 1, 2023)
THE PERFORMANCE | For much of Netflix’s heist drama, Ray d’Esposito, aka “Leo,” was an unstoppable force, a man fueled by the pursuit of revenge against the person who had stolen so much from him.
But in “Pink,” one of the heist’s two epilogues, Esposito gave us a Ray who had retired with Ava to enjoy some peace in Ohio, yes, but who had also been slowed down by his Parkinson disease. He wrestled through PT in a pool. He collapsed when he suffered a seizure at home. “I want Ray,” Ava told her lover, calming him down and throwing a next big score. But the limping brain lamented in response, “Ray is long gone.”
Ray does there is, however, some gas left in his tank, as evidenced by the time Bob and his henchmen stormed the Ohio safehouse and demanded 411 on Stan. Here, Esposito showed us that Ray’s mind was still razor sharp in places, not calling Stan but, we would later learn, the Feds, to prepare Bob for a big crash.
But it was two of Esposito’s final scenes — FaceTiming daughter Hannah (Tati Gabrielle), then visiting an imprisoned Graham Davies aka “Roger Salas” (Rufus Sewell) — that capped off her POTW-worthy exit.
“I wanted to see you, to let you know that I was still here, still going,” Ray reported to Hannah, hiding his symptoms. “And also, the things I should have said, the choices I made…. I’ve done a lot of things wrong,” he admitted, “but all of them, I hope, with you, I didn’t. When Hannah then introduced her newborn daughter to ‘Grandpa’, the look on Esposito’s face told us that whatever life held for Ray next, he was a man whose heart was full.
Then, when Ray came face to face with Graham, whose impenetrable contents he helped remove from the safe? You would think there would be So a lot to say. But Ray only had a few words. Mainly, about his late wife, whom Graham no doubt left to die so many years ago: “Could you have saved her that night? The timbre of Esposito’s voice made it clear that no payday could have erased that loss.
HONORABLE MENTION | Ginny and Georgia presented stars Antonia Gentry and Brianne Howey with a long-awaited confrontation in the sixth episode of season 2, and in turn, pushed the two actresses to new emotional depths. When Georgia discovered that Ginny was self-harming and witnessed the physical evidence on her child, Howey brought an impressive array of feelings to Georgia’s reaction: shock, hurt, confusion, sadness, anger, horror, guilt. You name it, Georgia felt it as she struggled to come to terms with the idea that her “special miracle baby” had hurt herself. Gentry, meanwhile, leaned into Ginny’s heartache over her own actions as she collapsed in Georgia’s arms. Through all the angst, there was also an undercurrent of relief in the actresses’ performances because now the truth was finally out, allowing mom and daughter to reunite. Gentry and Howey made the late moment a cathartic moment not just for their characters, but for viewers as well.
HONORABLE MENTION | It’s no surprise that Helen Mirren is a queen of her craft (as well as, you know, The Queen). However, this week 1923 was a beautifully acted reminder of her versatility as an actress. As Cara feared her injured husband would succumb to his injuries, Mirren showed us matriarch Dutton at her lowest point, physically throwing herself to the ground and sobbing Cara’s raw fear, as well as her grief at losing her nephew John. But Mirren also gave us Cara at her cheekiest, squaring the characters shoulders with steely intensity as she headed to the Livestock Association meeting and announced things were going to happen. her way from now. What a multi-faceted force! And what a treat to watch!
HONORABLE MENTION | George Jones experienced a kaleidoscope of emotions throughout George and Tammie, but it wasn’t until the country superstar got sober that Michael Shannon was able to deliver his best work. In the finale, we once again saw the many layers of the complicated man, as his continued drunkenness almost prevented him from recording. As George/Shannon finally put down the “He stopped loving her today” track, the actor evoked a sadness that felt like a fist bump, with sunken facial expressions and an unwavering tremor. He promised Tammy he would “get it right,” and he did when the couple embarked on one last tour together years later. Behind the scenes, Shannon exuded a playful charm that could always make George’s former lover laugh. But after he failed to convince her to run off with him again, her eyes told a different story. The story of an old man who reconciles with the one who ran away.
Which performance(s) made you crack up this week? Tell us in the comments!