THE ARTIST | Jennifer Coolidge
THE SHOW | The White Lotus
THE EPISODE | “Arrivederci” (December 11, 2022)
THE PERFORMANCE | Give us a moment: we’re mourning the loss of a legendary TV character this week. We were honestly stunned to see Mike White kill Coolidge’s delightfully daffy socialite Tanya McQuoid in the Season 2 finale of HBO’s hit comedy-drama, simply because she’s been the main attraction for the past two seasons. . But at least Coolidge came out in style, giving Tanya a surprisingly resilient but hopelessly inept swan song.
The finale found Tanya in grave danger as she pieced together enough clues to realize that her new gay best friend Quentin was conspiring with her husband Greg to kill her and reclaim her vast fortune. We were impressed with Tanya’s detective skills, as Coolidge showed us a refreshingly strategic side to normally ignorant goofball. His line-readings were still hilarious, though — “These gays! They are trying to kill me! will live in meme heaven forever – and we loved the nuggets of physical comedy Coolidge added, too. (Tanya not-so-subtly walked away from her new gay friends to call for help… then quickly dropped her phone over the side of the boat in the water.)
Coolidge even got to play the part of an action hero, with a sobbing Tanya grabbing a gun and firing wildly, mowing down her would-be attackers in a hail of gunfire. But of course she had to add a punchline, Tanya asking the dying Quentin, “Is Greg having an affair?” (Ha!) Tanya met her end, however, when she slipped trying to get out of the boat and drowned, which was actually a perfectly fitting fate for our ditzy Tanya. We hated to see her go, but Coolidge’s funny and feisty farewell performance gave her a very dignified start.
HONORABLE MENTION | Lizzy Caplan’s Libby has been an entertaining and insightful narrator all season long on Hulu Fleishman is in trouble, but Libby is struggling herself, and Caplan has been great this week as Libby’s midlife crisis has suddenly caught up with her. Libby relished a chance to reunite with her college pals, ignoring her husband Adam in the process, Caplan displaying scathing insensitivity. But really, Libby missed out on her old life and her freedom, which Caplan spilled in a rambling, tear-choked monologue to Toby. She even got to play a younger Libby in flashbacks, tapping into the wide-eyed youth that the older Libby is so desperate to reunite with. FlemishConflicts are mostly quiet and internal, but Caplan let us know that inside these dissatisfied adults, serious emotional fireworks are erupting.
HONORABLE MENTION | The cleaning ladyThe second finale was an emotionally taxing ordeal, especially for Martha Millan’s Fiona. For two harrowing hours, Millan communicated his fear, resolve, uncertainty, resentment and about half a dozen additional emotions as Fiona and Thony ran out of options, leading to Fiona’s arrest and her possible deportation. The actress shone brightest, however, when an imprisoned Fiona spoke one-on-one with her son Chris, imploring him not to follow her out of the country if she was deported. “Every sacrifice I made, every lie I told, every toilet I cleaned – it was for youshe told him, Millan’s voice cracking with urgency. Here is the hope The cleaning lady returns for a third season, as does Fiona; we suspect that Millan has a far more glorious heartache in store for us.
HONORABLE MENTION | We had high expectations for FX Kinship, the first screen adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s acclaimed novel, and star Mallori Johnson did not disappoint as time-traveling heroine Dana. We were locked in the opening seconds of Tuesday’s series premiere as Dana lay on the floor, processing the excruciating pain of just being whipped and then thrown back into the present. With virtually no dialogue, Johnson skillfully conveyed the frenzied desperation and mounting frustration Dana felt in that shocking moment, owning the screen like a seasoned vet despite this being her first lead role on television. And as Dana was shaken in time in the following scenes, Johnson delivered a beautifully layered performance that would make Butler proud.
Which performance(s) hit your socks this week? Tell us in the comments!