Marvelous Geeks

Each episode from Succession brings stellar performances from its actors, with Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, and Kieran Culkin often being singled out. And while the entire cast always brings an extraordinary effort, this season has been Matthew Macfadyen’s time to shine. For the majority of the season, Tom Wambsgams has been facing prison time due to the Waystar Royco cruise scandal. The anticipation of his imprisonment and its consequent behaviors has led us to see a range of emotions from Tom.

Matthew Macfadyen’s most memorable work (so far) can’t be missed in the previous two episodes, “What It Takes” and “Too Much Birthday.”

Tom often has a polarizing dynamic with the Roy family. While he’s technically family, he is still an outsider of sorts and seems to always be pining for their approval, especially for Logan’s. And although he offers himself up for the prison sentence and holds a brave face publicly, he’s scared shitless and struggling to cope. Even worse, his wife doesn’t care. In “What It Takes,” we see Tom at his lowest point. He’s explicitly stated that he doesn’t allow himself to hope, and we see he has been preparing for his prison sentence by eating crappy food. However, in “Too Much Birthday,” he is ecstatic to learn that the investigation on the company will likely end in settlement, and he won’t have to go to prison.

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November 14-20 “Fever” | The Morning Show Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston was incredible in The Morning Show’s first season, but she is something else entirely in season two. And she is especially transcendent in the season two finale, “Fever.” I was so profoundly uncomfortable watching her struggle through the fever and body aches, and it’s not because I’m a hypochondriac, but because Aniston was so achingly raw, it was hard to separate the actress from the character.

And where Aniston brought the fever to life with such accuracy, it’s the UBA+ conversation that I’m most in awe of. The facets of Alex Levy that Jennifer Aniston touches on, the heartaches, the mistakes, the rage, the indifference—she bares it all throughout the episode. Where Aniston didn’t say a word, her expressions told the audience everything we needed to know. The heart, the humor, the quick changes in her tone, the desires. Aniston put everything she could out into the open with such haunting nuances it made it easy for us to escape with her.

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October 3-9 “Inverting the Pyramid of Success” | Ted Lasso Nick Mohammed

It takes an incredibly skilled actor to play such a complex character, and it takes an even more skilled actor to show us the progression of the character’s descend organically. It might be known as a fun, challenging role—one that actors will often jump at the opportunity for, but it’s far from an easy one to master. And Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed certainly masters it.

His story this season mirrors one of the most iconic villains in pop culture, Darth Vader, showing us the descend from kit boy Nate the Great, to big dog Nate, the head coach of a rival team. And it has been a marvel to watch as a viewer in spite of the deep sadness that so often follows a revered character falling to darkness.

If you’ve yet to read the explanations and notes provided by Nick Mohammed on his Twitter following the end of “Inverting the Pyramid of Success,” highly recommend reading it by clicking here. The way the story and his arc has been framed is indeed noteworthy.

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September 26-October 2 “Midnight Train to Royston” | Ted Lasso Juno Temple

Juno Temple’s performance in Ted Lasso’s “Midnight Train to Royston” is a long time coming. A subtle exhibition of nuances and range deep into the heart of a character who’s often the world’s cheerleader crumbling right before us in a moment of sheer fear, in a moment where perhaps she herself can’t even figure out all that’s engulfing her.

Temple’s showcase of a wide range of emotions was astounding. We know she’s capable of a fired-up, emotionally heightened breakdown as we witnessed in “Headspace,” and thus, seeing this whole new side of her state of mind is proof of Temple’s stunning skills. In “Midnight Train to Royston” Temple exquisitely brought to the surface a number of Keeley’s emotions to life brilliantly, starting with her nervous, but unbridled joyous screams, the subtle hints of the details that she is carrying something on her shoulder, the sheer disbelief she tried to cover up when Nate made a move on her, and finally—the confessions, full of so much more than just fear and uncertainties.

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September 12-18 “Beard After Hours” | Ted Lasso Brendan Hunt

Don’t even dare act surprised—the Ted Lasso cast is rightfully owning this column, and we’re more than happy to constantly write about them. There’s a reason they are all nominated for an Emmy Award this year, and we already know they’ll dominate next year as well. This week’s episode “Beard After Hours” gave Brendan Hunt a whirlwind to work with, and he did so pristinely.

Before anyone else yells at me, no, I haven’t seen Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, which the episode is an homage to. I took the literary, stream of consciousness approach this week because that’s what spoke loudest to me.

However, more than that, Brendan Hunt’s performances demanded to be excavated. The episode’s nominal character isn’t one we know much of, his full name included thus, an episode that took him on an odyssey of sorts needed the actor to bring his A game in order for the audience to see more than what was said, even more than what was shown.

It demanded that we pay close attention and that’s always a detail worth appreciating.

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September 5-11 “Man City” | Ted Lasso Phil Dunster

The Ted Lasso cast continues to impress us with impeccable range to the point where we are rendered utterly speechless week after week. “Man City” is Jamie Tartt’s episode as much as it is the episode where darkness is brewing for almost all the characters.And thus, with the events leading to the final scene, the episode gave Phil Dunster ample opportunities to show the audience so much of what Jamie was going through.

The best performances are always the ones full of inexpressible embodiment that showcases just how deeply the actor understands the character. And throughout the episode, Phil Dunster was bringing to the surface bouts of vulnerability we’ve yet to see from Jamie as if to prepare us for the calamitous moment by the end. We know his father is an abusive figure in his life, we know he has suppressed a tremendous amount of heart out of fear of being deemed weak, and we know that more than anything, right now Jamie Tartt is trying his best. And through every look, every expression Dunster laid bare just what was stirring within the character at any given moment.

Phil Dunster showed the audience just how deeply Jamie wants to connect with other people, a reason to feel a little less alone through the quiet performances that resulted in revealing a plethora of his heart. When Jamie is talking to Higgins for instance, you can see him search for the detail that perhaps he isn’t alone in having a terrible father on the team. The way his voice softens a little and his expressiveness comes to the surface encapsulates so much of what we’ve yet to see but knew was within. You can see the achingly profound longing in his expression as he overhears the healthy way in which Sam talks to his father. Whatever the emotion this week, Dunster’s work was impressively nudging us to pay close attention.

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August 29-September 4 “Headspace” | Ted Lasso Sarah Niles

The stars of Ted Lasso continue to be the best performers on our screens right now and while it’s unsurprising given the series’ range, it’s still a delightful thrill week after week to see the opportunities they’re each given to shine. There is imaginably a lot more in store for Sarah Niles’ Dr. Fieldstone, but the subtle work that was brought to the surface in “Headspace” deserves commending.

Niles had the difficult job of keeping it together while expressing everything needed that was brewing within through utmost subtlety. And at any moment, when you see visible pain in someone’s expression without them vocalizing it, the actress has done an exemplary job of delivering what was necessary. Sure, we could imagine that Ted’s statement would hurt her (it’d hurt anyone with a heart), but Niles held her own so brilliantly alongside Sudeikis by revealing to the audience just how much it’s actually getting to her.

But what I’m most in awe of, is the innate warmth Sarah Niles is able to bring to the surface even while she’s quietly keeping it together as a therapist probably should. But there’s a relationship that needs to be established here and Ted Lasso has always done a great job of allowing characters opportunities to grow by being called out.

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August 22-28 “The Signal” | Ted Lasso Jason Sudeikis

Jason Sudeikis has tethered himself onto Ted Lasso with such admirable devotion, it has resulted in the kind of embodiment that can function as a masterclass for performances. There have been a surfeit of emotions rustling within the character that audiences have gotten subtle glimpses of, and the culmination has led to yet another, harrowing and achingly realistic display of a panic attack on television. (The first for this series being in “Make Rebecca Great Again.”)

And while anxiety or mental health isn’t necessarily new in the world of television, to dig deep into emotional turmoil and marinate in it in order to realistically overcome as so is still much rarer—especially for male characters. Ted Lasso has gained itself reputable praise around its wholesome content, but beyond that trajectory, the series is about broken people searching for healing and ways to feel less alone. It’s a series that won’t be glossing over the ascend into the dark forest, but one that’ll consciously spend time examining all that is critical to overcoming hurdles.

Where Ted Lasso exceeds as a series is with this innate form of spotlighting mental health and in the “The Signal,” it’s doing so with its nominal character, Sudeikis’ Ted

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Toheeb Jimoh is utter sunshine with his hundred-watt smile on Apple TV’s Ted Lasso, and in this season so far, the series is giving the actor more opportunities to beam. “Do the Right-est Thing” in a myriad of ways is Sam Obisanya’s episode.

The buildup to giving us more depth to his character has been brewing from day one, and in this episode, we get it all. Where in “Lavender” we learn just how safe his father feels knowing he is in good hands with Ted, in this episode, we are given insight into just how much Sam cares to make his parents proud.

And through every moment, Toheeb Jimoh brought front and center a full range of captivating emotions. From the instant his reservations toward Jamie started showing, to the end where he called everyone in for the photo with Nora, Jimoh was bringing his a-game in embodying the character down to the t.

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July 11-17 “For All Time, Always” | Loki Tom Hiddleston

Tom Hiddleston always understands the assignments in front of him and goes for the extra credit every time too. He is essentially the embodiment of the latest internet meme because there are so few like Hiddleston who are able to escape so easily into whatever role they’ve just taken on.

And in every way that matters, Tom Hiddleston is the reason Marvel’s Loki Laufeyson is as memorable of a character as he is.

As someone who generally isn’t fond of villains (and more often than not isn’t even fascinated by the performances), Hiddleston was the first exception, proving with every passing film that he was working behind the scenes to give the audience ample opportunities to see the layers inside of Loki. Thus, through the years, Tom Hiddleston’s work has continuously improved, and in the latest Disney Plus series, he outdoes his past performances exponentially, which has been outstanding to watch.

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Jasmine Cephas Jones is back to reprise her role as Ashley Jones, and she’s already one of our favorite performers on TV right now. Blindspotting is one of the best films we’ve all watched in recent years, but dare I say, I might start loving the show even more later on. It’s safe to assume most of us are now addicted to it, right?

In the latest episode “Smashley Rose,” Jasmine Cephas Jones brings her A-game with a scene so cathartic, there could not have been a single viewer who didn’t feel every ounce of what Ashley was feeling in that moment. Cephas Jones’ poetic delivery was masterful in and of itself, but the breakdown was remarkably transformative.

We have written about scenes like this in the past for Noteworthy Performances, and something we’ve always said is that if a scene in this fashion is featured, then it’s indeed groundbreaking. It’s a scene that could have easily been overdone if the character were not fully embodied, but instead, Cephas Jones brought a myriad of emotions to the surface impeccably.

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May 23-26 “Is This Really How It’s Going to End?!” and “A Chance at a Happy Ending” | Lucifer Lesley-Ann Brandt

The entire cast of Netflix’s Lucifer have outdone themselves impeccably during the latter half of season five, which makes this choice a difficult one. And if you’ve been here long enough then you know that’s something we absolutely adore. If our choice is difficult then it means the performances have been truly noteworthy.

It wasn’t an easy choice, I legitimately wanted to feature every single person especially during the last two episodes, but Lesley-Ann Brandt’s arc this season as Maze has been the most surprising. Yes, Lucifer has quite a journey, and it’s been extraordinary, but the development we’ve gotten for Maze has been wonderfully unexpected, and so much of it is due to Brandt’s performances from beginning to end. Brandt has layered the character masterfully through subtle nuances and brought her emotions front and center during the last few episodes with enormous depth.

Maze has had one hell of a journey on earth and finding her soul has been a large part of that journey—finding joy, finding a family, finding love and navigating through the fears of loss. Thus, when there is loss, it’s up to Brandt to show us just how harrowing the pain is and just how much Maze has grown even while she falls.

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Shadow and Bone is full of incredible performers left and right who’ve each done a compelling job of bringing their characters to life with range and nuances that have made them even better than they were on paper. This is a series that demanded its characters show more and the performances do. When we say they all understood the assignment, we mean it. 

Nevertheless, from the very first episode to the last, it’s Amita Suman who stands out impeccably, bringing to life parts of her character that would have otherwise been relatively unknown to non-book readers. In our Character Deep Dive for Inej Ghafa, we state: “Suman has masterfully brought a plethora of grace, humility, curiosity, and eons of empathy to Inej. When you look into her eyes, sincerity pours through like heavy rain on a clear night—there is no doubt about Inej’s heart or her intentions. Through her mannerisms and the wide range of emotions, Suman lays everything bare for viewers to see—she has mastered the character’s quips with brilliantly meticulous performances that bring to life thousands of emotions even in silence. I mention it in almost every episode review, but she is easily the performer who stands out almost effortlessly.”

Having gone through training for both Inej’s acrobatic routines and in order to manage the knives, Suman has brought both physical essentials to life organically. However, most inimitably, it’s crucial to touch on the emotional strokes she’s layers the character with. Whether she’s front and center or in the background of a scene, in all eight episodes, Amita Suman excels at delivering a full range of emotions.

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April 11-17 “Zoey’s Extraordinary Mystery” | Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Alice Lee

We haven’t gotten nearly enough of Emily on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist this season, but on “Zoey’s Extraordinary Mystery,” Alice Lee was given the chance to touch on some incredibly rough heartaches, which she managed masterfully.

We do not see postpartum brought to life on television often, and even when we do, it seldom feels like it is given the proper attention that it deserves. Here is to hoping Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist actually delivers on what it is setting up because Alice Lee was brilliant in her evocative rendition of Demi Lovato’s “Anyone.”

The song is an emotional one as is, but the execution mattered in order to get the message across and have it tie into the story seamlessly. Therefore, much to no one’s surprise, Lee was crushing in her exhibition of revealing the fact Emily is lost in how alone she feels. She is there, but she isn’t really and Lee brilliantly showcased the brokenness of her spirit through both song and her physicality.

On this series, we generally get intricate choreography with the musical number, but with this number, we were given something that felt even more evocative because it revealed Emily’s inability to cope with things. The way Lee moved her body in the chair and how she used her hands to cling to her knees was harrowing to watch. You could feel every ounce of Emily’s darkness–the way she feels completely helpless, and the detail that she does not know how to handle any of it it came through so poignantly, it was heartbreaking.

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April 4-10 “The Whole World is Watching” | The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Sebastian Stan

Sebastian Stan is a fascinating performer with incredible range and the kind of actor whose roles are often easily transformative, which allow viewers to separate each of his characters effortlessly. He’s not just Bucky Barnes, and he’s never been, which in and of itself is incredibly rewarding to see as viewers. Stan is remarkable and in this episode, he’s the most nuanced we’ve seen him as Bucky.

This is the first time I’ve cried and cared about Bucky this deeply and that makes me happier than I can say. Don’t at me, I’ve adored the character, but I haven’t cried the way I did watching this performance. (And yes, I listened to “The Winter Soldier” theme the entire time while writing. You have to set the mood, right?!)

As mentioned in our highlights for “The Whole World is Watching,” this is the one scene where not many in the universe actually saw and yet, it was the most powerful showcase of a rollercoaster of emotions. This is also what made WandaVision so special because moments of vulnerability with the characters who are supposed to be our heroes grounds them so beautifully, it’s almost hard to bear.

Bucky’s freedom has mattered exponentially. The torture, the darkness, the regrets, the burdens, the demons–he’s carried it all with him long after freedom was achieved, but even then, the transition from the Winter Soldier to the White Wolf was an extraordinary sight for us to see with Ayo, and I’m thrilled the series gave it to us.

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February 20-27 “Previously On” | WandaVision Elizabeth Olsen

PSA: This article will be full of spoilers—if you have yet to see the new episode of Disney’s WandaVision, stop reading right away and return once you’ve done so.

I kept putting off a performance review for Elizabeth Olsen because we all knew something large and explosive was coming. (But really, she has been the most noteworthy performer since episode one.) We knew that every look, every move was leading to culminating moments where she’d have to bare it all, stripping herself bit by bit. As Agatha tried to figure out how Wanda did what she did in creating the show and bringing Vision back to life, she forced Wanda to live through her most painful life events, which led to Olsen’s revolutionary work in telling viewers the harrowing story of grief.

This is ultimately what WandaVision is about—it’s the story about grief and it’s the story about a woman who is tired. It has been from the very beginning, long before Wanda even uttered the words this week to tell us; it’s what Olsen has been showing the audience with her expressiveness tucked deep beyond the act Wanda is putting on. We see it in the memory of her parents, her love for The Dick Van Dyke Show, and we hear it in her words: “I’m …  I’m so tired. It’s just like this wave washing over me, again and again. It knocks me down and when I try to stand up, it just comes for me again.”

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February 14-20 “Breaking the Fourth Wall” | WandaVision Kathryn Hahn

Before we dive into this performance review, make sure you’ve seen the latest episode of WandaVision because this will be spoiler heavy.

We knew. We all knew, but a teeny tiny part of us hoped, perhaps even thought, no we’re wrong, it’s too obvious. Agnes can’t be Agatha Harkness, it’s just … too obvious. And yet sometimes, the obvious answer is the answer. It’s the one that makes the sense and there could not have been a more perfect actress to play her than Kathryn Hahn.

While most of the women on the show, and in this episode particularly are given the chance to question—to grieve (as the prominent theme of the show), Hahn is given the chance to pull the strings. She’s calling the shots and she’s doing so with the kind of lunacy that we have always believed is the tipping point for actors or actresses playing villains. It can be overdone, quite literally sometimes, it can be too much, but with Hahn’s portrayal of Agnes and now Agatha Harkness, it’s embodiment that works in an incredibly meta, nuanced way. When she goes from Agnes’ reveal to Agatha, in a split second of acute hollowness Hahn shows the audience what a true threat she is, but then her theme starts playing and we get a glimpse of the more chaotic version that’s masterful in this series’ carefully crafted storytelling.

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