THE EXECUTOR | Elizabeth olsen
THE PRESENTATION | WandaVision
THE EPISODE | “Previously on” (February 26, 2021)
PERFORMANCE | Honestly, Olsen has earned the recognition of Artist of the Week for almost each week of WandaVisionruns. As the Disney + series gave us sitcom history lessons, Olsen dazzled us with each step, keeping us as fascinated as the city of Westview with its charming comic performance.
Although WandaVision seems to have left the sitcom structure behind forever, Olsen’s performance in episode 8 was no less attractive, although in a different tone, than the many weeks she spent as a housewife on TV.
During “Previously On”, Wanda was forced to revisit some of the most traumatic and devastating moments of her life, describing to Agatha Harkness (a delightfully tortuous Kathryn Hahn) how life within Hex came into existence. With each flashback she encountered – her parents’ death, her time in Hydra, a bittersweet memory of the Vision comforting her – Wanda seemed more and more overwhelmed by her own pain, as if it were a tangible weight slung over her shoulders. And Olsen, with his tired eyes and trembling lower lip, managed to portray how deep Wanda’s sadness was without saying many words.
At the end of the episode, when visiting the New Jersey site where Vision had planned to build a life with Wanda, his pain and fury literally overflowed, bursting out of Wanda in an explosion of red light that transported Westview back to the 1960s. however effective Olsen’s full hiccups were at that moment, it was an earlier and quieter scene that left an even more indelible impression on us: Wanda’s touching visit to Vision’s corpse at SWORD headquarters. We have already seen how Olsen can convincingly communicate Wanda’s total anger – but here, as a destroyed Wanda admitted, “I can’t feel you” on Vision’s lifeless face, the actress proved that she can also break us with her voice. above a whisper.
THE PERFORMER | Lydia West
THE PRESENTATION | HBO Max’s It is sin
THE EPISODE | “Episode 5” (February 18, 2021)
PERFORMANCE | Jill Baxter is arguably the beating heart at the heart of HBO Max’s HIV / AIDS drama It is sin. She is the glue that holds her chosen family of (mostly) young gay men together. And as the limited series written by Russell T. Davies advanced further into the 1980s, it was his inner activist’s rallying cry that broke the omnipresent denial of his inner circle. For all that, West infused his character with unwavering warmth and determination of steel. But it was in the end – and in an unforgettable sequence in particular – where the Years and years The actress’s profound artistic talent was on full display and moving.
The scene in question found Jill meeting the austere mother of her best friend, Mrs. Tozer (played with first-class precision by English powerhouse Keeley Hawes) in the hope of securing an evasive visit to see her friend sick. Just as it seemed that the heavily injured matriarch was about to agree, she pulled out the carpet of hope from Jill, informing her that Ritchie had already died.
West beautifully and speechless represented the shock and horror that immediately followed, his trembling lips panting for air. The numbness quickly turned to anger when the reality settled in that the woman before her unnecessarily prevented her from seeing Ritchie one last time.
While Mrs. Tozer tried to abstain from responsibility, Jill closed it, but quickly. “This It is your fault… All of that is your fails, ”she says, West layered each word with a no-f-ks-to-give – and deeply satisfying for this particular viewer – abandonment. She then meticulously connected the dots for Mrs. Tozer, teaching her how her cold and “loveless” soul filled Ritchie with shame and turned him into a murderer. And West fully incorporated the injustice behind Davies’ transcendent dialogue. “He maintained his shame by having sex with men, infecting them and running away. Because this is what shame does: it makes him think that deserve this.
“So this is what happened in your home, ”Jill boils, West punctuating his alter ego’s anger with an aggressive pointing finger. He died because of you. ” It is sin, meanwhile, prospered largely because of West’s superb visceral work.
HONORABLE MENTION | The repressed emotions among DickinsonEmily and Sue were sitting in low fire all season, and they finally overflowed at the end of this week’s second season. Hailee Steinfeld and Ella Hunt left the park in a passionate and emotionally raw scene, with a wound Emily insisting that she wanted Sue out of her life forever. She accused Sue of not having feelings, and Sue admitted that she was right: “The only time I feel things is when I’m with you.” Steinfeld showed an astonishing fire when Emily angrily pushed Sue against the door by the neck, and Hunt accompanied her in each emotional knock, with the two finally giving in to their wishes and falling into each other’s arms. We’ve been waiting two seasons for Emily and Sue to meet, and the stellar work of Steinfeld and Hunt was worth the wait.
HONORABLE MENTION | Netflix Thriller Behind her eyes he’s already notorious for his WTF turnaround end – we couldn’t begin to explain if we tried – but he boasted some great performances, too, especially The Knick former student Eve Hewson, who shines (and shocks) like the housewife addicted to pills Adele. Hewson was fascinating to watch all the time, but she saved her best work for the end, with Adele falling apart and screaming madly at her friend Louise when she didn’t obey. In addition, the show’s devastating turn of events added another layer of nuance to Hewson’s work; we kind of want to go back and watch it all over again, just to see what subtle clues she left for us. All of Behind her eyes‘wild twists wouldn’t work without some real human emotion to land them, and Hewson delivered, on a tour de force that really contained crowds.
HONORABLE MENTION | Damson Idris presented an electrifying and versatile performance at the premiere of two episodes of Snow fall Season 4. It’s a twist that allowed Idris to use both the obvious physical vulnerabilities, like the limp and cane that Franklin now has after surviving a gunfight, and the interns marked by the latent grimaces that arose whenever his authority was tested. But the most moving moment was also the quieter portraiture as Franklin’s absent father, Alton (Living Dead(Kevin Carroll) reminded his son of his innocent childhood obsession with Kung Fu. Alton then asked if Franklin could take off one night as a crime boss calculated to nostalgically watch martial arts VHS tapes. Capturing the character’s numbness, Franklin de Idris stifled tears and slowly turned to embrace his father and regret the sweet connection they will never share.
What performance (s) impressed you this week? Tell us in the comments!