Sometimes, the best television puts its characters through hell, and those characters leave us wanting to follow them there.
A little dark, we know. But so good!
We got all of the above this week, as some of our favorite characters faced impossible circumstances, painful truths, and the kinds of emotional moments that are everything that character-driven storytelling is all about.
Khalil Edwards – All American
Khalil Edwards was the MVP of All American Season 8 Episode 9. Olivia’s early labor traumatized him when he found her bleeding on the kitchen floor, and he sprang into action to save her.
Khalil has struggled with abandonment issues ever since his mom left him and his dad years ago, but the Bakers made him feel loved and wanted. He would have done anything to return the favor.
When Khalil felt lost, he finally confronted his dad about why his mom left. He needed to understand his complex family dynamics to thrive.
He’s been trying so hard, and I loved that even though Khalil was angry with his mother, he called her to walk him through helping Olivia. He knew she’d use her nursing skills to help him.
Old resentments may be hard to get past, but he showed how he’s grown by putting others first. That took strength. – Laura Nowak
Rebecca – Ted Lasso
Hannah Waddingham is an undeniable powerhouse, and Ted Lasso Season 4 Episode 5 was the perfect hour to showcase that well.
It was frustrating to watch Rebecca take on so much accountability for her relationship, or lack thereof, with Matthijs, but we did get great insight into Rebecca’s perspective on things, and frankly that’s all we ever really care about, right?
Rebecca is such a richly complex woman.
The hour that gave us so many different sides of her: the drunken queen with Keeley, recuperating from the aftermath of her dissolution of a romance, the rowdy woman passionate at the game, the deeply empathetic and caring woman having conversations with Matthijs’ daughter — we had them all.
We had the many shades and sides of Rebecca, and every version of her; we embrace the full version of her most.
Rebecca is such a well-rounded character and woman.
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It’s exciting to get peeks into that when she’s most vulnerable.
That’s especially the case with the affirmation that those who genuinely love her (yes, the Rebecca and Keeley love is more enduring than any romance the show could ever give us) can take all of her– flaws, complications, and all.
Alice – Furious
Don’t know about you guys, but the Furious Season 1 Finale is a masterful and powerful piece of writing that is still sitting with us nearly a week later.
Emmy Rossum gives her series best, which is frankly impressive given that the performances during Furious were top-notch throughout.
Alice, hot on the heels of Catherine, shows up at Jay Easton’s house, and we get some of the most impactful storytelling of the series yet.
Her sympathy, or rather empathy and compassion toward Catherine, is in full force as she walks this woman through her own trauma to figure out what really happened to Isabel.
As many have remarked regarding her arresting Catherine, placing those cuffs on her wrists feels like “an act of love.”
She’s tender and kind, and an innate sisterhood and profound connection tie them together, which carries on when she visits Catherine later, and the truth of how Jay Easton really dies comes to light.
Alice’s final moments in the finale show this transformative woman.
It’s the hour that gave her some semblance of justice she sought out on her terms: a love with Danny she actually allowed herself to fully embrace, and clarity after those absolutely devastating moments of facing her own video in that room.
It’s that final bit that’s still haunting: the series of emotions she displayed as she processed it all — how she couldn’t get any lower, or more hurt, and humiliated, before that steely resolve sets in, and with it, maybe, potentially, a new mission — and definitely fury.
Catherine – Furious
Can we just give Lola Petticrew her flowers and maybe some Emmys, too? Goodness!
Catherine knew her time was essentially up during the Furious finale, which meant her presence carried a finality that haunted most of it.
There were so many powerful moments, from her ruminations in the greenhouse as she reminded Emma Easton that she, too, was part of the problem in all of this — her assertion that Emma could shoot her with the exhaustion of a girl who didn’t even know if she wanted to live anymore was particularly gripping.
Catherine’s speech in the house about how she didn’t have a choice in her life, how everyone decided everything for her, her being abandoned, bounced around, trafficked, and raped and beaten — it’s enough to bring tears to your eyes.
And then we had her most powerful scene of all, when she pieced together what really happened to Isabel, her role in it, and had to process that in a room where the only woman who showed her the empathy she deserved was the woman arresting her.
All season, there were so many heartbreaking elements to Catherine.
Watching her completely covered in blood, but still wearing decorated shoes like a child, and jelly bracelets like an innocent teenager, forever longing for what she should’ve had, were all these little moments and pieces that drove what she said home even further.
And again, Petticrew’s performance is chilling, something that sticks with you well after the credits roll, and should.
Anna – Anna Pigeon
Anna Pigeon has been quite a force, but nothing quite like on Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 5, which saw her quite literally fighting for her life at the bottom of a cave while grappling with the haunting memories of her husband’s death.
It was easily the strongest hour of the season thus far, and it put Anna through the wringer, which naturally brought out more layers of the character in a way that was wholly satisfying.
The hour also let Tracy Spiridakos show more layers of this heroine, volleying between despair, fatigue, grit, guilt, shame, and fear with relative ease.
It’s her determination and ability to think under pressure, and hell, maybe some pushes from the part of her subconscious that poses as her late husband, that had her pulling from all of her natural survival instincts and saving herself.
In true Anna Pigeon fashion.
The hour put our girl through absolute hell, and it was difficult to see at times, but it was also riveting to watch, as was she!
Honorary Mentions: Jesse and Zoey
Neither Anna’s boyfriend nor her mentee plays about her, and it’s the other aspect of the hour that makes things interesting.
A woman who often isolates herself can’t help but spark love, care, and consideration from those around her.
Jesse and Zoey were relentless in their pursuit of finding her, even when others doubted whether Anna had left of her own accord or something more sinister.
On the one hand, we had Jesse throwing hands when it came to respecting Anna’s honor, and defying laws and demands if it meant getting to the truth of what happened.
And Zoey was a force in her own right, taking matters into her own hands even if it meant defying Geoff, and investigating properly the whole way through. It was a shining moment for a character who could easily be written off as a “sidekick” at first glance.
Over to you, TV Fanatics. Who were your Characters of the Week?
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