This category has a marginal
frontrunner in Alex Borstein to repeat last year’s win. Much like Winkler,
there’s an excellent argument for her to do so. But this is a category that has
a lot of talented women (and there are even some SNL and Veep cast
members I can go along with), and I actually have some good arguments for all
of them.
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Almost every line that comes out of
her mouth is hysterical. This shouldn’t come as
a shock, as Borstein has had the gift to steal every scene she’s in
since the early days of Mad TV. But
as Susie Myerson, Midge’s often beleaguered agent, Borstein has the ability to
make everything hysterical, whether its being abducted by the nicest mobsters
you can imagine, or staying at Midge’s apartment while her parents are in Paris
D’Arcy Carden, The Good Place
Carden’s work as Janet has always
been incredible, and the writers give her a lot of great material as her
omniscient AI continues to evolve out of the strangest of reasons, as well as
the ability to impersonate the evil versions of herself. But we all know the
reason that she deserves a nomination
this year: ‘Janets’. One of the most daring episodes of 2018 in which all four
of the ‘normal people’ hide in her, and become variations of Janet. Which means
Carden had to play versions of all of them. And that’s before things started to
spiral way out of control. Throw in her fine supporting work on Barry, and its obvious that her profile
has gone up quite a bit. It’s going to take a lot of maneuvering to say she
hasn’t earned in this year.
Betty Gilpin, GLOW
In any other hands than hers,
Debbie could come off as something of a bitch. After all, Liberty Belle is the
star of the series, she seems to be trying to outmaneuver everything that her
co-stars want, and her response to Ruth when she learned of the near assault
she’d endured was horrifying. But Debbie is as much a victim of the times as Ruth
is: she may have the producer position, but it’s a title that gets her nothing,
she’s still trying to deal with her divorce, and she has more pressure on her
then any other cast member. Gilpin somehow manages to pull likability out of
this character, and she deserves another nomination.
Regina Hall, Black Monday\
Of all the characters on this very
twisted show, Dawn was one the audience empathized with the most. Being a black
woman is hard enough in any era; to be a Wall Street trader in the 1980s,
trying to find your time in a sexist organization run by your coke-sniffing
ex-boyfriend, well, that’s a special section of hell. And even though Dawn
betrayed Mo in the end, we still felt sympathy for her as she was dismissed by
the Treasury as they came roaring it. Hall has been one of my favorite
actresses for a long time, and I think she deserves a nomination more than
anyone else in that cast. Yes, even more than Cheadle.
Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Somehow in the midst of the
ridiculous number of nominations this extraordinary series got, Hinkle’s often
bewildered Rose managed to get shut out. I seriously doubt the voters will make
that mistake again. Rose’s journey to Paris was one of the more endearing
thing, as she manage to completely bewilder Abe and Midge, and then managed to
find a way to work towards independence in a way she probably never has. She
still has the bite that so many maternal figures in Palladino’s world do, but
it seems a lot gentler in her delivery in the way that Emily Bishop always
managed. She has earned a bite at the Emmy apple.
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
I’ve gradually become more won over
to McKinnon’s abilities as SNL continues its run. No matter which political
figures she plays, or how far fetched and absurd so many of her others are, she
has the gifts of the divine that so many of the other great dames of SNL have
demonstrated – from Poehler and Fey to Maya Rudolph and Kristin Wiig. I may
have bitched beyond believe when so many of them took nominations from those
who I thought deserved it more, but I was wrong then, and I’m wrong now.
Considering that McKinnon’s future on SNL is uncertain, one more nomination
won’t kill us.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Clea Duvall, Veep
It’s a near certainty that Anna
Chlumsky will earn a nomination for her work as the frazzled campaign manager.
But why not honor some of the other fine actors and actresses who actually did
subtle work on a series that decried subtlety? Arguments could be for Sam
Richardson’s optimistic Richard, but I’d also like to give a shout out to the
only level-headed and deadpan character on this series, Duvall, the ex-Secret
Service agent/lesbian lover of Selina’s unloved daughter. As one of the few
characters on this series who seemed capable of love – or any emotion – Duvall
had a way of delivering truth to power that just unsettled everybody, even
Catherine. Duvall’s been around for awhile – since the early days of Ellen – and she more than has earned a
spot for being so funny, so delightful, and so honest on a series where rarely
the three did meet.
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