Elisabeth Moss
The
Madwoman of Gilead
I am in the distinct minority that
most of what made Mad Men one of the
best series on television took place in its initial three seasons. There were a
lot of great moments for AMC’s initial premiere classic in the past decade, but
I still feel that it peaked around Season 5. But the one thing that did was the
work of the extraordinary women in the cast. And no one will argue that Elisabeth
Moss’ performance as Peggy was by far the series greatest accomplishment,
watching her go from timid secretary to the most professionally and sexually
liberated member of the entire cast. All
of the actors on Mad Men were shorted
by the Emmys, but Moss by far was the most victimized. She didn’t let that
bother her though – it took her less than two years to be at the fulcrum of
another game changing series. While I question the unrelenting darkness behind The Handmaid’s Tale, I don’t argue for a
single moment with Moss’ remarkable performance as Offred/June, the woman who
stands at the heart of rebellion in Gilead . As
if that were not enough of an accomplishment, in her spare time she plays a
hypersexual, hard-partying New Zealand detective at the center of some perverse
mysteries at the center of Jane Campion’s series Top of The Lake – which got her the first Golden Globe she’d ever
win. There have been a lot of great female driven performances at the center of
this decade. Few have been as memorable as the ones Moss has breathed life
into.
Michael Sheen
The
Epitome of Restraint
Of all the series at the center of
the 2010s, I feel that Showtime’s Masters
of Sex, the drama centered around the lives of groundbreaking sexual
studies Masters and Johnson was by far the most underrated. Superbly written,
directed and above all acted, it is among the contenders of greatest period
piece ever. And one of the reason that I loved it so much was the work of
Michael Sheen as Dr. William Masters.
Prior to this series, Sheen was
known for being one of the most undervalued actors in the history of movies,
known for his portrayals of such British icons as Tony Blair and David Frost.
The role of William Masters fit him like a glove as he a man who wanted to
break the boundaries of how we looked at sex, but couldn’t acknowledge –
especially to himself – that he couldn’t control every element of the world
around him, from his professional life to his troubled marriage to his relation
with Virginia Johnson. It was a textbook performance in how underplaying a role
deserves to measure, which is probably why he never received a single Emmy
nomination for his work. Ever since Masters
was prematurely canceled, Sheen has kept himself very busy – in 2019 alone,
he played Azriphale, a restrained angel who misplaces the Antichrist in Good Omens, a showboat, boundary pushing
attorney on Season 3 of The Good Fight, and
a serial killer father on the new breakout hit Prodigal Son. I think the odds of his remaining underrecognized
have dropped precipitously in the past few months, and I couldn’t be happier.
Olivia Colman
Long
Live the Queen
It has now been considered a
virtual given that Olivia Colman is going to get at least one Emmy for taking
over the role of Queen Elizabeth II on Netflix’s incredible series The Crown, even though it doesn’t debut
until November. This, however, will only serve as a overcorrection for a
British actress who was definitely a regal presence – yes, even before she
deservedly won an Oscar for playing Queen Anne in The Favorite.
She launched herself to stardom in
the incredible British mystery series Broadchurch
as Detective Miller, a woman who found herself out of her depth when a
friend of her son was murdered in the first season, and would eventually
learned that it was not the only connection. Over three seasons, her work was
among the great performances I’ve ever seen, winning her a BAFTA prize for
television. In 2016, she launched herself to American audiences in the
incredible AMC adaptation of John Le Carre’s The Night Manager, playing a spy master so brilliant at her job, I
was actually astonished when I learned that the writers had flipped her
character gender for the part: she was so perfect in the role. And she has
capped it off with two incredible seasons in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s work Fleabag, playing Godmother, the woman
who was the bane of the title character’s existence, and was so nice to
everyone you couldn’t help but hate
her. I’d say she was robbed of an Emmy, but there were a lot of good competitors
in that race. She’s clearly one of the most gifted British actresses of our
time – I feel absolutely no doubt about her ability to step into the shoes and
handbag that Claire Foy handled so well for two seasons.
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