This is where I start to
spread my wings. There are eight nominees in this category and I’m not going to
be bound by what might happen. I am fine with Tony Shalhoub getting one last
nomination for Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I can live with more than one
nominee from Ted Lasso. But for the
rest, I am going with the performers who over the course of the last year
brought me both the most joy and most intensity in their work.
Anthony Carrigan, Barry
Few performers showed more
range in the final season of Barry than
Carrigan as Noho Hank. With the effects of one of the most terrifying scenes in
all of 2022 still shaking him, he tried to go legit with Cristobal, the love of
his life. His desire to be safe,
however, led to Cristobal being killed. He tried to put on the façade of
legitimacy in the future but that death was haunting him a decade later and it
was something he just couldn’t admit to himself in the final confrontation –
and it cost him his life. Throughout, of course, there were still moments of
great humor: his motivational speech at ‘the Dave and the Buster’, his
discussion with a hit man over a podcast, his selections of four deadly killers
and his reaction to receiving their heads returned to him. Carrigan is a
certainty for one last nomination as Barry rides into the sunset.
Brett Goldstein, Ted
Lasso
Goldstein has won the last
two consecutive Supporting Actor Emmys for his work as Roy Kent, an absolutely
remarkable foul-mouthed character who remained a bulwark of joy even through an
erratic third season. In a way Goldstein is the breakout star of Ted Lasso in
a way that so many of the other great performers have not quite been – Roy is so iconic that he’s made an appearance
in his commercial and he seems to have so much difficulty separating the two
that he can’t make it through an awards acceptance speech without swearing, even
when he promises he will at the start. Roy Kent and Goldstein are incredible
performers and of all the actors connected with Ted Lasso, I have the
least problem with him returning to the Emmys this year. (As for the
possibility he’ll make it three in a row…well, we’ll get to that.)
Bryan Tyree Henry, Atlanta
This one is something of a
long shot. Henry has been making a climb towards stardom in the last year,
receiving an Oscar nomination for his work in Causeway. And while Donald
Glover is more likely to receive recognition, it is Henry’s whose work was the
most consistently impressive throughout the final season. Watching him go on a
bizarre scavenger hunt to find the funeral for a rapper he idolized, finding a
young white kid to mentor for when he became to old to be hip, trying to figure
out a way to avoid being destroyed by the Crank serial killer and his final
act, a basically one man show when he took time off on his farm, which brought some
unwanted guests as he tried to fix his tractor.
Only an actor like Henry could handle all of this with something
resembling aplomb and I think he’s entitled to one last nomination.
James Marsden, Dead to
Me
Marsden is slightly less
of a longshot that Henry is: he received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor
from the Critics Choice awards and his show is more likely to get nominations
than Henry’s is by the Emmys. Marsden has
been one of Dead to Me’s secret weapons throughout its run: first
playing the contemptible and criminal Steve, then taking over as his twin
brother Ben in Season and now showing Ben unraveling for his role in the
drunken hit and run that put Jen and Judy in the hospital. He spent much of the
final season, dealing with his own guilt, having a really messed up
relationship with Jen, trying to make things right with his family, trying to
deal with his alcoholism – and really, just making everything worse as he tried
to make it better. Marsden has been the part of two sensational shows both of
which came to an end in 2022: Dead to Me on its own terms; Westworld as
a shock. It would be fitting if Marsden got a nomination for this series at
least.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The
Bear
It took a lot to
appreciate Moss-Bachrach’s work as the foul-mouthed, perpetually bullying ‘Cousin’
Richie, who spent so much of the first season shitting on every decision Carmy
made, treating everybody he met with contempt, literally doing everything he
could to destroy everything in front of him, utterly incapable of dealing with
the change of the world around him. Only Moss-Bachrach incredibly delivery and hysterical
inability to see everything around him could make you stand this character, who
in every aspect of the way was a complete and utter loser and seemed determined
to show it by making everybody miserable. Then in the season finale, Richie had
his own moment of clarity as he realized just how horrible things were and how
much guilt he felt for the death of his friend. In the finale, he took the
smallest steps towards redemption that for him were giant leaps, and his
actions may have finally given his family a future. It’s not easy to appreciate
a performance like this, but the Critics’ Choice were willing to give him a
Supporting Actor nomination. I’d like to think the Emmys will do the same.
Chris Perfetti, Abbott
Elementary
I was overjoyed last year
when Perfetti was a surprise nomination for his incredible work as Jacob, the
gay ally who wants to be friends and a good person without coming across as too
much. It was just as much fun to watch Jacob this year in so many occasions: his
trying to get a mural painted and then being alarmed at what his students
picked, his teaching black history in his class and being increasingly unnerved
by Ava’s presence, his time at the convention when he makes an ally and then
learns just what a snob she is, his relationship with Gregory where he keeps
overstepping his bounds through much of the season and yet eventually ends up
with the two becoming friends. If the
Emmys are lazy, they will nominate Perfetti again. If the Emmys watched his
work, they would nominate him again. Whatever works as long as he gets invited
back.
Tyler James Williams, Abbott
Elementary
I was absolutely delighted
when Tyler James Williams took the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor this
year; the first given only for Drama and Comedy. He also deservedly picked up
the Best Supporting Actor prize from the Image awards. It’s pretty clear at
this point he’s the overwhelming favorite to win the Emmy this year. I could
not be more delighted. Williams’ work as
Gregory is already one of the great performances in TV history as he perpetually
tries to play someone who has complete dignity and utterly humiliates himself
on so many occasions. (Was anyone shocked to learn that he had never figured
out how to make small talk properly?) Williams has officially taken up the
mantle that John Krasinski perfected in his year’s on The Office by
saying so much to the viewer with his expression, only in Williams’ case it is
as if he is trying to use his face to express the opposite of what he’s
telling us. There is nothing that Williams does on screen that isn’t hysterical
and we all know already that he and Janine are soul mates, which they spent as
much time in Season 2 denying, then trying to accept, then denying again. It’s
fitting this is a slow burn romance because Williams is the master of the slow
burn expression. Williams is almost
certain to win this year and I’d like to see him look happy if he wins.
Henry Winkler, Barry
Henry Winkler was a
dominant figure in the Supporting Actor awards for the third season of Barry,
taking prizes from both the HCA and the Critics Choice awards. In his final
season as Gene, everything seemed to come together and fall apart. Gene had
brought down the man who killed his girlfriend but couldn’t stop his desire for
self-promotion. He accidentally shot his son and went off the grid. He came
back to make amends and stop the movie that was being made about his story.
Then he fell victim to his own desire to be played by a great actor – and as a
result, he lost everything in final episodes. Even after he managed to take
revenge on the man who’d destroyed his life in the finale, he basically ensured
that he Barry’s version of events, not his, would live on forever. I honestly
don’t know what must have been more painful to Gene: sentenced to life in prison
for Barry crimes or that he wasn’t played by Daniel Day-Lewis in the movie
of it. I wanted Winkler to win the Emmy last year. This year, it would be nice but for Winkler,
it would be gravy. Like Bill Hader, he has nothing left to prove in this role.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Jeff Hiller, Somebody
Somewhere
As with Bridget Everett,
Hiller’s nomination is a matter of time.
Considering how many nominees in this category are in series that are in
their final season, it’s likely it will happen the moment Season 3 of the show
premieres. And anyone who has seen Hiller’s work as Joel knows that Hiller has
earned it. He is a real gay best friend,
everyone in Sex and The City be damned. He and Sam are soulmates in a way that has
nothing to do with romance: these are two good people bound by being eternal
outsiders. Joel is the kind of guy who will show up at Sam’s house with a
martini, the kind of person who can do fast-walking, the kind of guy who can handle
when your undergoing the horrible biological needs. It hurt to see the two of
them estranged in Season 2, and we all knew that when Everett sang Gloria in
the season finale, it was really for Joel.
Hiller is perfect every moment he’s on screen. The Emmys should
recognize him this year. They will recognize him someday.
Tomorrow I wrap up with
Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Comedy and some thoughts about Guest Actor
and Actress
Support the WGA!
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