All right we are officially at the
last part of my predictions. We haven't
saved the best for last but we do have an impressive array of nominees in this
category. Several of them are among the most impressive character actresses in
TV and at least three are long deserving of some kind of Emmy recognition. They
ran the gamut from comedy to tragedy, from imperialism to pain and pure horror.
They all would be worthy winners but only one can prevail.
Here are the nominees.
Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis (EXPERTS
PICK). For Playing: Carol
Smernitch, the widow of Floyd who had an affair with his best friend and seems
to be hiding more than she's telling. Pro: Somehow despite having been
prominent in television since her work in the groundbreaking Freaks &
Geeks Linda Cardellini has never won an Emmy. To say that her work as Carol
is the best performance she's given in twenty-five years in TV is an
exaggeration but it is by far that shows every aspect of her range as an
actress. Here is the comic dynamo willing to go for physical comedy whether as
a Little League Umpire or bizarre sex fantasies. Here is the loving parent,
struggling under economic circumstances. Here is the femme fatale, seemingly
trying to manipulate everyone around her. Here is the woman wanted to be loved.
And they are all present in the same series and sometimes even in the same
moments. Cardellini has been the favorite in this category since DTF St
Louis debuted and she won the Astra in this category last month. It looks
like the stars are aligned. Con: The Emmys has a difficult time
recognizing comic performances in these categories and Cardellini is not
Jennifer Coolidge, the last clear winner in this category for that kind of
performance.
Dakota Fanning, All Her Fault. (MY
PICK): For Playing: Jenny Kaminsky, who learns the nanny of her son is involved
in a kidnapping plot that leads to the unfurling of her marriage. Pro: In just a few years' time Dakota
Fanning has become one of the most dominant figures in peak TV. This is her
second nomination in this category in three years and Jenny couldn't be more
different then Margie Greenwood in Ripley. Here is the working mother
who wants to have it all but can't, whose family dynamic is torpedoed when she
learns her nanny was responsible for abducting Mari Irvine's young son, who
tries to be a good friend despite everything and whose marriage comes completely
undone when she learns how little her husband is willing to contribute. The
speech that she gives in the sixth episode where she speaks for every single
working mother, if not woman in society, is one of the most triumphant moments
in the entire series and it is worth noting her character is one of the few who
comes out the least traumatized from the experience. Throw in the fact that
this one of the few times in Emmy history two siblings have been nominated in
the same year and there's an argument that she should get this one. Con: I
love Fanning's work and it deserves to win but there's another child actor in
this category whose been around nearly as long as Fanning and honestly deserves
recognition more.
Laurie Metcalf, Monster: The Ed
Gein Story. For Playing: Augusta Gein, who becomes the most famous victim
of her serial killer son. Pro: Like
Jason Bateman, Matthew Rhys and Nick Offerman, Metcalf has shown her
versatility with nominations both in this category and for her previous Emmy
winning role in Hacks which she received a nomination for Best Guest
Actress in a Comedy. Metcalf has been one of the most versatile actresses in
television for a very long time and she has her share of Emmys. But few roles show
her versatility then her portrayal perhaps the most famous mother in the
history of pop culture who we only new the fictional version of and even then
after she was dead. That Metcalf manages to find a basic humanity behind this
figure is another tribute to how brilliant
a performer she is and why she hasn't lost a step since we first met her
on Roseanne nearly forty years ago. Con: Given the incredible
backlash over Season 3, it's highly unlikely anyone from this show will get
anything.
Joy Sunday, DTF St. Louis. For
Playing: Jodie Plumb, a porn-positive detective who thinks that there's
something deeper beneath the apparent accidental death of Floyd Smernitch. Pro:
As with Richard
Jenkins, Sunday's nomination was a delightful surprise mainly because in all my
years of watching TV, I've never met a character quite like the porn-positive
detective who knows everything you ever wanted to know about penises, cowboy
spreads and online world but were afraid to ask. (And Horner really was.) There
was something earnest and deadpan about her delivery and the way she went
through every aspect of this case that was hysterical, particularly as you
watched her google certain pornography with the intensity that CSI did bugs and
blood spatter. The way that no matter how weird the case got she seemed to take
in stride, the way she had a patience with all of the strangeness that should
have been off-putting but was always hysterical, the way this relative unknown
could work with some of the greatest actors in television, made her work a
triumph in every respect. Con: Could you speak louder? If there's a
performer in this category who will win it’s the one who engages in the bizarre
sexual activity, not the one who thinks it normal.
Youn Yuh-Jung, Beef (DARK
HORSE). For Playing: Chairwoman Park, the Korean multi-billionaire who has just
acquired a new country club and is about to use it to engage in truly unethical
manipulations. Pro: I
underestimated the possibility that Yuh-Jung's Chairwoman would be nominated
over Callie Spaeny, who seemed the more obvious choice. But much like Maria
Bello in Season 1 of Beef Yuh-Jung is the true and most obvious force of
capitalism in this series, except she is even less burdened by affection. At first
it seems she does what she does to protect her husband but as things continue
to spiral its clear she's doing it to protect herself and in the final two
episodes we see that she is unburdened evil and arguably one of the most
frightening characters in the series history to this point. That Yuh-Jung does
all of this without even raising her voice or even showing real emotion during
the series – in contrast to every other character as the tension rising – is a
masterpiece of subtlety that rarely, if ever, rates the kind of nominations the
Emmys give. It's a superb performance from an actress with a five decade plus
career that of course only recent America has discovered. Con: Understated
and subtlety don't usually win awards and I don't think it's going to work for
the Chairwoman. But Yuh-Jung has an Oscar. She won't be that upset. (Please
don't come after me, Chairwoman.
Constance Zimmer, Love Story. For
Playing: Ann Marie Messina, Carolyn's mother who fears her daughter's marriage
to JFK will eat her alive and whose family becomes collateral damage to a
national tragedy. Pro: Of
all the incredible supporting performances in this series I didn't think
Zimmer's relative small and less prominent role would earn a nomination against
such talent as Grace Gummer and Naomi Watts. But it did in large part for that
very reason. As Carolyn's mother she was sure from the beginning of the
courtship that her mother would end up eating her daughter alive, a prediction
that she made at the wedding itself and was sadly proven correct. And in the
series finale when the Kennedy family treats her like the second class citizen
they believe all non-Kennedys are the utter contempt and hatred that has been
building for over a decade is magnificent. Just as impressive is the scene
between her and Caroline Kennedy when the two of them unfold the tragedies that
have brought them to this point and they manage to find a small moment of
common ground. Furthermore Zimmer has
been one of the great unsung forces in television for more than two decades,
attached to countless Emmy winning series as well as a nomination for herself
for UnREAL yet she has never earned a prize. She's earned this one. Con:
In truth few predicted Zimmer would even be nominated in this category and
the Emmys was the first award show that did so. I don't think she has a real
chance.
My Prediction: Linda Cardellini will become the
second Freaks & Geeks alum in two years to win an Emmy. Jason Segel,
your time is coming.
As for Directing and Writing I think Beef
will win the former and DTF. St Louis will win the latter.
And that, as they say, is that. After
the Creative Arts Emmys are broadcast next Saturday I'll have the results of
them on Sunday and the Emmys themselves on Tuesday September 15th.
Best of luck to all the nominees.
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