Emmy Review: Guest Actor in a Drama
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 11:00PM
By Juan Carlos Ojano
While the Comedy Guest categories are exciting, the Drama Guest categories are just hard to decipher. Last year’s winner, Bradley Whitford for The Handmaid’s Tale, was bumped up to regular supporting (and is actually nominated there). Meanwhile, none of his co-stars submitted in this category made it. Only two of the nominees are from Drama Series contenders and one of them was a surprise inclusion. One nominee is already on his fourth consecutive nomination playing the same role in the same series. Another nominee is actually a giving a lead performance.
With no obvious frontrunner in sight, let’s consider each nominee...
Jason Bateman as Terry Maitland in The Outsider (HBO)
Episode: “Fish in a Barrel”
Appearing in the pilot episode of this show, Bateman’s character introduction is quite simple yet it already foreshadows the remainder of the episode. His fathering seems to be normal unless you count his too matter-of-fact discussion with his children about praying to God. It already suggests something cynical about the character. After that, the episode intentionally positions him as a confounding figure. Once accused of the crime that kicks off the mystery in the episode, even the pieces of evidence conflict with each other. Bateman underscores that potential duality of his nature with expert detail. I have to disclose that I am not even remotely a fan of his acclaimed work in Ozark, but he is on a different level here. Bateman keeps you guessing and is effectively unnerving.
James Cromwell as Ewan Roy in Succession (HBO)
Episode: “Dundee”
As Logan Roy’s embittered brother, Cromwell has roughly four scenes in which he is in confrontative mode with both Logan (Brian Cox) and Greg (Nicholas Braun). His dialogue is mostly composed of brutal takedowns of Logan -- he sees right through the man’s ugly virtues and that puts them in a ruthless battle of wits. Cromwell informs his moments with Cox with a serene face thereby intensifying Logan’s insecurities. Elsewhere, Cromwell’s scenes with Braun are fascinating: he knows how to switch from being an uncle to a business superior, appropriately rattling Greg. This is a strong reappearance for this character.
Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Episode: “Chapter 8: Redemption”
Esposito enters this season finale grandly, with the cinematography and music really building up the tension as we await him. He does not disappoint, giving a performance of a nefarious nature, realistically evoking a threat to the main characters. However, aside from a few speeches confirming this authoritarian figure’s disposition, the rest of the episode veers away from character work, focusing more on the spectacle of the battles in this season finale (expected of a Star Wars series). The result is a performance that starts in an engrossing manner, only to be sidelined almost immediately.
Ron Cephas Jones as William Hill in This is Us (NBC)
Episode: “After the Fire”
Here’s another case of a series regular who doesn’t make the episode count to qualify as supporting. At this point in the series, three seasons after his character's death, Jones’ continuous reemergence comes off as forced at times. However, this episode gives Jones a chance to play the character differently. As Randall (Sterling K. Brown) reimagines the different ‘what-ifs’ in his life in his therapy session; we see different hypothetical versions of William as seen through his eyes. Given that, we see William as a drug addict dealing with meeting Randall. Jones handles the what-could-have-been scenes well and he's always an emotional boost for the show as a charged part of Randall's history. Perhaps the only new thing in this performance compared to the previous seasons is the nature (and reason) for his apperance, but will they feel any urgency to reward him again? This is his fourth consecutive nomination in this category and he won two years ago.
Andrew Scott as Chris Gillhaney in Black Mirror (Netflix)
Episode: “Smithereens”
Fresh off a surprising snub at last year’s Emmys for his work as 'Hot Priest' in Fleabag, Scott follows that up with an intense performance as a driver who helps a mourning mother by kidnapping an intern at a social media company. This is another case of a lead performance that appears in a single episode of an ongoing anthology series, Scott benefits from having the focus and time to build his character. While he aces the bigger moments of anger and frustration, the most affecting moments of the episode are those grounding his character in sorrow and regret. It is a character charged with deep pain and Scott navigates different levels of intensity masterfully. Those qualities seep through even in the more action-packed scenes of the episode. This is far from a traditional ‘guest’ performance given the size of the role, but Scott is quite memorable.
Martin Short as Dick Lundy in The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
Episode: “Chaos is the New Cocaine”
And we round out this group of men with the nastiest character. Playing a director accused of being a sex predator, he has two scenes in this episode. While the first is just a tennis game with disgraced morning show host Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell), the second is a six-minute conversation where they discuss the ramifications of the #MeToo movement on accused men. As the discussion goes on, Kessler realizes that Lundy is an actual predator. While initially having an easygoing chemistry with Carell, Short subtly diverges while his character unknowingly exposes his own perversions. Eventually, once he realizes it isn't clicking with Mitch, he makes an interesting shift in his facial expression. Is this a sincere realization, or a genuinely dumbfounded moment. Short plays the ambiguity well.
Personal Ranking:
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Andrew Scott - Black Mirror
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Jason Bateman - The Outsider
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James Cromwell - Succession
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Martin Short - The Morning Show
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Ron Cephas Jones - This is Us
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Giancarlo Esposito - The Mandalorian
Predicted Winner: James Cromwell - Succession
Potential Spoiler: Andrew Scott - Black Mirror
Previous Category Reviews: Comedy Guest Actress | Comedy Guest Actor | TV Movie
Reader Comments (8)
Tom Pelphrey as Ben Davis in Ozark should get nominated and win!!!!
Ewan is Greg's grandfather, not uncle.
I'm a bit mystified that anyone could dislike Bateman's work in Ozark. He may not be best-in-show (lots of competition!) but I haven't found anything false, distracting or below par about his performance.
Not only that, but Succession and Ozark are basically the only games in town for highwire, excellent, original prestige drama—give or take Killing Eve.
Cromwell is gonna win.
The line up is atrocious anyway
And i still cannot believe the Mandalorian is nominated as best drama over THE GOOD FIGHT
I'd vote for Short's chilling turn but it'll likely be Cromwell or Jones.
@TheDrMistery: Sorry about that. Just an oversight.
Every time a comedy actor successfully goes dark, like Short here or, say, Mary Tyler Moore way back in ORDINARY PEOPLE, it creates significant added value above and beyond the skill employed. Short pulls of this tricky feat with aplomb.
I watched that Morning Show episode, anticipating some comic relief from Short, and was blown away. I'm rooting for Esposito (he should have at least two Emmys on his mantle by now) but wouldn't mind if Short triumphed.