The Film Experience

by Nathaniel R

I chose to cover this category because I hadn't seen ANY of the submitted episodes. I'm never up to date on TV so figured it would be a fun way to sample while also facing the fact that I'll never catch up given that there's always more new stuff to watch so I'm just jumping ahead to 2020 and moving on. I will say that ranking these choices through episode submissions alone was a much different experience than I was expecting in terms of personal favourites versus rank. All eight nominees considered at the jump...

Alex Borstein as Susie Myerson in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon)
Episode: "Marvelous Radio"

Borstein's already won twice for this role from 7 nominations in total (3 for Maisel, 4 for Family Guy). Given the television Academy's love of repeating themselves, she could well pick up her fourth Emmy this month. The penultimate episode of season 3 gives her lots of scenes to continue her forceful and funny take on this aggressive perpetually angry flying-by-the-seat-of-her-pants manager. In truth the performance can be as exhausting as the character but in her best moments that very feeling deepens the show as in the final sequence when she goes to the Broadway opening of her other client (Jane Lynch) and watches her throw that hard-won chance at a new career direction away.

D'Arcy Carden as Janet in The Good Place (NBC)
Episode: "You've Changed, Man"

The nimbleness of Darcy C'arden. It's tough to make peace with the fact that this is her first nomination for such an excellently weird creation. While this submitted episode isn't the showcase that last season's Multitudes of Janet was, it's still fun. The laughs mostly belong to the also-Emmy nominated Maya Rudolph as "Judge". Still, Carden is a trooper and she provides giggles with both comic asides and stalling (lest the universe be rebooted) as well as straight-faced philosophical pleas. Plus fart jokes? Thanks, Disco Janet!

Betty Gilpin as Debbie Eagan in GLOW (Netflix)
Episode: "A Very GLOW Christmas"

Gilpin's been nominated for each season of GLOW but has yet to win. She chose a terrific showcase this year. While the episode in question, the season finale, takes too long to rev up (and her first scene is lethargic plot setup) the rest is top tier Gilpin and top tier GLOW. She provides us with both rich character work and comic timing. The episode ends with a cliffhanger (emotionally speaking) with real dramatic punch, smartly taking us back to season 1's centering personality clash between Debbie and Ruth and how these friends differ in their approach to life's bumps and detours. She's great throughout but the icing on this cake is her hilariously matter of fact switch from drama to comedy and back again a beat too soon while moving onstage and off during the Christmas show.

Marin Hinkle as Rose Weissman in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon)
Episode: "A Jewish Girl Walks Into the Apollo"

She's long been a terrific ensemble player (since way back to 1999 for her brilliant work on Once & Again) but Maisel finally got her the broader recognition she deserved with her second nomination for this uptight wife and mother. All of her scenes are sharp. Whether she's seated primly or standing ramrod straight she manages to pull off understated physical comedy that's all about her reactions to the much zanier actors around her. Though even so, that specialty gets a neat twist when she shares scenes with her daughter's ex-boyfriend and she's the one who looks insane. Her confusion and then delight about a new possible career is also winningly played.

Kate McKinnon as various characters in Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Episode: "Host: Daniel Craig"

She's been nominated 8 times for her work on Saturday Night Live, winning twice consecutively in 2016/2017. It's not hard to imagine her picking up a third if voters aren't obsessed with one of their other options, though it probably won't be this year despite a smart submission episode. She gets three showcases. Her voice work is a beauty on "The Ingraham Angle" and she holds her own in the crowded political cold open, too. The 'movie quote game' sketch is lame and she has nothing to do but in her two other pairings with Daniel Craig, she's aces. She provides demented old lady briefly in a James Bond sketch but the jewel of her submission is a daytime soap spoof in the age of the coronavirus "The Sands of Modesto." Whether she's applying lipgloss awkwardly, yearning for her ex lovers prop-aided touch, or merely vibing on her half-there soap star, she's just hilarious.

Annie Murphy as Alexis Rose in Schitt's Creek (Pop)
Episode: "The Presidential Suite"

Hmmm. When I volunteered for this article I was hoping to counter Abe's low rankings of the Schitt's Creek performers in the other categories since the show is such fun and I'm rooting for an O'Hara + Levy win. But this episode unfortunately strands Annie away from her comic family (and I especially love her in scenes with Dan Levy). Instead it falls to the more serious side as Alexis considers a break upwith her boyfriend who is in town with news of a dream job offer. Best bits: the comic timing on "I'll just have a smoothie" or "I may have forgotten about the dairy" which are both oddly endearing examples of the way Alexis doesn't listen when other people are talking.

Yvonne Orji as Molly in Insecure (HBO)
Episode: "Lowkey Lost"

Given the comedy categorizations I expected laughs but Orji is solely a dramatic presence in this particular submission. I'm assuming that you have to have followed the whole season for her estrangement from screen bestie Issa Rae to resonate, but even without context Molly's scenes with her screen boyfriend Andrew (the ridiculously attractive Alexander Hodge) who are going through a rough patch and possible break-up really land. Fine dramatic work but in a comedy category I'll always vote comedy.

Cecily Strong as various characters in Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Episode: "Host: Eddie Murphy"

This is Strong's first nomination but sadly the episode submission doesn't really sell the why of it. She appears for a split second as Tulsi Gabbard in the political open and emits a funny evil laugh. But her characters in both a cooking show sketch and an Elf massacre by polar bear are weak and don't give her anything good to riff on. Still, she's Emmy-nom worthy at least for her recurring impersonation of Fox News' Jeanine Pirro. If this were a full hour of just her playing Pirro boozing it up, antagonizing Democrats, drinking her own dishonest koolaid, and vomiting on non-believers, it would have been a stellar submission. But sadly that brief comedy is the only strong hint of Strong's gifts.

Personal Ranking:

Betty Gilpin, GLOW
Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
D'Arcy Carden, The Good Place
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
Yvonne Orji, Insecure
Annie Murphy, Schitt's Creek
Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live

Predicted Winner: Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

Potential Spoiler: D'Arcy Carden– The Good Place

Given that Borstein was able to interrupt the near sweep for the hugely popular Fleabag at last year's Emmys, I imagine the TV Academy isn't done honoring her for this role. Unless of course The Good Place fans rally to get that show a win somewhere for its final season, and what better place than with Carden who should have snatched the gold last year (but tragically wasn't nominated). We're rooting for her.