Hurray for Emmy nomineesSandra Oh, who kills it onKilling Eve, andRachel Brosnahan, a marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
BBC America’sKilling Evehas been a great vehicle for Oh, up for best actress in a drama series.This over-the-top espionage thriller gives her a chance to show off the humor, intelligence and fast emotional shifts that earned her five supporting nominations (but no win) back in the days ofGrey’s. She has a strong chance of winning.
Sophie Mutevelian/BBC America; Nicole Rivelli/Amazon Studios
And Brosnahan is a very strong contender in the category of best actress (comedy) for Amazon’sThe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel(with further deserving nominations for Tony Shalhoub, a prior three-time winner forMonk; Jane Lynch, who has four previous wins; Alex Borstein; and the show itself). Most viewers will have known Brosnahan only asCards’Rachel Posner, sex worker and eternally unlucky political pawn. Her performance as a Manhattan woman blazing her own path as a standup comedian is a major surprise, and a delight.
In general, the nominations do a good job cherry-picking performances across a wide, occasionally baffling range:
Laura Dern, a winner last year forBig Little Lies, as a woman remembering childhood abuse on the HBO movieThe Tale.
Yvonne Strahovski, a consistently underrated actress, as cruel but quietly disgusted Serena Joy — that name, you would guess, is ironic—on Hulu’sThe Handmaid’s Tale.
Justin Bateman, learning all the sink-or-swim, eat-or-be-eaten lessons life can offer in Netflix’sOzarks.
Benedict Cumberbatch, suffering, sweating, joking and then suffering some more on Showtime’sPatrick Melrose. He’ll likely win, too, but he’s in a bizarre contest — best actor, limited series or movie — that pits him againstJohn Legendin NBC’sJesus Christ Superstar Live in Concertand Jesse Plemons in a great episode of Netflix’s dystoparamaBlack Mirror.
Penelope Cruz, as Donatella Versace on FX’sThe Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.
Cameron Britton, uncompromisingly revolting as serial killer Edmund Kemper on Netflix’sMindhunters.
source: people.com
