Women of the Week

The first lot of shows wrapping up their 2018/2018 TV seasons began this week and these season finales did not disappoint – so much so that we found some of the leading ladies pretty worthy of our latest Women of the Week picks. Read on to find out who we chose and why!

Nominated by Cara: Anne Heche as Patricia Campbell on The Brave

My Woman of the Week, and possibly the season, is Anne Heche as Patricia Campbell on The Brave. The character is highly competent and gets the job done. Her team never has to worry that she’ll back them up. But the last two weeks highlighted one of my favorite things about the character, she’s unbending, efficient, and sometimes ruthless the in the cause of her country, but also feminine and able to connect to her team in a way that shows genuine compassion without Patricia becoming a mother figure. She’s clearly the boss, and good at it. All of that comes down to Anne Heche’s passionate yet restrained performance. She’s able to show softness without becoming soft and to be solid and strong without becoming hard. Heche shows us a real, complex human being and woman every week. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, renew The Brave.

Nominated by Melissa: Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop on The Good Place

My nominee for this week is Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop on The Good Place. She showed us how much Eleanor has grown at the beginning of this week’s season finale, made us laugh with “hot diggity dog”, then proceeded to jump back to pre-Good Place Eleanor and take us on yet another journey of character development that was at times amusing, hopeful, and infuriating, and ultimately very human

Seconded by Karen:

I second the nomination of Kristen Bell. Such range in one episode, going from completely changed Eleanor, to reset (back in the real world) Eleanor, where she goes through a non-Chidi transformation only to feel like it was for nothing. Then she gets a visit from Michael, who tilts her just a little, and she stumbles upon a way back to the life she’s supposed to live, even if it was the one she was living in “The Bad Place”.

She was amazing, and it was a great ending to a stellar season. Thrilled it’s coming back for a third, and we’ll get to see Eleanor and Chidi in the real world!

Thirded by Ange:

Jumping on the bandwagon and thirding this nomination! I particularly enjoyed Bell’s portrayal of a wide-eyed and optimistic Eleanor after the reset. We’ve enjoyed Bell as the blunt, street smart and at times vulnerable and conflicted Eleanor but this hopeful (albeit fleeting) version of her was also a joy to watch.