Women of the Week

Who do the Nice Girls think are killing it at the moment? Read on and find out!

Nominated by Melissa: Minnie Driver as Maya DiMeo on Speechless

This is more of an overall nomination rather than a specific episode: Minnie Driver has been turning in a consistently solid performance as Maya DiMeo on Speechless for two seasons. She’s fierce and funny and manages to sell the wackiest shenanigans as both lovable and kind of aspirational. She’s game for anything: physical humor, poignant earnestness with a side of wit, fiery monologues that never turn preachy, even a musical number. Speechless wrapped its second season last week, but I’m looking forward to more of Minnie Driver’s outstanding performance in season three.

Nominated by Lisa: Dakota Fanning as Sarah Howard on The Alienist

I’d like to nominate Dakota Fanning who gives a great performance as Sarah Howard on The Alienist. Sarah is the first woman hired by the police department in the 1896 and her character really pushes the envelope for women at that time.She is a strong female lead, who is single and career focused which is refreshing to see. She wants to be the first female detective and Dakota is amazing in that role as always. Go Dakota!

Nominated by Ange: Andrea Navedo as Xiomara “Xo” Villanueva & Ivonne Coll as Alba Villanueva on Jane the Virgin

This week I’m nominating Andrea Navedo, who plays Xo on Jane the Virgin. For four seasons Xo has always been the confident, fierce and energetic character with Navedo often playing the comic relief, but following her diagnosis that she has stage 3 breast cancer, this week was a chance for Navedo to let her dramatic strengths shine. As she grappled with the choice of having a single or double mastectomy, we saw a more vulnerable and quieter side to Xo. Watching her process all her feelings out loud to husband Rogelio towards the end of the episode was one of the most powerful moments in the show’s history. This show may be a dramedy/telenovela but boy does it know how to tug on the heartstrings!

As well as Navedo’s excellent performance, I’d also like to give a shout out to Ivonne Coll for the scene where the usually calm Alba lashes out at the unsuspecting store clerk and then turns on Rogelio.