Women of the Week

Who were our MVPs this past week? Read on and find out!

Nominated by Karen: Retta as Ruby Hill on Good Girls

I want to nominate Retta from this week’s Good Girls. As Ruby, she had several impassioned monologues, both towards Beth & Annie when they sided against her, and again aimed at Stan after he spent a little too much money. But Retta was ON POINT. Christina Hendricks and Mae Whitman were also great, but in uniting against her, even momentarily, saying she wasn’t “blood,” was heartwrenching. She even had some TREAT YO’ SELF scenes, which were awesome. I love the chemistry she has with her husband (Reno Wilson). When they split the grape in half at the fancy dinner, I was rolling. All in all, she stole the episode. I want to go back and watch it again, just to see her performance.

Nominated by Melissa: Jodie Comer as Villanelle on Killing Eve

I enjoyed Jodie Comer as the titular White Princess in STARZ short-lived series, but clearly that was just a warm up for her work in Killing Eve. As hired assassin Villanelle*, Jodie is somehow both devoid of emotion and vibrantly emotive. She’s by turns seductive, playful, curious, and greedy – all while being terrifyingly good at her job. There’s a childlike aspect to the character that is fresh and surprising, yet adds to the horrificness of what she does for a living. It’s a career-defining role and Jodie is nailing it.

*Probably not her real name

Nominated by Ange: Kristin Kreuk as Joanna Hanley on Burden of Truth

This week I’m nominating Kristin Kreuk, who not only plays lead character Joanna Hanley on Burden of Truth, but is also an executive producer on this Canadian series. The show just wrapped up its first season this week and is set to air on The CW this summer, so I recommend it when it finally airs in the States. In the season finale, Kreuk’s character comes face to face with her mother who she hasn’t seen in years, as her mom left when she was a teen. Joanna tries so hard to keep her visit purely professional but Kreuk gave a standout performance when Joanna broke down and tearfully confronted her mother as to why she left her or never reached out. Also a shout out to Kreuk’s younger co-stars Star Slade, Sara Thompson and Anwen O’Driscoll – these girls have been giving impressive performances all season and are ones to watch, particularly Slade!