Performer Of The Week: Liana Liberato

THE PERFORMER | Liana Liberato

THE SHOW | Criminal Minds: Evolution

THE EPISODE | "Stars & Stripes" (July 25, 2024)

THE PERFORMANCE | This season's Gold Star/North Star case as of late has been a bit dizzying with new heaps of exposition, but this week's episode, carried by Liberato's performance, crystalized what's at stake and make it all feel a lot more human.

Liberato has been increasingly excellent since her weeks-ago debut, up until this point focusing squarely on Jade aka GS5's laser-focused resolve to do right by the Gold Star mission. But in the wake of fellow Gold Star Damien's death-by-suicide pact, Jade clearly became a bit unmoored — especially when AIDA CEO Frank Church (a perfectly menacing Tuc Watkins) showed her around his training compound.

When Jade saw young people like herself training for combat and questioned what if anything these innocents had to do with the slew of deaths in Gold Star's wake, Liberato showed us that Frank's "strike at the heart of the conspiracy" explanation wasn't quite holding water. Ditto when Frank led Jade past padded isolation cells and she flashed back to the abuse she suffered in Stuart House rooms just like those; when Frank hailed Jade as an "inspiration" to her peers, you could tell that that "praise" put her ill at ease.

Liberato's finest work came when Jade met Mila, the teenage trainee Frank said reminds him of her. Mila confided in her hero the "nightmares" she often has, of being strapped face down on a bench in a cell and violated, and in Liberato's eyes you saw that Jade knew all too well of such abuse. After a flashback to her and Damien, Jade came to fully and soberly acknowledge the deplorable things Frank and others had done to her, then set forth on a mission to free Mila and others, before bringing the Gold Star program to its knees — in selfless and explosive fashion.

Scroll down to see who scored Honorable Mention shout-outs this week...

Yes, we were rooting for Jake Gyllenhaal's embattled lawyer Rusty Sabich to be acquitted in the season finale of Presumed Innocent. But we were still impressed by the closing argument given by his courtroom rival Tommy Molto... and impressed by Peter Sarsgaard's fiery performance, too. His commanding monologue, where Tommy laid out all of Rusty's many misdeeds, nearly convinced us the guy was guilty, and with his sideways glances and glares, he made sure we knew exactly how Tommy felt about Rusty. His voice even caught a little when he recalled Rusty accusing him of the murder, a reminder of Tommy's own obsession with the victim, and he remained obsessed even after court adjourned, marveling with palpable venom: "What the f—k did she ever see in him?" Tommy may have lost in court, but the lonely cat dad — brought to vivid, messy life by Sarsgaard — still won our hearts. — Dave Nemetz

Sometimes, the most chilling threats are uttered in the calmest voices. Such was the case in Sunday's House of the Dragon, in which Matthew Needham deployed Larys' precise, quiet manner of speech to frightening effect at Aegon's bedside. Larys delivered harsh news about the king's mangled body without pause or regard for how the royal wept; Needham's immense skill allowed the one-sided interaction to twist in captivating fashion as the scene went on. Tough love, painful reflection on Larys' own experience living with a physical limitation, flat-out threat that Aegon was in danger — all blended together beautifully (if intimidatingly) in Needham's capable hands. — Kimberly Roots   

In Episode 5 of Orphan Black: Echoes, the brilliant scientist Kira Manning finally confessed everything to the confused Lucy, and the flashback-heavy installment gave Keeley Hawes the floor to shine. As her character told Lucy the truth — that Lucy was actually a younger "printout" of Kira's dearly departed wife — we could feel how much pain the loss had caused. From Eleanor's Alzheimer's diagnosis to the emotional aftermath that followed as she faded away, Hawes juggled a potpourri of feelings: fear, hope, love, devastation. Through the actress' sullen dialogue, expressive eyes and heartbreaking sobs, we vicariously experienced the women's love before the rug was abruptly pulled out from underneath us. The hour was not only the series' best to date, but Hawes' nuanced performance pushed us further down the rabbit hole in the best possible way. — Nick Caruso

Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!