Performer Of The Week: Rashida Jones

THE PERFORMER | Rashida Jones

THE SHOW | Sunny

THE EPISODE | "Joey Sakamoto" (July 31, 2024)

THE PERFORMANCE | Jones is known best for lighthearted sitcoms like The Office and Parks and Recreation, but in Apple TV+'s wildly inventive sci-fi comedy, she adds a heavy shade of darkness to her acting palette as Suzie, a woman paralyzed by grief after her husband and son go missing in a plane crash. So far, Jones has hidden Suzie's pain underneath a thick layer of sarcasm and pitch-black humor, but this week, she finally began to tap into the raw emotion that Suzie has been trying so hard to conceal.

The episode found Suzie wandering through the woods with her robot Sunny and new pal Mixxy, looking for a remote farm belonging to Mixxy's family while their patience began to fray. (As Hacks taught us earlier this year, getting lost in the woods can be very good for confronting one's buried emotions.) Jones was characteristically sour as Suzie complained about the impromptu hike, but she began to soften as they took shelter and Mixxy explained the interconnectivity of fungi, of all things. (We also saw Jones reveal a hint of tenderness in flashbacks to Suzie attending her son Zen's school play... which her husband Masa didn't show up for.) When a bear approached, Jones poured all of Suzie's heartache into a screaming rendition of the Whitney Houston classic "I Will Always Love You" to scare the bear away. And hey, it worked!

Suzie's defenses went back up, though, when she learned that Sunny was nursing a dying baby bird, blaming herself for being a bad mother to Zen, before Jones deftly exposed Suzie's deep hurt as she teared up at the bird's funeral, gently grasping Mixxy's hand for support. It wasn't a big, showy display of emotional distress, because that's not who Suzie is. Instead, Jones showed incredible restraint in delicately revealing just a hint of Suzie's inner turmoil.   

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

David and Kristen's deep connection has been a throughline from the very first episode of Evil, a sometimes acted-on (but more often subsumed) attraction that's the definition of So Wrong It's Right. But we've seldom heard David, in particular, acknowledge what's he's feeling — which is why Mike Colter's performance in this week's episode (read a recap) was so affecting. The priest's complicated thoughts about his feelings for his co-worker came spilling out in an anguished flood, Colter full of David's frustration with his situation and his disappointment with the world all at once. We were taken with the way he made David seem angry at himself, both for being unable to shake what he feels for Kristen and for even considering being yet another person trying to renege on a promise. The performance was a sharp change from Colter's usual, placid take on the character — and all the more riveting for it. — Kimberly Roots

For all the ways House of the Dragon differs from Game of Thrones, we're thrilled the HBO series took at least one lesson from its predecessor: Never underestimate the power of a badass teenager. In this case, it's Oscar Tully, freshly minted Lord Paramount of the Riverlands, played by Archie Barnes with an instantly enjoyable young confidence in Sunday's episode. We were worried for the new lord at first, tasked as he was with commanding an army skeptical of his youth and standing his ground against a painfully cocky Daemon Targaryen. But Barnes imbued his character with both genuine modesty and surprising aplomb, every line reading more deliciously authoritative than the last. Before we knew it, Daemon had been humbled, Lord Oscar had earned the Riverlords' respect, and House of the Dragon had one more scene-stealer in its formidable ensemble. — Rebecca Iannucci

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