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THE PERFORMER | Adhir Kalyan
THE SHOW | CBS’ United States of Al
THE EPISODE | “Promises / Wadaha” (Oct. 7, 2021)
THE PERFORMANCE | Let us take a moment to really examine what Kalyan was tasked with here, and the unique set of circumstances that led to this performance. Because it’s not as though this episode was intended to be an actor’s showcase. It was intended to honor (and share the experience of) the Afghan and military veteran writers on the show who worked tirelessly to get their brothers and sisters out of Afghanistan.
While acknowledging their heroic efforts, we also feel it is our duty to acknowledge Kalyan’s scene work — how he managed to exude a myriad of conflicted emotions as Al toiled to get his sister to safety from 7,000 miles away.
You can point to any one moment and heap praise on the actor for what he pulled off. In this episode, Al was angry, he was scared and he was guilt-ridden. He was mourning his homeland and he was grieving for his relatives, many of whom — including his mother — were trapped in Herat with no way out. In those moments of great uncertainty, Kalyan switched between a harsher, more forceful tone to depict his character’s frustration, and a breathier tone in moments where he felt most helpless. When he was seated in the garage, his trembling fingers and his shaky knees served as signifiers of a man at the end of his rope.
Kalyan was at his very best when Al feared the very worst. When he heard gunfire and assumed Hassina had just been massacred by the Taliban, all he could do was yelp. His eyes welled and his voice began to crack as he lashed out at Riley. It was a devastating moment, and Kalyan played it to perfection. But even better was how he personified Al’s relief when he received a subsequent text from Hassina letting him know that she was OK. The way he trembled as Al reached out for Riley’s embrace, then sunk into his costar’s chest once Al was finally able to breathe, was nothing short of tremendous.
HONORABLE MENTION | Midnight Mass‘ Bev Keane is a smug, self-righteous, literally holier-than-thou pain in the keister who only grows more insufferable as the Netflix horror drama goes on. God, it’s so enjoyable to despise her! And that’s because Samantha Sloyan is so very good at what she does. Bev seeks no redemption because she doesn’t think she’s done anything wrong, which is a truth Sloyan’s self-assured portrayal drives home again and again. The actress has Bev spout off racist insults in the same cool, collected manner that she recites Bible verses. Sloyan elevates passive-aggression to an artform. She says more with a withering look than Monsignor Pruitt says in a sermon. And we can’t wait to see what she and Midnight Mass boss Mike Flanagan get up to in their next Netflix collaboration, The Midnight Club.
HONORABLE MENTION | The easiest way to describe Tuesday’s episode of The Resident — the show’s farewell to both Emily VanCamp and the character she played — is just plain sad. Relentlessly, gut-wrenchingly sad. Through it all, though, Matt Czuchry brought a nuanced tenderness to Conrad Hawkins as he experienced all five stages of grief, even before wife Nic was officially pronounced brain-dead. Conrad’s devastation was palpable throughout — not only when Czuchry let the tears flow, but also in the way he hunched his shoulders, or in his hushed-but-resolute line readings. And when Conrad found himself unable to drop Nic’s hand so she could go into a medically induced coma (“What if we do this, and it’s the end? And I can’t ever talk to her again?”) the urgency and pain in Czuchry’s voice had us weeping right along with him.
HONORABLE MENTION | From fetal to feral, Jessica Chastain‘s physicality in HBO’s Scenes From a Marriage Episode 4 forced us to study her performance as she stole the installment one calculated movement at a time. The twice Oscar-nominated actress’ Mira cuddled with her soon-to-be ex-husband Jonathan (Oscar Isaac) as they mourned the end of their nuptials. When the cuddling unexpectedly led to coitus, Chastain expressed Mira’s stunned satisfaction with the widened mouth and eyes of a woman who had finally received the smoldering passion she craved, even if it was too late. For Mira, the act signified possible reconciliation. But when Jonathan said it wasn’t, Chastain deftly pivoted to defiance as her alter ego refused to sign the divorce papers. Trembling hands and lowered-head pleas failed to curtail more rejection and slowly morphed into waves of rage that caused Chastain’s Mira to violently pelt Jonathan with books before collapsing onto the floor and surrendering with a signature.
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in Comments!
Everyone on The Resident was fantastic this week. I very rarely actually tear up watching TV shows or movies, but that episode did it for me.
Talk about Oprah ugly cry! Every Resident cast member was superb.
Agree 100%. MC certainly deserved the Honorable Mention but had the award gone to the entire The Resident cast no one would have been surprised.
The United States of Al was phenomenal this week. You definitely chose the right performance of the week. I always enjoy this show and it’s ensemble cast but this episode went to places that had me anxious, in tears, laughing and relieved. It was an emotional rollercoaster and Adhir took me on a hair raising, stomach turning ride. Amazing.
Parker Young is actually the one who got me to tear up during his freak out at the TV. The acting on the episode was overall really good. The blonde ex wife was a bit wooden.
That was a really good scene, too, yeah. He did a great job throughout the episode, too, both of capturing his determination to help Al’s family and his helplessness and frustration at how difficult the task was.
Oh man! So much good tv this week. I was hoping to see Danielle Savre for her work in Station 19 this week. Breaking down how hard it was for her to balance sexism at her job with starting a potential family.
Adhir’s performance in this episode was nothing short of phenomenal.
I am certain he will be taking home an Emmy.
I thought they were going to have his sister die. He did a great job
Between the writers and Adhir Kalyan’s performance as Al I felt every emotion that he felt and I’m so pleased you acknowledged everyone. I don’t know many actors who could have pulled off all those emotions and convey them to the audience the way ‘Al’ did. I held my breath, was scared, anxious, furious, frustrated, annoyed, relieved……until I finally cried at the end. I can’t even begin to imagine the personal hell that the writers’ room went through.
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Kudos to everyone involved, especially Adhir Kalyan. It was an incredible episode with exceptional acting.
Was hoping for Mallory Jansen on The Big Leap
I’d like to commend the writers of the United States of Al. That was one big risk they took with that episode and the cast pulled it off flawlessly. They humanized the event in a way you don’t experience when seeing it on the news. It was just tremendous all the way around.
So an Indian-South African person played and Afghan on this show??? Hollywood still has a long way to go in proper representation of us South Asians. Absolutely no hate to Indian actors. They definitely deserve more roles in Hollywood but Afghans and Indians have major differences between them culturally and socially. They even look different from each other. I am definitely not offended by this casting as he did a great job. I just have a hope that in future Hollywood don’t group all South Asia countries into one. Slowly they will surely learn.
He also hasn’t been in the military, acting as an interpreter. It’s called acting.
I was going to post “remember when sites were making it a big deal he wasn’t Afghan, because, Twitter, and now he’s performer of the week….but I guess some things ever change.
You are the same people who whine when a black actress is cast to play Anne Bolyen. We are South Asian and we will talk about it. If we don’t speak on your matters, you don’t speak in ours. Afghans and Indians are vastly different from each other. It’s like a Mexican person playing a Light Skinned black character. You need to go get offended somewhere else.
See, in America we get to speak on any topics we like. And I’m not offended, I just find your offense amusing. He’s performer of the week so he’s obviously doing a good job playing the role. Your example is ridiculous. You talking about a real life person and changing their race not just their nationality. By your reasoning a better example would be saying a German actress couldn’t play Anne Boleyn because their culture is vastly different than English culture. Of course, no one could play Anne because we don’t have anyone from 1500 culture to play her.
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Your road limits actors to such an extent that they can play no one but themselves. In which case we’re just watching reality tv, not acting.
You really need to read before commenting. I legit wrote in my original comment that I’m not offended but I hope that in future Hollywood will improve. I know right now its the start of South Asian representation in Hollywood but I’m hoping that in 10-15 years it will improve. Its a step in right direction. Its a start. But there’s a long way to go. That’s all what I said but you apparently found something to get offended about
So glad to see Adhir Kalyan at the top spot this week. He earned it, and your summary of his performance perfectly explains why. Watching his horror at the thought that he lost his sister, and then when he was crying later…that got me all choked up. Such an emotional, powerful moment.
This episode was the first time i saw this show I was waiting to watch the show after. I knew none of the characters, the only thing I knew was the fact his sister was trapped. The whole story had me on edge and I cried the whole time. It was a very moving storyline.
Adhir’s performance, the writing and the ensemble support deserves an Emmy nomination for the episode. You have described it well in your review. And the writing humanize the Afghanistan departure of the US like no newscast was able to do.
I really hope the Emmy voters consider Kalyan’s performance come consideration time. To be able to give those moments in a sitcom format is a special feat, worthy of attention amidst the usual “prestige” or buzzy streaming comedies.
First time In watched the United States of Al. I’ve also read how this episode came to be. Excellent job! I was on the edge of my seat with tears in my eyes, praying for a positive outcome. I found out later one of my friends is a costumer on the show.
Kalyan was riveting. I didn’t expect that.
Czuchry was haeatbreaking but I know he’s a good actor so his performance was less amazing as it was expected.
I love this show not surprised my last còmment was deleted. The show was honest and straight forward. Caŕefull or the people in Wash will cancell the show. Àl did a fantastic job acting. Hope the show last a whilè hv not missed one show.
I didn’t hear about US of Al till the second season. I pay for Paramont+ but they don’t have season one anymore even though it was just before the second season started. I want to see it?
I thought this would be an easy answer, but it’s not. It might be on Hulu live tv, but not sure can’t see it listed. Looks like it’s a WB production on CBS, so not on Paramount or HBO Max. The only places I’m seeing Season 1 are pay to rent the episode streaming. Maybe someone else can do a better search than me or has an answer.
Kate Siegel should’ve won for her monologue about death on Midnight Mass‘ series finale.
I really miss United States of Al