I swear on my heart that I love an underdog, so I welcome making mistakes in awards polls. First, knowing what’s coming and only confirming it is boring. Second, it makes me rethink my assessment of something I didn’t necessarily consider incredible wins. I could be wrong and change my mind. I love it.

The third thing that comes with surprises is that it’s always good when they end up being fair. In the case of the Emmy Awards 2024, this happened more than once, making the party slightly less predictable and suggesting that the crying while consuming content was valid.

Indeed, The Bear, Baby Reindeer, and Shogun were the big winners of the year and they deserved it. The surprises came from places where they weren’t ‘dominating’, where there was a glimmer of a chance for the underdog and bingo! “Surprises” came. The biggest one comes from a clearly wrong judgment on my part: Hacks.

The HBO series was one of my favorite and most praised in 2021 and 2022, but in 2024 I didn’t think it was up to par, although it was still extremely well-acted and sharp. That said, the showrunner trio’s win for writing was unexpected for me, but still valid because in previous seasons they had not been recognized. For me, awarding Jean Smart is almost mandatory, something like with Meryl Streep. Jean doesn’t fail in drama or comedy and when it comes to making us laugh she is even better.

Like everyone else in that theater, the frustrating certainty was that Ayo Edebiri, who won all the awards this year, including the one from the Union, would be the winner. After all, ALL of her castmates from The Bear who were nominated won. But the absurdity of having The Bear as a comedy would generate Karma and it was left to Ayo, apparently. Jean won her second Emmy as Debora Vance, and it probably won’t be her last. I thought that Hollywood, ageist as it is, wouldn’t ignore younger talents, and if anyone were to take the statuette away from Ayo Edebiri, it would be Selena Gomez for Only Murders in the Building. Wrong!!!!

Hollywood not only rewarded experience again, but also ended the winning streak of The Bear, failing to turn down the acting and directing awards it deserved, but also choosing Hacks as the best comedy series of the year. Hacks has more humor than The Bear and is about a comedian, but it’s not as funny as OMIB or Abbot Elementary. The concept of comedy is really in dramatic times.

The other surprises of the night were the wins of Jodie Foster for True Detective and Lamorne Morris for Fargo. Interestingly, two detectives amid complex plots. Jodie’s performance is ALWAYS exceptional, she’s not one of the most awarded and respected actresses of her generation for no reason. The series slipped up in terms of narrative, but it was more positive than other seasons of the franchise. And part of what made it right was Jodie’s role and performance.

Of course, some argue that Naomi Watts’ performances in Capote Versus the Swans or even Juno Temple‘s in Fargo would have been more significant, and I confess that I’m divided. Jodie Foster’s Emmy doesn’t bother me, but I was rooting for Juno to give an incredible performance in the season of Fargo, where her character surprisingly survives domestic violence. But Jodie and Jean are in Meryl’s category: they don’t make mistakes.

Lamorne’s victory was actually quite exciting. His category was, for me, the most inconclusive of the night, and in Fargo he is sensational. John Hawkes is incredible in True Detective, but recognizing Lamorne’s work was a typical surprise at the party as if the Emmy wanted to confirm that we were awake.

The awards for Baby Reindeer and Shogun were expected and FX was clever in deciding that there would be a second season of the Japanese saga. If they had to face each other – as it seemed like they would – it would probably be a defeat for the epic content, but we didn’t have to test it. Shogun made history in terms of the number of awards, opening doors for new talent and ensuring that great productions still stand out from the public and win statuettes.

And what can we conclude? A few things:

1- The strength of HBO, even though it’s called MAX (Jean Smart‘s joke about this was hilarious) continues to be respected. Its series won the main Emmys of the night, in an overwhelming superiority that reinforces the brand and the quality of its products.

2- FX is not messing around either and its dense and grandiose content generates great content, great series and roles, as well as awards. Shogun made history thanks to the platform/channel.

3- Netflix is ​​single-handedly dominating the typical category of its platform: miniseries. For the second year in a row (and maybe even more, I need to check), its series wins in everything when it comes to this smaller format. In 2023 it was Beef in 2024, Baby Reindeer. It ended up cannibalizing its own collection by reducing the chances of the beautiful Ripley, but the awards it won for the series guaranteed They lacked basic recognition. There could have been more.

4- Apple TV Plus is coming to bother. Of its releases, there were at least five series, including the always award-winning The Morning Show and now, Slow Horses. The series by Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon always seems a bit overrated to me, but it is a success. And this year, if it weren’t for Shogun, it could have come out of the shadow of Succession. Recognizing Billy Crudup‘s great work may have seemed like a surprise, but it wasn’t.

Let’s see: he was competing with Tadanobu Asano and Takehiro Hira from Shogun, two foreigners. There was also Jack Lowden for Slow Horses and Jonathan Pryce for The Crown, but both of them kind of had no chance other than the nomination because Slow Horses is still “growing” and The Crown has become worn out due to the current problems of the Royal Family. There were also his colleagues from The Morning Show, Mark Duplass, and Jon Hamm, but Crudup is superior to them. I really wanted Tadanobu to win, but I raved about this season of The Morning Show and it was 300% over Billy Crudup. He deserved it.

So I’m closing out 2024 still surprised at myself for not giving Hacks the credit that Hollywood did. I’m going to rewatch the season to rethink my first review. Keep in mind that Hacks is slang for a mediocre writer, the joke’s on me. It’s an insult to writers and no one wants to be a hack! Especially with three Emmys! How did I miss it?

Pesquisar

Pesquisar