Best Performances of 2018… So Far

There’s no sense denying that at the halfway point of 2018, Donald Glover is the frontrunner for the MVP of Pop Culture (if such an award existed). That said, what we’re talking about here is the Best Performance of 2018 (so far), and using that criteria, no one has outshined Glover’s Atlanta castmate Brian Tyree Henry. The whole show revolves around Henry’s portrayal of Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles, a rapper trying to navigate his way through a precarious time in his life and career. Paper Boi’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders, and the Yale-trained Henry is able to deftly use his physicality to unlock his character’s emotional struggles. He especially shines in the episode “Woods” (Season 2, Episode 8), a pulse-pounding episode in which Paper Boi is forced to confront his inner demons after a harrowing robbery attempt sends him scrambling into a (possibly haunted) forest. — Mark Graham

Where to stream Atlanta

My pick for Best Performance of 2018 could totally beat-up your pick for Best Performance of 2018: Cobra Kai bad boy Billy Zabka.

Stream Cobra Kai on YouTube Premium

If you’d have told me at the beginning of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2 that Serena Joy would emerge the most compelling character, I might have called you crazy. With the season almost wrapped, however, it’s become abundantly clear that Yvonne Strahovski has stolen the show. Her Serena is both thoroughly loathsome and utterly pitiful, a woman with the ability to elicit anger and empathy all at once. The last few episodes of this season act as a particularly arresting showcase for her awards-worthy performance; even when Serena seems past redemption, Strahovski manages to radiate humanity, drawing us back in only to knock the wind out of us moments later. For all her withering looks and horrifying actions, she harbors a remarkable amount of sadness, fear, and fury, and perhaps even regret beneath the surface. That’s the magic of Strahovski’s breathtaking performance, and what sets her apart from all of her costars this season. No one’s done anything quite like it. — Jade Budowski

Stream The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu

Initially, it seemed like Cody Fern‘s delicate, devastating performance as David Madson, the second of Andrew Cunanan’s murder victims, was going to be relegated to a mere tragedy of proximity. David was unfortunate enough to cross paths with this burgeoning killer at exactly the wrong time, catching his eye, earning his sinister intention, and ultimately reaping the violence that Andrew held inside him. Ryan Murphy and Tom Rob Smith’s production was far smarter than that, showing David in the crosshairs not of one madman but of a dehumanizing, unsympathetic society that left people like David exposed and uncared for. Into that elevated narrative, then, stepped Cody Fern, an Australian actor and genuine find, who played David not just with the doomed air of future victim but with the waxing and waning of someone trapped between choices he never wanted to have to make. As the season went on, we got to see more of how Fern played David’s faith in people — his parents, his friends, his neighbors — and how that faith would be broken and questioned. The way Fern plays David, wholesomely kind and talented, you can see why Andrew would have thought that attaining him would solve all his problems. But Fern also never let those haunted doubts behind David’s eyes go away. The ones that, in his final days, wondered if the shame of a son touched by sin wouldn’t be worse than the grief of a son lost forever. — Joe Reid

Where to stream The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Betty Gilpin is a motherf*cking rock star. As Debbie Eagan, the self-absorbed star of the fictional ladies’ wrestling show G.L.O.W., Gilpin could have leaned on the tried and true tropes of diva-hood for her performance. Instead, Gilpin’s all-American Liberty Belle is a tightly wound, and ever-unraveling, study in how suppressed anger boils over in women until it explodes. Gilpin’s performance isn’t just of a woman pushed to nervous breakdown by jealousy and heartache, but of a phoenix reborn out of desperation. In GLOW, Gilpin is sharply funny, delightfully aggressive, and always — always — an honest portrait of the “all-American” woman. — Meghan O’Keefe

Stream GLOW on Netflix

Separately they’re both fantastic, but together they’re breathtaking. In the final season of The Americans, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys each gave such deep, emotional performances, so intertwined with each other that it’s only right to acknowledge them as a pair: who even is Elizabeth without Phillip and vice versa? Their full run on the FX drama was physical and sly and heart-wrenching, and usually all of that within the span of a single scene. These performances are simply one of a kind. These actors truly left it all on the table in the final episodes and should be showered with awards and praise for everything they brought to our screens, hearts, and minds. — Lea Palmieri

Where to stream The Americans 

Madelaine Petsch can do anything. As Riverdale‘s Cheryl Blossom, she can be the ultimate mean girl one moment, and a sympathetic shoulder to cry on the next. She can go from being chased by an axe murderer, to hunting said axe murderer with a bow and arrow through the woods — while taking the time for a wardrobe change!!! — and make the sequence of events totally believable. Cheryl can be anything at any time, yet it all makes sense… And that’s entirely due to Petsch’s iconic performance. Sure, more ink is spilled on shows not about teen murder towns; but creating a believable character that turns getting a new jacket into a thrilling, season closing event makes Petsch’s screen presence all the more valuable. Add in her heart-breaking — and eventually soaring — part in the ascendance of #Choni (a.ka. Cheryl Blossom and Vanessa Morgan’s Toni Topaz), the best LGBTQ+ couple currently on TV, and you have a performance that will truly stand the test of time… And change lives. — Alex Zalben

Where to stream Riverdale

If you were at all aware of the original, objectively insane Lost in Space, then you knew that the success of Netflix’s reboot would hinge on its handling of flamboyant saboteur and schemer Dr. Smith. And if you’re anything like me, all your worries were quelled the instant you heard that Parker Posey would be taking on the role. As a gender-swapped Doctor Smith, Posey took an already solid series into must-watch territory with every devious grin and nervous tick. Posey truly sank her teeth into the role, indulging all of the character’s camp trappings (oh, that increasingly nest-like hairdo!) while still making her downright menacing. When you watch Posey as Smith, you’re watching a masterful actor play a master manipulator, with moves so subtle you truly never know if you’re being conned just as much as the Robinsons. All hail the new queen of deception, Parker Posey. — Brett White

Stream Lost in Space on Netflix

It would have been easy for The Assassination of Gianni Versace to lean into the pulpy tone that defined Versace’s murder in 1997. Instead Darren Criss brought us a performance that was more complicated, nuanced, and sympathetic than any coverage of Andrew Cunanan has ever been. Criss’ Cunanan was unmistakably the villain of his own story, but through his shifting glances, fake smiles, and constant lilting lies, he captured the hero Cunanan saw in the mirror. More than once Criss forced audeinces to ask if this killer — who murdered five innocent men in cold blood — was actually a victim of his upbringing, societal homophobia, and his own disturbed mind. And yet the Versace season of American Crime Story was never afraid to pull back, showing us the monster Andrew Cunanan was beneath his perfect smile. Criss’ portrayal of a young man so enchanted by notoriety and enraged by jealousy that he would kill to obtain it is one of the most haunting roles ever brought to screen. — Kayla Cobb

Where to stream The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story