Maya Rudolph Is A Revelation In ‘Forever’

Amazon‘s new comedy Forever comes with a massive surprise twist — well, two big twisty turns, to be exact. While I am loathe to reveal what those twists are, I am happy to report that the series finally gives Maya Rudolph a chance to shine. It’s not that Rudolph hasn’t gobbled up the spotlight before. Her over-the-top takes on drama queens Donatella Versace, Oprah Winfrey, and Whitney Houston made her one of Saturday Night Live‘s best-loved impressionists, but she’s struggled to find the right vehicle for her wild talents since her tenure at 30 Rock. Forever changes all that and reveals once and for all that Maya Rudolph is one of the great comedy masterminds working today.

Forever is Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard’s unique take on marriage. Fred Armisen is Oscar, an almost obnoxiously content dentist, and Rudolph plays his wife June. Oscar is happy with the way things are. He likes the routine of their day-to-day lives, while June secretly pines for change. Yang and Hubbard’s show cleverly uses a montage of scenes, stitched together with horizontal pans and wipes, to make us feel the carousel-like nature of Oscar and June’s story. Since the two have met, it feels like they are going through the motions of happiness, until the point where they just repeat the same scene of domestic bliss again and again until the June’s smile starts to fade.

Rudolph might be known for her larger-than-life comic creations, but June is the opposite. She is someone with a placid exterior and a quiet, quirky sense of humor. June wears the kinds of perky, preppy outfits you’d find in a J. Crew catalogue and she matches these ensembles with a reassuring smile for her husband Oscar. Forever is about what happens when that smile starts to falter. Rudolph’s eyes convey a deep longing throughout the show. While she might be going through the motions to prove everything’s fine, she’s happiest at a moment in Episode 2 when she decides that fate is giving her an opportunity to live for herself. When this chance is taken from her, she once more retreats into the old rhythms. Only now, it’s noted that there’s a passionate rage boiling under her calm demeanor.

Maya Rudolph’s work in Forever is something of a revelation. Of course we knew that she was effervescently funny, but it has sometimes been too easy to forget that she also has a Grand Canyon’s worth of depth. As June, Rudolph gets to deliver zingers with a note of heartache in her voice. She repeatedly does the seemingly impossible: she makes sadness feel funny, rage sound quiet, and meekness seem loud. Through it all, Rudolph is exquisitely real. The surprise isn’t that she’s so good, but that she’s so specifically good at being so breathtakingly understated.

For years, Rudolph has been deployed as a sort of “secret weapon” in other comedies. She’s popped up in The Good Place, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Portlandia, A Very Murray Christmas, and more — and each time she does she bursts into the scene and tears it away from the people who are supposed to be the comedy leads. Now she finally gets to take center stage in Forever, in a role that shows off all the beautiful layers of her talent. It’s about time that Maya Rudolph gets to be the star of the show.

Watch Forever on Prime Video