![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/c089f94cc44b0906e9d98c911f21e6849a-lisa-kudrow-andrew-scott.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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The Comeback<\/a><\/p>\n Valerie Lights a Candle<\/p>\n \n Season 3<\/p>\n Episode 5\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 4 stars<\/p>\n ****\n <\/p>\n \n Photo: Erin Simkin\/HBO\n <\/p>\n Five episodes into season three of The Comeback, we\u2019re still getting to know the 2026 Valerie Cherish. Last week<\/a>, I observed that Val \u2014\u00a0who took a massive step toward being a better version of herself in the season-two finale<\/a> \u2014\u00a0is now being held back by the selfishness of the people around her instead of getting in her own way. This week, we\u2019re learning that self-sabotage remains an intrinsic part of her character. It\u2019s not that I thought season-three Val was perfect; we\u2019re talking about someone who willingly signed on to an AI-scripted sitcom, after all. But it\u2019s not until \u201cValerie Lights a Candle\u201d that we fully comprehend the extent to which she\u2019s still her own worst enemy.<\/p>\n To be fair, Val is identifying very real problems. After her inadvertent voice note to the studio, Brandon Wollack himself shows up to the How\u2019s That?! set to let Valerie know that Josh and Mary have been fired. It\u2019s not particularly comforting to hear him say \u201cwe own their names, we own their silence, so it\u2019s all good,\u201d and it\u2019s even less reassuring to discover that the showrunner job has been passed on to the woefully unqualified Marco. This is, at best, a lateral move, as much as Brandon insists that they don\u2019t need any writer in charge when AI can pull (read: steal) from all the greats. He\u2019s a very unsettling character \u2014\u00a0I\u2019d expect nothing less from a studio head \u2014 and he knows exactly what to say to keep Val in line. By telling her that the pilot tested great and thanking her for making the show the least of NuNet\u2019s troubles, he\u2019s appealing to her ego and her need to be loved. (Maybe he\u2019s been watching past seasons of The Comeback.) Of course, Brandon has zero guidance for how Val should inform the actors about the staffing changes, especially since she\u2019s been barred from revealing that the show is written by AI.<\/p>\n Val wants to bond with her castmates \u2014\u00a0she\u2019s brought all of them targeted inspirational candles \u2014 but she also has to keep them under control. That means telling everyone that Josh and Mary have been fired and then calming their appropriate nerves. She shares that the former showrunners hated the actors, and that most of the writing has been done by the mysterious Al, anyway. (That\u2019s \u201cAl\u201d with an \u201cL.\u201d I so wish there were an easier way of distinguishing here.) \u201cA writer we\u2019ve never even seen; that feels suspicious to me,\u201d says Walter, who is clearly the savviest of the cast. He\u2019s also the one who notes that it makes no sense for a writers\u2019 assistant like Marco to get promoted to showrunner, which prompts an unhelpful \u201cdon\u2019t panic!\u201d from Val. Back in her dressing room, she gives Billy the Josh and Mary update, along with a passive-aggressive (though justified) \u201cFocus\u201d candle. When he bristles, she offers a \u201cRelax\u201d instead. As much as I love Dan Bucatinsky, I\u2019m ready for an end to this already contentious creative partnership. If Billy keeps firing barbs at Valerie\u2019s husband, like this week\u2019s \u201cMaybe give Mark a candle that says Charisma\u201d zinger, she might just snap.<\/p>\n In the meantime, she has more immediate problems to deal with. During rehearsal for the next episode of How\u2019s That?!, the two actors playing angry bed-and-breakfast guests are inexplicably whispering their lines. Hearing \u201cListen lady, I don\u2019t know how much louder I can say this\u201d as ASMR really made me laugh, as did Val\u2019s visible confusion. When she confers with Bryan, the director, he says he keeps giving the actors the note to stop whispering, but they just say \u201cthank you.\u201d It turns out Phillip and Kewpie (like the doll) were cast because they\u2019re Marco\u2019s roommates, and that\u2019s also why he refuses to fire them. \u201c\u200b\u200bMarco says he\u2019s got this, they think they\u2019ve got this, that whole generation thinks they\u2019ve got this,\u201d Val complains to Frank. (Again, these jabs at \u201ckids today\u201d smack of Michael Patrick King and give me terrible flashbacks to the And Just Like That \u2026 season finale<\/a>, also featuring Ella Stiller.) Meanwhile, Marco has asked Al to spit out alts for every joke in the script, resulting in 39 mostly unusable pages. \u201cNo human could write that fast,\u201d Val tells the showrunner. \u201cIt\u2019s suspicious.\u201d Besides, there\u2019s no way they could even try all the alts, so he\u2019ll need to cut most of the new material. Marco, who seems increasingly threatened, refuses to let tech guy Evan highlight the good jokes.<\/p>\n As for the whispering guest stars, Val takes her concerns to Sharon, whose hands are tied since she isn\u2019t the person who cast Marco\u2019s roommates. She is, however, willing to fire them on behalf of executive producer Valerie Cherish, as long as Val can make sure Sharon\u2019s job is protected. There is a heavy sense of dread hanging over The Comeback this season \u2014 it\u2019s the most honest depiction I\u2019ve seen of how bleak the entertainment industry feels right now. And yes, things are even harder for women of a certain age like Sharon and Valerie, but everyone is feeling it. We see that in the next scene, when P.D.P. confronts Val for telling Marco to cut his jokes. He\u2019s under the mistaken impression that she did this out of actorly jealousy and not because the alts were AI slop. \u201cI need this to be my breakout role,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m gonna be 40.\u201d At the same time, Sharon is loudly firing Marco\u2019s roommates in the background, telling them, \u201cIt\u2019s the star\u2019s show and she doesn\u2019t think you\u2019re funny!\u201d How unfortunate that Val is being painted as a diva just for trying to keep this sitcom from falling apart. She assures P.D.P. that they\u2019re in the same boat. Now she just has to find a captain.<\/p>\n I can defend so many of Val\u2019s choices. I cannot defend her deciding that the captain How\u2019s That?! needs is Paulie G. He arrives to set unsure of why Valerie has summoned him, and making terrible jokes to mask his discomfort. (\u201cWhat are you filming, Jane? The Cameback?\u201d) That Paulie is willing to work with Val again is another sign of how grim the situation is for everyone in the industry, but that doesn\u2019t mean she should go through with it. Jane, who has become Valerie\u2019s strongest ally and the show\u2019s true voice of reason, does not mince words when she says, \u201cThis is the worst decision that you can make.\u201d Val tells Jane she\u2019s going to get her a \u201cNot the End of the World\u201d candle. But Jane\u2019s entirely right that Paulie is the worst possible pick for a new captain \u2014\u00a0he will sink this ship, she warns.<\/p>\n Undeterred, Val invites Paulie to a taping of the next episode. He\u2019s instantly able to suss out that the show is being written by AI and why a scene of Beth being yelled at by the two bed and breakfast guests \u2014 now played by actors who can raise their voices \u2014 isn\u2019t getting laughs. Paulie suggests they replace the male actor with a woman. \u201cAn audience doesn\u2019t like it when a man is mean to a woman they like,\u201d he explains in the most meta line of the episode. This is why the return of Paulie G, a character who has been relentlessly cruel to Valerie from the very beginning of the series, strikes fear in our hearts. It\u2019s also why many of us are struggling with the current iterations of Billy and Mark, who seem to get nastier every episode. Mark is at the taping with Fernando again, and he informs Valerie that he and the doorman will be going to Burning Man this year, and that Val is not invited. \u201cMark, this is not a smart decision,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna tell me about smart,\u201d he fires back, gesturing toward Paulie G. \u201cLook who you got here.\u201d And sure, he has a point, but must he be such a dick about it? Val insists she\u2019s saving the show, and Paulie is indeed helping. He\u2019s doing the kind of on-set rewrite Al could never manage, with an assist from Evan, who reveals he gave up on being a writer and got into coding when he saw where the industry was headed. But any belief that Paulie has truly changed goes out the window once he dismisses Val with a cold \u201cmake yourself useful.\u201d<\/p>\n Leaving aside his rudeness, there\u2019s no denying that the episode lands better with an experienced human writer at the helm. Still, is this something Val should be putting herself through? Frank, who felt sorry for Josh and Mary despite their hatred of actors, delivers another meta line when he wonders, \u201cWhy am I always defending people who don\u2019t have my best interest?\u201d Val should internalize this, but instead she gifts him a \u201cSelf-Love\u201d candle. She then tells Paulie she\u2019ll talk to the studio on his behalf. Not for the first time, he apologizes for the way he treated her on Room and Bored. In a new twist, he blames his behavior on the reality show she was filming at the same time. \u201cYou weren\u2019t responsible for reality TV any more than you\u2019re responsible for AI,\u201d he admits. \u201cI thought reality TV was coming for us, but AI, fucking scary.\u201d<\/p>\n Once Paulie\u2019s gone, Jane acknowledges that he was being uncharacteristically vulnerable. Val astutely notes, \u201cNothing more dangerous than a scared animal. That\u2019s when they bite.\u201d I\u2019ll buy that Paulie\u2019s reality anxiety exacerbated his hatred of Val, but let\u2019s not discount his flagrant misogyny, which is already rearing its ugly head again. Paulie\u2019s not the only scared animal either. Marco confronts Val to ask if she\u2019s firing him, while also obliquely threatening to spill the AI secret if he\u2019s let go. Val assures him she doesn\u2019t have that power, and reminds him that they\u2019re all a team working together to make the show great. I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s going to lessen his worries \u2014\u00a0and I\u2019m even less optimistic that the \u201cSuccess\u201d candle she gives him will make Marco captain material.<\/p>\n \u2022 So what happened with episode two of How\u2019s That?! Did they end up filming the Uncharted crossover with Beth in jail, or did Marco get Al to produce something more sensible?<\/p>\n \u2022 While we\u2019re on the subject of loose ends, I still have questions about Josh and Mary. Billy calling the exiled writing team \u201cMary and Mary\u201d means I\u2019m not the only one assuming theirs is a lavender marriage.<\/p>\n \u2022 This is another episode without as many laugh-out-loud moments, but I\u2019ll shout out my favorite exchange: Paulie G asking Valerie what his last name is, and her answering, after a lengthy pause, \u201cG.\u201d Lisa Kudrow\u2019s delivery remains impeccable.<\/p>\n \u2022 I failed to mention in last week\u2019s recap that Evan is played by Kudrow\u2019s real-life son, Julian Stern. They actually look quite a bit alike, though his facial hair mostly hides the resemblance.<\/p>\n \u2022 Speaking of nepo babies (said with love!), Ella Stiller\u2019s reaction to Walter\u2019s muffin order was very funny. He tells Patience he\u2019s fine with any flavor \u201cexcept for banana or blueberry or bran.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 On the other hand, the \u201cValerie says things wrong\u201d bit is not working for me. I know it\u2019s a constant on The Comeback, but it\u2019s starting to feel too silly. Case in point: Val saying that she can\u2019t ask about a medical condition because of \u201cHIPPO rules.\u201d It\u2019s a little hacky for a show this good.<\/p>\n \u2022 With Mark and Billy being such nightmares, I\u2019m loving the new Jane. I was very touched by her response to Val saying that Paulie G won her an Emmy. \u201cYou won you an Emmy,\u201d Jane corrects.<\/p>\n \u2022 Do I ship Val and Jane? Not really, but \u2026 watch this space.<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Vulture Newsletter<\/p>\n Entertainment news, for the pop-culture obsessed.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n