![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0521394348ae8956b2c1267f644ddd97e6-thecomeback-ep4.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The Comeback<\/a><\/p>\n Valerie Does It All<\/p>\n \n Season 3<\/p>\n Episode 4\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 3 stars<\/p>\n ***\n <\/p>\n \n Val\u2019s character has found her footing, but the show hasn\u2019t figured out its stance on AI. It would be easy enough for a Hollywood satire like The Comeback to turn Valerie Cherish into a monstrous diva. Instead, she comes across as a relatably flawed person whose constant need for validation sometimes trumps her better instincts. Over the first two seasons, we witnessed her frequent self-obsession blind her to the needs of the people she was closest to. Then came a true act of self-sacrifice in the season-two finale<\/a> \u2014 it was a moment of tremendous growth for the character that appears to have stuck, and in season three, we\u2019re seeing a more evolved Val. Now if she\u2019s being held back, it\u2019s less by her own failings and more by the failings of those around her. This switch-up to the formula makes new episodes of The Comeback compelling to watch, even as the season\u2019s big-picture storytelling remains a bit muddled.<\/p>\n Case in point: The filming of the How\u2019s That?! pilot in \u201cValerie Does It All\u201d illustrates one of my larger issues with the season so far in what it\u2019s trying to say about AI. The audience at the live taping is shown a cold open in which Beth sneezes and a piece of the bed-and-breakfast she\u2019s been dusting collapses. \u201cI thought I was the only thing barely hanging on here,\u201d says Beth, and while Josh laughs a little too loudly, the audience doesn\u2019t. Val and Jimmy both agree they need a bigger blow to end the scene. Josh, who looks like he\u2019s about to cry, defends the line and refuses a rewrite. Marco\u2019s suggestion of \u201cI\u2019m so surprised the house is falling apart\u201d isn\u2019t even a joke. Ultimately, they go with the AI-scripted \u201cWell, I guess those ants were termites.\u201d No, it\u2019s not laugh-out-loud funny, but it\u2019s solid enough and undeniably better than what the human writer came up with. I know The Comeback is not actually making a case for AI sitcoms, and I don\u2019t need every beat of the show to validate my own distaste for the technology. But I\u2019m not entirely sure what we\u2019re meant to take away from this scene \u2014 especially since it follows a scene last week<\/a> in which Val and Jimmy both like the new scene that Al wrote, which Josh dismisses as overly sentimental. The show seems to waver on a key question: Is AI an existential threat because it\u2019s too good or because it\u2019s not good enough?<\/p>\n Thankfully, the subsequent scene gets at the heart of the problem with artificial intelligence. Once they\u2019ve finally wrapped reshoots, Jimmy tells Val he won\u2019t be directing any more episodes. The show can never be truly great without real writers, he reasons. \u201cThe machine is fast and cooperative, I\u2019ll give it that, but I saw every one of those jokes coming and so did you,\u201d Jimmy says. \u201cSurprising only comes from a group of writers huddled in a corner beating themselves up to beat out a better joke.\u201d The veteran director, who has long been a voice of reason on The Comeback, explains that you need the \u201cbroken beautiful souls\u201d of writers to take their pain and create something brilliant and unexpected. He\u2019s laying it on a bit thick, but I appreciate the show\u2019s clear articulation of why humanity, however flawed, will always win out over the machines. While the rest of the episode takes a broader approach to lampooning AI\u2019s limitations, Jimmy\u2019s earnest parting words say it all. Meanwhile, Lisa Kudrow continues to do incredible face acting as she reacts to everything he\u2019s saying, clearly wounded to hear all this from someone she respects so deeply. When Jimmy explains that he walks away from any project he\u2019s not having fun with, Val asks if she\u2019s not fun, and I honestly thought I might start crying again. (We\u2019re getting Kudrow that Emmy!) It\u2019s the show itself that\u2019s the problem, Jimmy assures her. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame, too,\u201d he adds. \u201cThis was a really good part for you. Could\u2019ve been the one.\u201d Oof.<\/p>\n While Val was doing reshoots, Mark was out getting drinks with Fernando, a doorman in the building whom he\u2019s decided to befriend. He returns home hammered, and his sloppy attempts to get Val to sleep with him are hard to watch \u2014 he keeps calling her Mrs. Berman, which may be because that\u2019s what Fernando calls her, but it feels more like a desperate reclaiming of his \u201chead of the household\u201d role. \u201cI hate this new chapter,\u201d he admits, defeated. I hate this new Mark, so I can relate! Val brushes him off; she\u2019s distracted reading the script for the next episode of How\u2019s That?!, which has some pretty serious issues. The next day at the table read, she brings up her concerns: Why is the rest of the cast barely in the episode? Who is this new character, Nathan Drake? And most important, why is Beth in jail? The new director, Brian, isn\u2019t much help, telling Val they should let the crew build the jail set and then see how it plays. But there shouldn\u2019t be a jail set at all, Val insists. They\u2019re spending money on something that doesn\u2019t make any sense, and as executive producer, it\u2019s her job to point that out. In a great visual gag, crewmembers walk by carrying a piece of the new set and Val is briefly framed as if she\u2019s behind bars. By ignoring the red flags and proceeding with the show, she\u2019s found herself in a prison of her own making.<\/p>\n Val meets Evan, the tech guy who\u2019s tasked with troubleshooting any problems with Al. He explains that the episode is the result of an AI hallucination, which is what happens when the program gets confused and makes shit up. In this case, it has misinterpreted Beth\u2019s joke about killing her brother in the pilot and put the character in jail, then added Nathan Drake from the Uncharted video-game series. (Played by Tom Holland in the 2022 film adaptation, which I swear doesn\u2019t exist despite making over $400 million.) As Val comes to terms with the fact that a glitch in the system has produced an unfilmable episode, she\u2019s also fielding complaints from the other actors. P.D.P. points out that he has only one scene and it\u2019s him baking a file into a cake. \u201cIs this a cartoon now?\u201d he asks. I\u2019ll admit that\u2019s sort of how I feel about The Comeback doing this AI-hallucination plot, which is pushing the boundaries of believability \u2014 not that Al would produce something so stupid but that no one but Val would flag it as a serious issue. I understand the point the show is trying to make, though, which is that all the responsibility is falling on her shoulders. That becomes even clearer when Valerie tries to get Billy to help, but he\u2019s too busy taking part in Variety\u2019s \u201c50 Over 50\u201d photo shoot. It\u2019s now up to Val and Val alone to get a new script from the writers.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Valerie doesn\u2019t get the response she\u2019s hoping for at the writers\u2019 office. Mary reveals that she and Josh are only there to babysit Al and lend the project credibility, not to do any writing themselves. That seemed obvious from the jump, but it\u2019s news to Val, and it still leaves the problem of a second episode that doesn\u2019t work. Everyone who could help is either otherwise occupied or completely indifferent. Facing a dead end, Val threatens to call the studio, but Mary isn\u2019t budging. \u201cI am not going to fucking teach Al to be better,\u201d she fires back. \u201cI\u2019m not helping to build the scaffold that kills my profession. We took this job because if it works, it\u2019ll be a paycheck forever, and now I don\u2019t even give a fuck if it works or not.\u201d In fact, Mary seems enthusiastic about the prospect of the show failing. After confirming that she and Josh will not be delivering a new episode, she closes with \u201cI hope Rome burns to the ground.\u201d It\u2019s a thrillingly nasty performance from Abbi Jacobson. Her mocking \u201cHow\u2019s that?!\u201d to Valerie is especially harrowing.<\/p>\n Out of options, Val locates Billy at the \u201c50 Over 50\u201d shoot and tells him the situation is worse than they\u2019d thought: \u201cShe\u2019s not here to help! She\u2019s here to watch Rome go on fire!\u201d Billy shows as much concern as he can muster, which is not much. When Val demands he call the studio, he suggests she explain the situation clearly so he knows exactly what to tell them. In reality, he has recorded her rant as a voice note and sent it over to NuNet to avoid having to do any of the legwork himself. I appreciate that Val is furious \u2014\u00a0Billy\u2019s behavior gets more egregious every week \u2014\u00a0even if the meanest thing she can say to him is that he really let her down and isn\u2019t being a good producing partner. Jane\u2019s take is better: \u201cThat was fully fucking disturbing. Who the fuck does that guy think he is?\u201d But Valerie, who now understands she\u2019ll have to keep wearing too many hats to save this show, is already trying to put a positive spin on the situation. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s just up to just me, and that\u2019s okay,\u201d she says. \u201cI love a challenge. It\u2019s an opportunity to rise to the occasion.\u201d She\u2019s going to need to maintain that perspective because I have very little faith that Brandon Wollack is going to save the day.<\/p>\n \u2022 In another episode that\u2019s lighter on the jokes, I did laugh out loud at the perfect observational humor of Billy\u2019s \u201cNo one listens to voice-mails, send me a voice memo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 I also love that Mary is writing Inside Out 6: Riley Loses Her Virginity.<\/p>\n \u2022 Call me immature, but the very visible prosthetic seen when Josh is wearing his tiny shorts \u2014 and Val\u2019s subtly horrified reaction \u2014 did make me chuckle. Relatedly, are we supposed to infer that Josh and his trainer have an inappropriate relationship? Mary flinched a little at the mention of her husband\u2019s workout buddy.<\/p>\n \u2022 As for jokes that didn\u2019t work for me at the writers\u2019 office, the assistant downstairs filming a TikTok video feels like another lazy jab at Gen Z, much like Patience\u2019s malingering.<\/p>\n \u2022 While I like the story beat of Mark befriending the building staff out of desperation, I was less amused by Fernando trying to start a fight with the warm-up comic at the taping.<\/p>\n \u2022 Are we ever going to see an episode of Finance Dudes? This week, we learn Mark is in danger of being fired, which prompts Valerie to suggest that she film with him. She also warns Billy to \u201cnever say bad things about Mark.\u201d I hope she\u2019s not reading these recaps.<\/p>\n \u2022 Of course, the moment that really landed for me was the callback of an overhead camera capturing Val rehearsing the same line over and over while getting distracted by food. After a long day at work, I do want to see that.<\/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
\n Photo: Erin Simkin\/HBO\n <\/p>\n