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The Comeback<\/a><\/p>\n Valerie\u2019s Home Alone<\/p>\n \n Season 3<\/p>\n Episode 6\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 2 stars<\/p>\n **\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s hard to watch Valeries\u2019 show and relationships crumble around her, but it\u2019s even harder to deny that she brought it on herself. Let\u2019s focus on the positive first: We finally get to see a clip from Mrs. Hatt, and it\u2019s exactly as delightful as I\u2019d hoped. Val as the titular gardener-turned-amateur sleuth, subtly accusing special guest star Paul Dooley of murder? I\u2019d subscribe to Epix for that alone! I\u2019m saying this now because my larger perspective on \u201cValerie\u2019s Home Alone\u201d is much less sunny. It\u2019s the weakest episode of the season so far, and it heightens a growing feeling that The Comeback\u2019s third outing isn\u2019t clicking the way the first two seasons did. Maybe it\u2019s the influence of Michael Patrick King, fresh off the brain-melting And Just Like That\u2026<\/a> Maybe the depiction of an industry circling the drain is simply too grim to bear. Whatever the reason, the jokes aren\u2019t hitting like they once did \u2014 worse, the emotional beats aren\u2019t either.<\/p>\n I say all this while also acknowledging that The Comeback remains a very good show, thanks in large part to the character of Valerie Cherish and Kudrow\u2019s indelible performance. Even a weaker episode like this one still has its moments \u2014\u00a0and I don\u2019t just mean the Mrs. Hatt bit. When we open, Val is prepping for a Zoom marketing meeting when Mark pops in to let her know he\u2019s leaving for Burning Man<\/a>. Her insistence that \u201cgrandfathers don\u2019t go to Burning Man\u201d doesn\u2019t seem to make an impression, but she\u2019s able to share a sweet goodbye (\u201cdon\u2019t die, please, show\u2019s going well\u201d) before her meeting starts. On the call, Arbor and Ridley aren\u2019t all that receptive to Val\u2019s suggestion that they get Evan into the WGA or her idea for an ad campaign. (When she pitches Beth as a flag waving in the wind on the B&B roof, the NuNet team\u2019s stony silence makes her think they\u2019ve frozen.) Ridley shows her the actual How\u2019s That?! ad they\u2019re going with, an AI-generated image of Val\u2019s head on Diane Lane\u2019s body from Under the Tuscan Sun. \u201cI don\u2019t know why everyone\u2019s so afraid of AI,\u201d a delighted Valerie says. It\u2019s a terrible foreshadowing of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n But before we get there, there\u2019s an even more pressing issue at hand: Val\u2019s rapidly fraying relationship with Billy, who has called her in to talk about the disconnect between them. When Val steps into his office for what he says is a private chat, she\u2019s ambushed by more reality cameras and couples therapist David Berkus, who is here to mediate. Billy is producing David\u2019s pilot, and his conversation with Valerie is being filmed for the episode. \u201cCouples therapy content is so hot right now,\u201d Billy explains. (I know Couples Therapy<\/a> is a Paramount show and HBO has no incentive to promote it, but I would have killed to see a Dr. Orna cameo here.) Billy continues to be so smug and self-serving that I\u2019m not sure what there is for him and Valerie to talk about; at this point, I\u2019m just waiting for her to kick him to the curb. In the meantime, though, she doesn\u2019t want to hash things out for his pilot. \u201cYou do everything in front of the camera, but suddenly not when it benefits my mental health or career,\u201d Billy says. Amid his whining, the camera zooms in on some \u201cBS\u201d word art behind him. Subtle! Val says she doesn\u2019t have time for this \u2014\u00a0there\u2019s a color timing meeting that requires the presence of an executive producer, and she\u2019ll have to do it herself since Billy hasn\u2019t been reading his emails or listening to his voicemails.<\/p>\n Val stepping up for Billy means missing rehearsal, which she apologizes to the actors for the next day. That\u2019s not the only thing they\u2019re upset with her about, though. \u201cI think we can all feel that there\u2019s something not being said about how this show is being made,\u201d Walter says. He\u2019s had this experience before, and it didn\u2019t end well. What he\u2019s actually referring to is a star trying to take over a show \u2014 an ongoing misunderstanding stemming from Val getting the showrunners and costumer fired<\/a> \u2014 but Valerie can\u2019t help herself. \u201cThere\u2019s another AI show?\u201d she asks. And just like that, the cast of How\u2019s That?! discovers that they\u2019ve been reciting lines written by AI. While there\u2019s initial anger at being kept in the dark and concern over being associated with anything AI, the conversation quickly shifts to shitting on writers. \u201cThat\u2019s probably why it\u2019s been so fun here,\u201d P.D.P. points out. \u201cIt turns out there are no writers. It\u2019s just us.\u201d Writers are \u201cdicks,\u201d he adds. \u201cThey\u2019re just bitter people,\u201d Walter offers. It feels a little off for the whole cast to immediately jump on the hate train \u2014\u00a0maybe it\u2019s meant to be a reflection of actorly narcissism, but that\u2019s less nuanced than I expect from this show. It\u2019s also awkward to hear these remarks on a season that really could have benefited from more writers. (All of the season-three episodes are credited to Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow, a change from the prior seasons.)<\/p>\n Everything is coming to a head in this episode. At a Cherish the Time podcast recording, Val and Billy continue to try to work through their issues with the help of David Berkus. They\u2019re interrupted by Jane\u2019s girlfriend, Perry (Clea DuVall), who hasn\u2019t heard from Jane in days. Jane has also stopped working at Trader Joe\u2019s to focus solely on the documentary. \u201cYou\u2019re making very unhealthy life decisions,\u201d Perry tells her, and is there anyone that isn\u2019t true of this season? Val says that Jane needs to be direct and upfront with Perry, while Billy cautions that she can\u2019t say anything about the AI because of the NDA she signed. That\u2019s when Jane reveals that she never signed it. Billy is reasonably concerned about what that means for the show, but his escalation is pretty repulsive \u2014 back on the lot, he shows up in Val\u2019s dressing room with security to escort Jane away. Billy accuses Jane of throwing Valerie under the bus like she did with The Comeback, but Jane is insistent this isn\u2019t about Val at all. \u201cPeople have a right to know that AI is coming for their jobs, not just in offices and factories,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s right here on this stupid sitcom.\u201d I hope this isn\u2019t the last we see of Jane, as much as I appreciate her parting warning that AI is a threat to our souls. Her growing respect and affection for Valerie has been one of the season\u2019s bright spots, particularly with Mickey gone.<\/p>\n I\u2019m also wondering if this is the end of the road for Tommy, whose storyline seems to conclude abruptly. Throughout the episode, we see him visibly crushing on Frank: lots of unsolicited shoulder rubs, close talking, awkward compliments. Frank asks Val to step in as executive producer, and she delicately tells Tommy to knock it off. He claims that Frank has always seemed tense, and he was just trying to de-stress him. \u201cI have been rubbing nervous actors\u2019 shoulders since WKRP in Cinci-fucking-nnati,\u201d he insists. \u201cDifferent times,\u201d Val says. (That show has been off the air for 44 years, so she\u2019s not wrong!) Tommy uses this opportunity to quit, a move I did not see coming. He tells Val that what started off as fun has become a job, and he\u2019s too old for workplace drama. This strikes me as an inelegant way to write Tommy off the show, if that\u2019s indeed what\u2019s happening. Before he goes, he blows up at Frank for complaining about him. \u201cI\u2019m not surprised,\u201d he sneers. \u201cIt\u2019s always the gays that bring you down. The gays hate the gays!\u201d As amused as I was by Tommy\u2019s list of straight actors who didn\u2019t mind his shoulder rubs (John Stamos, Steven Weber, Mark Linn-Baker), I found this scene to be more unpleasant than funny. It\u2019s an unfortunate ending for a character who was never able to make much of an impression outside of not being Mickey. I did laugh in the aftermath of the tirade when Val says, \u201cSo, I told him,\u201d to a shell-shocked Frank.<\/p>\n Val has now lost Jane and Tommy, and the hits keep coming. The news that How\u2019s That?! is an AI-scripted sitcom has breached containment after an anonymous tip, and the fallout is swift. Suddenly, the internet is filled with writers blasting Val specifically. \u201cI\u2019m a comedy writer who can\u2019t pay my mortgage,\u201d one TikToker says. \u201cThanks, Valerie Cherish.\u201d NuNet, of course, isn\u2019t saying a peep, prompting Val to leave a desperate message with Arbor about how \u201cthe S has hit the F.\u201d The Comeback is putting us in an odd position here \u2014 just how bad are we supposed to feel for Val? She\u2019s right that she\u2019s been trying to hire writers like Evan and Paulie G, and that she was misled about WGA approving the show. When it comes to the latter, however, I\u2019d argue that she was being willfully ignorant, at best. Yes, Valerie is often her own worst enemy, as I noted last week, but this is really the first time I find myself not on her side. It\u2019s fair for her to ask, \u201cHow am I the villain?\u201d when NuNet clearly bears the most responsibility. But she is the face of this show, and she has eagerly embraced a technology that has already had devastating effects on writers\u2019 livelihoods and on the entertainment industry at large. If The Comeback were real life, I wouldn\u2019t be participating in the viral \u201cI Hate Valerie\u201d dance, but I\u2019d probably be liking all the outraged posts \u2014 and that doesn\u2019t make me feel great!<\/p>\n Much of this is surely intentional. Sometimes the shows we love make us uncomfortable on purpose, pushing us to feel conflicted about our favorite characters. In this case, though, that results in the emotional conclusion to the episode falling flat. While watching a CNN story on the AI sitcom news, Val sees Jane defending her. It was Paulie G, she surmises, who outed How\u2019s That?! after not being hired. Regardless of where the leak came from (again, Val\u2019s fault, sorry to say!), the damage is done. \u201cHollywood hates me, Mark,\u201d Val says in a voicemail to her absent husband. \u201cWriters are so mad. I told you AI was the villain. I knew this would happen!\u201d I think on some level that\u2019s true, which makes it all the more frustrating that she\u2019s ended up here. The episode ends on a grace note: Mark, who saw the news at Burning Man, has come home early to support Valerie. He sits down next to her on the couch and holds her as he cries. This moment should hit harder than it does, but Mark has been such a consistent nightmare this season that it mostly just feels unearned. And Mark aside, there are limits to my compassion. As much as I adore Valerie Cherish and hate to see her so broken, there\u2019s no denying the obvious. She brought this on herself.<\/p>\n \u2022 I know I\u2019ve been hard on this episode (and, to an extent, the season as a whole), but so much comes down to how the show lands this plane. At the very least, I have faith in Lisa Kudrow!<\/p>\n \u2022 Like Tommy, Patience isn\u2019t really registering as a character, but I do enjoy finding out how she\u2019s injured herself in every episode. \u201cI just don\u2019t know how a bee got in my breakfast sandwich,\u201d she says in this one.<\/p>\n \u2022 There\u2019s an amusing bit when Val is filming a scene where she\u2019s supposed to trigger a spray of water with the line \u201cthere\u2019s a leak.\u201d She then says it about the AI story breaking, and gets sprayed in the face. It feels very early Comeback and offers a nice reprieve from the somber tone of the episode, though it\u2019s admittedly a little out of place here.<\/p>\n \u2022 We learn that it\u2019s not just Valerie that Mark has been pushing away \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s not on great terms with Francesca, largely because he doesn\u2019t approve of her husband. I hope the season ends with Mark in intensive therapy.<\/p>\n \u2022 Valerie keeps ordering Mulberry Street pizza. Taste!<\/p>\n \u2022 Do you think Reese Witherspoon is watching The Comeback? She might learn something<\/a>.<\/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: HBO\n <\/p>\n