Dear Emmy voters: Please don’t overlook Aja Naomi King’s searing ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ performance
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In the sixth episode of “Lessons in Chemistry,” an exuberant Elizabeth (Brie Larson) rings up her friend and neighbor Harriet (Aja Naomi King) to boast about the stunt she’s just pulled off on her cooking show “Supper at Six.” “I wore pants on national TV!” she proudly reports, inviting kudos from her ever-supportive friend. Harriet, however, emits a sharp exhale, rolls her eyes and shakes her head before responding with a mere exasperated “Wow.” Elizabeth goes on, talking about how her big move had been weeks in the making and she finally feels like she’s “making a difference” at her workplace, prompting Harriet to take a deep breath, close her eyes and listlessly nod as she seemingly waits for the phone call to just be over.
At that moment, Harriet’s mind is elsewhere: on the recent arrest of Martin Luther King Jr., the possible construction of a freeway that would gentrify her predominantly Black neighborhood and her husband’s (Paul James) opposition to organizing a sit-in to protest this construction. So the last thing she has right then is the energy to feign excitement over Elizabeth’s comparatively trivial act of defiance. The phone call scene lasts just a few seconds, but therein, the feelings of exhaustion, anger and disappointment and yet lack of surprise over her friend’s obliviousness are all perfectly communicated by King, who deserves a Best Limited Series/TV Movie Supporting Actress Emmy nomination for her work on the show.
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Of the numerous changes in the TV adaptation of Bonnie Garmus‘ novel, the reimagination of Harriet is perhaps the most consequential one. In the 2022 bestseller, Harriet is a housewife in her mid-50s with two adult children who’s trapped in an abusive marriage and babysits Elizabeth’s daughter while Elizabeth pursues a career in chemistry. On the Apple TV+ limited series, she’s a much younger Black woman with two young children, a loving husband and a whole lot of professional ambition. Channeling all her pain and rage over the plights the Black community faces not just in her California neighborhood of Sugar Hill but across the country into activism, she is a legal aide and an aspiring lawyer who uses her expertise in the legal field to try to block the construction of the aforementioned freeway.
SEE ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ is on track to complete this Emmy trifecta for Apple TV+
As the reconceptualization of the character often causes Harriet to be isolated from the show’s main storyline, her arc could have easily flown under the radar. But because King brings such a vivacity to her character, you can’t help but lean into her story and miss her whenever she isn’t onscreen. King plays Harriet as someone who is not bogged down by the obstacles placed in her path and hits she takes, but further propelled by them. Her incessant drive often leads to clashes between her and her husband, Charlie, who is concerned about his family’s well-being and even takes on extra work shifts to ensure it. King turns in some of her best work opposite James as she gets to unpack Harriet’s growing frustration over having to put her legal career on hold so she can take care of her kids while Charlie is working.
But perhaps the biggest highlight of King’s performance is the chemistry she creates with Larson. As Elizabeth and Harriet connect over their shared grief after Calvin’s (Lewis Pullman) death and the highs and lows of motherhood, they quickly forge a tight bond that allows for honest exchanges between the two characters. It’s why Harriet is able to call out Elizabeth’s ignorance after Elizabeth declines her invite to join the sit-in she’s organized. “You’ve got something almost no one has,” she tells the cooking show host. “You have a platform. What you say matters. And what you don’t say matters just as much.” King delivers these lines from the depths of her soul, making the case for how you can deserve an Emmy nomination for one line reading alone.
At the moment, King is in third place in our limited series/TV movie supporting actress Emmy odds, trailing “Fargo’s” Jennifer Jason Leigh and “True Detective: Night Country’s” Kali Reis. Her biggest asset is that “Lessons in Chemistry” is likely to be a top limited series contender. Following a successful winter awards run that includes a surprise victory for Sarah Adina Smith at the Directors Guild of America Awards, the eight-part period drama that ran from October to November is also predicted to reap bids for series, actress (Larson) and supporting actor (Pullman). In her category, King, a Critics Choice Award nominee for the show, is also helped by being one of just three contenders entering the race already with a notable citation to their name. The other two are “The Fall of the House of Usher” stars Willa Fitzgerald and Mary McDonnell, who were nominated alongside King at Critics Choice and are in 20th and 21st place, respectively, in our odds.
While King has never been nominated and could be hurt by a lack of name recognition, it’s worth remembering that she has starred in two recent Emmy-nominated and/or -winning projects: “How to Get Away with Murder,” a 10-time nominee for acting and the 2015 drama actress winner (Viola Davis), and “Sylvie’s Love,” a Best TV Movie nominee in 2021.
King arguably should have been nominated for her work on “Murder,” on which she played Michaela Pratt, an ambitious, overachieving law student who gets tied up in — and helps cover up — multiple murders. But as a relative unknown on a series that didn’t exactly take the Emmys by storm, she was always going to have a difficult time landing recognition for it. So now that she’s a more familiar face and in a stronger vehicle, let’s hope TV academy judges finally give her the favorable verdict she has long deserved.
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