Emmy Experts Typing: Is ‘Love and Death’ showing some life in the limited races?

Joyce Eng and Christopher Rosen
·8 min read
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Welcome to Emmy Experts Typing, a weekly column in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Joyce Eng and Christopher Rosen discuss the Emmy race — via Slack, of course. This week, we revisit the limited categories on the heels of a few finales.

Christopher Rosen: Hello, Joyce! We’re back again heading into the biggest weekend for television finales in a long time: “Succession,” “Barry,” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” are wrapping up for good, “Yellowjackets,” “Citadel” (‘memba that?) and “Somebody Somewhere” finish up as well, and a pair of high-profile limited series are ending their watch too. On Thursday, Max debuted the finale of “Love & Death”; on Monday, HBO airs the finale of “White House Plumbers.” Heading into the month, both shows seemed like safe bets to perhaps find breathing room in a crowded limited series race that really doesn’t have very many frontrunners. But these shows kind of feel like ships passing in the night? “Love & Death,” at least in my social media circles, has grown in estimation over the course of its run; “White House Plumbers,” not so much. I’ve currently got the Candy Montgomery story landing at least three acting nominations (Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons and Lily Rabe), and while I don’t have it represented in my Best Limited Series predictions just yet, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. (Speaking of predictions: Yes, as you might have expected, I have gone back to Tony Shalhoub in Best Comedy Supporting Actor; I know you’re shocked. But I’m never pressed about admitting my losses and harebrained ideas!) “White House Plumbers,” meanwhile, I’ve gone away from in all categories. Nothing against the show, but it just didn’t seem like it caught much fire — at least not in the way some of the other contenders here, including “Beef,” “Love & Death” and (dare I dream?) “Mrs. Davis” have. The other thing in the favor of “Love & Death” is the lead performance from Olsen. We talked about this a little this week with our voices, but while the limited series race is not as compelling as years past, the Best Movie/Limited Series Actress race is pure fire. Olsen, Ali Wong, Emily Blunt, Betty Gilpin, Rachel Weisz, Riley Keough, my gal Sydney Sweeney, Kathryn Hahn, Jessica Chastain, Lizzy Caplan, Dominique Fishback, Bel Powley… these are some of the most exciting actors around all doing great work. Olsen feels like a “lock,” I think, which buttresses the idea that “Love & Death” could have an easier shot at competing in Best Limited Series — at least compared to “White House Plumbers,” which while also filled with good performances, doesn’t have an Olsen-y standout. So I guess what I’m saying is that I should find room for “Love & Death” in Best Limited Series — but am I sleeping on the flashy potential for voters to embrace “White House Plumbers” too?

joyceeng: It’s funny to observe both of their trajectories this season because I think most people had high expectations for them purely based on the HBO brand, never mind the people involved. But they did not get overwhelmingly stellar reviews and I think that has colored people’s perception and predictions. But as I’ve said multiple times, neither show is as bad as their Metacritic scores would have you think (YMMV, but neither is a 10, one of “Love & Death’s” scores, which is reserved for hot garbage in my mind). They’re both perfectly solid, and in “White House Plumbers'” case, improves as the season goes along, especially if the wacky premiere is not your cup of tea. At the same time, neither has truly exploded, but as I said the other day, “Love & Death” has the edge in terms of audience reception. The story is also more broad-appealing than the politically charged “White House Plumbers.” I said a couple weeks ago that I can see “White House Plumbers” being this year’s “Staircase” in that it will just bag acting nominations for its two leads, and that’s currently what I have: noms for Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux. Lena Headey had her showcase episode this week, but I’m not sure if she’ll make it despite her category’s openness past Niecy Nash-Betts and Claire Danes. I have Olsen and Plemons, but my third “Love & Death” acting nominee is Tom Pelphrey. As you know, I’ve been touting his performance the past seven weeks, so I pulled a you and added him when he was available to predict last week. He absolutely steals the back half of show as Candy’s lawyer, Don Crowder, and there’s some real meat to the part as well beyond the classic David E. Kelley courtroom theatrics. If people are watching and enjoying “Love & Death” — Amanda Seyfried is, per her Instagram Story this week! — it’s hard not to vote for him. And if you’re gonna make me choose just one “Love & Death” dude, Pelphrey all the way (sorry to Jesse). I also now have double “Beef” in the supporting actor category since I’ve added Joseph Lee. That meant I had to drop Domhnall Gleeson, which feels like a mistake.

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Christopher Rosen: As our certified “Beef” correspondent, that’s nice to hear. I haven’t predicted Lee just yet, but — surprise! – I did interview him this week so it’s obviously only a matter of time. I think there’s sound logic to his nomination here – like Young Mazino, Lee shares most of his scenes with Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, two expected nominees. Lee’s character, George, is also perhaps the most kindhearted on the show, and while he’s often played as the fool, Lee never lets George actually be a fool. It’s a nuanced piece of work that should be recognized. I’m currently torn on “Daisy Jones & The Six,” which I feel like I’m definitely over-predicting — I put Sam Claflin in my lead actor predictions along with Keough and the show itself in series — but also maybe under-predicting? It’s one of Amazon’s biggest shows this year — it was seemingly well-liked and highly watched and it has a passionate fanbase that probably helps it a little bit too. But it also feels awfully quiet and finished up maybe a million years ago (or maybe just back in late March). I’ve been higher on this show than you all year, but do you think there’s any hope it kind of surprises? And if not, what show are we underestimating here that you think could really pop?

joyceeng: Still cracks me up how they were like, “Let’s figure out how to squeeze 10 episodes into the month of March.” “Daisy Jones” is a top Amazon priority, but I’m also not sure if its baseline support has a lot of overlap with the TV academy. I have the show in series but no acting nominations. I think Keough can get in and I’d probably have her in if that category were not so stacked. The actor category is not as loaded, but I don’t know if Claflin is that top of mind. As we’ve discussed, the consensus fave after Keough is Camila Morrone. I might go with a passion pick like Ben Whishaw before him. We talked about it the other day, but “A Small Light” wrapped up this week too and you have Liev Schreiber getting in. I’m still not sure what to make of it yet — it has the prestige factor, the quality and the reviews, but are people prioritizing it during this spring influx? Or are they like you and bypassing it for “Spidey and His Amazing Friends” when they log into Disney+?

SEE Emmy Experts Typing: What will round out the drama series lineup?

Christopher Rosen: To tell you how confident I am in Schreiber, just know that I already dropped him as we typed for Lee. I’d be happy to see “A Small Light” get significant nominations, but I don’t know if it really broke through enough to warrant predicting at this point. Morrone is someone else I’ve interviewed and so, yes, I thought of adding her to my list as well. The limited series race more than any other this year feels like the thing we’ll know when we know on July 12: Did voters watch these shows? Did they like these shows? Did they just name-check famous faces and call it a day? I’ll be thinking about that for the next few weeks. But I’ll leave you with the last word: What do you hope to see in the “Succession” finale? (Siri play “I Will Remember You.”)

joyceeng: I can see “A Small Light” being this year’s “Underground Railroad,” but that had more buzz at this stage too. We’re definitely going to get another chaotic set of limited series nominees (in case you’re wondering, yes, I still have “Obi-Wan Kenobi” in my top five). The only thing I hope to see is Mondale for one last time and ideally out of his cage. Woof, woof.

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