Performer of the Week: Kurt Russell
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THE PERFORMER | Kurt Russell
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THE SHOW | Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
THE EPISODE | “Beyond Logic” (Jan. 12, 2023)
THE PERFORMANCE | Whenever an “out there” sci-fi property can sneak up on you with profoundly moving scenes founded in relatable emotions, it’s always a special thing.
Such an occurrence happened this week in the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season finale, when Kurt Russell’s Colonel Lee Shaw unexpectedly reunited with Dr. Keiko Miura, the scientist and onetime love interest he last saw slipping from his grip, into an ominous Kazakhstan chasm, many decades prior.
Mari Yamamoto, as Keiko, was herself terrific in the finale, but TVLine already gave her kudos earlier in the season. So we are here to single out Russell, who in exploring Lee’s half of this joyous, and then heartbreaking, reunion, far and away had his own best material of the series.
Lee had to be overjoyed to find Kei alive. But watch Russell’s face when, as Lee hides his aged self behind a tree, he learns that Kei believes she has been in “Axis Mundi” for a mere 57 days. It’s quite a gut punch he absorbs before detailing for Keiko how he’d led a one-week recon mission to Hollow Earth a few years after she vanished, only to resurface topside a full two decades later.
“That was thirty-th-… thirty-three years ago,” Lee shared from behind the tree, his voice choked with emotion. When Keiko did the math and noted the year must now be 2015, Lee showed himself while quipping about her way with numbers, before allowing him and Kei the hug each of them dearly needed.
“Kei, I gotta tell you — you look exactly as you’ve always looked in my mind’s eye all these years. Exactly,” Lee later professed, Russell telegraphing to us the torch his alter ego clearly still carries for the one that got away (in more ways than one).
Capping his top-notch performance, Russell mined his old action-movie credentials, as Lee heroically did whatever was necessary to send the Operation Hourglass vessel back into the rift, and thus return Keiko, Cate and May home — even if it meant him being left behind.
“It’s all right, Kei…,” Lee assured his dear, dear friend before letting go of her hand and tumbling from the hurtling capsule. “Thank you. For everything.”
Scroll down to see who scored Honorable Mention shout-outs this week…
HONORABLE MENTION: Alaqua Cox
It’s been an emotional journey for Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez during Echo’s five-episode run, but it was the action-packed finale that unleashed the Choctaw warrior within, with the deaf and Indigenous actress delivering her best performance of the series. After Maya’s reluctance to confront her painful past, it was empowering to see her cry while speaking with her mother’s spirit, her tear-filled eyes packing a harder punch than the physical blows in the scenes that followed. And while those fight sequences certainly brought the thrills, it was Maya’s serene expression at the very end that made us feel like a hero had finally risen, and we look forward to seeing what she’ll do next. —Keisha Hatchett
HONORABLE MENTION: Wrenn Schmidt
Given everything Margo has gone through recently on For All Mankind, one might have expected her to have a justifiably dramatic emotional breakdown. Instead, her portrayer Wrenn Schmidt made a far more interesting choice in the Season 4 finale, reminding us that Margo is quietly poised and resilient even under the most distressing circumstances. While the news of Sergei’s murder was certainly a blow to Margo’s composure, Schmidt’s performance was subtly restrained yet impactful as Margo pondered the cost of progress and plotted to sabotage a NASA mission with her protégé Aleida. “This is not a place for feelings. Just the facts,” she softly declared, shedding a single tear. If this was the end of Schmidt’s time on the series — Margo was taken into FBI custody in the finale’s closing moments — then the actress went out with class. —Vlada Gelman
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!
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