Performer of the Week: Matt Bomer
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THE PERFORMER | Matt Bomer
THE SHOW | Showtime’s Fellow Travelers
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THE EPISODE | “White Nights” (Dec. 8, 2023)
For much of the Showtime limited series, Bomer’s Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller has been juggling his public persona with his private life as a gay man in love with Jonathan Bailey’s deeply religious Tim Laughlin. But in the seventh episode, Hawk’s repressed grief about his son Jackson’s heroin overdose took center stage over his love affair, allowing Bomer to mine Hawk’s confident and suave veneer for emotional vulnerabilities.
From the moment Tim arrived at Hawk’s Fire Island home, it was clear that Hawk was on a destructive streak, consuming alcohol and drugs at a concerning rate. The real unraveling, however, took place when Hawk spotted his son’s photo on a nightstand while mid-threesome with his new boy toy Craig and Tim. On a dime, Bomer shifted from Hawk’s drugged-out, blissful haze to the kind of stilted expression that comes with being hit in the face with reality. With impressive finesse, the actor cycled through shock, anger and then, finally, devastating acceptance as Hawk curled up in an almost catatonic state, repeating, “My little boy, he’s dead.” What really sold Hawk’s breakdown, though, was the way in which Bomer gripped onto Tim like he was a tether keeping a sobbing Hawk from drowning in his pain.
When Hawk, at long last, started to open up about Jackson and Tim reassured him that the death was not his fault, Bomer brought a softness and fragileness to Hawk’s grief. Tim reminded Hawk that his family needs him, to which Bomer replied with a lovely hesitancy, as if Hawk feared the wrong answer, “Don’t you need me, Skippy?” Tim meaningfully answered, “I have you,” but unfortunately, Hawk was back to taking a hit the next morning.
A guilt-ridden Hawk may have been trying to kill himself with excess, but Bomer nearly killed us with a heartbreaking performance that showcased that while you can hide your true self from the world, you can’t hide from your own self.
Scroll down to see who scored Honorable Mention shout-outs this week…
HONORABLE MENTION: Jon Hamm
It’s been fascinating to watch Jon Hamm explore the dark side of his on-screen charisma as Fargo‘s Roy Tillman, a swaggering small-town sheriff who makes his own rules and punishes everyone else according to them. This week, Hamm absolutely commanded the screen as Roy confronted an abusive husband, quoting Scripture with a folksy cowboy twang. When he realized his speeches weren’t working, he quietly sighed to himself, “I tried,” and when the husband pulled a gun on him, Roy hardly flinched, with Hamm exuding a serene confidence as Roy gunned down the abuser. Roy is no hero — he’s a chauvinistic bully, for one thing — but Hamm has made him mesmerizing nonetheless, a lone ranger literally riding off into the sunset.
HONORABLE MENTION: Jon Lovitz
Magnum P.I. this season has been doing a great job with guest stars — Michael Rady, Karissa Lee Staples, Judith Scott and Patrick Fabian, to name a few. That streak continued with the casting of SNL vet Jon Lovitz as Pierre, an “old rival” of Thomas’ that… well, Thomas frankly never thinks about! Much of Lovitz’s trademark, slithery line delivery was on display as the low-rent P.I. haggled with Thomas over the the price of some hot goss (“I want five… good cases”), and to great comic effect. The way he loudly scoffed at the offer of only “a couple?” makes us laugh every time; ditto Pierre’s admission (did we hear a burp?) that he would have settled for $10! Judging by Jay Hernandez’s amused expression throughout their exchange in a cramped VW bug, we reckon he’d agree that, yeah, Lovitz was just the ticket, as well.
HONORABLE MENTION: Krys Marshall
It takes a lot to go up against For All Mankind’s veteran astronaut Ed Baldwin, but Danielle Poole did just that in this week’s episode, with her portrayer Krys Marshall delivering a fiery performance that sufficiently put Ed in his place. During Ed and Danielle’s overdue confrontation, the actress unleashed a formidable fury we’ve never seen before from her levelheaded character. When Ed pushed Danielle to her limit by evoking what happened to the late Danny, Marshall yelled “F—k you!” with so much anger and hurt that we were left quaking. “I have news for you, Ed Baldwin: You are just a pathetic old man who doesn’t know when to call it a day!” Danielle exclaimed, before relieving Ed of his duties. It was a not-so-gentle reminder that Danielle and Marshall are both powerhouses.
HONORABLE MENTION: Tony Shalhoub
We’re not surprised that the actor who won three Emmys playing Adrian Monk slipped effortlessly back into the detective’s droll delivery and OCD behavior in the new Peacock movie Mr. Monk’s Last Case. What’s impressive is how he takes the beloved character to new extremes. With sadness in his eyes and palpable weight on his shoulders, Tony Shalhoub conveys the depth of Adrian’s despair living in a world in which he feels irrelevant. Even when he’s running to embrace his late wife Trudy’s daughter, Molly (the wonderful Caitlin McGee), after a tragedy, there’s a hint of defeated numbness in his empathetic embrace. At other moments, Shalhoub goes all-on on the heightened absurdity of Adrian’s reactions to minor inconveniences. We look forward to seeing a clip of him stepping in dog poo, writhing on the grass and pleading, “Amputate, please, there’s no choice, just cut it off” at an award ceremony to come.
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!
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