Performer of the Week: Clark Gregg
THE PERFORMER | Clark Gregg
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THE SHOW | Snowpiercer
THE EPISODE | “The Engineer” (Aug. 18, 2024)
THE PERFORMANCE | Earlier this summer, Gregg — beloved for his role as the warm and honorable Phil Coulson in Marvel films and TV’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — flipped the script on us by playing an adversarial sort on Criminal Minds: Evolution. But as Admiral Milius on Snowpiercer, he’s more ominously inscrutable than ever. He’ll cooly toss out lines like, “That was an unfortunate accident” when asked about Zara’s death during the IPF’s infiltration of New Eden to snatch Layton’s daughter.
Milius held all the cards in this week’s episode, with Layton captured aboard Snowpiercer and desperate to see his baby girl again. Just watch the admiral’s oddly satisfied face when Layton reacts to hearing Liana coo over a phone line.
But when Big Alice was forced to dock with the main train and pull up to the IPF’s hidden silo, and Andre, Till, Ben and Alex were shoved into a holding room, Gregg gave Milius an even greater swagger — though ostensibly one born of a righteous agenda. A one-off warm spot like New Eden, he argued, was “hospice,” whereas he and his people are “looking for a cure” for what ails the frozen globe.
Perhaps our most favorite line reading given by Gregg came next, when he smugly told Layton & Co., “This is the part you’re not gonna like” — before welcoming a back-from-the-presumed-dead Wilford into the room. Milius knew this moment would incense his guests.
Gregg in this hour also gave Milius new layers, such as when he assured Ben that “of course” he has known love. (“How do you think I learned that lesson?” that it’s a weakness.) Or when, alone with Wilford, he allowed us to see that the admiral is quietly humoring Snowpiercer’s eclectic sire, and doesn’t trust him as far as he can throw him and his bulky fur coat.
In fact, in one of his final scenes this week — before taunting Layton with the visual of Wilford cradling Liana! — Milius let slip a playful side, telling Layton, “Tell you what. You play nice, and after our mission is complete, maybe I’ll let you take a shot at him.”
Milius is no friend of Team Snowpiercer thus far, clearly, but Gregg has us loving to hate the guy.
Scroll down to see who scored Honorable Mention shout-outs this week…
HONORABLE MENTION: Zach Braff
Apple TV+’s sun-soaked mystery Bad Monkey is filled with colorful weirdos, but few have been as colorful, or as weird, as Zach Braff’s pill-popping doc Israel O’Peele. Braff stole the show this week as O’Peele — clad in a bathrobe and clearly recovering from a long night — frantically evaded questions from Vince Vaughn’s Yancy, demanding “a lot of immunity” if he’s going to talk. The Scrubs vet was a riot as O’Peele guzzled whiskey and whined about losing his lucrative gig as a hip-replacement surgeon. (He even offered his guests a few painkillers, since he had the bottle open anyway.) Things looked pretty grim for O’Peele as the episode ended, but we hope we get to see him again, if only to savor more of Braff’s hilariously off-kilter performance. — Dave Nemetz
HONORABLE MENTION: Jin Ha
What a rollercoaster Jin Ha‘s Solomon rode in the Season 2 premiere of Apple TV+’s Pachinko. The 1989 arc picked up with Sunja’s grandson struggling to find investors for his fund, blackballed as he is by Abe-san, his old boss at Shiffley’s. But when childhood pal Tetsuya volunteers 200 million, Ha communicated the relief that washed over ambitious Solomon; those spirits were further elevated when his proud father chipped in 170K. Alas, Tetsuya — pressured by Abe-san — later had to withdraw his offer. While reeling from that setback, Solomon was triggered by a baker who dissed Sunja’s “half-assed Japanese,” and Ha erupted with a heretofore-unseen intensity. “Who the hell do you think you are?! I was born here just like you!” he roared. “You are in no f–king position to put us down!” That fury was only matched by the shame Solomon felt, behaving so in public with his grandmother. — M.W.M.
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!
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