Giancarlo Esposito ‘Kaleidoscope’ Performance Season 1 ‘Pink’ Episode

THE ACTOR | Giancarlo Esposito

THE SHOW | Netflix kaleidoscope

THE RESULT | “Pink: 6 Months After the Raid” (January 1, 2023)

THE PERFORMANCE | For much of Netflix’s heist drama, Espositos Ray aka “Leo” was an unstoppable force, a man driven by a quest for revenge on the person who stole so much from him.

But in “Pink,” one of the heist’s two epilogues, Esposito gave us a Ray who’d retired with Ava to enjoy some peace in Ohio, yes, but who’d also been slowed down by his Parkinson’s disease. He fought his way through PT in a pool. He went down badly when he suffered a seizure at home. “I want Ray,” Ava said to her lover while calming him down and setting up another big score. But the limping mastermind wailed in response, “Ray’s been long gone.”

beam did however, still has some gas in his tank, as evidenced when Bob and his goons stormed the Ohio hideout and claimed the 411 from Stan. Here Esposito showed us that Ray’s mind was still razor sharp at times by calling not Stan but, as we later learned, the Feds to set Bob up for a big fall.

But it was two of Esposito’s final scenes – FaceTiming’s daughter Hannah (Tati Gabrielle) then visiting an incarcerated Graham Davies aka “Roger Salas” (Rufus Sewell) – that capped his POTW-worthy outing.

“I wanted to see you, to let you know that I’m still out here, still on my way,” Ray Hannah shared, hiding his symptoms. “And also the things I should have said, decisions I made … I got a lot of things wrong,” he admitted, “but all, I wish, with.” sheI hadn’t.” Then, when Hannah introduced her newborn daughter, “Grandpa,” the look on Esposito’s face told us that whatever life had in store for Ray next, this was a man whose heart was full.

Then, when Ray came face to face with Graham, whose impenetrable vault contents he made disappear? You would think it would be so much to say. But Ray only had a few words. Mainly about his late wife, who must have left Graham dead so many years ago: “Could you have saved her that night?” The timbre of Esposito’s voice made it clear that no payday could have erased that loss.

AWARD | Ginny & Georgia presented stars Antonia Gentry and Brianne Howey in the sixth episode of the second season with a long-awaited confrontation and in turn took both actresses to new emotional depths. When Georgia found out that Ginny hurt herself and witnessed the physical evidence on her child, Howey brought out an impressive range of emotions in Georgia’s reaction: shock, pain, confusion, sadness, anger, horror, guilt. You name it, Georgia felt it as she struggled to come to terms with the idea that her “special miracle baby” had self-harmed. Gentry, on the other hand, leaned into Ginny’s grief at her own actions as she collapsed in Georgia’s arms. Despite all the anguish, there was also an underlying relief in the actresses’ performances, because now the truth had finally come out, allowing mother and daughter to get together. Gentry and Howey made the overdue moment a cathartic one, not just for their characters but for viewers as well.

AWARD | Unsurprisingly, Helen Mirren is a queen of her craft (as well as, you know, The Queen). Still, this week’s 1923 was a beautifully acted reminder of her versatility as an actress. With Cara fearing that her injured husband would succumb to his wounds, Mirren showed us the Dutton matriarch at her lowest point as she physically prostrated herself and sobbed out Cara’s raw fear and grief at the loss of her nephew John. But Mirren also showed us Cara in her brazen form, hunching the characters’ shoulders with steely intensity as she marched into the Livestock Association meeting and announced things were going she away from now. What a multifaceted power! And what a feast for the eyes!

AWARD | George Jones was experiencing a kaleidoscope of emotions the whole time George & Tammy, but it wasn’t until the country superstar sobered up that Michael Shannon was able to deliver his best work. In the finale, we saw the complex man’s complexities once again, as his enduring high almost prevented him from recording. When George/Shannon finally put down the track “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” the actor’s sunken expression and unwavering tremor evoked a sadness that felt like a punch in the stomach. He promised Tammy he would “make it right,” and he did when the pair embarked on a final tour together years later. Backstage, Shannon exuded a lively charm that could always make George’s former lover laugh. But after failing to convince her to run away with him again, his eyes told a different story. The story of an old man coming to terms with the one who escaped.

What performance(s) blew your mind this week? Tell us in the comments!