Friday, April 25, 2008

And The Emmy Should Go To...

Someone should just drive to actor Michael Emerson's house and give him the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series now.

You all know who that is, right? Ben? From Lost? On ABC? (Sound of crickets.) Oh, yeah, a lot of you who read this have told me you don't watch that show. Sigh.

I wish I knew something else that actor has been in. I know I could check him out on imdb, but it's Friday and I'm tired and lazy because I stayed up until 11 to watch Lost in its new time slot. I currently don't know where Mr. Emerson came from, or where's he's been all my life, or whether it's healthy that I fell a wee little bit in love with his character last night, but it was one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen in an hour of television.

In one short hour, he portrayed grief, rage, vengeful glee, dark humor, manipulation, and apprehension with such quiet ferocity that you never once saw him "acting." And he put on his action hero game face to boot! He conveys more with his face and (remarkable) eyes than any other television actor can do with their entire body.

He has created one of the most complex characters in TV drama; we learned quite a bit about Ben and his motives last night, and it's seemingly been confirmed that he is indeed, despite the chilling evilness he has shown throughout his run, one of the "good guys." But he's far from a saint, and I certainly wouldn't want Ben as an enemy. Or even to cut him off in traffic. He's the type of guy that would feed you to the wolves and smile faintly while you scream.

I can't wait to see what my favorite show is going to do with Ben as it winds down. So long as they keep Mr. Emerson til the end, I'll keep watching.

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