TVLine's Performers of the Week: Matthew Goode and Chloe Pirrie

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17 hours ago

THE PERFORMERS | Matthew Goode and Chloe Pirrie
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THE SHOW | Netflix's Dept. Q
THE EPISODE | 'Episode 9' (May 29, 2025)
THE PERFORMANCES | Edinburgh Detective Carl Morck and cutthroat prosecutor Merritt Lingard are, for all intents and purposes, miserable human beings — a fact Dept. Q spends much of its gripping nine-episode run leaning into. It's a testament to the acting strength of Goode and Pirrie (i.e., their respective portrayers) that we still found ourselves rooting for the pair despite their aggressive unlikability. And while both actors delivered tremendous work throughout the Scottish thriller, it was their performances in the finale — which found Carl and Merritt at their most introspective and mellow — that packed the biggest punch.
For Queen's Gambit alum Pirrie, two moments — both of which found the actress uttering nary a syllable — stand out. First there was her wordless reunion with younger brother William following her brutal four-year captivity, during which Pirrie — using just her eyes — infused Merritt's aura of emptiness and despair with hope and relief upon seeing her healthy, smiling sibling.
Later, when the sight of the elaborate tracking board detectives used to find her literally took Merritt's breath away, Pirrie ensured that audiences felt the full weight of the discovery that, yes, the young solicitor's life mattered — if not to her than to Carl and his fellow scoobies.
Goode, meanwhile, produced a series of similarly silent rapid-fire payoffs during the episode's closing moments as Carl's myriad demons fell by the wayside like dominos amid quietly heartfelt run-ins with his numerous frenemies/foils at home and at work. Watching Carl's fury and indignation vanish, even if temporarily, proved to be Goode's most satisfying magic trick.
Scroll down to see who got Honorable Mention shout-outs this week…
We were on the lookout for Millie Gibson's performance in the Doctor Who finale, and Russell T Davies was dead on. To start, Gibson was excellent when Ruby confronted ex-beau Conrad about the Wish World he'd created, one not full of whisky and guns but people who were safe, warm and had families. (How did that speak to Conrad's upbringing/never-mentioned dad?) Later, Gibson did very heavy lifting when one glitch of the Wish World's undoing left Ruby the only person to remember the Doctor and Belinda's impossible daughter. Gibson's pained face communicated all of the heartbreak that the disappeared child's parents should have, but couldn't, feel. 'The gods are full of tricks,' Ruby sniffed, referring to the tyke's absence and Conrad's new, benign fate. Gibson's work peaked as an emphatic Ruby finally convinced her Doctor 'there's another world,' and in it lives 'a little girl, and she's beautiful. Her name's Poppy.' —Matt Webb Mitovich
Some actors simply have a gift when it comes time to shed tears — we previously ran a list of TV's best weepers, in fact — and Martha Millan certainly possesses that talent. During The Cleaning Lady's Season 4 finale (now a series finale), Millan put that skill on display in an emotional confrontation between Fiona and ADA Joel Herman, in which Fiona begged Joel to understand the sacrifices Thony had made for her family. 'She was willing to scrub toilets by my side to keep her son breathing,' Fiona recalled, Millan's face suddenly etched with pain. 'Would you move halfway across the world… to scrub toilets to save your daughter? Of course you would. But you're lucky. 'Cause you don't have to.' The tremor in Millan's voice, her quivering bottom lip, the way she repeatedly reined in Fiona's tears before they overtook her — it all made for a moving and memorable scene, even in a two-hour finale packed with standout moments. — Rebecca Luther
His roommates might label him a 'friend slut,' but Adults' Anton simply sees himself as 'a delight' — and Owen Thiele was indeed delightful as Anton faced the consequences of being too fun to be around this week on FX's riotous new comedy. In Episode 3, the gang learned a stabber was loose in their neighborhood, and of course, Anton had the guy in his phone already, as we learned when he (in one of the year's funniest TV scenes) scrolled to reveal hundreds of texts from random people like 'Trevor Medieval Times Knight.' Thiele was flat-out hilarious as Anton shrugged off his ability to make friends with anyone instantly… and then proceeded to befriend the cops investigating the stabber. Thiele even got to mix in some terror and tears as Anton had to face his greatest fear: telling someone he doesn't want to be friends with them. Adults already has a great ensemble in its freshman season, but Thiele might just be our new bestie. — Dave Nemetz
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!
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