26-04-2025
TVLine's Performer of the Week: Bella Ramsey
THE PERFORMER | Bella Ramsey
THE SHOW | The Last of Us
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THE EPISODE | 'Through the Valley' (Apr. 20, 2025)
THE PERFORMANCE | Joel's death in Sunday's The Last of Us would've been sad under any circumstances, full stop. But what really made his final moments stick with us, making us ache anytime we recalled them throughout the week, was how Bella Ramsey played Ellie's reaction to finding her surrogate father near death.
Ramsey had so much to do in a quick, complicated scene, and they did it all beautifully. As we watched, the fear in Ramsey's eyes crystallized to horror as Ellie took in Joel's broken body, their voice breaking a little more each time Ellie demanded that Joel get up. Ramsey had Ellie operating at full tilt, fighting Abby's friends one moment and screaming for Joel the next, right up until Abby drove the sharpened golf club into his neck. We're not quite sure how, but at that exact second, we were able to see every ounce of Ellie's regret about the state of her relationship with Joel pass over Ramsey's devastated face.
We also won't soon forget the way they pulled Ellie over to Joel's prone body, belly-crawling with everything she had left in order to be close to him. The way Ramsey gently placed Ellie's hand on Joel's, the care with which they lay her face on his as her tears spilled onto his face — these are the details we can't get out of our heads, and these are the touches that catapulted Ramsey's performance into our top spot this week.
Scroll down to see who got Honorable Mention shout-outs this week…
Because there's no such thing as too much Anna Camp, the twisted minds at YOU invited her to play dual roles in the Netflix thriller's final season, blessing viewers with one (actually, make that two!) of the series' best performances. Camp instantly commanded our attention on screen, whether she was making us laugh as helpless-but-harmless Maddie or making our blood boil as Maddie's unimaginably cruel twin Reagan, but it was her extraordinary work as both sisters in Episode 4 that deserves a special shout-out. From Joe coaching Maddie to take Reagan's place ('Maybe kidnap Kate Winslet next time!'), to Reagan's wild brawl with Joe ('You picked the wrong house and the wrong bitch!'), Camp owned every moment of that episode — and that was before both of her characters found themselves in 'the cage' together. Seeing Maddie realize the extent of her twin's callousness in real time was both haunting and satisfying, as was the outcome of their fatal encounter. Getting to watch Maddie act as Reagan in the final boardroom scene was merely the icing on this already delicious cake. — Andy Swift
Seth Rogen is consistently great in The Studio, but in Episode 6, the comedian had us in stitches as he went full Larry David battling doctors at a cancer benefit. His character Matt tried to remain charming with witty banter and that hearty signature laugh, despite being patronized by his girlfriend's stuffy colleagues. But once they ridiculed his poop joke-heavy satire, the gloves were officially off. Rogen allowed the character's temper to rise during key cringeworthy moments, as the back-and-forth turned hilariously vicious with cutting insults and loads of disrespect on both sides. The actor then delivered a pratfall John Ritter would've been proud of, taking out an entire table with him and disrupting the whole event. The Curb-like circus may have cost Matt a girlfriend, but at least he fought the good fight to defend the arts… diarrhea explosions and all. — Nick Caruso
There are some acting gems across #TheFBIs — making the loss of FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted all the more upsetting — and International's Eva-Jane Willis is among them. In her three-season run as Megan 'Smitty' Garretson, Willis has built a compelling character, but there's often been a 'wall' shielding us from the Europol liaison's interior thinking. Procedurals have shown us time and again that an undercover op, especially when the agent gets a bit too into character, can lower such a wall, and that was the case as Smitty befriended Nicole, an arms dealer's wife. Willis exuded a new warmth as Megan was welcomed into Nicole's complicated world, and you could almost sense a long-awaited 'exhale' as she crossed the line into physical intimacy. Megan would later shrug off that closeness as 'a means to an end,' but Willis deftly communicated to us that an awakening of sorts had in fact transpired. — Matt Webb Mitovich
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!
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