Ryan Murphy’s ballroom opus airs its first season premiere tonight; will it successfully cap off a terrific season?
There is no one more surprised by Pose‘s trajectory than me. I was skeptical about how FX wunderkind was going to tackle the 1980’s ball culture in his latest series. I didn’t think it would be gritty enough or handle the emotions in a great way. Boy was I wrong.
Pose has amassed a huge following online, and that’s attributed to Murphy’s dedication to allowing transgender actors both on screen and behind the camera. The series is emotionally engaging every week without being manipulative, and we truly care about these characters.
The season finale (“Mother Of the Year”) arrives tonight, and the promo promises that it should not be missed. Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) has found herself a new challenger in the House of Ferocity and Elektra (Dominique Jackson) thought her surgery would lead to doors opening all around her. Even the love story between Angel (the always luminous Indya Moore) and Stand (Murphy standby Evan Peters) has me on the edge of my seat.
“Mother of the Year” airs tonight at 9 PM on FX.
Do you think it’ll be an Emmy contender?
We certainly think Billy Porter will be a contender. He’s great in the show, and he’s something of a known quantity within the industry. It remains to be seen, though, if it will contend at the series level. We’d have to see how the Golden Globes, guilds (particularly SAG) carries through the series into next year’s voting cycle. Helps that some dramas won’t be returning. The Americans obviously ended, and there’s a strong rumor that The Handmaid’s Tale won’t start filming until January 2019, which would put it out of contention next year. We also haven’t heard when the final season of GOT premieres, but that’s likely to be in the Spring. I doubt Westworld S3 would premiere against GOT, so there’s a chance that won’t be there either. Stranger Things Season 3 won’t premiere until Summer 2019 based on that hilarious teaser trailer. So, that’s a long-winded way of saying we could have four open slots. Right now, I would bet that Pose fills one of them, but again, time will tell. I’d love to see what Joey says about this though.
I think that Billy Porter is absolutely a contender for Supporting Actor. He’s an amazing presence on the show and his character goes through a major change in his life in this first season. Plus, there’s an episode where he sings two songs, including a duet version of The Wiz’s Home with Mj Rodroguez. I think FX could majorly push for it next year. They kept it tight with 8 episodes, so it’s not drawn out, and Murphy has never had anything in the Drama Series category. He’s had Glee in Comedy and we all know he OWNS the Limited Series races every year. The closest he got to a Drama Series nomination was when Nip/Tuck was up for Directing in its first season. Maybe he’s trying to conquer all three branches of categories?
Maybe the only thing that can hurt Pose is that it’s full of mostly unknown actors. Evan Peters, Kate Mara, and James Van Der Beek are sort of off to the side, and the focus is never fully on them in terms of the emotional core of the show (even though Peters’s role is fascinating). It’s a crowd favorite and it’s well received. I think it will get a good amount of below the line nominations (Costumes…hellooooo), but it will need a big push for Dram Series.
Oh wow. I had no idea so many shows were iffy … It looks like Better Call Saul will be nominated based on early reviews. I wonder about House of Cards. And maybe other great shows like Mindhunter and Ozark can make it for their second seasons.
And then Big Little Lies will be up for best drama too, right?