The Emmys are getting more and more fractured, in a way I can only see as (mostly) good. It’s almost never the case that the winner of any given award is everyone’s favourite, or that so-and-so was ‘robbed’, becauseeverythingis definitively excellent. But it doesn’t stop people from trying – I saw a fight break out on Twitter when someone said ‘nobody watches Ozark’, and not one butthreepeople in my life had the audacity to tell me they hadn’t seenFleabag. Hmmph.
So now it’s time for my confession: I do not watchVeep– at least, not religiously. Mike watches, and I watch it over his shoulder. So I shouldn’t have cared about theVeepsend-off but …how can younot?
Look, shows end all the time. Shows about narcissistic assholes end all the time, and you don’t see everyone desperately trying to kiss the ring of the star. But everything we know aboutVeep, and the reason it got a ‘requiem’, as per Hugh Laurie, wasn’t just because everyone loves the show, but because the show, and everyone in it, loves Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It’s very, very obvious (and not just because Conan O’Brien said so on his podcast) that she’s a delight to work with, and sets the tone from the top down. The cast always sits together at these things, they hold each other’s hands, they’re always whispering amongst themselves.
That to me is a bigger award for JLD than another Best Actress Emmy – honestly, at this point it would be embarrassing to display them all, right? Are they shoved behind the towels in the guest cupboard? She knows she’s awesome, she’s utterly free to be as evil as she can as Selina because everyone knows the reality is so different.
She’s also free in her own style. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has never been an innovator on the red carpet, per se, but she also never looks uncomfortable or like she was talked into wearing something. This gold column of hers is one of the best she’s ever worn, and it fits PERFECTLY. There are always too many people who could take a lesson here; obviously, even Julia’s stylists and tailors will go the extra mile for her. I always hate the ‘she LOOKS like an award’ thing but this is just about perfect.
I also want to shout out Anna Chlumsky’s dress – I’ve always found her endearing, and have a sixth sense that the glam part of things isn’t her favourite. As Isaid on Twitter last night, I would probably choose this J. Mendel dress myself, because it reminds me of my beloved Sassaby train case – and though I would have a hard time letting go ofthe original sleeves, I think she made the right choice to go cleaner.
I’m not saying Chlumsky is the next JLD, or even that we need a ‘new’ one – you know she’s gonna be on some other show in a year and a half starting another massive winning streak – I’m just saying, I look at these pictures:
And think that almost-crying face they both have on is probably because this is one of the greatest bonds a cast has ever had, and they know they won’t find it again soon.
Or it’s just two people at a work party. But I think we know the difference, right?
