\n
comeback<\/h2>\n Valerie lights a candle<\/p>\n
\n season 3<\/span><\/p>\n Episode 5<\/span>\n <\/p>\n
Editor’s rating*<\/span>*<\/span>*<\/span>*<\/span><\/span>\n <\/p>\n\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n Photo: Erin Simkin\/HBO<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n5 episodes of season 3 comeback<\/em>we are still beginning to know about 2026’s Valerie Cherish. Last week, I realized that Val, who took big steps toward becoming a better version of herself in the season 2 finale, is now held back by the selfishness of those around her, rather than getting in her own way. This week, we learn that self-sabotage is still an essential part of her personality. Not that I thought Val was perfect in season 3; After all, we’re talking about someone willing to sign on to an AI-scripted comedy. But we don’t fully realize that she’s still her own worst enemy until “Valerie lights a candle.”<\/p>\nTo be fair, Val identifies a very real problem. After she accidentally sent a voice memo to the studio, Brandon Wallach himself showed up at the studio. How about that?<\/em> Josh and Mary are about to inform Valerie that they have been fired. It’s not particularly comforting to hear him say, “We own their names, we own their silence, so everything will be okay,” and it’s even less comforting to discover that the showrunner job has gone to the woefully underqualified Marco. This is a lateral move at best, as much as Brandon claims that if AI could steal from all the greats, we wouldn’t need a writer in charge. He’s a very anxiety-inducing character, and you wouldn’t expect anything less from a studio head, but he knows exactly what to say to get Val on the same page. By telling her that the pilot test was great and thanking her for keeping the show to a minimum of NuNet’s problems, he appeals to her ego and need to be loved. (Maybe he watched past seasons) comeback<\/em>.) Of course, Brandon has no guidance whatsoever on how Val should inform the actors about the staffing changes, especially since she’s forbidden from revealing that the show is written by an AI.<\/p>\nVal wants to bond with her castmates. She brings candles of inspiration to all of her cast mates, but she also needs to keep them in control. That means telling everyone that Josh and Mary have been fired and calming the appropriate nerves. She shares that the former showrunner hated the actor, and that most of the scripting was done by the mysterious Al anyway. (It’s an “Al” with an “L.” I wish there was an easier way to tell them apart here.) “It’s a writer I’ve never seen before. That seems suspicious to me,” says Walter, who is clearly the most knowledgeable of the cast. He also points out that it makes no sense for a writer’s assistant like Marco to be promoted to showrunner, which prompts an unhelpful “Don’t panic!” From Val. Back in the dressing room, she gives Billy an update on Josh and Mary, as well as a passive-aggressive (though justified) “focus” candle. When he bristles, she suggests instead, “Relax.” As much as I love Dan Bucatinsky, I’m ready to end this already controversial creative partnership. If Billy continues to lash out at Valerie’s husband, like this week’s “Let’s give Mark a candle with the word ‘charisma’ written on it,” she might lose his temper.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, she has pressing issues to deal with. Rehearsing for next episode How about that?<\/em>In , two actors playing angry B&B guests inexplicably whisper lines. Hearing \u201cListen, I don\u2019t know how loud I can say this\u201d in ASMR really made me laugh, as did Val\u2019s visible confusion. When she talks to the director, Brian, he says he keeps giving notes to the actors to stop whispering, but they just say “thank you.” It turns out that Philip and Kewpie (like dolls) were cast to be Marco’s roommates, and that’s also why Marco refused to fire them. \u201cMarco says he has this, they think they have this, that whole generation thinks they have this,\u201d Val complains to Frank. (Again, these jabs at “Kids Today” are reminiscent of Michael Patrick King and give me horrible flashbacks. And just like that…<\/em> Ella Stiller also appears in the season finale. ) Meanwhile, Marco asks Al to spit out alternate characters for every joke in the script, resulting in 39 mostly unusable pages. “Humans can’t write that fast,” Val tells the showrunners. “I doubt it.” Plus, we can’t even try all the alternatives, so we have to cut most of the new material. Marco, looking increasingly threatened, refuses to let Technician Evan highlight a good joke.<\/p>\nRegarding the Whisper guest star, Val expresses her concerns to Sharon, but her hands are tied since she is not the one who cast Marco’s roommate. But as long as Val can make sure Sharon keeps her job, she’s willing to fire them on behalf of executive producer Valerie Cherish. There is a heavy sense of fear comeback<\/em> This season \u2014 this is the most honest depiction I’ve seen of how dark the entertainment industry feels right now. Sure, it’s even harder for women of a certain age like Sharon and Valerie, but everyone feels it. You’ll see that in the next scene. It’s time for PDP to confront Val for telling Marco to stop making jokes. He mistakenly thinks she did this out of jealousy as an actor and not because Alternative was an AI slop. “This has to be my breakout role,” he says. “I’m almost 40.” At the same time, Sharon fires loudly at Marco’s roommates in the background, “This is Star’s show and she doesn’t think you’re funny!” What a shame that Val is portrayed as a diva just to try and keep this sitcom from falling apart. She assures the PDP that they are on the same footing. All that’s left is to find the captain.<\/p>\nI can defend many of Val’s choices. I can’t defend her decision to be the captain. How about that?<\/em> All we need is Pauly G. He arrives not knowing why Valerie has called him and tells a terrible joke to hide his displeasure. (What are you filming, Jane? comeback<\/em>Paulie’s willingness to work with Val again is another sign of how tough things are for everyone in the industry, but that doesn’t mean she should go through with it. Jane, who has become Valerie’s strongest ally and the show’s true voice of reason, doesn’t mince words when she says, “This is the worst decision you can make.” Val tells Jane that she’ll buy her a candle that “isn’t the end of the world.” But Jane is absolutely right that Paulie is the worst possible new captain, and she warns him that he will sink this ship.<\/p>\nStill, Val invites Paulie to the taping of the next episode. He could tell instantly that the show was written by AI, and why the scene where Beth gets yelled at by two bed and breakfast guests (now played by an actor who can raise her voice) didn’t get any laughs. Pauly suggests replacing the male actors with women. “Viewers don’t like it when men are mean to the women they like,” he explains in the episode’s most meta line. That’s why the return of Paulie G, the character who has been relentlessly cruel to Valerie since the beginning of the series, strikes fear into our hearts. It’s also why so many of us have a hard time with the current iteration of Billy and Mark, who seem to get meaner with each episode. Mark is at Fernando’s taping again and tells Valerie that he and the doorman are going to Burning Man this year and that Val is not invited. \u201cMark, this is not a wise decision,\u201d she says. \u201cYou tell me about smarts,\u201d he shot back, gesturing to Pauly G. He certainly has a point, but is he really that stupid about it? Val claims to be saving the show, and Paulie certainly is. With Evan’s help, he does on-site rewrites that Al could never do. Evan revealed that he gave up on becoming a writer after seeing the direction of the industry and decided to step into the world of coding. However, any belief that Paulie has truly changed disappears the moment he coldly treats Val with a “be of use.”<\/p>\n
His rudeness aside, there’s no denying that the episode works better with an experienced human writer at the helm. Still, is this something Val should put himself through? Frank, who felt sorry for Josh and Mary even though they hate the actors, utters another meta line, wondering, “Why do I always defend people who aren’t in my best interest?” Val should internalize this, but instead she gifts him with a “self-love” candle. She then tells Paulie that she will talk to the studio on his behalf. This isn’t the first time he’s apologized for the way he treated her. room and boredom<\/em>. In a new twist, he blames his actions on a reality show she was filming at the same time. “You had no more responsibility for reality TV than you had for AI,” he admits. “I thought reality TV was coming for us, but AI, it’s fucking scary.”<\/p>\nWhen Paulie is gone, Jane admits that she has been uncharacteristically weak. Val astutely points out, “There’s nothing more dangerous than a frightened animal, and that’s when it bites.” I’ll admit that Paulie’s reality anxiety exacerbated his hatred for Val, but let’s not discount his flagrant misogyny, which is already rearing its ugly head again. Paulie isn’t the only scary animal. Marco confronts Val and asks her if she’s going to fire him, while subtly threatening to reveal the AI’s secrets if she does. Val assures them that she doesn’t have that power and reminds them that they are a team working together to make the show great. I don’t know if that will alleviate his worries, but I’m even less optimistic that the candle of “success” she gives him will make Captain Marco meaningful.<\/p>\n
\u2022 So what happened in episode 2? How about that?<\/em> Did they end up filming? uncharted<\/em> Could it be a crossover with Beth in prison, or Marco having Al produce something more sensible?<\/p>\n\u2022 While we’re talking about unfinished business, I still have questions about Josh and Mary. The fact that Billy refers to his exiled writing team as “Mary and Mary” means I’m not the only one who thinks their marriage is a lavender marriage.<\/p>\n
\u2022 This is another episode that doesn’t have many laugh-out-loud moments, but I’ll give a shout-out to my favorite interaction. Paulie G asked Valerie her last name, and after a long pause, Valerie answered “G.” Lisa Kudrow’s delivery is as perfect as ever.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In last week’s recap, I didn’t mention that Evan was played by Kudrow’s own son, Julian Stern. They actually look quite similar, but his facial hair mostly hides the resemblance.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Speaking of Nepobabies (and I say that with love!), Ella Stiller’s reaction to Walter’s muffin order was pretty funny. He told Patience that any flavor was fine “except banana, blueberry, and bran.”<\/p>\n
\u2022 On the other hand, the \u201cValerie is wrong\u201d part doesn\u2019t work for me. I know it’s always on comeback<\/em>but it’s starting to feel too silly. Case in point: Val says she can’t ask about medical conditions because of the “HIPPO rule.” It’s a bit hacky for a show this good.<\/p>\n\u2022 Mark and Billy are a nightmare, but I love the new Jane. I was so touched by her reaction when she told Val that Pauly G had won an Emmy. “you<\/em> You won an Emmy,\u201d Jane corrects.<\/p>\n\u2022 Can Val and Jane be shipped? No, but watch this space.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
Sign up for Vulture Newsletter<\/h3>\n Entertainment news for people interested in pop culture.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
Vox Media, LLC Terms of Use and Privacy Notice<\/button><\/p>\nBy sending email, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Notice and consent to receive email communications from us.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside><\/div>\n
#Comeback #recap #world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
comeback Valerie lights a candle season 3 Episode 5 Editor’s rating 4 stars **** Photo: Erin Simkin\/HBO 5 episodes of season 3 comebackwe are still beginning to know about 2026’s Valerie Cherish. Last week, I realized that Val, who took big steps toward becoming a better version of herself in the season 2 finale, is … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1444,1461,1378,1385,1379,1377,1101,587],"class_list":["post-694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-comeback","tag-hobo","tag-overnight","tag-recap","tag-summary","tag-tv-overview","tag-tv-set","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}