The Americans won for best writing in a Drama Series, and my Twitter exploded like it was my birthday and my wedding day both. We got excited, because awards so rarely go the way they’re supposed to, and The Americans won for the best finale of the best season of the best show.
And then Matthew Rhys won, and how can you call yourself a true fan if you didn’t know he had that adorable Welsh accent? Did you not watch these two being cute on Watch What Happens Live? Why not?
So he was cute and said the woman who got him the award was ‘Keri Lynn’, and that she swore she’d punch him in the face if he proposed to her, and when the camera held on her, she did this:
When you're the best actress but they called someone else's name. #Emmys pic.twitter.com/KA6XM1pcgc
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) September 18, 2018
God, I love her and I love live television. She was there and ready with that expression that says, “Yeah, I fell in love with him on the show we both worked on and it changed our lives forever, but let’s not get crazy here.”
And then… she didn’t win.
And I had a flashback, to years ago when Kyle Chandler won for playing Coach Taylor, in his last year of eligibility for Friday Night Lights. He forgot to thank Connie Britton, and then realized it right at the end when he was being played off, and she gave him that shruggy face like, “Well, hon, you did what you did...!”
So that’s two shows where after a heartbreakingly real and delicious portrayal of a marriage, of two people who are together, no matter what, but in totally different ways, the Academy voters finally decide to give the nod to… the man. Right. Sure. ‘We fixed it’, guys. No question.
I feel compelled to point out that Claire Foy, who won the award that was supposed to be Keri Russell’s, knew full well what the reaction might have been, and though I’m not a real fan of The Crown I have always found Foy charming in interviews (though I hated the slouchy boring white dress) and she managed to pivot and accept gracefully, which is what’s required here – I was worried that she would pull an Adele all “oh no this isn’t for me”, but she didn’t.
Still. Keri Russell was that show. The Americans doesn’t exist without Elizabeth, and Phillip doesn’t exist without Elizabeth either, constantly moving around him to point out the barriers of who he still is. She was robbed, and it’s a travesty. But there’s a ridiculous silver lining:
These two are for real in love, and I will take them over all your faux-shipping Instagram everythings. Lainey was looking for dirt when she didn’t see Matthew Rhys on the red carpet, but I think he wanted people to see all the angles of “Keri Lynn”’s smoking hot Zuhair Murad (stand by for whether I’m fired for writing that) and to remember that she’s not just half of a couple, she’s someone who will breathe all of the life into the next project that is lucky enough to get her. Which, frankly, sounds like something Coach Taylor would say, so we’ve come full circle here.
Speaking of TV families with complicated daughters – who knew Paige Jennings had this dress in her?
She’s full of surprises, right? You’d know exactly what I was talking about if you WATCHED THE SHOW. Which I know you will, now, because you love Rhys’s accent and you saw me write on Twitter about the sex scenes. You filthy animals.
I look forward to your apologetic notes and emails.