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“The Comeback” recap (2.4): Valerie Saves The Show

Oh Valerie. God bless your heart.

It seems the long hours of filming have been going well on the set of Seeing Red. Val is leaving her trailer and is promptly informed by the producer that all of her character’s scenes at her home cannot be shot due to a lack of budget. As quickly as he drops the news, he flips around to leave. Valerie chases after him as he rolls away on his wheelchair. Horse hooves in a full canter can be heard ‘neath her desperate heels (thanks, genius foley artist.).

In bed, from her bedroom cam, she informs Mark that she has invited the entire production to use their home for all of Mallory’s at-home scenes. She is very passionate about the fact that the show would not make sense without these scenes. Mark is finally swayed by the fact that Seth Rogen will be IN THEIR HOUSE.

The next morning, their house is overflowing with film crew. They have taped every cabinet closed and are moving all of their furniture around. Mark cannot find his coffee maker, which it driving him nuts. I’m like, I totally feel you, Marky Mark. Val can’t be bothered with this as she is about to have a class at The Groundings. She has realized that she needs to up her improv game if she is going to keep up with Rogen. (FUN FACT: Lisa Kudrow created Valerie Cherish when she was studying at The Groundlings. She also met co-writer Michael Patrick King there, while Val was in creation.)

Val’s class at The Groundlings is one of the more painful things I have watched in many moons. I have taken improv classes and, let me just say, those classes are awkward to begin with. Just add Valerie Cherish who can’t listen to save her life, and is constantly trying to manipulate and calculate every move in a scene, and you get spine tingling cringey discomfort for everyone involved! What Val experiences in this class is exactly what you would expect from a ’90s TV star who is being followed around by a bunch of cameras doing “BTS” for an HBO show in which she stars. But also, Valerie is desperate to do things right. Despite her best efforts, she cannot get through a scene.

On a 15 minute break from the improv class, Val finds Mickey on the phone in the lobby. He tells her that his doctors might have found some form of cancer. Valerie’s face drops. It is so easy for her to lose track of what is important, but she really cares about Mickey. He is her best friend, and she is genuinely concerned. He assures her it is nothing. He says, “I’ve had so many skin cancers removed, I count it as major weight loss.” Back in the class, she cannot stop improvising scenes all about cancer. You can see Jane processing the very real pain that both Mickey and Valerie are going through.

Now they are shooting at Val’s house. Val and Mark sit behind the monitors, as Val explains all of the movie magic. Paulie G whispers something to the AD, leading her to scream the there are too many people behind the monitors. Val and Mark scurry out the front door and down a ramp. Mark complains about the ramp loudly, as the producer in the wheelchair appears and descends. He thanks Mark for allowing production into their home, saying that he “saved the show.” Mark asks Valerie how he came to be in a wheelchair, to which Val delicately responds, “The scuttlebutt is that he was a stuntman and got hit by a big movie truck so they made him a producer.” Of course, Val asks Jane not to put that out there.

Mark is anxious to meet Seth Rogen, which is a little out of character for Val’s cool, logical husband. There is some confusion about whether or not Val and Mark can approach the set, causing Val to drag Mark back and forth for an excruciating thirty seconds. Val eventually introduces Mark to Seth, who is as charming as ever. It feels nice to have Seth around to cut through Paulie’s surliness. Val is rudely called to hair and make up, but Mark stays to hang with Seth while they finish setting up the shot (When we next see Mark he is smoking a joint from Seth). On her way, she passes her nephew Tyler who is working as a set PA. She asks him to get Mickey food and water and whatever else he might need. She seems really worried, and Jane picks up on this. She asks Val, “Why are you concerned about Mickey?” Val avoids the prompt and tells Jane to drop that line of questioning. Jane is very interested in the human aspect. She sees Valerie afraid and hurting, and wants her to be able to express that. I want that for Val, too!

Val and Mark again post up behind the monitors by Paulie, and are asked to leave. Paulie doesn’t have any lines in this episode, he only grunts at his AD and stares at the monitor while smoking his e-cig. I feel like his borderline “nice” demeanor from before they began shooting “Seeing Red” has fully melted away, leaving behind the core hatred for Valerie that led him to create this show. Hopefully he can keep it together without lashing out at Val.

Jane’s cameras follow Valerie and Mark up the stairs of a small apartment complex in “Fucking Hollywood” that the two own. Valerie begs Mark to let them stay at the Peninsula, a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills. Mark doesn’t understand why the crew is documenting this, but Jane insists she needs this footage. The couple enters the apartment, but Jane directs her crew to “fish around” from outside to see what they can get. Val’s microphone is still on, so Jane is getting audio. A camera peeks through the blinds into the room. Mark threatens to move out of their house. He is angry, saying that the original deal that they made has been broken, since they are now booted from their home entirely. Val begs Mark to be sweet to her, since she has had a hard day. She catches the cameras, and Mark sees her register that they are still being filmed. Mark tells Jane to stop, and he really means it. Jane tells her crew to call it a night, when a gunshot is heard right next to them. Jane drops to the floor.

The super has no idea who Val and Mark are, even though they own the property. They try to convince her to open the door and see what happened in the apartment that produced that gunshot. The super is hilariously unresponsive, eventually yawning what may be my favorite yawn in the history of entertainment. After much coercion she concedes to opening the door, revealing a nice white wall covered in a guys brains! The tenant has shot himself in the head. Everyone is shocked and upset. Mark is angry that the cameras have documented this horrific event.

The police arrive and, in addition to telling Valerie that the footage she captured cannot be used, they reveal that the tenant was a recovering drug addict. The police found drugs all over the apartment. They tell Valerie they have seen this kind of thing before. He had been through rehab and was doing well. The officers tell them “They’ll turn their life around and then all of a sudden they wreck it all and they take down anybody who’s around them.” Val’s fears about Paulie are confirmed as actually rational. Paulie is doing great! Does this mean he will take his nose dive soon? Do I smell a relapse coming on? Uh oh!

We are half way through the season and EVERYONE is a loose cannon! Next week should be real fun!

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