In a world where summer is known as television’s creative dead season full of reality TV and baseball games, there are still a few shining stars to give Hypable Honors.
The past couple of years, summer has begun to feel less like a graveyard, and more like a place to show off some of the networks’ greatest programming. Shows like The Newsroom, Under the Dome, True Blood, and oh so many more have revived the summer season.
This week we focus on two shows whose homes are not exactly synonymous with the best work on television. When someone hears that a show airs on MTV or ABCFamily, their first instinct isn’t usually excitement over the quality, especially regarding the acting. These two, however, are proving that stereotype wrong in a big way.
Hypable Honors
Show: ‘Teen Wolf’
Actor:Dylan O’Brien
In an episode full of some pretty stand-out performances, it was getting difficult to single one out worthy of the Hypable Honors for this week. Right up until Stiles faced off with the assassin of the week, The Chemist.
Dylan O’Brien played out the latter part of this episode beautifully, from having Stiles put his life on the line in order to protect everyone who’d quarantined themselves in the Hale vault, all the way up to his desperate banging against the stone wall, knowing that a cure that would save them all was right there. It was pretty gripping stuff — and by gripping, we definitely mean our pillows, because it was that intense.
We were definitely worried for all of their lives, this episode, but when that gun was placed against Stiles’ head… ohhh boy. And as if everything last season with the Nogitsune wasn’t enough, Stiles now has the added trauma of having someone’s brains blown out across his face. Lovely! Don’t even get us started on that final scene in the vault with Malia…
Show: ‘Chasing Life’
Actor: Italia Ricci
We’ve all seen a million movies about people diagnosed with cancer and they usually fall into the realm of melodramatic, aiming for the emotional manipulation angle. Chasing Life has done a great job of taking its central premise and expanding upon it in a million different ways.
Italia Ricci has grounded this show, turning it into more than a refreshing take on life with cancer, but moved past that into just being a different way of looking at life as a post-college career woman. Chasing Life has blossomed to give us a fresh look at how life goes on in the midst of a terrifying diagnosis.
While dealing with all the challenges that face someone with Leukemia, Italia Ricci’s character, April, is also juggling a burgeoning career as a reporter, a best friend who is unendingly supportive but unfocused, and a bad boy with a brain tumor who is ready to throw in the towel on his own cancer battle. Italia has taken on every challenge that April has thrown her way and triumphed. This past episode showed her preparing for a month-long stint of chemotherapy, and Italia was stunning with displaying her character’s acceptance of the beginning of her treatment journey. We can’t wait to see where this show takes her next!
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