Every week, the staff here at Hypable honor the most worthy performances in television and bestow upon them highest form of admiration we can muster: Hypable Honors.
There is so much incredible work going on week in and week out that goes unnoticed. This week, so many of the major players joined the fall premiere list, and while there are still quite a few to go (particularly anything on the CW), we settled on a pair that we feel truly deserve to be singled out. Brooklyn Nine-Nine and How to Get Away with Murder are very much ensemble pieces, but that doesn’t mean that a specific face or two doesn’t stick out as great from time to time.
Here are this week’s picks for Hypable Honors.
Hypable Honors
Show: ‘How to Get Away with Murder’
Actor: Alfred Enoch
While you may know him best as the young and quiet Dean Thomas from the Harry Potter movies, Alfred Enoch has been doing an amazing job on the newest Shondaland heavyweight, How to Get Away with Murder. Alongside a star like Viola Davis, it would be easy to overlook the amazing ensemble the showrunners assembled, but when one of these youngsters takes a step forward and makes themselves known, it’s truly a sight to see.
Alfred Enoch plays Wes Gibbins, a scholarship case and clearly the ‘ugly duckling’ of the five students chosen to work with Viola Davis’ Annalise Keating. His character didn’t leave a great first impression, but he quickly stepped up his game and has worked hard to earn her favor (and he also had a little ‘wrong time, right place’ action going on).
No matter where Gibbins stands with Dr. Keating, Enoch did a great job this week of showing just how much his character is not taking a backseat to the strong personalities that make up his cohorts. While he may appear shy, watching him take control as the students all work together to decide what to do with the body that is currently causing them major strife, he uses his wiles (wiles that none of the others are aware he possesses at all) to manipulate these people into doing what he needs. A coin flip and a disposable cell phone help him to slip by undetected, but still get done what he needs.
We can’t wait to see where this show takes us next, and we will be keeping an eye on Alfred Enoch to see just how big a role his character will play in the end. If you ask us, he’s definitely a ring leader, not a clown.
Show: ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’
Actor: Terry Crews
Brooklyn Nine-Nine has the honor of being one of the strongest shows we’ve ever seen establish themselves right out of the gate. In their premiere season, Brooklyn Nine-Nine not only beat out every other freshman comedy, but they left them in the dust and went hunting after the established shows. One of the biggest reasons for the show’s success is Sergeant Terry Jeffords played by none than Terry Crews.
Sure you’ve got Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, and Stephanie Beatriz working together to keep us rolling with laughs every episode, but Terry Crews has been a dependable member of the team every step of the way. He could have easily fit into the role as the straight man to everyone else’s funny, but his character’s softer side has given him a role all his own.
This week’s episode had him pretending to be different types of suspects as drills that the Captain wanted run to keep the department on their toes. In addition to playing an elderly old woman and 7 year-old boy, he also stepped into the roles of angry prostitute and unattended backpack, the second was absolutely his best work yet.
Sergeant Terry Jeffords keeps the rag-tag detectives of the Nine-Nine in line when, otherwise, there would definitely be chaos. He’s a man dedicated to keeping his precinct running smoothly and his detectives safe, and Terry Crews does a magnificent job of bringing this complicated man to our screens every week.
