As finale season wraps up, we’ve seen some of the best performances of the year. We’ve picked two of our favorites this week for Hypable Honors.
Finale season is both the highlight and lowlight of the year. As storylines wrap up with the seasons’ endings, we get some of the best episodes of television we see all year, but we also know that the long summer hiatus looms just on the other side of the season finales.
The other wonderful aspect of finale season is the incredible performances that come with the powerful storylines. This week we highlight a superhero and sadist. The differences between the two men could not be more dramatic, yet both demonstrated impressive amounts of talent as their respective shows either ended or are at least close.
Hypable Honors
Show: ‘The Flash’
Actor: Grant Gustin
We’ve given Grant Gustin this honor before, but after his absolutely remarkable work in the season finale of The Flash, we couldn’t help but pass along the honor one more time. His character was faced with some impossible decisions to make, and rather than rushing them, he took his time and weighed his options. As Barry was laboring over whether or not to go back in time and save his mother, Grant Gustin was reminding us why we should be so grateful to have him as the lead in this powerhouse of a new show.
His scenes with Jesse L. Martin, John Wesley Shipp, and Michelle Harrison (who plays Nora Allen, Barry’s mother) were just some of our favorites. Particularly the time Barry got to spend with his mother. He may not have changed his future, but those precious moments between them before she died were a beautiful gift that Grant Gustin made something worth treasuring.
There is much more Barry Allen in our future, and we are lucky to have an actor as capable as Grant Gustin bringing us the many adventures of The Flash every week. See you in the fall!
Show: ‘Outlander’
Actor:Tobias Menzies
Tobias Menzies has been wowing Outlander fans all season with his dual portrayal of Frank Randall and Frank’s ancestor Black Jack Randall. This week he took his performance to another level that has many crying “Emmy nomination.”
His performance was one of the most utterly terrifying this year. He’s not the villain that you roll your eyes at, half expecting him to tie a fair maiden to the railroad tracks. His portrayal of Black Jack Randall is one that will, in Black Jack’s own words, “haunt your dreams.”
This week’s performance was nothing short of revolting, and we mean that in the best way possible. It went from physical brutality to mental torture. We watched what could be called sadism with a smile. There was literally no place for anyone to run. What’s more, the worse is yet to come in the season finale next week.
