Any regular Saturday Night Live viewer is already aware that Aidy Bryant is a genuine talent, with the capacity to sell even the most ridiculous character or concept. Whether she’s impersonating Sarah Huckabee Sanders, awkwardly flirting with Hollywood hunks, or somehow making a ridiculous sketch work, she fully commits to every character and often scores the biggest laughs week-to-week.
Maybe that’s why her performance in Shrill caught me off caught. It’s not that Bryant is bad – quite the opposite, in fact. She’s excellent, and totally hits a home run in her long-awaited first chance at bat with a starring role. But any trace of her SNL style is long gone. This is a down-to-earth, lived-in performance that feels far removed from anything she’s managed to deliver before, and indicates a potential future with more serious roles. But, most importantly, she carries Shrill across the finish-line and makes it one of the year’s most entertaining new shows.
In Shrill, Bryant plays Annie, a likable protagonist at the center of yet another show about millennials. Like so many shows before it, this series follows Annie’s attempts at building a career for herself, figuring out what she wants from a relationship, and just trying to get her life in order. We’ve seen all this before, but Shrill wisely downplays much of its content and manages to feel somewhat realistic. Annie’s experiences at work, and the fun articles she tries to write as a means of improving her career, will hit close to home to any 20-something trying to progress from an entry-level position into a role with more authority. And her love life will is uncomfortably realistic.
So it’s disappointing whenever the show gets a bit too silly or over-the-top, as it feels totally independent from everything else the series is doing. Much of these bumps along the road come from Annie’s boss, played be legendary queer filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell. While Mitchell is typically a very funny man, and he’s trying his hardest here as a Devil Wears Prada-esque boss, his character feels like something from a different series and the jokes don’t land. Other characters, including Annie’s best friend (Lolly Adefope) and quasi-boyfriend (Luka Jones), often feel real but, in weak moments, will fly over-the-top and lose the jokes. It’d be nice to see the show pad this out in future seasons, especially since the whole cast is quite good overall.
What works much better, and truly helps the show stand out, is the way that Shrill explores key issues involving body positivity and sexism, particularly online. This series explores how Annie is treated harshly about her body by those around her, including some of her closest friends and family. The show does a terrific job at distinguishing between backhanded compliments, micro-aggressions, and generally hateful comments. But the series doesn’t stop there: one episode ends with Annie reading the comments on one of her articles, and becoming genuinely upset and frightened by the misogynistic threats made against her. Bryant plays that scene perfectly. But not all of these moments are dark: one of the show’s most pleasant sequences shows Annie talking with a collection of strippers about their bodies, which results in a wholesome and sweet conversation.
But, mainly, Shrill serves as proof that Aidy Bryant has a long career ahead of her. She’s stunning, and delivering a performance wholly different from any of her work on SNL. While there is room for improvement, this six-episode season is easy to binge and consistently fun. If you’re already a Bryant fan, tune in ASAP. If you’re not: tune in anyway, because this performance is nothing like anything she’s given before.
Shrill premieres on Hulu on Friday March 15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyUr_-jxWZA
