THE PERFORMER | Lola Petticrew
THE SHOW | Hulu’s “Furious“
THE EPISODE | “Pick a Sticker” (August 10, 2026)
THE PERFORMANCE | For much of Hulu’s “Furious” thus far, serial killer Catherine has seemed largely unflappable. She knows the men on whom she wants to exact revenge — all men who abused her, in some form, in her youth — and she’s hardly flinched while leading each of them to their demise.
But Catherine’s cool exterior has been masking a hurt and haunted young woman, and Lola Petticrew spent Episode 5 reminding us that Catherine is simply desperate to resolve a years-ago trauma: finding the person who killed her best friend, Isabel. Catherine inched closer to the truth with her torture and interrogation of lawyer Hal (a magnetic Campbell Scott), and Petticrew’s performance oscillated all hour long between wounded and menacing.
Take, for example, the steely look in Petticrew’s eyes as Catherine pressed Hal for details about the night Isabel died. We could hardly watch as Catherine burned Hal with a hot curling iron, but Petticrew replaced that rage a few scenes later with something akin to childlike wonder as Catherine showed Hal the wedding dress in which she hoped to get married. Catherine and Hal forged an odd, twisted bond over the course of a few hours, and Petticrew so subtly conveyed her character’s dilemma over whether to trust — and perhaps even team up with — this man who she believed played a role in her friend’s death.
But Catherine was ultimately reminded of Hal’s silent complicity in the abuse of many other girls over the years, and Petticrew did her best work when Catherine confronted him about his involvement. “What’s the punishment for people who know what’s happening and do nothing?” Catherine whispered. “What do they get?” It was a sobering question, and one that Petticrew delivered with a palpable, bone-deep weariness. — Rebecca Luther
Scroll down to see who got an Honorable Mention shout-out this week…
HONORABLE MENTION: Gayle Rankin
Ever since her first appearance in “House of the Dragon” Season 2, Alys has been a mystery. The HBO series’ Season 3 finale last Sunday finally let us in on the tricky riverwoman’s secret, and Gayle Rankin’s performance made the key monologue into something moving and enlightening. We loved it. Turns out, Alys was the wife of Harren the Black, who died when Balerion burned the castle more than a century before. When Alys turned to ancient magic in a doomed attempt to save her burned child, she wound up with immortality, sentenced to an anonymous, never-ending existence confined to the Riverlands. Alys’ account of the ordeal was measured, Rankin’s voice steady as she related the horror that befell her. Nevertheless, tears slipped from Alys’ eyes as she remembered the boy she hadn’t been able to save. And that mix that Rankin employed — the world-weariness of a being who has lived too long, side-by-side with a grief that hasn’t lessened, all these years later — made the quiet recitation devastating. The revelation of Alys’ backstory could’ve been just another lore-drop in a franchise filled with them, but Rankin’s tender consideration turned it into a revelatory moment. Is it any wonder Aemond is taken with her? With Rankin’s portrayal, we are, too. — Kimberly Roots
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!