AWARDS INTELLIGENCER: The Year of Ayo – Thelma Adams reports
The high-density competition for female actors at the 2024 Emmy’s is striking. In the case of The Bear’s breakout supporting character, Sydney Adamu played by Ayo Edebiri, she won the Emmy last year for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Now she’s back.
This year, Edebiri’s nominated again – but she’s ascended to the Best Actress category. The field of nominees is strong, with her chief rival being Jean Smart for Hacks. Her other competition in this category is Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), Kristen Wiig (Palm Royale), Maya Rudolph (Loot) and Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building).
The talented 28-year-old star also made her directorial debut in 2024. In Napkins, the sixth episode of season three, she directed one of the year’s most popular episodes. Unfortunately, it’s not nominated in the Best Comedy Director category in favor of two other episodes, Fishes and Honeydew.
Edebiri’s emotional episode delves into the past history of Tina Marrero (Liza Colon-Zayas), a line cook at the series’ original Chicago family-run fast food joint, Mr. Beef. We see her warm relationship with her husband (real-life partner David Zayas) and their financial troubles when she gets laid off at her comfortable office job. We also get one beautiful, extended scene opposite Michael Berzatto (Jon Bernthal).
The episode is called Napkins because an end-of-her-rope Tina, having spent another day failing to get a job, wanders into Mr. Beef. Instead of digging into her sandwich, she begins to have one of those meltdowns that seem inevitable at least once in the dreaded job hunt. By chance, Michael is there, notices Tina’s pain, offers her napkins for the tears (hence the title), sits down and connects, really connects, with this perfect stranger.
This episode is also notable for its bringing back Bernthal as the late, great brother of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), and its recreation of the earlier frenetic days at Mr. Beef. For its character-driven arc, humor in the face of sorrow, and emotional depth, it’s a notable directing debut for Edebiri. While it didn’t make the Emmy cut, it demonstrates how much female directorial talent exists out there just waiting to be tapped.
Whoever wins Outstanding Actress in a Comedy, Edebiri has shown another exciting side of her ample talent. Napkins, which ranks number six with 9.2/10 on IMDb, is presently the most popular episode of the current season on the site.
