Photo: Erin Simkin/HBO
Five episodes into season three of The Comeback, we’re still getting to know the 2026 Valerie Cherish. Last week, I observed that Val — who took a massive step toward being a better version of herself in the season-two finale — is now being held back by the selfishness of the people around her instead of getting in her own way. This week, we’re learning that self-sabotage remains an intrinsic part of her character. It’s not that I thought season-three Val was perfect; we’re talking about someone who willingly signed on to an AI-scripted sitcom, after all. But it’s not until “Valerie Lights a Candle” that we fully comprehend the extent to which she’s still her own worst enemy.
To be fair, Val is identifying very real problems. After her inadvertent voice note to the studio, Brandon Wollack himself shows up to the How’s That?! set to let Valerie know that Josh and Mary have been fired. It’s not particularly comforting to hear him say “we own their names, we own their silence, so it’s all good,” and it’s even less reassuring to discover that the showrunner job has been passed on to the woefully unqualified Marco. This is, at best, a lateral move, as much as Brandon insists that they don’t need any writer in charge when AI can pull (read: steal) from all the greats. He’s a very unsettling character — I’d expect nothing less from a studio head — and he knows exactly what to say to keep Val in line. By telling her that the pilot tested great and thanking her for making the show the least of NuNet’s troubles, he’s appealing to her ego and her need to be loved. (Maybe he’s been watching past seasons of The Comeback.) Of course, Brandon has zero guidance for how Val should inform the actors about the staffing changes, especially since she’s been barred from revealing that the show is written by AI.
Val wants to bond with her castmates — she’s brought all of them targeted inspirational candles — but she also has to keep them under control. That means telling everyone that Josh and Mary have been fired and then calming their appropriate nerves. She shares that the former showrunners hated the actors, and that most of the writing has been done by the mysterious Al, anyway. (That’s “Al” with an “L.” I so wish there were an easier way of distinguishing here.) “A writer we’ve never even seen; that feels suspicious to me,” says Walter, who is clearly the savviest of the cast. He’s also the one who notes that it makes no sense for a writers’ assistant like Marco to get promoted to showrunner, which prompts an unhelpful “don’t panic!” from Val. Back in her dressing room, she gives Billy the Josh and Mary update, along with a passive-aggressive (though justified) “Focus” candle. When he bristles, she offers a “Relax” instead. As much as I love Dan Bucatinsky, I’m ready for an end to this already contentious creative partnership. If Billy keeps firing barbs at Valerie’s husband, like this week’s “Maybe give Mark a candle that says Charisma” zinger, she might just snap.
In the meantime, she has more immediate problems to deal with. During rehearsal for the next episode of How’s That?!, the two actors playing angry bed-and-breakfast guests are inexplicably whispering their lines. Hearing “Listen lady, I don’t know how much louder I can say this” as ASMR really made me laugh, as did Val’s visible confusion. When she confers with Bryan, the director, he says he keeps giving the actors the note to stop whispering, but they just say “thank you.” It turns out Phillip and Kewpie (like the doll) were cast because they’re Marco’s roommates, and that’s also why he refuses to fire them. “Marco says he’s got this, they think they’ve got this, that whole generation thinks they’ve got this,” Val complains to Frank. (Again, these jabs at “kids today” smack of Michael Patrick King and give me terrible flashbacks to the And Just Like That … season finale, also featuring Ella Stiller.) Meanwhile, Marco has asked Al to spit out alts for every joke in the script, resulting in 39 mostly unusable pages. “No human could write that fast,” Val tells the showrunner. “It’s suspicious.” Besides, there’s no way they could even try all the alts, so he’ll need to cut most of the new material. Marco, who seems increasingly threatened, refuses to let tech guy Evan highlight the good jokes.
As for the whispering guest stars, Val takes her concerns to Sharon, whose hands are tied since she isn’t the person who cast Marco’s roommates. She is, however, willing to fire them on behalf of executive producer Valerie Cherish, as long as Val can make sure Sharon’s job is protected. There is a heavy sense of dread hanging over The Comeback this season — it’s the most honest depiction I’ve seen of how bleak the entertainment industry feels right now. And yes, things are even harder for women of a certain age like Sharon and Valerie, but everyone is feeling it. We see that in the next scene, when P.D.P. confronts Val for telling Marco to cut his jokes. He’s under the mistaken impression that she did this out of actorly jealousy and not because the alts were AI slop. “I need this to be my breakout role,” he says. “I’m gonna be 40.” At the same time, Sharon is loudly firing Marco’s roommates in the background, telling them, “It’s the star’s show and she doesn’t think you’re funny!” How unfortunate that Val is being painted as a diva just for trying to keep this sitcom from falling apart. She assures P.D.P. that they’re in the same boat. Now she just has to find a captain.
I can defend so many of Val’s choices. I cannot defend her deciding that the captain How’s That?! needs is Paulie G. He arrives to set unsure of why Valerie has summoned him, and making terrible jokes to mask his discomfort. (“What are you filming, Jane? The Cameback?”) That Paulie is willing to work with Val again is another sign of how grim the situation is for everyone in the industry, but that doesn’t mean she should go through with it. Jane, who has become Valerie’s strongest ally and the show’s true voice of reason, does not mince words when she says, “This is the worst decision that you can make.” Val tells Jane she’s going to get her a “Not the End of the World” candle. But Jane’s entirely right that Paulie is the worst possible pick for a new captain — he will sink this ship, she warns.
Undeterred, Val invites Paulie to a taping of the next episode. He’s instantly able to suss out that the show is being written by AI and why a scene of Beth being yelled at by the two bed and breakfast guests — now played by actors who can raise their voices — isn’t getting laughs. Paulie suggests they replace the male actor with a woman. “An audience doesn’t like it when a man is mean to a woman they like,” he explains in the most meta line of the episode. This is why the return of Paulie G, a character who has been relentlessly cruel to Valerie from the very beginning of the series, strikes fear in our hearts. It’s also why many of us are struggling with the current iterations of Billy and Mark, who seem to get nastier every episode. Mark is at the taping with Fernando again, and he informs Valerie that he and the doorman will be going to Burning Man this year, and that Val is not invited. “Mark, this is not a smart decision,” she says. “You’re gonna tell me about smart,” he fires back, gesturing toward Paulie G. “Look who you got here.” And sure, he has a point, but must he be such a dick about it? Val insists she’s saving the show, and Paulie is indeed helping. He’s doing the kind of on-set rewrite Al could never manage, with an assist from Evan, who reveals he gave up on being a writer and got into coding when he saw where the industry was headed. But any belief that Paulie has truly changed goes out the window once he dismisses Val with a cold “make yourself useful.”
Leaving aside his rudeness, there’s no denying that the episode lands better with an experienced human writer at the helm. Still, is this something Val should be putting herself through? Frank, who felt sorry for Josh and Mary despite their hatred of actors, delivers another meta line when he wonders, “Why am I always defending people who don’t have my best interest?” Val should internalize this, but instead she gifts him a “Self-Love” candle. She then tells Paulie she’ll talk to the studio on his behalf. Not for the first time, he apologizes for the way he treated her on Room and Bored. In a new twist, he blames his behavior on the reality show she was filming at the same time. “You weren’t responsible for reality TV any more than you’re responsible for AI,” he admits. “I thought reality TV was coming for us, but AI, fucking scary.”
Once Paulie’s gone, Jane acknowledges that he was being uncharacteristically vulnerable. Val astutely notes, “Nothing more dangerous than a scared animal. That’s when they bite.” I’ll buy that Paulie’s reality anxiety exacerbated his hatred of Val, but let’s not discount his flagrant misogyny, which is already rearing its ugly head again. Paulie’s not the only scared animal either. Marco confronts Val to ask if she’s firing him, while also obliquely threatening to spill the AI secret if he’s let go. Val assures him she doesn’t have that power, and reminds him that they’re all a team working together to make the show great. I’m not sure that’s going to lessen his worries — and I’m even less optimistic that the “Success” candle she gives him will make Marco captain material.
• So what happened with episode two of How’s That?! Did they end up filming the Uncharted crossover with Beth in jail, or did Marco get Al to produce something more sensible?
• While we’re on the subject of loose ends, I still have questions about Josh and Mary. Billy calling the exiled writing team “Mary and Mary” means I’m not the only one assuming theirs is a lavender marriage.
• This is another episode without as many laugh-out-loud moments, but I’ll shout out my favorite exchange: Paulie G asking Valerie what his last name is, and her answering, after a lengthy pause, “G.” Lisa Kudrow’s delivery remains impeccable.
• I failed to mention in last week’s recap that Evan is played by Kudrow’s real-life son, Julian Stern. They actually look quite a bit alike, though his facial hair mostly hides the resemblance.
• Speaking of nepo babies (said with love!), Ella Stiller’s reaction to Walter’s muffin order was very funny. He tells Patience he’s fine with any flavor “except for banana or blueberry or bran.”
• On the other hand, the “Valerie says things wrong” bit is not working for me. I know it’s a constant on The Comeback, but it’s starting to feel too silly. Case in point: Val saying that she can’t ask about a medical condition because of “HIPPO rules.” It’s a little hacky for a show this good.
• With Mark and Billy being such nightmares, I’m loving the new Jane. I was very touched by her response to Val saying that Paulie G won her an Emmy. “You won you an Emmy,” Jane corrects.
• Do I ship Val and Jane? Not really, but … watch this space.
