Review: The Comeback, “Valerie’s Home Alone” | Season 3, Episode 6

Season three of The Comeback has felt notably distinct from the first two seasons in several ways. On an obvious level, there’s the format change: the found footage framing is still present, but there are many scenes where Valerie Cherish isn’t being filmed at all. Despite some early growing pains, that shift has mostly worked fine, to the point that I couldn’t specifically name how many scenes per episode are “objective” versus found footage anymore. Season three is also a bit more openly sentimental than the other seasons, and far less reliant on dark cringe comedy. The AI satire is taking the plot in some grim directions, but the darkness this time is more casual and industry-specific, less about putting Valerie through hell. That change, too, was largely for the best. We didn’t need to see Val endanger her own marriage with her solipsism yet again, nor did we need to see her get exploited and discarded by misogynistic bullies.

To me, the most interesting (and risky) change is a more subtle one. The nature of the stakes has changed this year: Valerie is still at the center, and in fact she’s more of an active participant in the project than ever, but her obstacles are primarily external instead of internal, even without a central antagonist like Paulie G. The first couple episodes teased complex internal conflicts around reconciling Val’s allegiance to the WGA (despite her mixed experiences with writers) with her self-motivated choice to work on an AI sitcom, but that hasn’t played out in any especially dramatic way. It’s mostly all about Val on an island by herself, juggling her own aspirations with the needs of the cast, the crew, and the studio. (I’d add Mark there, but the season isn’t quite leaning on their tensions the way I thought it would.) I appreciate that attempt to try something new, even if it does make this iteration of Val’s story feel a tad less essential.

I sound like I’m down on the show, but most of these choices work for me. “Valerie’s Home Alone” is another solid entry that keeps up the pressure, barreling forward with the AI story and removing Mark from the equation for the time being. Without his grounding force, Val feels alone, and we’re experiencing that isolation and panic alongside her.