Maura Tierney is a treasure. I liked her on Newsradio. She was tremendous on ER, even if her character Abby was often frustrating or sullen. She got breast cancer a few years back and had to drop out of Parenthood after filming the pilot — the role went to Lauren Graham, who did it justice — and she took her time finding a niche again on-screen after that. Even the first season of The Affair used her only sparingly as it hewed to its two-perspective premise, but that changed in season two, and I sincerely think it’s because the writing staff woke up and realized she can play anything they give her and that they’d better rejigger the show to accommodate that. Good move, too, because she won last night.
She is the only character on The Affair I don’t want to punch — even when she screws up, it’s with admirable layers — and she has a naturalism to her that reminds me of Brie Larson (or really, vice-versa). Her face ALSO reminds me of Brie Larson’s (or, again, vice-versa), and thus I find it interesting that while Brie’s version of no-makeup makeup was done to absolute warm, genius perfection, Maura got saddled with Lip Eraser. She might just want to CALL Brie Larson and get a referral. Because clearly Brie’s people would know how to handle her face.
[Photo: Getty]
