Today's award is Outstanding Writing of a Drama Series!
This year's nominees are...
JESSE ARMSTRONG, Succession "Connor's Wedding" (HBO)
CRAIG MAZIN, The Last of Us "Long, Long Time" (HBO)
PETER MORGAN, The Crown (Netflix)
RACHEL SHUKERT, The Handmaid's Tale "No Man's Land" (Hulu)
CHRISTOPHER STORER, The Bear "Hands" (FX/Hulu)
WILL TRACY, Succession "Tailgate Party" (HBO)
MATT WOLPERT & BEN NEDEVI, For All Mankind "Stranger in a Strange Land" (Apple TV+)
And the Winner Is...
JESSE ARMSTRONG
Succession "Connor's Wedding" (HBO)
For the third time in four years, this award goes to Jesse Armstrong and it's for an episode that is certainly a contender for Episode of the Year, if not Episode of the Decade. By now, it's probably not a spoiler to talk about this episode but if you haven't watched the last season of Succession, you may want to stop here. What seemed to be an episode about a wedding (the title said it after all), turned out to be an episode about death and grief unfolding in real time. The death of patriarch Logan Roy was expected in the final season but for it to happen a few minutes into the third episode was daring storytelling. Armstrong expertly crafted the rest of the episode in a way that showed all the stages of grief as well as the unfolding chaos. He also powerfully used cell phone conversations to tell the story in a contemporary way that felt much more realistic to today's world. Succession is Armstrong's masterpiece in general but this episode will go down as a hall of fame episode in TV history.
Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:
I wanted to nominate Jesse Armstrong for other masterful episodes of Succession but my rule as of 2022 was to not allow more than one nomination per person per category for the same show unless they are the sole writer or director, like Peter Morgan in The Crown, in which case they can be nominated for the whole season. Speaking of Morgan, his fifth season of The Crown wasn't quite as strong as past ones but still had some excellent drama and dialogue. Before "Connor's Wedding" took all the attention, the masterpiece episode of the year was "Long, Long Time" on The Last of Us which had a beautiful script by Craig Mazin. Rachel Shukert had some of the best writing in the entire series of The Handmaid's Tale between June and Serena. The season finale of For All Mankind had great tension from Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedevi's script. The "food inspection" episode of The Bear wasn't as acclaimed as "Review" but was the best written episode. Finally, Will Tracy was the last Succession writer before Armstrong took the final three episodes. His scene between Shiv & Tom at the end of "Tailgate Party" was incredible.
Tomorrow: Outstanding Writing of a Comedy Series!
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