‘The Comeback’ Season 3, Episode 6 Recap: Everything Breaks

Season 3, Episode 6: ‘Valerie’s Home Alone’

Well, it was only a matter of time. Given how many people Valerie has told about the A.I. element of “How’s That?!,” it was inevitable that the story would eventually leak. Sure enough, by the end of this week’s episode, the word is out. Social media, the show business press and even cable news are buzzing about Valerie’s ethically questionable sitcom.

“The entire world is tearing me apart!” Valerie wails. To which an unconcerned Patience shrugs, “It’s just Hollywood.”

But here is the big question: Who is the leaker?

Initially, Jane is the top suspect. Earlier in the episode, Jane’s girlfriend, Peri (Clea DuVall), publicly yells at her for quitting her Trader Joe’s job and working full-time with “this woman who you told me was a very destructive energy in your life.” During that fight, it comes out that Jane has not yet signed one of NuNet’s N.D.A.s — nor will she. After Jane admits that she also has not cashed any of NuNet’s checks, Billy has security remove her.

But although Jane confesses that she was always planning to make a film about A.I. — and not, as Valerie expected, “an actor’s uplifting return while she navigates a whole new television landscape” — she goes on CNN after the scandal breaks to defend Valerie. Scratch her off the list.

If not Jane, who? Valerie suspects Paulie G., given their history. (CNN even shows the old viral clip of her punching him in the stomach on “Room and Bored.”) Myself, I have my eyes on Marco, who might be jealous of how Valerie is letting Evan, the A.I. tech guy, pitch jokes.

But let’s not lose the plot here. The real culprit is Valerie, who has been terrible at keeping this secret. In this episode, she accidentally tells the “How’s That?!” cast what’s going on. Walter has called an actors-only meeting to accuse Valerie of trying to take over the whole production, warning that he has seen this kind of thing before. But before he can explain what he means, Valerie asks, “There’s another A.I. show?” Whoops.

Something else to consider is that Valerie’s hopes for herself and her career often get derailed by … I want to call it loyalty? Or maybe a pathological need for familiarity? Valerie tapped Jane for her documentary mainly because she already knew Jane. The same was true of Paulie G., called in last week to be the emergency showrunner. Sometimes, Valerie’s preference for people she is accustomed to creates unwelcome distractions.

For example, Tommy becomes a problem. He was meant to be Valerie’s new Mickey, ever-reliable. But it seems Tommy has been getting handsy with Valerie’s castmate Frank, who asks her to tell him to stop. Tommy is affronted, saying he has been rubbing nervous actors’ shoulders since “WKRP in Cincinnati.” (“Different times,” Valerie sighs.) So he quits, effective immediately, echoing Jimmy Burrows’s comment that this job has stopped being “fun.” Valerie is down another team member, right when she needs more people by her side.

Billy, predictably, is no help. Because of Valerie’s repeated suggestions that he isn’t doing a good job as a producer, Billy calls her in for a surprise session of couples therapy, to be filmed for yet another reality series. (He is supposed to on his way to a color-timing session for the “How’s That?!” pilot, which pretty much proves Valerie’s point.) Later, after the A.I. news gets out, Billy keeps thrusting his phone in Valerie’s face, barraging her with TikToks and Instagram Reels in which struggling writers scream at her.

The Billy scenes this episode are equally funny and infuriating, in the usual “The Comeback” way. Valerie is obviously being treated unfairly, given that Billy is still ostensibly her manager — making it all the more ridiculous when he accuses her of caring only about her own career and not his. But at the same time: Anyone more comfortable with change would have fired Billy years ago.

Still, Valerie’s dogged devotion to the known does pay off in one case. Because the A.I. leak happens while Mark is away at Burning Man, she feels especially lonely and lost. But after Mark sees the news, he rushes home in the middle of the night to comfort her.

This episode ends with another one of those moments this season where the style breaks from the prevailing “Comeback” docu-realism. While Adele’s yearning ballad “Chasing Pavements” plays on the soundtrack, the camera moves gracefully from a shot of Mark holding a sobbing Valerie to a shot of the glittering city outside their window, looking dark and enchanting. Sure, it’s just Hollywood. But to Valerie, it’s the world.

To be real

We finally get to see a little bit of “Mrs. Hatt,” which looks to be a fairly conventional cozy mystery show that, per Valerie, “people would’ve liked if they’d known where it was.” It’s fascinating to see Lisa Kudrow, as Valerie, playing Mrs. Hatt: a slightly more serious character than the ones we have seen Valerie play on sitcoms. Between the “Mrs. Hatt” scene and Valerie’s teary breakdown at the end of this episode, we get a good look at Kudrow’s acting range.
Just when Tommy seems to be quitting quietly, he rips into Frank on his way out the door, saying, “It’s always the gays that bring you down.” Tommy claims that no straight actor has ever complained about his shoulder rubs, citing “the boy who played Larry on ‘Perfect Strangers.’” (Tommy: “Mark something-something.” A mortified Valerie: “Linn-Baker.”)
It’s funny how quickly the “How’s That?!” cast shifts from being outraged about A.I. to realizing how refreshing it has been to work without having writers complain constantly about their line-readings (or asking for them to “do it sexier,” as has been Gabrielle’s experience). Valerie then kills the collegial vibe with one of the funniest lines this season, saying she once dated a writer, and “long story short: Me Too.”
NuNet’s marketing gurus Arbor (Will Higgins) and Ridley (Merle Dandridge) are excited about their “How’s That?!” campaign, which sticks an A.I. image of Valerie’s character into a knockoff of the “Under the Tuscan Sun” movie poster. Generative A.I. is often criticized for being a plagiarism machine, but it’s a longstanding Hollywood tradition to repeat and rehash the things people already like.
Valerie has had her face and body fully scanned by NuNet. “How’s That?!” has no writers. Are the actors the next to go?