SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Comeback season 3 episode 1, “Valerie Gets a New Chapter“The Comeback season 3’s premiere brings viewers back into the world of Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow) and after 10 years away, it skillfully avoids a missed opportunity from the show’s last season. Valerie, whose constant need to lend herself to less-than-stellar projects has always been her downfall, is back for another season of antics, this time involving the quickly mounting dangers of AI.
While Valerie and her camera crew, which has really dwindled down to solo efforts from social media manager Patience (Ella Stiller), are still a part of the series, The Comeback season 3’s premiere brings viewers up to speed with what’s been happening in Valerie’s world since the events of 2014’s sophomore season of the series. With so much time having passed, the series took time to answer burning questions.
The Comeback Season 3 Addresses Its 10 Year Absence Quickly
Although the 10-year absence of The Comeback makes sense from a viewer perspective, the show’s return within its own universe takes a bit of work to explain. As the premiere episode begins, The Comeback is quick to provide some perspective on what’s been happening for Valerie, and what’s happened since her Emmy win that brought season 2 to a close.
While Valerie appeared to be prepared for whatever came next as The Comeback season 2 ended with her clutching her husband Mark’s (Damien Young) hand as they left Mickey (Robert Michael Morris) to rest in his hospital bed, the version of the star we find at the new season’s start is struggling. In 2023, Valerie is shown filming social content ahead of her Broadway debut in Chicago: The Musical.
|
The Comeback Character |
Actor |
|---|---|
|
Valerie Cherish |
Lisa Kudrow |
|
Mark Berman |
Damian Young |
|
Jane Benson |
Laura Silverman |
|
Patience |
Ella Stiller |
|
Billy Stanton |
Dan Bucatinsky |
Quickly introducing viewers to Patience, 2023 Valerie also shouts out to Jane Benson (Laura Silverman), who appears disinterested despite filming Val for another documentary. As Valerie’s Chicago rehearsals crumble because of their degree of difficulty, she finds herself abandoned by Jane and chooses to quit the musical, citing the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes rather than fully admitting she simply can’t do it.
The series then flashes forward to Valerie back in Los Angeles, picketing with fellow actors and writers during the strikes. Hoping to get social content, Valerie has Patience filming her and snags a photo op with Fran Drescher, quickly irritating the former SAG president and fellow former sitcom star. As the flashback concludes, we understand that despite clawing her way to respect, Valerie’s still got a ways to go.
Valerie Cherish’s Tongue-In-Cheek Chicago Rehearsal Provides A Pivotal Shift
Although opening The Comeback season 3 in a moment where Valerie is failing may not be the most unexpected of entry points, her brief time with the Broadway ensemble of Chicago makes for a fascinating start. While Valerie, who can’t help but flounder under the watchful gaze of a musical director, is looking for help in any way she can get it, she’s not helping herself in the slightest.
Valerie’s newest era, which technically begins a bit after her Chicago blunder, sees her desperate for work in a different way, and hopeful that something worth her time and efforts will come across her plate. After quitting on Chicago and fleeing back to Los Angeles, Valerie appears to lose touch with almost everyone outside of Mark and Patience.
While it’s not Valerie at her best, the Chicago rehearsal sets a tone for a different, more isolated side of the former sitcom actress as she moves into a new era of her life off-screen.
The Comeback Is Deliberate In Season 3 To Avoid Repeating Past Mistakes
As The Comeback season 3’s first episode lays out the beginnings of what’s sure to be an exciting season, it works hard to ensure that time is accounted for in a better way than its previous seasons. The Comeback season 2, which started up suddenly and didn’t do much to explain the 10 years between the first and second season, had to re-establish itself in a whole new world.
The Comeback season 3, however, takes the time and space to allow the audience a moment to readjust. Rather than plunging back into the current world of Valerie Cherish and her schemes, viewers get a moment to re-establish themselves and find their way back in. The layered jokes surrounding Chicago, the industry strikes, and where Valerie’s been since help ease viewers back into The Comeback quickly.
- Release Date
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2005 – 2026-00-00
- Network
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HBO Max
- Directors
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Clark Mathis, Michael Patrick King