Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Nate Parker | Celebrity | December 15, 2023
I don't know where Melanie Lynskey's been all my life. I missed most of her career. I even forgot Dustin nominated her for last year's P10. In 2008 she guest-starred on an episode of Psych as a fashion designer's assistant, cute and curvy and allowed to use her own New Zealand accent. I liked her immediately. She then vanished from my television screen for a decade, working steadily but quietly as a guest star. A decade later, she appeared as Molly Strand in Hulu's excellent first season of Castle Rock, and my crush was confirmed. As the grownup version of Henry's (André Holland)'s best childhood friend, she had power and depths hidden behind her quiet demeanor, and Lynskey was one of the best parts of a fantastic show.
Then my wife convinced me to watch Yellowjackets. I'm never quite sure what's going on in the dual and dueling timelines that form the show's two main stories. But I love all of it, from the cannibalism to the visions and everything Christina Ricci. But Melanie Lynskey's affecting and often hysterical performance as Shauna Sadecki is what keeps me coming back week after week. Over the last 2 seasons she's gone from bored housewife\mother to a slow-moving trainwreck with such methodical determination that it's almost as though she's following a checklist. When Shauna thinks her husband Jeff (Warren Kole) is having an affair, she begins one of her own out of revenge and ennui. What starts out as harmless sex becomes a tale of blackmail, paranoia, and murder. By the second season's finale, Shauna has enlisted Jeff and their daughter Callie in a campaign of deception that includes a fake affair, false rape accusations, and aiding & abetting after the fact. And she keeps going, making decisions that only make things progressively worse despite seeming rational at the time. Because she's a little bit crazy, which only makes her hotter.
This year, she proved quietly terrifying as Kathleen Coghlan in The Last of Us. As the short-lived leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City, Kathleen seeks revenge on the FEDRA forces who killed her brother and Henry, the friend who gave him up. Lynskey's performance is brilliant, with quiet fury hidden behind soft words. Lynskey gives the performance of a woman on the edge of utter collapse, and it's no great surprise when she chooses vengeance over the safety of her people. Kathleen was a new character not featured in the game, but between the writing and Lynskey's performance she meshes seamlessly with the post-apocalyptic landscape. It's nerve wracking to watch in the best possible way. What's more, it segues neatly into the body positivity that Lynskey pushes whenever someone makes the mistake of commenting on her shapely figure, as C-lister Adrienne Curry did on Twitter last year.
Fortunately, not only is Lynskey articulate and proud enough to stand up by herself, she has a stout partner in Jason Ritter, a lucky man who's smart enough to know it. They're an adorable, supportive couple and seem very engaged with one another.
Most importantly, Lynskey seems like one of the rare people for whom nice and kind are not mutually exclusive. A proud supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and unashamedly feminist, Melanie Lynskey deserves a spot on your Pajiba 10 list. Hell, make her the whole thing. Maybe that way, she'll keep gracing her with her presence.
