Valerie Is Taken Seriously
The Comeback | Season 2 | Episode 5

Valerie Is Taken Seriously

TV-MA | 33 MIN

Written by John Riggi
Directed by John Riggi

In an interview with Jane, Valerie says that shooting is going "real good." Valerie, feeling put-upon, becomes irritated after Jane asks her to say which episode they're shooting that day. "You asked me to do this," Jane responds. "I'm doing it." Valerie immediately complies and apologizes. "We good?" Valerie asks Jane. A gift from Seth Rogen arrives for Valerie with a note: "Mallory, Blow me. Love, Mitch." Valerie learns that she doesn't have any more scenes with Seth and is concerned that she didn't get him a wrap gift.

Valerie excitedly heads toward the faux 'Room and Bored' set on 'Seeing Red,' but she discovers it's just a room painted green. Valerie will shoot the scenes on green screen; because the moments are Paulie G.'s fantasy version of 'Room and Bored,' backgrounds will be filled in later. "Couldn't he have imagined some furniture?" quips Mickey. HBO execs Rada and Connor appear to tell Valerie that Paulie G. won't be directing the next two episodes. Andie Tate, who's already on set, will take over. Rada excitedly mentions that Andie did all the green-screen work on 'Bitches vs. Witches.'

Billy shows up on set, trailed by HBO publicist Carl, who tells Valerie they've promised the New York Times a first look at 'Seeing Red.' Billy is upset that the Times interview trumps what he set up for Valerie with Jezebel, BuzzFeed and USA Today online.

Valerie is uncomfortable that the audience for the ‘Room and Bored' scenes is a small group of actors. "I wasn't really expecting to be working in a gumdrop today!" Valerie says of the green room. She's quickly satiated when the audience laughs at her performance rehearsal. The scene involves Valerie playing a track suit-wearing monster, all inside Paulie G.'s mind.

In her trailer, Valerie is dressed in a head-to-toe green suit for more green-screen scenes. A fired-up Billy tells her he cancelled all the interviews he set up so that HBO "will stop having a hissy fit." Billy has a breakdown, ranting that the other press outlets will be "pissed" at him. Just before his clients get big, Billy adds, they leave him, like Eva Longoria did before she got 'Desperate Housewives.' Billy demands to be fired before he quits and storms out. He comes back in a second later for his cell phone. "Can't even f**king quit right," he says. "Billy Half-Ass."

Just as Valerie walks to set in her green suit and a pair of large sunglasses, the HBO publicist Carl shows up with Liz, the writer from the New York Times. Valerie unsuccessfully tries to push her interview to the next day. Liz watches as Valerie does scenes in the green suit, including a sequence where Valerie acts like she's ripping a child apart. Liz tells Valerie she's seen the first episode of ‘Seeing Red' and that her performance is "very brave." Concerned, Valerie uses Jane's password to log into the production system, where she watches a dramatic scene of herself telling Mitch off. "Red!" Mickey exclaims. "All these years...you can really act!" Despite Mickey's praise, Valerie doubts her performance. She worries the scene is poorly lit feels she needs to do some damage control and hire Billy back to secure "some pretty magazine covers."

During production at her house, Valerie asks the lighting guy for better lighting. Paulie G. is pissed that Valerie saw the dailies, despite being on the "no dailies list." He snaps at her, saying he doesn't want to have "pretend conversations about light boxes," especially when he's two scripts behind.

Attempting to help, Valerie goes to see Paulie G.'s old writing partner Tom Peterman on the set of the Nickelodeon show he now executive produces called 'Nicky Nicky Nack Nack.' Tom can't help since things didn't end well between Paulie and him. Tom tells Valerie all the terrible things that Paulie G. used to say about her, including that she was the "devil." "Why does everybody make excuses for that guy?" Tom asks Valerie. "That shit sitcom 'Room and Bored' ruins my career and in the meantime everyone can't wait to work with him." As she's leaving set, Valerie gets a text from Mark -- he's rented a house in the Palisades to get away from the production at home.

Back on the 'Seeing Red' set, Valerie and Billy reconcile. Valerie prepares to do another interview for Jane, but Valerie thinks the room is too dark -- it won't match what they've done before. Jane tells her that HBO wants it that way: "They don't want it to look like we're shooting behind-the-scenes stuff anymore. They want it to look like a real documentary. They think there's a real interesting angle about you and the obstacles that you're facing with this role." Valerie puts her foot down: "I'm gonna need a few more lights if you want to continue with our little documentary."

Walking out, Valerie sees the New York Times writer Liz. Valerie asks her what she meant when she said her performance was "brave." Liz clarifies: "I think people are going to see you in a whole new light when this show premieres." Pleased, Valerie smiles and tells Jane, "I'll do whatever you want." She then opens her gift from Seth Rogen -- it's a star. "Seth Rogen gave me a star," Valerie says. "He's saying I'm a star. Isn't that nice?"

HBO Max