TVLine's Performers Of The Week: Claire Danes And Matthew Rhys

THE PERFORMERS | Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys

THE SHOW | Netflix's "The Beast in Me"

THE EPISODE | "Sick Puppy" (Nov. 13, 2025)

THE PERFORMANCES |The pairing of Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys in a new Netflix series is like a match made in prestige TV heaven. With her Emmy-winning work on "Homeland" and his on "The Americans," it's fair to say these two know their way around a TV drama, so our expectations were sky-high when we saw they'd be sharing the screen in Netflix's psychological thriller "The Beast in Me." They delivered, too, with the two acting titans sparring back and forth in a delicious (and deadly) game of cat-and-mouse.

Danes played book author Aggie Wiggs, who was still reeling from the death of her young son, and that meant Danes' patented Cry Face was in full effect, with heart-wrenching flashbacks to every parent's worst nightmare. As a result, Aggie was highly guarded, with Danes' protruding chin acting like a barrier keeping everyone out. But in the premiere, she met her match in new neighbor Nile Jarvis, played by Rhys. Nile was a filthy rich real estate developer, and when he asked Aggie to sign off on a new jogging path he wanted, Rhys flashed a confident smile that told us Nile is used to getting his way. Aggie turned him down, though, and Rhys flashed a frightening temper as Nile fired back at her: "You get off on being cruel, don't you?"

That temper is a key point, too: Nile was suspected of killing his ex-wife, and Rhys infused every line of dialogue with an ambiguous menace, as if delighting in us not knowing whether Nile did the deed or not. When Nile and Aggie sat down for lunch, though, that's when the sparks really flew. The scene was an acting masterclass, with Rhys and Danes both jabbing at each other, searching for weak spots. Nile enjoyed needling Aggie about her new book, and Aggie didn't hesitate to fire back, calling him "kind of an a–hole." She got emotional, though, when Nile teased her about naming her dog Steve... and Aggie revealed her late son named him.

"The Beast in Me" threw plenty of twists at us by the end, and we're not sure they all worked, exactly — but what definitely worked was the pairing of Danes and Rhys. This was two great actors pushing each other and making each other better... and we got to enjoy watching it.

Scroll down to see who got Honorable Mention shout-outs this week...

Reopening a 30-year-old murder case isn't exactly fun, but Roma Maffia made it fun this week on "NCIS," reprising her role as former team member Vera Strickland and bringing a little levity to a grim case. From the start, Vera took no guff from the new NCIS team, and Maffia had us chuckling as an unflappable Vera firmly put Parker and company in their place. (Her asking if Torres and Jessica are "the new Tony and Ziva"? Pure gold.) But Vera wanted to get closure on this case, too, after all these years, and Maffia added genuine emotion to Vera's tough exterior as she talked gunman Jason into dropping his assassination attempt, convincing him that his late mother wouldn't want that for him. Vera isn't coming back to the NCIS squad full-time, but we kind of wish she was, just so we could get another dose of comic relief from Maffia. — D.N.

The first three episodes of "All's Fair" painted the Hulu series as a frothy, low-stakes good time with enough one-liners to keep us laughing and coming back for more. But the Ryan Murphy legal drama took a dramatic turn in Episode 4 with the sexual assault of Emerald Greene, a harrowing ordeal made even more visceral thanks to a gripping performance by Niecy Nash-Betts. Like most characters Nash-Betts has played, Emerald is a force of nature, and Nash-Betts did a tremendous job of maintaining Emerald's inherent fire while also holding space for the myriad other emotions fighting to come out. Whether she was silently processing her trauma, or unleashing her fury on anyone in her path (not even Glenn Close was safe!), Nash-Betts had our undivided attention for the entire hour, a chilling reminder of the kind of dramatic work she's truly capable of. Our official verdict: Equal parts volatile and vulnerable, Nash-Betts' work in this episode raises the bar for the rest of the season. — Andy Swift

Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!