By: Mariah Thomas
The episode opens revealing Valerie has been cast in ‘Chicago’! The beloved comedian is doing a social media reveal video as her team guides her to get the video perfect. To stay with the times, along with a professional camera handled by Jane (Laura Silverman), Valerie is also recorded by someone hired to help with her social media. Clearly not adept to why this is important, she stays persistent in making sure Gia (Carlye Tamaren) is not messing up the camera shots. The opening scene makes brilliant use of fun, new camera angles for this reality tv set up. “Valerie, we are waiting for you.” “No you’re not, I’m on my way”, Valerie insists as she finally heads into the theater.
Having a guest run, Valerie only has one official rehearsal with the cast. She struggles to get the choreography down and finds a way to blame everyone else in her witty ways. They bring one of the dancers, Elsie (Stephanie Gibson) in to show Valerie the moves and she reminds everyone that she is not a dancer and would break everything if she hit it that hard. She refuses to fully commit to the choreo claiming to save her energy for an actual audience. Back in her dressing room, Valerie calls her beloved Mark (Damian). She is frustrated and flustered that things aren’t going her way. He reminds her she is able to quit and this was something she wanted to do. To which she rebuttals with the ongoing writer’s strike and there being no other work out there for her. Leaning into the more serious side of the show, Valerie educates the young and clueless cast of Broadway dancers of the importance of the writer’s strike and impending SAG-Aftra strike.
Back in LA, Valerie joins the front lines of the Writer’s Guild strike as then SAG president Fran Dresher gives a speech in support of the strike. Valerie’s camera crew makes sure to pick up all of her angles and reactions as she poses for the best shot. In a hilarious battle of getting the right angle, Valerie and Fran talk as Gia tries her best to snap away. Each time, there is something wrong with the photo. The wrong smile, eyes closed and more. Fran reminds Valerie they are there for the strike and manages to get out of the conversation.
In her home, we get a glimpse of the camera set up for each room through security cameras. Valerie gets a visit from her publicist Billy (Dan Bucatinsky) in her new home. She makes it a point to point out Elton John once lived in the same building. Billy has news for Valerie but insists her social media gal be present to record the moment. He reveals to her that her old network has rebranded and wants to offer her a starring role in their new multi-cam show. Amid her excitement Billy confirms he has no idea what role she will be playing as the show is set to be written by AI. Later in bed, Valerie expresses to Mark her reasons for not wanting to take this job. She knows the power writers have and doesn’t want to go against them.
The next morning Valerie arrives on set of a new movie she is set to be in. Arriving she realizes her irrelevancy on the project. There is a point of questioning if the film is centered around people in their 80’s or in the 80’s. In a funny moment Valerie asks someone “Are you sure?” To which she promptly replies, “Yes, I wrote it.” Once pointed to the area for the day player actors, Valerie runs into an old co-worker, Tommy (Jack O’Brien). Though she pretends to remember him, Tommy once helped with her hair on a previous project. This comes in handy as he is able to help restyle her hair for this shoot. The loss of Mickey, played by actor Robert Michael Morris is touched on as Valerie reveals he passed from COVID. The actor passed away in 2017, in between seasons 2 and 3.