TVLine's Performer of the Week: Jonathan Roumie

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3 days ago

THE PERFORMER | Jonathan Roumie
THE SHOW | Prime Video's The Chosen
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THE EPISODE | 'Entry' (June 15, 2025)
THE PERFORMANCE | 'Listen carefully, because I'm going to tell you what is about to happen….'
With its Season 5 premiere, The Chosen began dipping into the Last Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion, and series lead Roumie — with the words above, and all that followed — infused each and every moment with an earnestness befitting the pivotal occasion.
Now, we and Jesus know where this story is heading, but Simon Peter, Matthew et al do not. As such, Jesus' every syllable landed with a great, and at times haunting, weight. 'In a little while, you will not see me. And then after a little while, you will see me,' he told them. 'Truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.' The way Roumie served up this part of the Last Supper, you could feel Jesus' intent to not only prepare his followers for what is to come, but a certain excitement to speak plainly and not 'in figures of speech.'
Pivoting away from this opening, eight-minute segment, we picked up where Season 4 left off, with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Roumie's expression whilst seated upon a donkey could only be described as beatific. As the crowds sang 'Hosanna to the Son of David!,' you had to feel chills. A beat later, though, when Jesus was overcome with a rare bout of anxiety — 'seeing' blood seeping through the walls of Jerusalem, clutching his chest — the chills were of a different kind. 'Father, save me from this hour,' he said, triggering a thunderclap that barely masked the words, 'I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.'
Capping Roumie's moving performance, we witnessed a low-key Jesus, 'out for a walk,' happen upon and join in the revelry of a betrothal ceremony. Upon being identified, he deflected the attention, but graced the couple with his blessing. In a subsequent scene, Jesus wept (as they say) as he looked out over the plaza and 'saw' the fiery fate that would eventually befall Jerusalem. '[Your enemies] will not leave one stone upon another in you,' he lamented, 'because you did not know the time of your visitation.'
Scroll down to see who got Honorable Mention shout-outs this week…
Aras Aydin's Matteo wasn't the only Nine Perfect Strangers character to have an emotional breakthrough during Episode 6, but his was easily the most affecting, thanks to Aydin's soul-baring performance. When Matteo's therapy session with Masha took an unexpected turn, and he revealed he didn't want to stop grieving his late family members, Aydin communicated a palpable mix of heartache and hope while hardly raising his voice above a whisper. 'I'm a boy who was loved and lost this love. The thing that everyone fears most in their life, and it's happened to me. So yes, there is pain,' Matteo admitted, Aydin's eyes wide and tearful. 'But there is no fear of loss, because I've already lost. So I can have nothing to fear.' Aydin colored his character's words with such profound sincerity that we were as moved as Masha was by the time his monologue was over — and when she later called Matteo's therapy session 'perfect,' we couldn't have agreed more. — Rebecca Luther
Leighton Meester had us wrapped around her finger from the moment she uttered 'Nice hat' with the perfect blend of swagger and wit in The Buccaneers Season 2 premiere. As Nelle, Meester went on to masterfully deliver plenty of other piercing lines, particularly during her character's confrontation with Patti. As Nelle read her sister for filth — 'Oh… you're fed up. Is that it? You're bored?' — Meester made sure the words were charged with plenty of subtext. She feigned compassion with a nod of the head during her sister's admission, before swatting away Patti's claims of newfound independence with a brush of the hand and a sneering accusation of boredom that hung between them with all the weight that Meester had so purposefully given it. All in all, in only a few scenes, the former Gossip Girl reminded us that she's still Queen Bee. — Claire Franken
Poker Face has a grand tradition of bringing in familiar faces for juicy guest roles, and Alia Shawkat sunk her teeth into a good one this week as murderous grifter Kate. Setting her sights on that ultimate New York City prize — a cheap rent-controlled apartment — Kate wooed retired professor Anne to get her hands on the lease, with a smiling Shawkat laying down a barrage of phony love-bombing. But Kate needed to get Anne's granddaughter out of the way first, and Shawkat was downright frightening as Kate plotted to knock her off in secret. When Charlie got on the case, Kate even tried to woo her, too, and Shawkat nimbly toggled between seductress and killer before finally getting caught. Kate will go down as one of Charlie Cale's most formidable adversaries yet, though, thanks to Shawkat's deliciously sinister turn. — Dave Nemetz
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!
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