Yahoo Lifestyle TVLine’s Performer of the Week: Mekia Cox
THE PERFORMER | Mekia Cox
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THE SHOW | The Rookie
THE EPISODE | “The Kiss” (Mar. 11, 2025)
THE PERFORMANCE | As much as we dreaded Detective Nyla Harper learning that 1) her husband James had been shot and 2) prior to said drive-by, he was spied in a compromising position with another woman, you had to know that Mekia Cox would elevate the material.
But not only did Cox compellingly depict Nyla’s anxiety, what took her scenes to another level was the distinct nature of Nyla’s interactions with each of those in her orbit, as the crisis unfolded.
We’ve seen the “notification” scene a thousand times before on TV shows. We should be numb to them by now. Cox nonetheless broke your heart as Nyla heard from Sgt. Grey (Richard T. Jones) the unexpected, random news of James’ shooting. You could almost feel her breathing stop as she processed the unthinkable.
As James was rushed into surgery, Nyla was visited by some of those closest to her; Cox in turn was given an opportunity to present her alter ego’s thinking at any given moment. “He, um… he looked really bad,” she said to Nolan, Cox’s voice cracking. A moment later, after learning that Angela was lead on the investigation, Nyla reclaimed a bit of her fire, asserting, “I need whoever did this to be behind bars.”
When Grey checked back in on Nyla… all bets were off. Cox dug in, and layered Nyla’s laments with so much emotion: “I can’t remember the last thing I said to him.” Devastating stuff.
Things got ugly when ADA Eckhart alerted Nyla to “the kiss” that made James’ wife a suspect. Nyla scoffed at any suggestion of James’ impropriety, but when Grey confirmed Nolan’s eyewitness account, Cox used a long pause, a quivering lip and the weakest “OK” to register a heartbreak Nyla could not have seen coming. Cox was equally moving when she had to ask Wesley, “Was James cheating on me…? Because I am losing my mind here.” The quiet comfort Wesley (Shawn Ashmore) offered Nyla spoke volumes about their friendship.
I reckon the toughest moment Cox had to play came toward the end of the hour, when Nyla visited a recuperating James — grateful that he was alive, but also aware of… well, whatever it was Nolan thought he saw. As Cox started out with tears and a big, shaky exhale, my take was that the Kylie thing was far from Nyla’s mind. In the moment, she was only relieved. Her every word was about James and his recovery; it was a forthcoming James (Arjay Smith) who brought up the kiss, the first chance he had to do so since it happened. “I would never hurt you,” he avowed, and the look on Cox’s face as she responded with the warmest “I know” told you all you needed to know about the state of their union.
Capping Cox’s winning performance was Nyla hearing out Nolan (Nathan Fillion), who apologized to his “hero” for any role he played in her horrible day. It was an awkward but necessary encounter that led to a final, small break by Nyla, and another needed hug.
HONORABLE MENTION: Zach Cherry and Merritt Wever
Dylan and Gretchen’s relationship on Severance? Well, it’s complicated. (She’s married to his Outie, but he is just getting to know her as an Innie… it’s a whole thing.) Zach Cherry, who usually provides the comic-relief zingers at Lumon, revealed a heart-wrenchingly vulnerable side to Dylan this week as he begged Gretchen to give him a chance, even proposing to her with a ring made out of office supplies. (Him asking “Was he glad for us?” upon learning his Outie found out about their affair was so naïve, it hurt.) And Merritt Wever skillfully showed us how confused and torn Gretchen was when Dylan popped the question, fighting back tears while recognizing this is the kind of devotion she wishes she’d get from her husband. (It’s been amazing to watch her infuse so much humanity into Gretchen in so little screen time.) Gretchen walked away in the end, but the ill-fated love story that Cherry and Wever have conjured up this season will linger with us for a long time. — Dave Nemetz
HONORABLE MENTION: Bradley Cooper
We won’t pretend to be surprised that Bradley Cooper did something special in The Righteous Gemstones‘ final season premiere. The man’s got five Oscar nods for acting under his belt; he’s pretty good at this. But Cooper’s turn as a Civil War-era, down-on-his-luck Gemstone ancestor still demands kudos, after he used every one of those 38 premiere minutes to transform grifter Elijah into a character worth championing. We enjoyed seeing Cooper’s comedy chops on display, no doubt, as a greedy and selfish Elijah avoided ever preaching to his Confederate soldiers. But it was in his final scenes of the episode — Elijah’s sweet, authentic prayer to his doomed friends, followed by an honest attempt to read the Bible for real — where Cooper did his best work, softening Elijah so swiftly and sincerely that it felt a little like divine intervention. — Rebecca Luther
HONORABLE MENTION: Jennifer Love Hewitt and Abigail Spencer
After more than 110 episodes, some of which have involved tsunamis, earthquakes and bee-nadoes, we were beginning to think that 9-1-1 had run out of surprises. But the real surprise was how wrong we were, as evidenced by a pair of performances in Thursday’s episode that will haunt us for weeks to come. As a pregnant mother fighting for her life and a serial killer with multiple personalities, respectively, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Abigail Spencer delivered the kind of edge-of-your-seat experience you’d expect from a classic big-screen thriller. Despite the circumstances, it was exhilarating to watch the drama unfold as both actresses pushed each other to their limits, then kept pushing. Every emotional beat was beautifully earned and every jaw-dropping twist was perfectly executed. It’s fitting that Hewitt and Spencer met on the set of Ghost Whisperer, because what they did in this episode will haunt us for weeks to come. — Andy Swift
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!
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