Rogen: Hero

From what we've seen, a big part of being Valerie Cherish involves reliving one experience over and over again: trying to make friends -- often with grandiose gestures -- and failing. Which is why the latest episode of The Comeback is so gratifying: for once, Valerie's ham doesn't backfire on her.

It's the first day of shooting on Seeing Red, and the first time Valerie gets to meet her co-star, Seth Rogen, who'll be playing "Mitch," Paulie G.'s fictional counterpart. Determined to make everyone like her -- of a taciturn guard at the studio gate who's clearly sick of her shit, Valerie confidently predicts, "We're going to be best friends by the time this is over" -- Valerie has First Day Gifts to distribute, and Seth's is a floral arrangement that she has to go fetch at the guard house because she didn't send it to the central sorting facility. Thus she happens to be at the gate when Seth pulls up, and he gets his typically awkward Valerie Cherish meet-cute: she's trying way too hard; she spills water from the vase all over his lap; and she clearly doesn't know anything about his work except that he's successful and that she should laugh at him a lot. And though Seth seems a little surprised to be beset by Valerie's "BTS" cameras when he's still in his car, he's warmer to her than almost any other person on this show is when they meet her for the first time: he knows enough about Valerie to mention her last reality show, and he does a little riff about her curbside flower delivery, joking that she should make sure to have his breakfast waiting for him in his trailer -- and when it comes to breakfast meat, he prefers ham.

So she sends Tyler out for a ham.

Valerie, as any of our moms would be, is extremely self-congratulatory about her hilarious ham gag, and while Seth is clearly a little weirded out that she'd make this gesture -- "You bought me a ham! Based on the very, like, offhanded comment I made!" -- he's gracious about it, which immediately puts Paulie G. on the defensive. It's obvious that his vision for the show was never that Seth and Valerie would have private jokes between themselves that he wasn't part of, and that he'd counted on teaming up with Seth against Valerie. He's hardly mollified by the extremely thoughtful First Day Gift Valerie's bought for him.

Since he doesn't know how to behave, Paulie G. mumbles that this lovely embossed leather portfolio is "too much," but Valerie grins that she doesn't think so -- not for his "first day directing." Oh, Val. No.

Humiliated in front of Seth, Paulie G. turns to ice.

Seth immediately gets a read on their relationship and quickly says, "Don't do that, don't give her that." He was just fucking with Paulie G.: "I knew you were a first-time director and somehow an old hack at the same time." He also dares to say aloud that Paulie G.'s silent rage at Valerie is "brutal." Which it is, because Valerie is basically just a nice, confused middle-aged lady and Paulie G. is still her bully.

The exchange informs Seth's reaction to the scene that the whole episode is kind of about: a fantasy sequence in which "Mallory" gives "Mitch" a blowjob. Valerie's been trying to put on a brave face about it: she knows that being on HBO means that she'll be called upon to do even more outrageous things than play opposite people who are going to use "the F word," but there's apparently no art to the scene Paulie G. has written, and the sole purpose is to humiliate the version of Valerie he's created for the show, and also the actual Valerie who's now playing her. Paulie G. does nothing to make her feel more comfortable about shooting what may not be Valerie's first-ever sex scene, but is definitely the most degrading and the only one she's had to perform in front of her worst antagonist.

As Valerie stands on her mark, cycling from the expression she wants to wear to seem game and the real pain and anxiety she can't entirely suppress, Seth does what Paulie G. didn't (or can't), asking her if she's okay with this. Knowing she's supposed to be cool, Valerie says she is, and then goes to ask Paulie G. for more direction on how she's supposed to play it: "Eager? Reluctant? Not at all?" "I had in mind that you blow him," says Paulie G., and when she presses him, he explains -- quietly enough that Jane's cameras get it but that no one else on set hears -- that the scene was inspired by all the times she would come to him on Room & Bored asking questions about her character and he wished he could just tell her, "Blow me, Valerie. Blow me." So that's this scene.

When they finally roll, Valerie tries to copy what she thinks she saw Seth do earlier with his improv, talking to the camera with a wry aside: "It's been a long day, why don't you just rape me?" This riff...does not work, but it does force Paulie G., under duress, to explicitly state to everyone on set that this incident really never happened. But Seth can tell Valerie still really doesn't want to do it -- particularly after Paulie G. directs Seth to control her head with his hand -- so in the subtle yet firm way he's already found to manipulate Paulie G., he suggests that the camera just stay on his face while the blowjob is taking place, so that Valerie can just stay out of frame and retain some of her dignity. The gambit works, and when she inaudibly thanks him, Seth casually waves it off: "Got you, Ginger Snaps."

What's so great about the introduction of "Seth Rogen" as a character is how quickly he susses out the vibe on the set and code-switches from the bro he knows Paulie G. wants him to be to the actual decent person who can tell Valerie really needs him to be her ally. He knows he comes to the production with a certain amount of movie-star privilege, and he decides to use it for good. And if Paulie G. has created this entire project to right what he thinks is the wrong Valerie did him during their last collaboration, I'm eager to see how his avatar continues finding ways to stick up for Valerie, since she already did that for herself once and probably isn't planning to punch Paulie G. in the gut -- not again. (Not that anyone would probably blame her if she does. Including her new friend.)