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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ome" data-source="post: 259896" data-attributes="member: 2"><h2>10. Kenny Powers (Eastbound and Down)</h2>[ATTACH=full]25563[/ATTACH]Played by Danny McBrideAn ex-athlete with a rotten attitude, a curly mullet, and "an arm like a fucking rocket," Kenny Powers personifies an ultra-specific strain of American male egotism. Refining the Southern jackass archetype he introduced in 2006's indie karate comedy The Foot Fist Way, McBride, along with his frequent collaborators Jody Hill and David Gordon Green, dove into a deeply funny swamp of wounded pride, vulgar put-downs, and jet ski sight gags with Eastbound and Down, a series that melded the cringe-comedy of British shows like The Office with the bleak poignancy of '70s cinema. That the character lends himself to grand political comparisons -- depending on your vantage point, he's a proto-Trump gasbag or a post-Bush burnout -- only speaks to the symbolic elasticity of McBride's performance and the surprising texture of the filmmaking. He's also the one character on this list who listens to his own audiobook, a memoir titled You’re Fucking Out, I’m Fucking In, while drinking beer in his car, and that has to count for something. -- DJ<h2>9. Elizabeth Jennings (The Americans)</h2>[ATTACH=full]25564[/ATTACH]Played by Keri RussellThe Americans used a little-known chapter of the Cold War to spin captivating television: What if there were agents of the Soviet Union posing as a regular old suburban family in the 1980s? Over The Americans' six incredible seasons, Elizabeth Jennings rarely cracked. The Russian spy played by Keri Russell was a soldier through and through, a woman who combated the idea that a mother has to be the more nurturing parent. To her neighbors, she's a suburban mom, but in reality she's more demanding and critical of her children. From the outset, it's Elizabeth rather than Philip, her husband from an arranged marriage, who is more loyal to her country and more willing to commit horrible acts without hesitating or flinching in the name of duty. Russell's performance is a marvel not only because of the many roles she plays as Elizabeth -- disguise is obviously the nature of the game -- but because of the way she shades a killer who, in another person's hands, could seem robotic. So when Elizabeth does finally snap, it's astounding. -- EZ <h2>8. Al Swearengen (Deadwood)</h2>[ATTACH=full]25565[/ATTACH]Played by Ian McShaneIt's fitting that the final image of Deadwood's third season, which served as its ending until a recent TV movie comeback tied up some loose ends, was of Al Swearengen kneeling on the floor of his upstairs office scrubbing away at a bloodstain. Even compared to HBO's other violent Difficult Men sagas The Sopranos and The Wire, David Milch's 1870s-set quasi-Shakespearean Western series Deadwood was a brutal and dense show, one that staged the mythical history of American expansion in throat-slittings, shoot-outs, and trips to Mr. Wu's corpse-depository pigpen. With each elegantly deployed "cocksucker," McShane's Swearengen oversaw all the action from his balcony, pulling strings, securing his share of the town's wealth, and belting out foul-mouthed orders. Originally presented as the show's antagonist, the villainous flipside to Timothy Olyphant's justice-seeking Sheriff, Swearengen was the pragmatic embodiment of Milch's startingly empathetic worldview. Even when describing life as "one vile fucking task after another," he was quick to warn against getting too aggravated. After all, that's how they get you. -- DJ <h2>7. Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl)</h2>[ATTACH=full]25566[/ATTACH]Played by Leighton MeesterTeen TV isn't as respected as it should be, but we here are bowing down at the altar of Queen B. Yes, Blair Waldorf was a character in Cecily von Ziegesar's series of scandalous YA novels before she was brought to life in Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage's CW series, but she bloomed on screen thanks to some of the best insults out there and a ridiculously savvy performance from the underrated Leighton Meester. Gossip Girl uses a classic Betty and Veronica dichotomy for its two female leads: Serena is the nice blonde while Blair is the bitchy brunette. And while her nasty bon mots are one of her defining qualities, our love for her is far deeper than just her snotty remarks, and, of course, those legendary headbands. Meester always somehow made us pity Blair even when she was at her nastiest. Her self-serving striving almost always led to self-sabotage, and she far too often let jealousy rule her life. Her way with words was just an armor, a strong one, but an armor nonetheless. Gossip Girl may have overstayed its welcome, and, in doing so, taken Blair in some unfortunate directions, but that doesn't change how sneakily brilliant she always was. -- EZ <h2>6. Paper Boi (Atlanta)</h2>[ATTACH=full]25567[/ATTACH]Played by Brian Tyree HenryOstensibly structured around Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles' rise to fame, Donald Glover's surreal comedy Atlanta, shrewdly pitched as "Twin Peaks with rappers" at the outset, takes a subversive look at the modern star machine of the music industry. Equipped with a dry weariness and a subtle warmth by Brian Tyree Henry, Paper Boi is often treated as a commodity by even the people who know him best, including his cousin Earn, the show's Ivy League drop-out protagonist played by Glover himself. Every mixtape, single, and Instagram video is a chance at Worldstar immortality, an opportunity to get ahead in a city filled with aspiring one hit wonders and calculating would-be sidekicks, but the show is smart enough to see past the lie of stardom and to dig deeper than simply skewering music biz hypocrisy. In episodes like the Season 2 stand-out "Woods," Paper Boi confronts the ghosts of his past and the limits of his own persona, pointing the series in yet another thrilling new direction. Even if he's all "all about that paper," as his most noteworthy hit suggests, Alfred embodies the searching quality of the show around him. All the invisible cars, public access parodies, and Teddy Perkins appearances in the world can't compete with a guy trying to figure out his life. -- DJ</blockquote>

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