Lisa Kudrow's Valerie Cherish gets a rare gift in the "The Comeback" series finale, now streaming on HBO Max. The character, a sitcom actor turned reality television pioneer, faces a grim trajectory for most of the show's conclusion. But five minutes before the credits roll, the narrative pivots toward redemption.
Kudrow, a comedic master, has spent the series playing Valerie with insistent cheer, even as the world around her conspires to diminish her career and reputation. "The Comeback," which aired originally on HBO from 2005 to 2007 before a revival in 2013, became a cult classic for its unflinching satire of Hollywood ambition and the toxicity of reality television itself. The show functioned as a deconstruction of the form it pretended to celebrate, with Kudrow's character serving as both satirist and victim of her own delusion.
The finale's tonal shift offers something television rarely grants its most self-delusional characters. Rather than ending on the cringe-inducing, existentially hollow note that defines much of the series, "The Comeback" allows Valerie a moment of genuine grace. This development feels earned within the show's universe, where Valerie has endured years of professional humiliation, audience mockery, and the grinding indignity of chasing relevance in an industry that treats women her age as invisible.
The decision to grant Valerie happiness, however qualified, distinguishes this ending from the show's typically brutal worldview. Kudrow and creator Michael Patrick King crafted a series that weaponized secondhand embarrassment as its primary comedic tool. The finale suggests that even the sharpest satires of American vanity and showbiz phoniness can accommodate moments of earned humanity. For a character who spent years trying to manufacture authenticity on camera, receiving something genuine feels like a small but necessary victory.