Episode Review: The Studio 1x5 - "The War"

Welcome back to the blog readers. The Studio (2025-) has been such a surprise to me so far, because I did not expect to love it as much as I am right now. This equal parts love letter to and satire of Hollywood has given us great odes to the business we love so much, and the performances have been phenomenal, especially from lead and producer Seth Rogen. Would we be able to continue the upwards momentum with this episode, titled "The War," written by Frida Perez, and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg? Stick around to find out.

NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.

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On Wikipedia, this show is listed as cringe comedy and I can definitely see it over the last few episodes. In the oner episode when Matt keeps royally screwing up the take, in the note episode when he and everyone else comically fail to give Ron Howard the note, and in last episode when they went crazy looking for the reel. But all of that is dialed up to 11 in this ridiculous yet addicting episode in which two execs war over getting a project greenlit. The performances of Ike Barinholtz and Chase Sui Wonders are, with no pun intended, wonderful, and the story is as crazy as you could expect it to be.

I first want to talk about the performance of Ike Barinholtz as Sal Saperstein. While I do think he has been great in the show thus far, he really has felt like a secondary character. And this is the case, especially since every week for me has basically been a Seth Rogen lovefest. This week, Barinholtz gets to shine and show off his comedic chops in a feud that feels unnecessary but cracked me up in every way. Yeah, vitriol in a performance can be good at times, but when Barinholtz does it in this episode, it not only feels over the top, but it feels grounded and deserved in its own crazy, ridiculous way. Plus the banter with the next person I will talk about was insanely good.

Next up is the performance of Chase Sui Wonders as junior executive Quinn Hackett. Wonders is best known for her role in the series Generation (2021) and the horror film Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022). I may not have seen either project, but I have heard good things about them. And although Wonders has been more of a background character in this season so far, she burst onto the scene in this episode. What I said about Barinholtz in the last paragraph, I can say about Wonders here, with her cringe humor being a highlight of this episode. She definitely has more to do and she gets to show off her comedic chops to a rousing time for me.

And now, we have to talk about the story of this episode because it may be nonsensical, but it is a fun one that shows just how cutthroat Hollywood can be. We start with Sal trying to get director Parker Finn to direct the low-budget slasher film Wink, while Quinn is trying to get Owen Kline to direct a similar film. Both want their respective directors to meet with Matt, who prefers to have Wink as the film to make, and he agrees to meet with both men. Sal and Quinn get into an argument where they try to step over each other's successes thus far. As retaliation, Quinn hacks Matt's assistant Petra's computer (hacks is a loose definition of it because she wrote her password on a post-it note and stuck it on her computer) and cancels Matt's meeting with Finn. A confused Matt tells a shocked Sal that he is having day drinks with Chris Hemsworth since he does not have a meeting, and Sal retaliates by infiltrating Matt's meeting with Kline and scaring him off with the concept of studio pressure.

When having sex with her boyfriend/husband/partner that night, Quinn is told to stand up for herself and find her voice, and she decides to steal Sal's golf cart and park it in his parking spot. This leads to a series of mishaps that involve Sal having to find parking elsewhere, spilling chili on his suit, and ultimately being late to a rescheduled meeting With Finn, who tells Sal and the studio off. Sal confronts Quinn in the parking lot and another argument ensues, with this one leading to him taking her burrito, trying to throw it at her, and accidentally hitting an assistant director who crashes into the set of the miniseries Waterloo. When human resources investigates the incident, Quinn sees it as an opportunity to get Sal fired and take his job, and she is just about to succeed until he starts crying and she hesitantly, and conditionally, relents. The conditions are as follows: he helps get her films made and gives her his parking spot. He agrees and the two discuss directors for Wink the next day.

Before I let you guys go, I want to talk about how this episode deviates from the overarching story I have been discussing over the last few weeks. Over the first four episodes of this series, I have mentioned the overarching story that Matt was not qualified to be a studio head based on the irrational things that he does in those episodes. Matt was an afterthought in this episode, playing second fiddle to the drama between Sal and Quinn. But if you want my opinion on the matter, I would have preferred they went with Owen Kline for the film over Parker Finn, but what does my opinion matter in the grand scheme of things?

The Studio is a painful, yet real reminder that sometimes, Hollywood can be ugly with some career-best work from Ike Barinholtz and Chase Sui Wonders. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.