The Paper's Esmeralda Grand is a lot. Is she too much?

Love her or hate her, Toledo Truth Teller's second-in-command is impossible to ignore.

The Paper's Esmeralda Grand is a lot. Is she too much?

“I react strongly to everything,” Esmeralda Grand (Sabrina Impacciatore) declares in The Paper‘s delightful fifth episode. It’s a brief moment of self-awareness in the middle of her denial about being tricked online by someone who looks exactly like Lost‘s Josh Holloway. “Scam Alert!” finally reveals a more vulnerable side to Esmeralda because, halfway through season one, Toledo Truth Teller‘s managing editor has proven herself to be a funny but overbearing drama queen. If the documentary crew’s camera isn’t pointed at Esmeralda, she finds ways both infuriating and entertaining to steal the spotlight, particularly through the relentless attempts to embarrass and take down the new editor-in-chief, Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson), so she can get his job and keep publishing clickbait to TTT Online. (Her favorite post by far is the lengthy article about how much Ben Affleck tipped his limo driver.) 

At first glance, her traits harken back to those of various employees of Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch, from the rude Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) to the boastful Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) to the self-obsessed Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling). As a foil for Ned and the newsroom, Esmeralda borrows from Dwight Schrute’s (Rainn Wilson) playbook and, in classic Michael Scott (Steve Carell) fashion, she tends to disrupt the workday with personal problems, like bringing her pre-teen son in to help him out with an audition for a commercial. Series co-creators Greg Daniels and Michael Koman tip their hats to the previous NBC hit while dialing up her antics. Over 10 episodes, her loud personality becomes a litmus test for how much abrasiveness the audience can actually tolerate from her. Esmeralda Grand will likely make or break The Paper for most people. 

Esmeralda’s arc is intentionally crafted to challenge an earnest Ned, who hopes to train volunteer reporters, chase after meaningful stories, and revive Truth Teller‘s reputation. It’s a noble crusade that could work—if only Esmeralda would let him “save journalism” in peace. In the process of fighting him, she emerges as both an antihero and a one-liner delivery machine. (“Ned accuses me of sensationalizing stories,”she tells the camera. “Since when is sensation a bad thing? Ask a box of condoms.”) At every step, she threatens to spoil his plans: messing with Ned’s first print issue, lying to him about his love interest (Chelsea Frei’s Mare Pritti), and making him miss important meetings. She even finds a co-conspirator in bumbling corporate lackey Ken Davies (The Ballad Of Wallis Island‘s Tim Key). The question “Why in the world hasn’t she been fired yet?” comes to mind often while watching The Paper

Since she’s initially painted in broad strokes, it’s easy to write off Esmeralda as a problematic figure who gets on everybody’s nerves. This attention-seeking, crafty, and hilarious archetype is a staple in a lot of workplace sitcoms. Just look at Abbott Elementary‘s Ava Coleman (Janelle James), Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti), 30 Rock‘s Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), Parks And Recreation‘s Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), or Superstore‘s Dina Fox (Lauren Ash), to name a few. But with time, their narcissistic tendencies softened to make room for emotionally complex development without losing the humor. Thankfully, much like The Office pulled off with Michael and Dwight, The Paper‘s writers start to deepen Esmeralda already while maintaining her specific brand of jokes. 

A single mother and outcast, she wants to fit in and bond with her colleagues, as seen in “Churnalism,” when she begrudgingly teams up with Mare to investigate why a local park bathroom was shut down and actually does a decent job. Even her increasingly jarring attempts to get her kid cast in the Softees commercial come from a good place, with “Church And State” establishing the close bond between mother and son after he refuses to take advice from Oscar (The Office‘s Oscar Nuñez). To contrast those signs of improvement, she incessantly bullies co-workers like Nicole (Ramona Young), spitefully cancels subscriptions to wire services that help the newspaper, and gleefully tries to one-up everybody at the Ohio Journalism Awards in the season finale. 

Impacciatore seems to be having a blast bringing Esmeralda’s extreme behaviors to life. After a quietly intense, Emmy-nominated performance in The White Lotus‘ second season, she revels in this chaotic role. The actor crafts a fairly distinct character, nailing everything from her amusing malapropisms to overt expressions, standing out amid the rest of the ensemble’s more relatively grounded work. She believably sells that Esmeralda doesn’t want to give up her position of power for the greater good, which makes it easy to start rooting for her to change her tune. If its predecessor is any indication, The Paper likely will aim to make that change next. Until then, you can relive the glory of her impromptu song during the awards’ “in memoriam” segment, which had lyrics like “Sad dead journalist / You made your final deadline / You are gone.” They’ll either leave you clutching your stomach or detesting her guts. 

 
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