Entertainment

Raise Your Hand If You Inexplicably Love This Man

by Casey Rackham

"Who is this guy? He's kind of cute. Wait, is he actually cute? No, I think he might actually be super sexy. Is that weird? Yes. Wait, no. He's definitely attractive. Right? Yes." That, my friends, is basically the inner-dialogue that I had with myself while watching Corey Stoll as Peter Russo on Netflix's House of Cards . I don't know what it is about Stoll that makes people question his attractiveness, but at the end of the day, I would most definitely put him on my Ross-and-Rachel freebie list.

His role as Representative Russo pulled at my heart strings and constantly made me want to reach into the screen and give that poor man a pep talk and big bear hug ("Don't worry, Russo. It's not your fault that Frank is being a big ol' meanie and is inconsiderately using your alcoholism to push you towards your demise. You're still a good person"). And even though I'm still not over the fact that Russo is no longer on the show, I'm quite happy that I'll get to question his attractiveness on Homeland as well as FX's new vampire-horror series, The Strain . Only in The Strain, there will be a full head of hair to confuse my eyes and feelings.

With all of this talk and no pictures to go along with it, I think it's about time we ranked his attractiveness based on some of his roles (watch out for repeat roles, because I'm definitely putting in Peter Russo more than once, and you can't stop me):

Detective Tomas 'TJ' Jaruszalski in Law & Order: LA.

Don't worry — I'm not feeling the 'stache, either.

Shnaider in Salt.

Eh, I like him better in suit.

Dr. Ephraim Goodweather in The Strain.

Obviously I still love him, but does anyone else think this whole widow's-peak-hair thing is a little forced? I think I'll just have to wait for the show to come out (Sunday, July 8) before I can make a conclusion.

Austin Reilly in Non-Stop.

This is like if Peter Russo were on a plane, but without his endearing naivety.

Zev Vendel in The Bourne Legacy.

Diggin' the stubble, Stoll.

Sad Peter Russo in House of Cards.

See, he really does need a big hug.

Happy Peter Russo in House of Cards.

That gray shirt, though.

Corey Stoll in Real-Life.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Although Stoll is best served as himself, he can never really beat his appearance as...

Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris.

If you have an attraction to deeply flawed men (and don't we all?), then his version of Hemingway probably made you melt into a puddle of nervous excitement on the floor. And you know what? We should probably just look at few more pics of him as Hemingway for good measure.

Images: Dean Hendler/NBCUniversal; Columbia Pictures; FX; Universal Pictures (2); Netflix (2); Getty Images; Sony Pictures Classics; giphy.com (3)