Inside Netflix’ latest Marvel outing ‘Luke Cage’ there is a masterful and artistic show hidden; one which revels in black excellence, memorable visuals and deeply resonating moments. Sadly, these moments are far too few while the core of the all-too-familiar and repetitive tropes of superhero stories dominates. All too often it feels like just another good show that missed its opportunity to be great.
One marvels at a perfectly calibrated scene in which the villain is positioned in front of a B.I.G. poster, visually framing the crown just above his head while letting darkly luminous red lighting and a powerful black singer set a haunting mood, as one of his devious plots unfolds on screen. When said villain is later bathing in his glory of just having shot a white cop and being let free directly afterwards, it not only feels slightly ironic but almost playful. Of course, taking a life still isn’t justified, nor does the show ever play it like that but this is the kind of thoughtful and spirited role reversal ‘Luke Cage’ succeeds at so well; not only when it comes to race but also to gender (because there’s a lot to say about a woman’s role in black communities as well and the show has a nice twist-take on that even if it never fully commits to the idea). ‘Luke Cage’ understands that the mistreatment of black people and their culture are one entity, while the service of justice is its very own thing entirely, even if both are tragically interweaved by a violent history.
Yet, despite those hefty themes and the show’s purposeful inclusion of timely discussions, ‘Luke Cage’ still severely lacks substance on many fronts. Its plot isn’t instantly engaging and for the better half of the season feels like it’s almost intentionally trying to avoid any kind of significant momentum just to evoke the same feeling of confusion in us that its protagonist feels. Even if it’s an intentional choice, it doesn’t make for very good or entertaining TV, in particular when watching a superhero show and it feels much more like the show has to stall for time because it’s afraid of rushing out of plot too fast, which it definitely would unless it had a smaller episode count (I call it the NetSHITS-Syndrome; make of that what you want).
‘Luke Cage’ wants to be a novel and raw take on a familiar story but is almost too silent and slow of a hero drama for its important underlying tones that imply the show to be loud and angry instead. I wish the show was able to break out of its trappings because whenever it does, it‘s excellent – an engaging and gripping story about black culture and issues. ‘Luke Cage’ needs to figure out what kind of show it wants to be and hopefully it’s the one that’s convincing with subtlety and depth and doesn’t make continuous tonal and pacing consistency mistakes.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever get a ‘Luke Cage’ that is fully committed to these ideas for many reasons. It’s more likely that it will always shift between a captivating drama about many important subjects and the basic superhero action wanting to satisfy the masses, but at least even at its most familiar ‘Luke Cage’ still manages to improve diversity rates in the industry while punching out some truly compelling hits in between the generic battles between the two shows living inside of it.
Oh, and Alfre Woodard is marvelous. Cast her in anything and I will sit front-row.
Best Episodes: “Manifest”; "Blowin' Up The Spot"
#24 - War & Peace
‘War & Peace’ is undoubtedly one of the biggest literary classics, which is also why it’s one of the most adapted novels there are. This year’s British TV series trying to make the large-scoped romance-war epic justice bolsters such a lush production and an immensely talented cast (Jim Broadbent, Brian Cox, Stephen Rea, Lily James, Paul Dano, Gillian Anderson, etc) that, even if many pieces just don’t always work, it’s plastered with enough fun, real emotion and interest to not only suck you right into its story but also make the emotional heart at the center of it beat powerfully. This period drama will make you gaze at its visuals, daydream about its romance as well as experience and feel the same kind of nerve and anxiety about wanting to fight for one’s own freedom – whatever that may mean – in which most of its character’s desires and troubles are so deeply rooted in that, at one point, you will almost surely find yourself feeling a part of its world as well.
And while ‘War & Peace’ never quite hits the highs of other recent British imports in previous years (‘Utopia’, ‘Wolf Hall’, ‘Fortitude’), being overstuffed with just a bit too many characters and sub-plots, it does find true gravitas whenever it returns to its powerful romance or terrifically directed but brutal war scenes. ‘War & Peace’ is the kind of miniseries that invites you to get lost in an era long past and at that, it more than succeeds.
Best Episodes:"Episode 3"; "Episode 4"; "Episode 5"; "Episode 6"
The only cable drama on my list to have aired two seasons this year, ‘Shameless’ is a hard one to figure out how to properly judge and rank for 2016. In true Gallagher fashion, like the family itself, both seasons clash against each other; one significantly superior to the other. I’m not going to remark on ‘Shameless’ sixth season, aired earlier this spring – it continued beating over the same loop, not doubting its characters’ skills but their willingness to change or use them for a better outcome and a world seemingly destined to always work against them.
However, the seventh season, which aired this fall and is one of the show’s best three and the best one in years, didn’t only hint at changes to frustratingly shut them down because that’s just what life will always do to a Gallagher, or forget about developments entirely. Instead, repetitive elements were used to constructed as a thoughtful self-questioning process. The most exemplary one of this is yet another one of family matriarch (in theory, at least) Monica’s return.
As always, it was another catalytic storm, but instead of derailing the show’s characters out of their current progress and sucking them into her own messy, self-destructive life and habits, her return, cancer diagnosis and eventual death were sharply used to reinstate the stability and ambition of her children. Monica functioned both as an aide-mémoire reflecting how far each of her children have come and as evidence for their existing capabilities, but also as a mirror of a life they’ve escaped so far, however marginally. And if Frank has turned into the physical embodiment of everything that is wrong with the show, Monica’s return finally served as an exploration of why he has become this struggling, lost man in first place. Still, even before Monica's late appearance, this season was infused with new-found energy and a bold drive that had been lacking for seasons.
‘Shameless’ is still a deeply ambivalent show (partly by design), often thinking of the big picture and forgetting about the micro-levels that essentially construct an episode, then a season and eventually a show itself.
This is particularly why watching ‘Shameless’ has always been frustrating to an extent – we know that a happy ending for a Gallagher will always look different from a traditional viewpoint because we have been trained to expect that a Gallagher can’t change, and maybe doesn’t even want to. But all drama is driven by an examination of at least the possibility of change and ‘Shameless’ always has a hard time to pin down a possible solution to this equation.
In 2016, one season was the epitome of all of its infuriating elements. The other one was the opposite, using repetitiveness in favor of invoking a drive to change, or at the very least a self-reflection about the Gallagher’s self, who they want to be and what they want their future to look like.
Hopefully the show has figured the same thing out ahead of the chaotic, wild but gratifying and enticing Gallagher clan.
Best Episodes: “I Am A Storm”; “You Sold Me A Laundromat, Remember?”; “Ouroboros”; “Happily Ever After”
After a bumpy but highly enjoyable first season Showtime’s goth-mystery drama about several classic horror literature figures quickly settled into a much more confident and consistent groove by figuring out that its narrative works better being told in several small vignettes and embracing a more episodic nature contrary to today’s frustrating reluctance against such.
‘Penny Dreadful’s third season wasn’t quite as strong as the second one because, while its scattering of characters worked in favor of exploring their own backgrounds individually and felt like a natural movement within the show’s overall structure, it also worked against the season’s main ark as a whole and often evaded momentum in scenes or storylines where it was highly needed. Nonetheless, the third season still offers a highly consistent streak of episodes, almost all of which fit into the show’s overall mood and melody and subjects.
In retrospect, however, ‘Penny Dreadful’s third season is also gratuitously depressing and infuriating. Despite other plots unfolding around the edges, the show was always primarily about its central character Vanessa Ives (played in a terrific and utterly overlooked turn by Eva Green) and her personal but applicable battle of darkness and light.
And as much as ‘Penny Dreadful’ could always be a messy, highly volatile series, it was grounded in a strong belief of redemption and an ultimate absolution for its confused characters. It was, at its core, a tragic story about people whose only sin was to not fit in, creating a powerful overlying allegory for ostracization that resonates just as soundly today.
The Creature and Frankenstein’s Bride might have found their own inner peace and paths, but the true proxy for everything the show stands for, Vanessa Ives herself, wasn’t allowed to find the same freeing light of the end of her tunnel of struggles – even if the show tried to visualize it that way in her final, devastating scene. Ives’ absolution only came through death and as much inappropriate and unfitting a message that is to send, first and foremost it does biggest injustice to a character who’s probably deserved personal liberty and peace more than anyone else this year.
Sadly, sometimes a series finale really is able to ruin an entire show. ‘Penny Dreadful’ destroyed all of its carefully laid out and implied thematic resolutions in a matter of seconds and in light of never having been given a proper conclusion, despite being devoted so much time to, also cast a shadow of redundancy over the series’ other threads as well.
We, like Vanessa Ives, deserved a better ending. If not for her personal stakes then for everything Ives (originally) stood for – hope, faith, and release/forgiveness; a reassuring and affirmative personified answer to the eternal fight between good and bad, between our worst and best selves. And that’s what I will take out of ‘Penny Dreadful’, even if the final chapter goes out of its way to resist that notion.
I gave up on ‘Bates Motel’ last year, as the show had run itself into a ground of unbelievable chaotic jumble and exaggerated antics. There was so much going on that it was hard to keep track and every new development concerning the show’s lead Norman Bates felt overdrawn and heavy-handed. While the exaggerated behavior of family matriarch Norma Bates actually works in the show’s favor, its other elements following same pattern makes it hard to invest oneself in the show because it feels so completely unnatural, out of hand and unbelievable.
However, this season smartly dialed back on almost everything: There were less convoluted plotlines and instead a focused central narrative and a nicely structured season that continuously built up to an inevitable climax that tied the season together from beginning to end. Add Farmiga’s best work so far, a morally complex and tragic emotional turn to its actions as well as long-anticipated movements we’d always seen coming as the show’s set up as a prequel to the iconic Hitchcock-thriller ‘Pyscho’ into the recipe and what you receive is ‘Bate’s Motel’s best season yet. One that is as freakish and disturbing as the movie it’s based on, but also one that understands to root its turmoil in a genuine display of everyone’s emotional constraints that are responsible for why everyone has turned out to be this messed up and broken.
It was a pleasant surprise to not only see ‘Bates Motel’ getting back on track but to see it climb to a new peak and making me all the more confident that its fifth and final season might make for a surprisingly satisfying conclusion to a show that hasn’t always treaded on the right path in the past.
Susanne Bier’s ‘The Night Manager’ is absurdly stylish, good-looking and creates a world so full of glamour, luxury and grace that it almost feels like it’s set in a different world entirely. And it partly is, at least from the world its intended audience knows. The playfully treacherous secrecy of its forbidden romances, the intriguing mind-games this high society is playing with each other and its beautiful people in beautiful clothes set at the most stunning vacation locales all collaborate to turn this show into a pitch-perfect weekend-binge to get lost in and immerse yourself into an almost dreamy creation you don’t ever want to escape.
At the same time, though, ‘The Night Manager’ realizes that to bathe in all the excessive richness its characters are leading a dangerous double life that could blow up and destroy them any minute. And that’s where the tension really originates – it’s not only about whether its protagonist will achieve his goals but at what cost his discoveries and reveals will come to those people who have been trapped in this treacherous web of glitz and glamour not by their free will but by a will forced upon them by a world of corruption and greed.
So yes, ‘The Night Manager’ is perfectly crafted with hardly any major flaws to point out and yet, just as its characters, this spy drama reveals its secret layers too early and never once dares to go somewhere you wouldn’t expect it to.
A spy thriller in which every villain and hero and every victim turns out to be exactly who they claim to be, and one that never even wants to catch you off-guard despite all the intricate games everyone’s playing with each other all the time is also a spy thriller that refuses to lean into its greatest assets.
That’s why, ultimately, ‘The Night Manager’ is a consistently great, even stunningly escapist, watch from beginning to end that does everything right – but also does just that and times you can’t help but long for a show that also tried to reach for something a little bit more ambitious and in the pursuit of that also transcended into something slightly more unexpected and great.
Best Episodes: "Episode Two"; "Episode Three"; "Episode Four"
#19 - Stranger Things
‘Penny Dreadful’ and 'Hannibal' are gone, ‘The Walking Dead’ has been bad for years and ‘American Horror Story’ is highly inconsistent. Does this make ‘Stranger Things’ the best horror tv series on air? It probably does, provided that’s what one would categorize it as.
And here lies the major problem of Netflix’s new acclaimed hit-series which is also arguably the most culturally relevant show of 2016: ‘Stranger Things’ is a piece of everything, literally.
Its intentional choices to throwback to all of its 80s influences is both what makes and breaks the show as it’s always just inventive enough to keep us captivated but never as original as it should be if it wanted to be something better and more singular. Its tonal inconsistencies often make for a frustrated watch, as well, as the series shifts between drama, horror, sci-fi and coming-of-age in sometimes too clunky fashion.
However, even as it stands, there is just way too much that I truly liked and loved about ‘Stranger Things’:
I liked how cinematic it felt. I like that it’s brave enough to go darker than most of its inspirations and I like Eleven. I also like (or more like love, lol) Winona Ryder, whose performance, like all of the series, fluctuates between amazing and a bit distraught but at all times is the show’s true spirit and soul holding it together. I also like the series breaking through narrative expectations and humanizing as well as defusing a love triangle’s climax in progressive ways that would have been handled much more predictably by others. Of course, I love the score.
And yes, I do love the throwbacks just as much as everyone even if they’re also part of what’s holding ‘Stranger Things’ back. Film and TV have lacked an escapist appeal for way too long, becoming too bleak, pessimistic and overtly long or too unrealistic and excessive.
‘Stranger Things’, therefore, is a polar response to modern developments, like a welcoming breath of fresh air in our current landscape, even if it’s actually more of an old, familiar breeze than a fresh one.
At the end of the day, however, series are here to entertain and you’ll be hard to find a show that had more heart, spirit, soul and emotion than ‘Stranger Things’, all while also obviously having fun with what it’s doing.The next season will probably be messy and sloppy, but I’m inclined to give it the benefit of doubt and no matter what, its cinematic, entertaining and emotional ride of a first season will be able to stand well enough on its own.
Best Episodes: "Holly, Jolly"; "The Body"; "The Flea And The Acrobat"; "The Upside Down"
*Also, doesn’t it seem strangely fitting that the arguably biggest touchstone actress of the late 80s and 90s is now turning into the symbol of that era’s nostalgia waves, literally reminding us of the innocent and warm values mainstream fiction used to stand for back then?
HBO produced yet another ruminating and ambitious miniseries in 2016 that, unfortunately, never is as good as its predecessors ‘Olive Kitteridge’ or ‘Show Me A Hero’.
Its pilot is stellar, one of the best episodes of the year, and while the early follow-ups managed to somewhat live up to the promise set by the drama’s first hour, the later installments felt too excessive and indulgent at times and consequently makes ‘The Night Of’ another series that was deeply ambivalent in its pursuits and executions. The genre shift at the season's mid-point also felt organic and strange at the same time, ultimately turning out to be the wrong direction for the show as it finally settled back to its original premise in an uneven finale.
Turturro and Riz are amazing in it (not as amazing as Oscar Isaac or Frances McDormand were respectively), the direction is always truly exciting and some of its endeavors captivatingly ambitious, which is why I’m still ranking this show fairly highly.
'The Night Of' a few too many wrong turns in its final hours that didn’t only ring wrong thematically but made many of its developments feel entirely unreal and undo some important character work but even then, it still made for some mediating, thought-stimulating television in the hands of a clearly talented, well-intentioned team.
Best Episodes: "The Beach"; "Subtle Beast"; "The Art Of War"
#17 - Black Mirror
It’s hard to rank an episodic anthology format next to heavily serialized products that are able to achieve much stronger and more carefully calibrated climaxes than a single one hour installment ever could.
Holding a season, or the entire series for that matter, together, however, is the unifying theme of dystopian futures that don’t seem all too unrealistic and try to visualize and mirror the paths of our current modern society. Therefore, ‘Black Mirror’ is above all bleak, dark and grim.
Yet, its best episodes understand to ground their terrifying futures in real-life emotions that make it easier to relate to what’s on screen.
The third season isn’t always able to justify some payoffs of its infamous twists, even if it at least tries to anchor them. Fortunately, at the very least, three of its six installments this season are brilliant enough to keep the show afloat and make a continued case for ‘Black Mirror’ truly being one of a kind in our era.
Its third season’s biggest surprise, however, comes whenever the series actually embraces positivity, optimism and hopefulness. I don’t know if I’ve watched anything better than ‘San Junipero’ this year, the only episode that truly justifies its runtime and makes the most of its various era-settings as a wonderful LGBTQ-story that feels dreamy and probable all at once. It’s a juggernaut of creativity, earnest feelings and an earned conclusion that defies everything we’ve come to expect from ‘Black Mirror’ so far and is all the more powerful for it.
However, even its other two strong episodes – ‘Nosedive’ and ‘Hated in the Nation’ build up to a climax that sees at least some beauty in their desolating fortunes.
The show’s shift to Netflix has also caused it to suffer from the Netflix syndrome in which almost every episode bar arguably one or two are far longer than they should and would have been on Channel 4 in the UK.
Another season is coming this year already and I have no reason to doubt that at least one or two installments will once again reach top-tier heights of quality tv. After three seasons, though, the series’ biggest hurdle will be to be able to continue surprising – not just in its usually shockingly dark manner, or the now somewhat expected and done opposite end.
As long as ‘Black Mirror’ doesn’t forget to infuse its features with resonating emotions, no matter how tragic, they will always be able to strike but that’s what the show has to remember going on from now – that a bigger production can’t replace the contents inside of it.
Best Episodes: “Nosedive”; “San Junipero”; “Hated In The Nation”
#16 - The Missing
"To lose somebody can destroy a person. But to find them again, when so much has passed, that can be worse."
British crime drama ‘The Missing’s second season achieved something surprisingly remarkable – to take at least one familiar character into a second season but still set up a story that has virtually no ties to the first one – that is until you remember what the show is actually about.
Its first season examined the never-ending heartbreaking loss and grief of losing a child and the irritating confusion and ambiguity that dominate the mental state of parents and loved ones, never knowing whether their loved one is still alive or not, never being allowed the privilege of closure which is so essential to coping with grief.
As the second season’s tagline suggests, ‘The Missing’ has now moved on to a different exploration of the battling feelings and struggles that emerge when losing a loved one; the ones that take over your mind when they return. How do you go back to finding a connection with a person you still love but has gradually turned into someone you don’t know anymore? Can you ever provide them the feeling of safety after trauma and how do you grapple with your own lingering feelings of uncertainty and unknowing what they have gone through? And finally, is it actually ever possible to find closure at all?
‘The Missing’s second season provides an answer to all of these questions and delivers them in one of the most satisfying streak of episodes of the year. Tchéky Karyo has elevated his Jean Baptiste into one of the all-time great heroes of TV with a terrific performance and Keeley Hawes’ as a bewildered but well-meaning mother shows off an impressive range that forms the foundation for all of this season’s emotional rewards.
And while ‘The Missing’s second season might lack the ambiguity and contemplative nature of its first, it makes up for it with even more compelling storytelling using three different timelines and three different country locations to emphasize on the universality of its intimate tragedy.
This isn’t the highest second season of a British crime show on my list, but it still pulls of a feat most of its peers (‘Broadchurch’, ‘The Fall’, etc) haven’t been able to do.
‘The Missing’ accomplished to create a stellar second season that mirrored and paralleled its debut in all the right ways – exploring a different side of the same coin. Where one is interested in the idea of loss and lack of closure, the other one is a thematical response about what comes afterwards.
Best Episodes: "The Turtle and the Stick"; "Das Vergessen"; "1991"; "The Mountain"
I wasn’t a fan of ‘American Crime’s first season. It felt heavy-handed, clinical and distant to me in ways that seemed to ponder too much to turn the show into something that is able to compete with the prestige dramas of cable TV but falls flat on every aspect (or almost, the acting was always superb).
Its second season, in contrast, felt much more focused and singular and quite frankly, surprised me.
Delving into the tragic story of a rape scandal at a privileged elite school, ‘American Crime’s second season touches on many timely and relevant topics from the ever blurring lines between poverty and wealth, gun violence and discrimination and equality without feeling overloaded just once. The deeper the show moves into its story the more it peels back layers of true complexity and devastating sentiments always delivered by staggering performances and an incredibly moving direction.
The seventh episode’s climax (a long tracking shot in which a mother slowly comes to a devastating realization) will forever be a testament to how great ‘American Crime’ actually could be during its prime – a show that combined compelling filmmaking and a reverberating story to create an outstanding, heartrending second season.
Best Episodes: "Episode Four"; "Episode Seven"; "Episode Eight"; "Episode Ten"
Netflix’s royal drama about Queen Elizabeth II ‘The Crown’ is every bit as sumptuous, pompous and big as you’d expect and would probably want it to be. Its creator Peter Morgan has always been fascinated with the external and internal life of the currently reigning British monarch and has now shifted the visualization of his interests from movies (‘The Queen’ with Helen Mirren,) onto TV with this show.
‘The Crown’ isn’t a perfect show. It all too often gets lost in muddled storytelling, forgetting that it’s actually a story about its female protagonist and not about the men in her life. Yet, at the same time, whenever the show’s storytelling choices seem very deliberate and intently, particularly concerning said flaw, the series is able to craft some of the finest, most exciting hours of television all year.
“Smoke and Mirrors” for example tells the story of Elizabeth’s coronation through her Uncle Edward’s eyes, who abdicated the throne, and manages to paint a picture of the monarchy as something that is manually deified to inspire an entire people to strive towards a higher ideal, and while Edward rightfully points out the superficiality of this magical otherworldliness, the final image of him weeping and playing his bagpipe outside his French mansion also speaks on the alluring nature of those principles and the enticing meaning of home as something both matchless yet deceiving. In this installment, ‘The Crown’ settles into its own unique telling of historical events for the first time and combines its resonating writing with some outstanding directorial choices that underline its examinations.
Then there’s the terrific penultimate “Assassins” which mirrors Elizabeth’s decaying marriage with Churchill’s decaying body and career and concludes the final chapter of one of the series’ most powerful relationships and storylines about a man who sees it as his fatherly duty to mentor a woman into her own destiny who may actually be more fit to lead a modern world than he is.
As a result, whenever ‘The Crown’ focuses on Queen Elizabeth, or at the very least smartly contrasts her own developments and ruling habits with that of the male role models in her life, it turns into a fascinating exploration of the role of the monarchy in a modern world outdating it and a woman’s intimate struggle of shedding the layers of her own personality to replace it with the symbols of an impersonal institution that has been laid upon her. And every time the show isn’t too fed up by its own patriotism, those moments and hours make for truthfully brilliant, mesmerizing TV.
Best Episodes: “Act of God”; “Smoke and Mirrors”; “Scientia Potentia Est” “Assasssin”;
*Claire Foy, who’s proven her worth in the great drama ‘Wolf Hall’ last year, delivers one of the best performances of the year in a nuanced but commanding turn.
**Also loved the episodical nature of ‘The Crown’, which I wasn’t able to mention in the review but deserves a mention for breaking Netflix’ patterns nonetheless and benefits a lot from it.
i kinda liked the 'undoing' at the end of the night of because it showed how law and real life are not necessarily reflective of each other. but whew, the first ep
There’s not a single series that was more beautiful, optimistic even in its darkest hours, lively and most of all more romantic as ‘Outlander’ was in 2016.
In a second season that’s improved upon its already great first one, ‘Outlander’ reached new heights and once again not only found new ways to create timely but refined discussions about feminism and sexism but also contrast the excessive manners of old societies with our living habits today.
There haven’t been many shows that I’ve enjoyed more than ‘Outlander’ this year and while its glorified depiction of war might feel out of place in an otherwise surprisingly realistic, bright and bold show, it still connects to the dreamy but brisk romance making the heart at the show’s center beat so gracefully. Even its depiction of unconditional love isn’t cheap, using sexual expressions both as a declaration to the passion and joy of commitment but also as a danger that exposes one's most personal vulnerabilities.
This drama is so good precisely because it always treats its characters and messages with respect and dignity when it could so easily fall into schmaltzy, cheesy territories instead - even during some of the very cruel and dark turns that this season has delivered at times.
Finally, 'Outlander' delivered another consistent, wrenching streak of episodes and its beautiful, melancholic and nostalgic final chapter of the year ‘Dragonfly in Amber’ defines the series in a nutshell – wistful, ravishing and intelligent.
Best Episodes: "Not In Scotland Anymore"; "Untimely Resurrection"; “Faith”; "Vengeance Is Mine"; “Dragonfly In Amber”
*Caitriona Balfe is outstanding, once again proving that she’s one of the supermodels turned actresses done right.
**Wish I could have gone into further detail about all the other themes the show explores deeply this season but all the more reason to watch and discover yourself.
#12 - Better Call Saul
‘Better Call Saul’s second season finally justified its existence as a spin-off of the superior and more successful AMC drama ‘Breaking Bad’, managing to develop its own identity and (almost) get rid of its attempts to be like the parent-show it spawned from. There are still a few ties, mostly Mike’s storyline, that feel more like fan-service and unnecessary efforts to introduce more than just dramatic tension into the show but they have thankfully been reduced or, at the very least, added new layers to Mike's characterization.
However, the story about the harmless, well-meaning Jimmy McGill’s inner fight with his ill-leaning tendencies and his ultimate transformation into the corrupt lawyer for criminals Saul Goodman, and the collateral damage it takes on his closed ones like Chuck and Kim, isn’t just a fascinating but entirely riveting journey that finds more than enough to say along the way to set the series apart and make it stand on its own feet.
This is a journey I’m willing to invest myself in for a few more years, provided it remains as skillfully presented as it has been in its impressive, superior second season. With Vince Gilligan as the showrunner, though, I probably shouldn’t even doubt it won't.
Best Episodes: "Rebecca"; "Bali Ha'i"; "Nailed": "Klick"
*Haven't been able to talk much about Kim Wexler, played wonderfully by Rhea Seehorn, who turned into one of the most fleshed out and empowered female roles this year.
#11 - Happy Valley
(I want to put this into my Top 10 so badly so just pretend it’s inside.)
‘Happy Valley’ is one of those series that upgrade in their second season, moving on from being something that is jus” good to something altogether much greater.
Sarah Lancashire makes a strong case for delivering the best female performance of the year in her turn as a deeply conflicted, morally ambiguous but wounded and vulnerable Catherine Catwood – undoubtedly the closest we’ve come this year to having a perfect examination of an almost anti-heroine.
Almost, because at all times Catherine is clearly driven by the right motivations, however, they often lead her to very dark and questionable places in the process and seeing ‘Happy Valley’ not only push her there but force her to confront her own inner conflicts full-on in therapy sessions reminiscent of ‘The Sopranos’ is acutely engrossing. Catherine, however, is just the most intricate out of many complex characters ‘Happy Valley’ has built and is interested in studying.
It’s marvelous television that went too overlooked states-wise. It’s understated and subtle but reaches much more powerful climaxes for it. ‘Happy Valley’ isn’t a gripping crime show because of twists or a fast-paced plot; it’s thrilling because the stakes feel real and the real crimes it wants to solve are the origins and backgrounds of its characters' motivations.
Best Episodes: "Episode Two"; "Episode Five"; "Episode Six"
Okay, will post the Drama Top 10 in just a bit with a few stray thoughts but no write-ups bc no time. One show will get one because I already had it written up, so good for them, lol.
Woooo go in!
I love how escapist Stranger Things was & I'm happy to know you liked Winona Ryder. She got a lot of uncalled hate for her performance imo. And lol she really has become a symbol of nostalgia, even in a new throwback trend to 90s house music.
I agree with all your thoughts on Black Mirror & The Night Of. And I'm glad you mentioned that tracking shot in episode 7 of American Crime because I forgot to & it was really amazing. S2 of Better Call Saul secured my investment in the show too. I love all the characters and their ongoing storylines.
*Thoughtful pondering on the dichotomy between our real selves and how we present ourselves through social media wrapped up in a show that understands how to present a story about a sexual escort's life.
**Riley Keough is all kinds of amazing in a seductive, but sharp and clever role that could have been played flat and clichéd by someone less capable and instead makes for a sly an skullful performance.
***Sorderbergh once again produces a TV show that makes a case for direction-driven filmmaking on television instead of writing-driven and I love it.
****Also love that it's like the only drama on my list that produces half-hour episodes and doesn't feel the necessity for excessively lengthy episodes. It works.
Best Episodes: "Insurance"; "Access"; "Blindsided"; "Home"; "Separation"
#9 - Transparent
Transparent’s outing this year convinced in many ways that are inevitably linked to it having been a third season, and Jill Soloway – the show’s creator and showrunner – was perfectly aware of how exactly to structure and create a season just like it. In many ways, a third season often has to overcome the same problems; they run danger of turning too stale and repetitive, or instead develop in the polar direction, turning exaggerated and overblown too afraid of boring and too insecure in its own strengths. However, despite this being the show’s third year running, it was also in many ways Transparent’s first season in which it had the chance to analyze its characters in much more ordinary situations. Having moved on from the first year’s emotional novelty and the second season’s incredibly ambitious double-timed and cross-generational experiments, this time we could go into the show being more familiar with the Pfeffermans – the family whose lives are always first turned upside-down and then examined on ‘Transparent’ afterwards.
Familiarity is a recurring theme this season not only on a structural level but also on a textual.
Maura, who mostly functioned as an anchor to her children’s internal and external chaos last season after finally being able to be whom she really is, finds herself incredibly dissatisfied and frustrated by her life only showing the slightest hints of familiarity after her big transfomation. For her, the stage of womanhood she has been in for a longer time now is not enough and all the shape-wear and make-overs and new hairdos can’t help until she’s able to finally undergo her gender-confirmation surgery. For Maura, transitioning is continuous progress and it poses the question of whether going through surgery could really fill that hole in her life (it most likely couldn’t). At least, in the past, she was able to excuse her own dissatisfaction by not being out or having transitioned.
Meanwhile, Ali is just as scared of familiarity as she’s always been and continues trying on new identities and lives to see which one fits, whereas her sister Sarah is still stuck in a loop of not seeing herself, needing a shakeup more than anyone else in her family.
Perhaps the most inspiring story this season, however, is at the same time also the one always undermined: Pfefferman matriarch Shelly is and always has been put down and minusculed/diminished/ignored by everyone: Her own children, her husband and lovers and even her friends. This familiar feeling goes all the way back to her past, explored in a flashback episode that is able to portray the very dangerous rape-childhood backstory in both insightful and profound fashion to enrich Shelly’s characteristics instead of ridiculing them or failing to make her dimensions justice.
The show intentionally always puts her story and feelings in the background to emphasize said behavior by her closed-ones and when it culminates in her confession that “she doesn’t feel at home in her own family” it’s not as tragic or heartbreaking as one would expect but instead leads to the show’s most empowering and self-confident moment yet in which Judith Light gives the most dramatic rendition of Alanis Morrisette’s ‘Hand in My Pockets’ that has to be ever done. It not only closes Shelly’s story off on an optimistic note, but does so for the rest of the family with one particular exception.
So where last year Maura was the only one not stuck in a self-identity crisis during a season filled with them, this season her ex-wife Shelly is the one tired of the familiar loop of loathing breaking out and igniting all of the great fires that have always been burning inside of her. It's evidence that the family's parents are indeed further in their journey to self-realization and fulfillment/happiness but that either also haven’t gotten everything quite yet figured out anyway.
‘Transparent’ is, and will most likely remain, TV’s currently best exploration of self-identity and the realization that identity as such is so multi-dimensional and hard to pin down to that there just might never be an endpoint to this journey at all.
It all started with Maura’s literal transition but after three years it’s clear that, in fact, all of ‘Transparent’s characters are transitioning.
‘Transparent’ has surprisingly and sneakily become one of the most universal stories told this century, despite being centered on a very particular rich, privileged set of American Jews. And all the while, there are so many more themes being treated with beauty and insight on here that it’s hard to focus on anything in just one paragraph; the traditional ritualism of Jewish culture and its function as stability, for one.
Best Episodes: “To Sardines and Back”; “Oh Holy Night”; “The Open Road”; “If I Were a Bell”; “Off the Grid”; “Exciting and New”
*Intimate, personal family drama that touches issues from (mental) illness, the sneaky effects of gentrification as well as cross-generational identities and the haunting past.
**What an honestly stellar cast that gets to use 'Horace & Pete' as the kind of showcase for their ranges every series should allow them to: Jessica Lange, Edie Falco, Steve Buscemi, Alan Alda, Laurie Metcalf.
***Louis CK continues to take risks that pay off. I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up influencing television, albeit less than his previous masterpiece 'Louie', and drive it into a stronger independent direction in the future.
****Laurie Metcalf's 10 minute monologue throughout an unbroken shot is the series' highlight and proves why it's theater-inspired filmmaking works so well.
*****One of the most emotional, heartbreaking, intense and real rides of the year. I'm grateful for every single minute of this.
Best Episodes: "Episode 3"; "Episode 5"; "Episode 9"; "Episode 10"
#7 - American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson
*What is there to say about this, that hasn't been said before? Murphy finally hits a goldmine, which may be thanks to him being shut out off the writing for this and the season being taken over by a much more competent duo.
**He's so much more talented at directing anyway and does a wonderful job here capturing how this trial was the start of a swirling change for the US and American media as we know it by always moving the camera around its characters during pivotal moments and framing the protagonists as the center of that spiral.
***Sarah Paulson's performance literally sympathizing and humanizing a woman always hated on by America should speak on its own.
****"Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" is ingenious.
Best Episodes: "The Race Card"; "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia"; "Manna From Heaven"; "The Verdict"
#6 - Orange Is The New Black
*This was probably the first season to turn around the Netflix-binge-pattern and use it in its favor. In this phenomenally structured season pretty much every bit of action and every single storyline comes back around to carefully lay the groundwork for the climax that ensues in the season's final episodes.
**The parallels and references to BLM movements and inequality events (Sandra Bland, etc) in America make the season even more powerful, tragic and resonating.
***Bringing the entire prison together to gradually build up capitalism and its greedy institutions as a common enemy is only one of many perfect notes this season has struck and a showcase for the ensemble drama as such.
****I don't think the next season will even remotely hit the heights or consistency of this dynamic, angry, heart-breaking and dark one but weirdly I'm fine with that.
Best Episodes: "Piece of Sh*t"; "People Persons"; "The Animals"; "Toast Can't Never Be Bread Again"