Favourite TV series of the year
10. Squid Game
To be fair, this is on my list because I didn’t watch a ton of TV this year. At least that wasn’t anime. And I did want to have a list that wasn’t just my anime list (it is, in fact, half of my anime list). But Squid Game was… 65% REALLY good. So let me get the problems out of the way first. The boat b-plot. I fucking hated it. I seemed to never end and it takes a painful amount of time for the characters to figure out what is so obvious to the audience, that they are being played. And when suspicions are raised, characters seem willfully ignorant. The other problem is the epilogue goes on much longer than necessary. And, spoilers, it tells you what happens with the money when I think the point is money doesn’t matter as much as people.
But the actual Squid Games themselves? REALLY GOOD. Almost everything that happens within them is incredibly tense and the story does a great job ratcheting up the tension to unbearable level and stacking the deck against our characters but still giving satisfying resolutions. And that’s really the problem, because the show ends on a perfect thesis with it’s “people are not horses” finale (which is also a great shout out to Kaiji, the series that heavily inspired Squid Game), that it didn’t need much more. I really hope we don’t see any US Squid Game show promised in the coda. I would rather have the creator do a different imaginative thriller and leave the capitalist nightmare in the dust to make something as exciting as this show was (when it WASN’T ON THE BOAT!)
9. The Summer Hikaru Died
I went into detail on the anime thread but it’s gay horror romance and it’s pretty darn good!
8. Only Murders in the Building
5 seasons in and the beloved murder mystery show is still going strong. Now to be fair, every season seems to… lose a little something. It’s never quite as strong as when the cast themselves were still something of a mystery and learning who they were was very rewarding. It’s now in the mode of cozy mystery and even though every subsequent season starts with the death of one of the smaller cast members, (except season 3, where they just kill Paul Rudd) it really feels a little more… safe.
But that’s not a bad thing to transition into being a more comfort food show. It’s still very funny, has a ridiculously stacked cast (even two seasons after her introduction, Meryl Streep is very much a recurring character) and still manages to tell interesting stories and explore interesting characters within the series. There are some cheeseball gags to be sure and a few “this was written by older people” elements, but I am always happy to come back to the Arconia season after season. Plus it’s very clear Renée Zellweger and Christoph Waltz are having a blast hamming it up as absolutely cartoonish villains.
7. Apocalypse Hotel
I went into detail on the anime thread but it’s a post-apocalyptic workplace sitcom set in the last hotel on Earth and it’s robot attendants.
6. Doctor Who
Doctor Who is going on a hiatus but what a season to go out on. Only 8 episodes but it really had a string of hits this time around. Even, once again, Davies unable to succeed in a proper finale (this is what we were waiting two season for? One villain from the worst Doctor era and one of the more bigger than life villain reduced to a generic hell monster?), it is made up for by essentially being the best of what Davies can do. I’ve always struggled with Davies; his finales are often a mess, he swerves into puerile humour and he introduces cool ideas but doesn’t actually explore them. But this season also includes some of his best stuff; wild ideas, can do really dark and really fun stories and a real love for the human side of the characters. As much as the climax was a disappointment, the farewell was pretty effective. And the lay up of a planet run rewritten by a conservative creep was a pretty good starting point (with the weakness of his world being literally lack of visibility for the “other”).
The Robot Rebellion was fairly hamfisted but it was also pretty fun (I love the idea of cosmic consequences of the “buying a star” scam). Lux was amazing looking and played with it’s meta-levels fairly well. The Well was a stealth sequel episode that nearly matches the original for creepiness. Lucky Day was a bit weaker (and also hamfisted) but also emotionally engaging. The Story & The Engine adds Afrofuturism, a genre the show had never been able to delve into before. And the Interstellar Song Contest wasn’t one of the strongest but was still fairly solid and took a silly episode to re-introduce some darkness to the Doctor. It will be a wait before the show returns but it was a solid send-off season.
5. The Apothecary Diaries
I went into detail on the anime thread but it’s palace intrigue murder mystery in imperial China. It’s pretty good!
4. Medalist
I went into detail on the anime thread but it’s a heartwarming figure skating sports show.
3. City
I went into detail on the anime thread but this is a wacky anime about community that looks like this.
2. Andor
It feels like this shouldn’t work. There’s something innately I don’t like of the “adult” instinct to take something you love as a child and make it “grown up”. I don’t need a grim and gritty version of a childhood favourite. But the maturity displayed in this series isn’t merely “for grown ups”, it takes the more broad story of a fight against fascism and makes is smarter, more nuanced and adding elements that make it terrifyingly relevant. Much has been made of the fact that it is so relevant but this would not work if it was merely metaphor. This is a tightly plotted thriller about the people who aren’t chosen and don’t have powers.
As the series races to its conclusion, the tension tightens and then finally explodes in some fantastic episodes, including the Ghorman riots. The character dynamics lead to unexpected (in some cases) but very satisfying conclusions. Wins aren’t as easily won as they are for Luke and his friends (and it’s not like it was ever easy for them either) and characters are willing to do awful things for a greater good. It asks tough questions but unlike, say, Star Trek trying to make good guys of Section 31, it has more nuance to the antiheroic characters, not necessarily forgiving some of our characters darker acts but acknowledging their importance in getting closer to victory. No, I don’t think grown up Star Wars is something I *needed*. But it’s something I was deeply glad to get.
1. Pluribus
One of the great things about the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers is that the metaphor was so malleable. If you were afraid of communism or if you were afraid of McCarthyism, the body snatchers could fit those two bills. Pluribus works to a similar strength. It definitely isn’t an apolitical show but it is also one that doesn’t work easily with one-to-one comparisons. And it can move and slide around easily in a way that never feels like it being stretched too far. It’s AI, taking everything and reducing it to slop with poor judgment and ridiculous rules. It’s cultural assimilation, trying to absorb into a melting pot than celebrating difference. It is conversion camp, telling you to be something you don’t want to be with the promise you will like it. And it’s a reminder that as much as we value our individualism, we need each other, which is very hard when “others” and you aren’t seeing eye-to-eye.
By not simply being about one thing, it becomes about the human condition. It takes from Body Snatchers but also from The Twilight Zone and the Prisoner. The show is relevant but also timeless. It’s also tense, laugh-out-loud funny and heart-breaking and you never quite know which head it’s going to raise (if not multiple). Pluribus is also easily the best argument for getting APPLE TV (or, you know, PIRACY!!!). Like Better Call Saul, it’s a show that doesn’t move quick but it never feels like it’s stalling or padding. Its pacing is just as important here, slowly playing its hand, which works very well comedically (particularly a phone message that feels longer every time you hear it) but also to make you lean in. We watch characters planning, thinking, taking part in a process and changing their minds. Pluribus takes those strengths but instead of an antihero we have a flawed hero, one who is smart but struggles with the new status quo and finding that saving the world isn’t as easy as stopping a villain. The hive-mind is scary and dangerous. They aren’t evil or ill-willed but they present a threat to some intangible elements of ourselves we hold dear.
Within the season, Carol Sturka feels a lot toward them; hatred, fear, love, bemusement and by the end makes an important call. But this journey with humanity means that when we get to season 2, we are set for an emotionally complex ride with two people against all of humanity… and the two people are not particularly easy to like.
