Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Best TV of the Year
Despite lockdowns, I missed a lot of TV as it was airing now this year so my list is missing what I assume is a lot of good stuff. Still, I got a good list here.
10. Fargo
This is probably the weakest season of Fargo thus far but it is still VERY good and, more importantly, is trying new things. Specifically, this is the season that discusses race in America and mostly does a good job. Chris Rock is great as one of the two major crime bosses in the series who gets wins and makes smart moves only to find goal posts constantly in motion. One of the villains is a cross between the nihilistic superkillers of seasons past and the seemingly goofy and very white mid-west protagonists. More than any other season, this is an ensemble with no one main character, which is a little unfortunate as I feel like as a teenage black girl, I would much rather have had E'myri Crutchfield in an even more central role, even if it meant less of the crime boss drama, which is admittedly great. As all Fargo seasons are a bit of a Coens remix, this one is its take on Miller’s Crossing, only with a very interesting examination on the nature of race. This might be Fargo’s least gripping season but it is also evolving with the time, even as it looks back.
9. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Here’s the first of many shows that ended this year and ended very well. I think a lot of people felt the last season of the LGBT fantasy adventure series had a bit of a quality drop but frankly, I don’t recall noticing. Instead, my take away was a very fun and exciting conclusion full of arcs coming to a close and while not everyone had as much time as they could have to feel out fully satisfying ends, She-Ra closes out with a happy ending and a promise of more adventure and boy did I need that this year.
8. Chihayafuru
I’m a little bummed that the next four entries of my list are a clump of anime that I talked about before (followed by a clump of finales that are excellent but had less than a full season aired in 2020). Chihayafuru got the second half of its season this year and it was great. No finale, but lots of big moments that have been building since the beginning and a match I was deeply invested in despite expecting the ending that it did. But the show did a good job making me think “Wait, could this go another way?” If you haven’t seen it, it’s a shojo sports series about a poetry-based sport. It sounds like it might be too niche but trust me, with its strong, lovable characters and excellent drama, I highly recommend it.
7. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
My second anime pick of the year is the visually arresting yet emotionally grounded Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, about a club of animators who put in long hours to see their dreams come to light. If you are interested in animation at all, I highly recommend it, showing both the seemingly Sisyphean nightmare of being an animator and the passion and love that fuels its completion. I suspect we won’t get a second season and that’s a bit of a bummer but as a one-off, it is a creative series about creativity and one’s enthusiasm towards it.
6. Golden Kamuy
When it first aired, it seemed like Golden Kamuy was just a competent adventure show but as it went on, it became clear it was a comedy adventure edutainment food travelogue of extreme violence and compelling characters. I can’t think of another show like it as a former soldier and an Ainu hunter team up to find stolen Ainu gold. This season breaks them up with each of them having to team up with characters who are really their antagonists. Characters are deepened but it doesn’t rob us of the hijinx we love, capable to turning on a dime from emotional reunion to pee-pee jokes. The third season has been the emotionally richest so far and though it will kill me to wait for more, it comes to a pretty grand season finale with a lot of well-earned pay-offs and me being extremely invested in some characters I didn’t realize I would be.
5. Japan Sinks
My last entry for this anime block is Japan Sinks, a loose adaptation of the book of the same name that not only was adapted multiple times before but even its parody, Everything Place Sinks But Japan, was adapted multiple times. If you want a disaster movie as a series, this is your place but it is also a powerful, emotional story with some genuine surprises. A middle arc involving a mysterious compound went to some generally surprising places when I was just settling in for a straightforward cult story and I feel is meant to be subverting traditional “individualist” narratives and how we need each other both in the face of a disaster and beyond. Japan Sinks is an emotional and sometimes grueling journey but never gives in to become miserablist in nature, instead telling an ultimately hopeful story with a lot of tragedy within.
4. Bojack Horseman
I feel like this show went to some dark places most shows wouldn’t be willing to. But despite everything, Bojack is a show that has hope for its main character. But hope never erases the shit he’s done and the last season deals with the fact that on his road to self-improvement, he’s left pain in his wake that will never be undone or taken back. The episode where Bojack has two interviews that go VERY differently is a difficult watch that’s necessary for the show to go through and leads to an ending that says a necessary goodbye to the status quo as for their own good, some people leave his orbit on pretty good terms. Its such a balancing act to have the character responsible for such awful things and revealing “no, he’s not a good guy deep down because our actions are much of what define us” and still get us to make us want him to get better. The show doesn’t end with Bojack being a good guy. But it ends with hope that he’s on the right path as he heads towards it.
3. Steven Universe Future
Another show that only had a handful of episodes in 2020 before ending but they are some strong ones. Steven Universe Future was an epilogue series that deals with the question “what happens to the hero after the adventure ends?” and the truth is the hero might need a lot of self-care that he’s been dodging. The show recontextualizes Steven’s selflessness as something that might be the sign of something that needs to be looked at and like the series before goes to some dark places. As you might imagine it ends with tears but, like, happy tears. A show like future risks a show overstaying its welcome with a long goodbye but instead we get to sink our teeth into some emotional stuff that can really only happen after the adventure.
2. The Good Place
Only 4 episodes aired of this show (though the last one was an hour) this year, but boy did they make the most of it. Seriously, I know its less than half a season but not including on my list would be a crime, as it is one of my favourite series finales of all time, making me cry. It’s a show that examines the big questions of what it means to be good and it’s a much more difficult task than it sounds. But the last two episodes feature the last test our heroes face followed by what comes next. Its an emotional goodbye in every sense of the word as everyone’s favourite Arizona dirtbag and their friends save existence by completely re-inventing the afterlife (twice), then get to finally enjoy it. But in doing so, they needed to make sure they gave the afterlife some sadness to make the happiness matter and this is where we get a bittersweet ending. They are ready to say goodbye to existence, retiring from their retirement and the reveal of what that means is rather beautiful.
Smell ya later, the Good Place.
1. Better Call Saul
We had a year of good finales but the best is yet to come… and its going to kill me to wait until, I’m assuming, at least 2022 for the final season of Better Call Saul. But the penultimate one is no slouch. The fact that Rhea Seehorn isn’t nominated for best actress for the Emmy’s is a god-damned crime. I love Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad but a lot of those shows are very much about the men but Kim Wexler managed to carve out her place as the most nuanced, complex and entertaining character of the season. Usually you expect the anti-heroic leads to surprise and shock you with decisions but thanks to the writers taking cues from Seehorn, Kim evolved from a “voice of conscience” friend to a figure who slowly comes to the conclusion that if you want to do anything worthwhile in law, you need to cheat. The system is not your friend. But at the same time, it is clear Kim is also headed to do some very bad and even hurtful things, even if the causes are good. And even this character would be enough but this season was so good. We get Lalo, a figure who is a weird cross between Scarface and Columbo, a brilliant avuncular detective who is not afraid to do awful things for the sake of his goals and is downright terrifying. And Bob Odenkirk continues to evolve a character who was once comic relief into a tragic figure who continues to take more emotional damage, pushing him from a morally flexible antihero to a largely amoral opportunist he will become in Breaking Bad. Somehow, for a prequel with a set in stone future, Better Call Saul never fails to shock and surprise as we head to an inevitable tragedy and what lies beyond that in the black and white world of Gene the Cinnabon Manager.
What are your favourite shows of the year?
Despite lockdowns, I missed a lot of TV as it was airing now this year so my list is missing what I assume is a lot of good stuff. Still, I got a good list here.
10. Fargo
This is probably the weakest season of Fargo thus far but it is still VERY good and, more importantly, is trying new things. Specifically, this is the season that discusses race in America and mostly does a good job. Chris Rock is great as one of the two major crime bosses in the series who gets wins and makes smart moves only to find goal posts constantly in motion. One of the villains is a cross between the nihilistic superkillers of seasons past and the seemingly goofy and very white mid-west protagonists. More than any other season, this is an ensemble with no one main character, which is a little unfortunate as I feel like as a teenage black girl, I would much rather have had E'myri Crutchfield in an even more central role, even if it meant less of the crime boss drama, which is admittedly great. As all Fargo seasons are a bit of a Coens remix, this one is its take on Miller’s Crossing, only with a very interesting examination on the nature of race. This might be Fargo’s least gripping season but it is also evolving with the time, even as it looks back.
9. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Here’s the first of many shows that ended this year and ended very well. I think a lot of people felt the last season of the LGBT fantasy adventure series had a bit of a quality drop but frankly, I don’t recall noticing. Instead, my take away was a very fun and exciting conclusion full of arcs coming to a close and while not everyone had as much time as they could have to feel out fully satisfying ends, She-Ra closes out with a happy ending and a promise of more adventure and boy did I need that this year.
8. Chihayafuru
I’m a little bummed that the next four entries of my list are a clump of anime that I talked about before (followed by a clump of finales that are excellent but had less than a full season aired in 2020). Chihayafuru got the second half of its season this year and it was great. No finale, but lots of big moments that have been building since the beginning and a match I was deeply invested in despite expecting the ending that it did. But the show did a good job making me think “Wait, could this go another way?” If you haven’t seen it, it’s a shojo sports series about a poetry-based sport. It sounds like it might be too niche but trust me, with its strong, lovable characters and excellent drama, I highly recommend it.
7. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
My second anime pick of the year is the visually arresting yet emotionally grounded Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, about a club of animators who put in long hours to see their dreams come to light. If you are interested in animation at all, I highly recommend it, showing both the seemingly Sisyphean nightmare of being an animator and the passion and love that fuels its completion. I suspect we won’t get a second season and that’s a bit of a bummer but as a one-off, it is a creative series about creativity and one’s enthusiasm towards it.
6. Golden Kamuy
When it first aired, it seemed like Golden Kamuy was just a competent adventure show but as it went on, it became clear it was a comedy adventure edutainment food travelogue of extreme violence and compelling characters. I can’t think of another show like it as a former soldier and an Ainu hunter team up to find stolen Ainu gold. This season breaks them up with each of them having to team up with characters who are really their antagonists. Characters are deepened but it doesn’t rob us of the hijinx we love, capable to turning on a dime from emotional reunion to pee-pee jokes. The third season has been the emotionally richest so far and though it will kill me to wait for more, it comes to a pretty grand season finale with a lot of well-earned pay-offs and me being extremely invested in some characters I didn’t realize I would be.
5. Japan Sinks
My last entry for this anime block is Japan Sinks, a loose adaptation of the book of the same name that not only was adapted multiple times before but even its parody, Everything Place Sinks But Japan, was adapted multiple times. If you want a disaster movie as a series, this is your place but it is also a powerful, emotional story with some genuine surprises. A middle arc involving a mysterious compound went to some generally surprising places when I was just settling in for a straightforward cult story and I feel is meant to be subverting traditional “individualist” narratives and how we need each other both in the face of a disaster and beyond. Japan Sinks is an emotional and sometimes grueling journey but never gives in to become miserablist in nature, instead telling an ultimately hopeful story with a lot of tragedy within.
4. Bojack Horseman
I feel like this show went to some dark places most shows wouldn’t be willing to. But despite everything, Bojack is a show that has hope for its main character. But hope never erases the shit he’s done and the last season deals with the fact that on his road to self-improvement, he’s left pain in his wake that will never be undone or taken back. The episode where Bojack has two interviews that go VERY differently is a difficult watch that’s necessary for the show to go through and leads to an ending that says a necessary goodbye to the status quo as for their own good, some people leave his orbit on pretty good terms. Its such a balancing act to have the character responsible for such awful things and revealing “no, he’s not a good guy deep down because our actions are much of what define us” and still get us to make us want him to get better. The show doesn’t end with Bojack being a good guy. But it ends with hope that he’s on the right path as he heads towards it.
3. Steven Universe Future
Another show that only had a handful of episodes in 2020 before ending but they are some strong ones. Steven Universe Future was an epilogue series that deals with the question “what happens to the hero after the adventure ends?” and the truth is the hero might need a lot of self-care that he’s been dodging. The show recontextualizes Steven’s selflessness as something that might be the sign of something that needs to be looked at and like the series before goes to some dark places. As you might imagine it ends with tears but, like, happy tears. A show like future risks a show overstaying its welcome with a long goodbye but instead we get to sink our teeth into some emotional stuff that can really only happen after the adventure.
2. The Good Place
Only 4 episodes aired of this show (though the last one was an hour) this year, but boy did they make the most of it. Seriously, I know its less than half a season but not including on my list would be a crime, as it is one of my favourite series finales of all time, making me cry. It’s a show that examines the big questions of what it means to be good and it’s a much more difficult task than it sounds. But the last two episodes feature the last test our heroes face followed by what comes next. Its an emotional goodbye in every sense of the word as everyone’s favourite Arizona dirtbag and their friends save existence by completely re-inventing the afterlife (twice), then get to finally enjoy it. But in doing so, they needed to make sure they gave the afterlife some sadness to make the happiness matter and this is where we get a bittersweet ending. They are ready to say goodbye to existence, retiring from their retirement and the reveal of what that means is rather beautiful.
Smell ya later, the Good Place.
1. Better Call Saul
We had a year of good finales but the best is yet to come… and its going to kill me to wait until, I’m assuming, at least 2022 for the final season of Better Call Saul. But the penultimate one is no slouch. The fact that Rhea Seehorn isn’t nominated for best actress for the Emmy’s is a god-damned crime. I love Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad but a lot of those shows are very much about the men but Kim Wexler managed to carve out her place as the most nuanced, complex and entertaining character of the season. Usually you expect the anti-heroic leads to surprise and shock you with decisions but thanks to the writers taking cues from Seehorn, Kim evolved from a “voice of conscience” friend to a figure who slowly comes to the conclusion that if you want to do anything worthwhile in law, you need to cheat. The system is not your friend. But at the same time, it is clear Kim is also headed to do some very bad and even hurtful things, even if the causes are good. And even this character would be enough but this season was so good. We get Lalo, a figure who is a weird cross between Scarface and Columbo, a brilliant avuncular detective who is not afraid to do awful things for the sake of his goals and is downright terrifying. And Bob Odenkirk continues to evolve a character who was once comic relief into a tragic figure who continues to take more emotional damage, pushing him from a morally flexible antihero to a largely amoral opportunist he will become in Breaking Bad. Somehow, for a prequel with a set in stone future, Better Call Saul never fails to shock and surprise as we head to an inevitable tragedy and what lies beyond that in the black and white world of Gene the Cinnabon Manager.
What are your favourite shows of the year?
