Jump to content

Rank Your 2021 Shows Throughout the Year


Annara Snow

Recommended Posts

  • 3 weeks later...

Updates

1. Cobra Kai - the year was off to a flying start with this one. I don't know why this show is so good, but it is. It is a karate soap opera, but I love the characters, and strikes a perfect balance between evoking nostalgia and telling its own original story.

2. The Expanse - half in 2020, half this year, but all good. Some plots were weaker than others, and I know some people disliked its direction. I still saw it as a great SF story, and found it mostly solid throughout, with some moments of greatness.

3. WandaVision - this was something else; it was fun and creative, but maybe it tried to pepper itself with too many hints and clues, thus still leaving unanswered questions. The two leads killed it, and visually, well it really doesn't have a rival right now, except maybe other MCU shows.

4. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - I liked it, but it fell a little short in some areas. Good character moments, but with a bit of disjointed plot. Generally entertaining, and the MCU continues to provide great visuals.

5. The Nevers - only half the season, but it won't return until next year; I've enjoyed it for the most part, it looks good, solid acting, good music, but the plot can feel all over the place sometimes; it has some pacing issues.

6. Invincible - it had a slow start, I wasn't sure what it was really going for; it seemed the story was more about the various twists than anything else, but by the end I was enjoying it. Great voice acting from everyone.

7. Superman & Lois - this has resumed; It's a CW show with the advantage of better visuals and a more cohesive story. But I'm keeping my expectations in check.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Corvinus85 said:

Updates

6. Invincible - it had a slow start, I wasn't sure what it was really going for; it seemed the story was more about the various twists than anything else, but by the end I was enjoying it. Great voice acting from everyone.

 

I was surprised by how many names were recognizable. Like, Mahershala Ali decided to do a bit cartoon role? Really? Michael Dorn as Battle Beast? Seth Rogen and Jon Hamm. I would have thought you would shoot for nameless actors when doing animated series to keep costs down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got some shows from earlier years to add, and I've decided not to do a separate list, but do what Helena did and add them to the same list but in brackets and not numbered.

Technically, The Wilds was also a 2020 show, though it was released in mid-December so I thought I'd let it slide, but I could've seen it in 2020, so I'll count it as such. (But I will probably make an exception for Equinox, another Netflix show I'm watching, which dropped  on 30 December, and I first even heard about it in January, so I think that one can be counted as a 2021 show.)

      [I May Destroy You (2020)] - excellent UK drama about contemporary life, focused on a group of (mostly black British 30-something) friends in London, written by Michaela Coel who's also its lead actress. Deals with some heavy subjects (the main character is raped in the first episode and tries to deal with it for the rest of the 12 half-hour episodes), but manages to be fun, fresh and interesting in its portrayal of relationships, friendships, dating, the way that social media affect people's lives, etc. Not always successful in tackling every possible issue out of the many it touches on, but really good at a nuanced portrayal of the murkier issues of consent in relationships, abuse and trauma, where at some point you see every single one of the main characters doing questionable things and being in situations that may make them a 'bad guy'. I don't know if it have a season 2 if it's a limited series. 

       [The Wilds season 1 (Dec, 2020)]

1.     Made for Love season 1

2.     The Nevers season 1a - hard to fully judge as this is just the first half of the season, but I've so far thoroughly enjoyed this show. The characters are all engaging the cast great (particularly Laura Donnelly as the lead, Ben Chaplin and Amy Manson - and the surprise guest star in episode 6 is a welcome addition) and the plot interesting. I've heard criticism that it has too many subplots, but I've never felt that way.

       [The OA (entire show, 2 seasons, 2017-2019)] - This is certainly one of the weirdest shows I've ever seen, particularly in season 2. Season 1 was a bit slow, trying to ease the viewer into the weridness by maintaining the possibility that the protagonist was just imagining her backstory, but season 2 went full-on into craziness, SciFi/fantasy elements, complicated wotld-building and mysticism and fourth-wall breaking, and was a lot more fun for it. I would really love to see how it would all develop and be resolved if the show hadn't been cancelled - but as it stands, it's hard to judge whether it would be great or terrible if it had gotten the planned 5 seasons.

3.     It’s a Sin - Russell T. Davies' miniseries about the wat the AIDS epidemic affected a group of friends in 1980s/early 1990s UK LGBT community is engaging and increasingly harrowing. But while the three main characters are well developed, very few of the other characters are at all. And while it's perfectly OK to decide to focus exclusively on gay men rather than the broader LGBT community, considering the subject matter and scope, it is jarring that the most important female character - who gets the screentime as one of the main 4 characters - is completely underdeveloped except in the capacity as loyal companion and eventually caretaker to her male friends. I don't even have any idea if she is a lesbian, bisexual, straight or asexual/aromantic, and it would be interesting, for instance, to know her experiences as a mixed race woman, but there's nothing.

4.     WandaVision

5.     The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

6.     Prodigal Son season 2 - It's been cancelled, which is a shame (but there's talk of it moving to a streaming service). I don't usually watch network procedurals, but this one was certainly different, with great performances from Tom Payne as the titular profiler struggling with his legacy as the son of a notorious serial killer, and Michael Sheen as said psychopathic serial killer serving life in prison. The characters of socialite mother and reporter sister were also really fun, and the show injected a lot of weirdness, quirkicness and occasionally camp into the procedural formula. There were some missed chances in season 2 to focus even more on the odd serial killer family instead on the cases of the week, which were far less interesting.

       [Poldark (entire show season 1-5, ended in 2019)] - I wasn't always sure how to feel about this show.  It was always engaging and made you feel and root for many of the characters to overcome the injustices of their 18th century British environment. This was partly because the bad guys were rarely grey (except, susprisingly, one of the antagonists who started becoming slightly more sympathetic in the last season), but sometimes you just want to see heroes struggle against slavers and oppressors. But there were quite a few times when it felt like it had too much forced (melo)drama, and the main character's behavior could get really frustrating. Season 2 was especially bad in that regard, and season 4 had another frustrating plot where I facepalmed at hte protagonist' dumb behavior. But he did get better as the show went on. (One big plus for the show: really nice cinematography.)

7.     Shadow and Bone season 1

8.     Tribes of Europa season 1

I didn't dislike any of these shows, even the ones I rated lowest were between OK and meh. The only shows that I tried and immediately dropped after one episode were Rebel (Erin Brokovich-inspired network show - great cast, but felt unsubtle and not that interesting) and The Irregulars (another Netflix supernatural drama set in Victorian times, kind of a YA Sherlock Holmes-spinoff) which I really disliked (it did that thing where it seemed to pretend that racism didn't exist and no one even noticed the main characters' racial identities in Victorian England, sexism also didn't seem to exist, and their portrayal of class issues, though they made a big deal out of it, was really silly. I lost it when a crown prince - based on one of Victoria's sons - sneaks out of the palace from under the nose of his footman, because he somehow has just one person attending to him, and goes around London and meets our plucky low-class orphan WOC, with whom he looked like he was gonna have some sort of a romance...)  Both have been cancelled - in great loss.

Next: I'm finally watching season 5 of The Expanse, and have started Barry Jenkins' The Underground Railroad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

It's been a while and I have a few shows to add. Shows not from 2021 added in brackets and not numbered. New shows in red.

        [Ted Lasso season 1 (2020) - The premise didn't look like something I'd watch, so I was surprised how much I loved it and just how good it is - both funny and full of heart and modern while unabashedly optimistic. It's basically saying F off to the idea that you need to be cynical to be clever.

1.     The Expanse season 5 - one of my favorite seasons of the show. It had one of the biggest and most shocking and game-changing events of the show, but it also had a real follow-up with people responding to it, and great character stuff with emotional arcs and backstories.

       [I May Destroy You (2020)]

       [The Wilds season 1 (Dec, 2020)]

2.     Made for Love season 1

3.     The Nevers season 1a

       [The OA (2017-2019)]

4.     It’s a Sin

5.     We Are Lady Parts season 1 - this new UK comedy about a group of young Musli women in London and their punk band was a short (6 half hour epiodes), fun, easy and very enjoyablewatch, with a new perspective rarely if ever seen on TV.

6.     WandaVision

7.     Mare of Easttown - The plot wasn't always super tight, I'm unsure about some of the various plot points and how they all come together, but the resolution was very good and emotional, and Kate Winslet is great in the lead.

8.     The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

9.     Prodigal Son season 2

       [Away season 1 (2020)]  - I quite enjoyed this show about a group of astronauts on a mission to be the first to step foot on Mars, made of people from various countries. The characters and their backstories were quite interesting (Hilary Swank  is the best known star, but Mark Ivanir as a veteran Russian astronaut stole the show). I'm a bit sad it was cancelled after season 1, but on the other hand, it can stand on its own as it is as a limited series with a good ending. 

       [Poldark (entire show season 1-5, ended in 2019)]

 10.  Shadow and Bone season 1

 11.  Tribes of Europa season 1

+ shows I dropped after the first episode: Debris (not bad maybe but not very interesting and had very uncharismatic leads; Rebel (mediocre in spite of a great cast) and The Irregulars (really bad).

Season 2 of Ted Lasso will be out this June, so we'll see if the show will go down or stay in the same place or be overtaken by another. I should be adding Cruel Summer after it airs its finale in a few days, plus someshows I need to finish or catch up on or that were recently released (The Underground Railroad, Solos, Love, Victot season 2, Equinox, New Amsterdam...).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

It's been a while and I have a few shows to add. Shows not from 2021 added in brackets and not numbered. New shows in red.

        [Ted Lasso season 1 (2020) - The premise didn't look like something I'd watch, so I was surprised how much I loved it and just how good it is - both funny and full of heart and modern while unabashedly optimistic. It's basically saying F off to the idea that you need to be cynical to be clever.

1.     The Expanse season 5 - one of my favorite seasons of the show. It had one of the biggest and most shocking and game-changing events of the show, but it also had a real follow-up with people responding to it, and great character stuff with emotional arcs and backstories.

       [I May Destroy You (2020)]

       [The Wilds season 1 (Dec, 2020)]

2.     Made for Love season 1

3.     The Nevers season 1a

       [The OA (2017-2019)]

4.     It’s a Sin

5.     We Are Lady Parts season 1 - this new UK comedy about a group of young Musli women in London and their punk band was a short (6 half hour epiodes), fun, easy and very enjoyablewatch, with a new perspective rarely if ever seen on TV.

6.     WandaVision

7.     Mare of Easttown - The plot wasn't always super tight, I'm unsure about some of the various plot points and how they all come together, but the resolution was very good and emotional, and Kate Winslet is great in the lead.

8.     The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

9.     Prodigal Son season 2

       [Away season 1 (2020)]  - I quite enjoyed this show about a group of astronauts on a mission to be the first to step foot on Mars, made of people from various countries. The characters and their backstories were quite interesting (Hilary Swank  is the best known star, but Mark Ivanir as a veteran Russian astronaut stole the show). I'm a bit sad it was cancelled after season 1, but on the other hand, it can stand on its own as it is as a limited series with a good ending. 

       [Poldark (entire show season 1-5, ended in 2019)]

 10.  Shadow and Bone season 1

 11.  Tribes of Europa season 1

+ shows I dropped after the first episode: Debris (not bad maybe but not very interesting and had very uncharismatic leads; Rebel (mediocre in spite of a great cast) and The Irregulars (really bad).

Season 2 of Ted Lasso will be out this June, so we'll see if the show will go down or stay in the same place or be overtaken by another. I should be adding Cruel Summer after it airs its finale in a few days, plus someshows I need to finish or catch up on or that were recently released (The Underground Railroad, Solos, Love, Victot season 2, Equinox, New Amsterdam...).

I can't wait for Ted Lasso season 2 as well. The humor is witty and the drama is sincere. Vulnerable and down right hilarious from the stars to the side characters. Outlandish and grounded. I can't get enough of this show. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1.  For All Mankind (S1 & S2).  The first season was excellent.  The second season had a few moments of ridiculousness and melodrama, but at the end of the season I had an emotional connection to every single character.   

2.  Made for Love. 

3.  Taskmaster S11.

4.  The Wilds.  It was very good as a character study.  Yet, I found the details explaining the organization of the island situation to be very hard believe.

5.  WandaVision.

6.  Shadow and Bone.  Interesting but too fast paced.  In the end, I wanted to read Six of Crows but not the Grisha trilogy.

7.  Mandolarian S2. 

  

Non-2021

1.  Ted Lasso S1. 

--S2 starts on July 23rd.  It feels like a long way away.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These have all been watched in 2021. I cannot rank these other than they are what I liked most, and / or was impressed by in one way and another this first half of 2021.

~~~~~~~~~

The Dig – it’s a film but it was upon Netflix, which is how I watched it, not in a theater.

Lupin, both parts 1 and 2!

Strike series – A great part of the appeal, which particular appeal is lacking in the books, is that Strike is played by the actor who was Athos in The Musketeers, and the intolerable book Robin is played by the actor who was the utterly adorable Lucrezia Borgia in The Borgias. In mine idiosyncratic way I enjoy overlaying Athos and Lucrezia characters upon Strike and Robin while watching. Needless to say perhaps, The Musketeers is one of my all-time favorite television series.

Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan – History! Learned Stuff!

Brokenwood Mysteries (the earlier seasons anyway)

Warrior – Season 1; 2nd season ruined by shoving in a treacherous sister doing the dirty with brutal Irish gangster, so if I were doing a ranking, it would be at the bottom, as Lupin would be at the top.

Allan V. Farrow -- Depressing and awful portrait of how a man grooms a child for abuse; remain baffled as to why Mia didn't do anything about it, since we see his behavior with Dylan early distressed her.

Jack Irish

Mare of Easttown

McDonald and Dodds – wish the second season would show up!

Keeping Faith – though by the third season, Faith, or at least how she is continually shot in full screen facial closeup, her eyes doing what Faith’s eyes do, got to be more than wearing.

Queens of Mystery

Agatha Raisin

Gomorrah -- as usual this penultimate season ended up as impressive as the earlier ones; if ranked it would go up as #2, after Lupin.

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

Tails of Iceland

Whitstable Pearl – the pairing of the actress who plays Pearl, the private detective, and Porthos of The Musketeers as the curmudgeon police detective, in a Kentish coastal town, is hilarious.  Like Keeping Faith, a great part of the attraction are the local land and coastal scapes.

Miss Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries – Swinging 60’s Melbourne flavored Bond but women, cracks me up, plus, like Agatha Raisin, it tsunami’s with fabulous color, and is drenched in sunshine.

~~~~~~~

I haven’t yet watched the final part of the final season of Lucifer, but it will likely make this list of favored watching in the first half of this year.

I have finished viewing season 4 (2019) of Billions, but it too will likely make this list.

~~~~~~~

Then the usual suspects of reliable entertainment discovered long before the pandemic years: Vera, Death in Paradise, Murdoch Mysteries. As these aren’t new discoveries, and at least Death in Paradise and Murdoch Mysteries have reached their sell-by dates, these aren’t included in the list above.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1) Its a Sin 

2) The Expanse, Season 5

3) Master of None, Season 3 - I really enjoyed this. Its a spin off from the First two seasons and they definitely aren't required viewing. Its a very intimate, personal story that is probably a bit slow to start for some people to get into it but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lena Waithe is excellent.

[Pose, Season 2 ]

[Umbrella Academy Season 2]

[Schitt's Creek, Full Series]

[Umbrella Academy, Season 1]

[Bridgerton, Season 1 - It was fine. It was pretty easy watching popcorn costume drama. I enjoyed the acting and look of the whole thing. This was a very late release last year but I didn't watch until early 2021]

4) Shadow and Bone, Season 1

[Tales of the City - it was fine, explored some I retesting concepts but the central storyline which was supposed to tie it all together kind of brought the show as a whole down because it was...bad. Enjoyed the individual character arcs though. I would probably have said it would have worked better as an anthology with one episode per character grouping, with characters obviously crossing over from time to time. I did think the flashback episode was interesting.

I'd also say there were some issues that were touched on that weren't really explored as fully as they should have been if the writers wanted to include them. For example, there is an episode where some older White, wealthy gay men are making disparaging, hurtful remarks - racist, transphobic, etc. The show very briefly addresses this in a short confrontation but its dropped and glossed over very quickly. If you're going to bring up these very real issues I feel like you should spend the proper time on them)

5) Behind Her Eyes 

[Dead to Me, Season 2]

6) American Gods, Season 3

 

Huh, I feel like I've watch a lot of Elliot Page this year!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

        [Ted Lasso season 1 (2020) 

1.     The Expanse season 5

       [I May Destroy You (2020)]

       [The Wilds season 1 (Dec, 2020)]

2.     Made for Love season 1

3.     The Nevers season 1a

       [The OA (2017-2019)]

4.     It’s a Sin

5.     We Are Lady Parts season 1 

6.     WandaVision

7.     Mare of Easttown

8.     The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

9.     Prodigal Son season 2

       [Away season 1 (2020)] 

       [Poldark (entire show season 1-5, ended in 2019)]

 10.  Cruel Summer season 1 - For the first 9 episodes, I was sure this drama/thriller was very thoughtful and realistic and had something to say about pressures that the society puts on teenage girls through its two teen prttagonists. One of them did end up having great, complex and devastating arc about grooming and emotional abuse. I was convinced this will end up somwhere at the top of my rankings. But the finale turned out to be about sensationalism and "shocking twists" - one of which made no sense whatsoever (the most illogical thing I've seen on TV all year) and another that was actually predictable but really disappointing and reframed the whole story in a bad way.

 11. Shadow and Bone season 1

 12.  Tribes of Europa season 1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update:

1. Gentleman Jack (2019)

2. Hacks

3. It's a Sin (btw. I second the remarks upthread wrt the depiction of the only female main character)

4. Resident Alien

5. For All Mankind (season 1 but not season 2)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Time for a bunch of updates

1. Cobra Kai - the year was off to a flying start with this one. I don't know why this show is so good, but it is. It is a karate soap opera, but I love the characters, and strikes a perfect balance between evoking nostalgia and telling its own original story.

2. The Expanse - half in 2020, half this year, but all good. Some plots were weaker than others, and I know some people disliked its direction. I still saw it as a great SF story, and found it mostly solid throughout, with some moments of greatness.

3. Loki – delightful show, with great acting, music, and visuals. A quirky plot, where it’s best not to think about time travel implications. Great character development, and overall a fun adventure. Best of the MCU shows so far.

4. WandaVision - this was something else; it was fun and creative, but maybe it tried to pepper itself with too many hints and clues, thus still leaving unanswered questions. The two leads killed it, and visually it’s top notch.

4. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - I liked it, but it fell a little short in some areas. Good character moments, but with a bit of a disjointed plot. Generally entertaining, and the MCU continues to provide great visuals.

5. The Nevers - only half the season, but it won't return until next year; I've enjoyed it for the most part, it looks good, solid acting, good music, but the plot can feel all over the place sometimes; it has some pacing issues.

6. Invincible - it had a slow start, I wasn't sure what it was really going for; it seemed the story was more about the various twists than anything else, but by the end I was enjoying it. Great voice acting from everyone.

7. Superman & Lois - a CW show with the advantage of better visuals and a more cohesive story. But I'm keeping my expectations in check. Some solid episodes may push this higher on my list.

8. Resident Alien – great SF comedy, mainly driven by Alan Tudyk’s excellent performance. The plot was very silly at times.

9. Shadow & Bone – a show that pretty much hits all the tropes of YA fantasy storytelling. Good visuals and solid acting. Interesting enough to keep going.

10. Love, Death + Robots – a bit of a mixed bag; great animation for most of the episodes, but only a few of the episodes were truly special.

11. Lucifer – I finished season 5 thinking it was the end, as the show got dumber over time. Tom Ellis continued to be great, but I’m about done with the show. Thankfully the final season will be shorter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

       [Ted Lasso season 1 (2020) 

1.     The Expanse season 5

       [I May Destroy You (2020)]

       [The Wilds season 1 (Dec, 2020)]

2.     Made for Love season 1

3.     The Nevers season 1a

       [The OA (2017-2019)]

4.     It’s a Sin

5.    We Are Lady Parts season 1 

6.    Love, Victor season 2 I liked the way this season additionally fleshed out all the character and had a lot of realistc exploration of problems in relationships and various other issues the characters were facing. The storyline of a religious mother struggling to accept her son's sexuality and let go off her prejudices ingrained by her upbringing was particularly nuanced, realistic and well done. However, there was maybe a bit too much overall relationship drama and love triangles at the end of the season.

7.    WandaVision

8.     Mare of Easttown

9.     The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

10.    Prodigal Son season 2

       [Away season 1 (2020)] 

       [Poldark (entire show season 1-5, ended in 2019)]

 11  Loki season 1 - I didn't dislike it, but I was not that taken with this show. It didn't feel that new or exciting as I felt like more of the stuff seen on The Umbrella Academy/Dr Who/Legends of Tomorrow. I guess it didn't help that I'm not a comic book reader and that some moments, particularly the finale, seemed designed to ,make comic book readers excited for what 's to come in MCU, while I had to go and read articles and watch videos explaining what the deal is - but either way, it felt less like a satisfying narrative of its own and more like a setup for the next phase of the MCU.

12.  Cruel Summer season 1

 13. Shadow and Bone season 1

 14.  Tribes of Europa season 1

+ at the bottom, shows I dropped after one episode: 15. Debris, 16. Rebel, 17. The Irregulars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/15/2021 at 8:59 PM, Corvinus85 said:

Time for a bunch of updates

111. Lucifer – I finished season 5 thinking it was the end, as the show got dumber over time. Tom Ellis continued to be great, but I’m about done with the show. Thankfully the final season will be shorter.

Oh really? 10 episodes rather than 16 then?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

1.  Ted Lasso (S1 & S2).  Great blend of comedy and drama.  Great ensemble cast.  I have an emotional connection to every character, but every moment with Roy Kent is absolute gold.

2.  Sweet Tooth.  Good storytelling, good acting.  It was a lot better than I expected.

3.  For All Mankind (S1 & S2).

4.  Made for Love. 

5.  Taskmaster S11.

6.  The Wilds. 

7.  WandaVision.

8.  Shadow and Bone. 

9.  Mandolarian S2. 

10.  Hacks.  It was fun but not great.  It was hard to stay interested when the two main characters weren’t exactly likeable.

 

Non-2021

1.  The Last Kingdom (S1~4).  Big action, super fast pacing, good acting.  The villains are fun to watch.  Anyone could die at any moment (except Uhtred of course).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

updates

1. Cobra Kai - the year was off to a flying start with this one. I don't know why this show is so good, but it is. It is a karate soap opera, but I love the characters, and strikes a perfect balance between evoking nostalgia and telling its own original story.

2. The Expanse - half in 2020, half this year, but all good. Some plots were weaker than others, and I know some people disliked its direction. I still saw it as a great SF story, and found it mostly solid throughout, with some moments of greatness.

3. Loki – delightful show, with great acting, music, and visuals. A quirky plot, where it’s best not to think about time travel implications. Great character development, and overall a fun adventure. Best of the MCU shows so far.

4. WandaVision - this was something else; it was fun and creative, but maybe it tried to pepper itself with too many hints and clues, thus still leaving unanswered questions. The two leads killed it, and visually it’s top notch.

4. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - I liked it, but it fell a little short in some areas. Good character moments, but with a bit of a disjointed plot. Generally entertaining, and the MCU continues to provide great visuals.

5. The Nevers - only half the season, but it won't return until next year; I've enjoyed it for the most part, it looks good, solid acting, good music, but the plot can feel all over the place sometimes; it has some pacing issues.

6. Invincible - it had a slow start, I wasn't sure what it was really going for; it seemed the story was more about the various twists than anything else, but by the end I was enjoying it. Great voice acting from everyone.

7. Superman & Lois - a CW show with the advantage of better visuals and a more cohesive story. But I'm keeping my expectations in check. Some solid episodes may push this higher on my list.

8. Star Wars: The Bad Batch - great world building, fairly decent plot overall; titer on the edge between being a kids show and more grown up. Great visuals and music, too. Unfortunately, the BB themselves were seldom the most interesting aspect.

9. El Cid - this Spanish Amazon show is in need of a bigger budget to tell such an ambitious story. It zips through history, but it does a fair job at it most of the time. There were some ahistorical, dumb moments here and there, and battles are generally poorly represented.

8. Resident Alien – great SF comedy, mainly driven by Alan Tudyk’s excellent performance. The plot was very silly at times.

9. Shadow & Bone – a show that pretty much hits all the tropes of YA fantasy storytelling. Good visuals and solid acting. Interesting enough to keep going.

10. Love, Death + Robots – a bit of a mixed bag; great animation for most of the episodes, but only a few of the episodes were truly special.

11. Lucifer – I finished season 5 thinking it was the end, as the show got dumber over time. Tom Ellis continued to be great, but I’m about done with the show. Thankfully the final season will be shorter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has not been a good year for television or movies. The ones I've liked:

1. Mare of Easttown. Thoroughly entertaining. HBO seems to be diluting its content lately, but this show would easily fit in with their prime selection.

2. The Expanse Season 5. Best speculative fiction show on television, and right up there with Better Call Saul as the best current series on television.

3. Loki. Pretty fun. Pretty ridiculous, but one of the better works from Marvel.

4. Invincible. It was fine. It mostly felt like a children's cartoon with the occasional gore and naughty language. I probably won't continue it though, since the novelty of the violence has worn off and the story is fairly generic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...