I watched an awful lot of television this year, and it's time to put together a list of the highlights. A quick reminder before we start that I'm a big genre nerd, notoriously bad with comedies, and have a neverending "To Watch" list.
I'm using Emmy rules for cutoff dates, which means that this list covers everything from the summer of 2019 to the spring of 2020. I've categorized "Small Axe" as a series of movies, rather than a miniseries. Entries are unranked, and I'm limiting myself to one episode per show or miniseries. Awfully difficult to tell the difference these days.
The "Plus One" spot is reserved for the best episode I didn't watch in time to include on a previous list.
And here we go. I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum.
Lovecraft Country, "Sundown" - "Lovecraft Country" was a very uneven show, but its premiere episode was a clear winner. It compares the existential horror of being black in 1950s Jim Crow America with the threat of Lovecraftian monsters in one of the tensest, weirdest hours of television I've ever seen. The show fulfills its promise of showing black leads in familiar genre situations, while confronting the discomfort of the historical reality of American race relations head-on. And the top shelf HBO production values and sterling cast don't hurt either.
Fargo, "Welcome to the Alternate Economy" - I've missed "Fargo." This is another season that didn't shake out as well as I would have liked, but it has such a fantastic beginning. It charts the history of the different ethnic mafia organizations that vie for control of Kansas City, Missouri, before finally coming to the current conflicts in 1949. It's chock full of all of Noah Hawley's favorite little quirks and devices, from the framing devices to the stompy dance number, to the captions, but it feels like something truly different and distinct from the previous seasons.
Raised by Wolves, "Mass" - This is the best piece of science-fiction we've gotten from Ridley Scott in a while, and so much of its effectiveness comes down to the tone and the atmosphere achieved by the production. There's a truly alien quality to the look and the performances of the leads, and it was one of the year's biggest disappointments that this lessened as the season went on. I appreciate the icky viscerality of the visuals and special effects. The big, crazy action set piece that erupts at the climax is one of the best surprises of the season.
The Queen's Gambit, "End Game" - I vacillated between picking the premiere episode or the finale, and ultimately went with the finale. It's so emotionally satisfying, and features so many elements that the series has become known for - Anya Taylor Joy's performance, the glorious production design, and the fairy tale flourishes. It really becomes clear in this episode that the show has been constructing a lovely piece of feminist fantasty, where every rival can become a friend, and there's no limit to how high a talented, persistent woman can climb.
Ted Lasso, "The Hope That Kills You" - This was the hardest show to choose an episode for, but ultimately I went with the season finale, which does such a great job of playing with the viewer's emotions and setting up the next season. The show has proved over and over again that it is not what it appears to be on the surface, that it's about the characters and their growth as much as the game. And you only really learn who people are when you see them deal with big challenges. The ending may have been a downer, but it was the perfect capper for this season.
The Crown, "The Balmoral Test" - It was a tough choice between this and "Fairytale," the Charles and Diana wedding episode, but I like "The Balmoral Test" for the way it spotlights Margaret Thatcher, and the way it uses the metaphor of the two visits to illustrate the disconnect between the royals and the government. The show spends so much time with Elizabeth and her brood, it's rare to see them from a wholly different perspective, and Thatcher is of course a perfect outsider. Finally, it's a shame we only got Emma Corrin's Diana for one season.
I May Destroy You, "Ego Death" - I tried multiple times to get through the series, and failed. Between my struggling with the characters' accents and the slice of life nature of the storylines, it just wasn't going to happen. Finally, I just went ahead and watched the ending, which is a beautiful, healing, life-affirming episode of television, where the heroine makes peace with her demons, and is able to move forward with her life. I expect to see Michaela Coel everywhere and in everything soon, and look forward to whatever she decides to do next.
The Flight Attendant, "Rabbits" - What I love the most about "The Flight Attendant" is its wonderful energy and immediacy. This is the second episode of the show, where our heroine Cassie decides to flee a bad situation. The whole hour is full of tension and thrills as she tries to evade the police, makes several terrible mistakes, and starts down a dangerous path. The writers also do a tremendous job of setting up several characters and relationships that are important for the rest of the season - notably Cassie's fantasy segments with a chatty murder victim.
Mare of Easttown, "Miss Lady Hawk Herself" - The series follows the familiar template of a detective solving a murder in a small town, and turning up everybody's secrets. So naturally, the premiere is as much about Easttown as it is about Mare, and director Craig Zobel and writer Brad Inglesby do such a pitch perfect job of it, setting up all these different groups of characters and their dynamics, while hinting at the traumas hiding just under the surface. When tragedy does strike, it feels almost like the natural result of so much tension finally exploding.
The Underground Railroad, "Mabel" - I had some trouble deciding which episode of "The Underground Railroad" to spotlight, and I settled on the finale, "Mabel," which is a mostly self-contained flashback to events that happen before the rest of the series. It's a wonderfully raw piece of television, and all the actors are wonderful, especially Sheila Atim as the title character. The series is full of so much trauma, ambiguity, and darkness, it's a relief to get a concrete answer to one of the show's biggest mysteries in this chapter.
Honorable Mention:
Invincible, "Where I Really Come From"
Plus One:
For All Mankind, "Hi Bob"
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