Top 20 TV Shows of 2021, #15 - 11

15.) Mythic Quest (Season 2, AppleTV)

I watched both season 2, and season 1 (which came out in 2020) this year, though this ranking is purely based on my opinions of Season 2, which I found a slight step down from Season 1 despite some really interesting places they took the story. The potential takeover angle definitely grew Danny Pudi's character far more than Season 1 was able to, and the breakdown of the two testers was a really nice romantic arc for a show that has steadfastly avoided that for its main roles. I'm interested to see where a Season 3 would go now that Iain and Poppy have left Mythic Quest but what I really hope the show continues to do is lay into how weird that industry is. Also maybe even more of the period episodes - I don't think this years one of the genesis of CW was as good as the one in Season 1, but man can they pull those one-off episodes off just magically.

14.) I Think You Should Leave (Season 2, NETFLIX)

I watched the first season in 2019 when it came out, but didn't rank it for some unknown reason. It was fantastic then, and even if Season 2 didn't hit the unbelievable heights of Season 1, it was still a phenomenal sketch show so brilliantly constructed by a man who SNL did no favors. Even this many months later just thinking about sketches like 'I'm an Asshole', the professor who eats his meal, Coffin Flop and Dan Flashes are enough to put a wild smile on my face. If there's any small criticism of the show is how similar of structure most of the sketches have - in particular just going so far into awkwardness. In the end though, Tim Robinson has a great show from memeable moments, to great delivery, to a seeming unending well of ideas. Can't wait for what's next.

13.) Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 11, HBO)

I have no idea how this show remains this good at coming up with so many amazing scenarios to tear down eleven years into its run. Case in point was the idea if you can say a divorced woman is grieving when her ex dies. The show was so good in this season even if the main plot was a bit up and down - everything to do with Maria Sofia was golden, but Larry's weird tryst with the councilwoman was a bit grating. Individual episodes just remained brilliant though, with the episode with the Klansman, everything to do with Gabby and so much more. At this point I assume Curb will come back, and as always I'll be right there to lap it up.

12.) Lupin (NETFLIX)

Admittedly, post its first half season at the start of the year, I mentally was expecting Lupin to end up higher. The back half released later in the year was still good and mostly wrapped up Season 1 in a fair, memorable way, but I do think the cons, the acts, the ridiculousness got slightly too much. Especially his escape from the bathroom at the rest stop, the one that the show never went back and explained. The show itself though was just so much fun, both with everything that Assane Diop did and even the more tertiary characters - by and large every person with the police was entertaining. I'll forgive a few slight overdone elements of grandeur for a show that was just consistently entertaining.

11.) The Serpent (NETFLIX)

I had no idea of the story of Charles Sobhraj, and I'm surprised abotu that because he in theory should be one of the more notorious serial murderers in the 20th century. But I will forever thank The Serpent for enlightening me to him, as so brilliantly played by Tahar Rahim. He embodied Sobhraj's quiet ability to pull people in. The show itself did well to focus just on Sobhraj and the two Dutch diplomats the furiously tried to ID him. The show got some admittedly fair critiques for the time jumping creating a story that was too hard to follow, but that just added to the mania of Sobhraj's reign of terror. In the end, The Serpent fairly told a story of a monster without ever trying to portray Sobhraj as any less than one. We didn't need an introspective look at Sobhraj's life. What we needed was a show that explored crimes and did so with real authenticity.