4.) Babylon Berlin (Season 4, not NETFLIX)
I may be the only person in America watchign this show. NETFLIX still hasn't released it, so I downloaded it and watched it. Anyway, with that out of the way, man did Babylon Berlin hit it out of the park, showng with such great detail the slow rise of fascism in Germany in such interesting ways. In the world of the show, we're still a long way away from WWII, but we see the terror of the SA (the first Hitler army), the lengths the forces of good tried to no avail to stop it, and the way that the German elites of the Weimar era just kind of let it happen. What I truly loved about this season compared to its predecessor was it diving back into the joy of vibe of life in Germany in those times. Yes, so much of this is just bringing back the Moka Efti, along with a memorable song to tie it all together. Yes, the song here wasn't as show-stopper-ey as "Zu Asche, Zu Staub" in the first season, but it came pretty close in its imapct of changing the tone just enough on the light side to make it all work. Also loved the storyline of the American jew coming to get what was truly his and the end of Frau Nyssen as a side plot, especially his passable disgust when eating with his cousin's family. Anyway, back to the real stuff - the main story with the White Hand, and the illegal tribunals, and Lotte conniving her way into the heat of the battle was all so well done. But if there is anything I will take away from this season, it is that smile on Lotte's face when she realizes that Rath was role-playing as a member of the SA. Those smiles, those human moments are what make this show so damn special.
3.) Succession (Season 4, HBO)
I honestly am already thinking this is too low. Succession's last season was fabulous. I'll get to my one main gripe in the second paragraph, but man did its final season hit every incredible note. So many just purely brillaitn scenes - like Tom and Shiv arguing on the balcony on election night, to Kendall's breaking down in the finale, to Logan's speech to the kids in the karaoke room with that iconic line of "you children are not serious people." Succession at its best was the best show on TV, and has been that way for a while. It's first season was my #1 show back in 2018 where I truly think I was early to the game. The machinations got grating after a while, but it didn't out stay its welcome and ended just fine.
Ok, let's get to my gripe, which is just that the election stuff was too on the nose. If you go back and rewatch Season 1 of the show, it is odd how neutral politcally the family seems. Given what we know now you can't point to certain things to make it clear that the Roy's are right-leaning but that just wasn't teh case early on. In the end, them basically deciding the election by calling a state when a ballot site was literally on fire was a little too "real" to the close to dystopia we live in prior to the 2024 election. But if that is the show's only quibble - namely, shining a light on how broken we really are as a people, then that is actually quite defensible all things considered. Succession in the end was a masterpiece and ended that way. The drama version of Arrested Development may have ended with Buster (Cousin Greg) on the throne, but did it step by meticulous step to make it all seem believable in its insanty. The kids may have been not serious people, but the craft at hand in the show definitely was.
2.) The Last of Us (Season 1, HBO)
It's always a bit weird when my top shows air super early in the year. Granted, over the years a lot of my top shows have, be it Fargo in 2014 (May), Young Pope in 2017 (March), Tiger King in 2020 (March). The Last of Us basically started as the year did, and man was it incredible. I haven't played the video game. I didn't really know anything other than it was "another apocalypse show" or "another zombie show". And while they had some cool set pieces of the two main people or various gangs killing the infected, it was so much more. Just watch that episode with Nick Offerman as one half of this gay couple living their best isolated life, and you get that this was something special. Glad it came out this year, when the pandemic was more or less in our rear view, because we could appreciate how raw, how emotional, how brilliantly constructed this epic journey was.
The actual dynamics between Pedro Pascal's character and the little girl was fun and never boring, but focusing on that is not fair. The show itself was so much broader, so much more effective at building this barren world, despite a whole bunch of characters. Whether it was the various run ins with teh fireflies, or even the climax in the lab, the show was able to craft a whole world out of a fairly direct narrative video game. But more than anything expand on it. From what I can tell, they made up or greatly expanded side plots that are passing references in the game.
I can't wait to see where this show goes. There was a weird controversy when Pascal's character killed a bunch of scientists that in theory could have saved the world to save the girl, but I don't buy the weird controversy. First of all, this isn't real. Cordyceps is a real disease but far away from impacting humans. In the world of the show, that was a rational decision taht sets us up for a fascinating sequel season. All I hope though is the showrunners take the care to make the world even more interesting. It was the one zombie apocalypse show to focus on the people left behind, not hte zombies. Call it the anti-Walking Dead if you will. It earned that label, in the best way possible.
1.) The Bear (Season 2, Hulu)
I'm not going to lie, the fact that I love cooking plays a part in this ranking. Yes, I've longed dream of being a Carmy type and opening my own michelin star tasting menu joint. But the dirty secret of The Bear in its glorious second season is that it featured way less cooking than in Season 1. What it did feature more of was heart, was story, was unadulterated brilliance. Early on I got a bit annoyed with the whole "let's focus on a character a week" style that it took in its early installments, but like with most people who watched it, that all changed when I watched "Forks" - with Cousin going to work at Ever (a real restaurant I would love to dine at one day) and it all clicked. This is the ultimate story of growth, of yearning, of the possible.
Some of the stories of the week were just so great, like Sydney trying food all over Chicago to find what really works, to of course the incredible flashback episode of the family having Thanksgiving, fit with car through wall and yelling upon yelling in teh most charmingly awful way. This show knows its lane so well, that it cane mine perfection out of volume, out of silence, out of stoicism and out of zaniness. It left its sitcom roots a while back - it was far more drama this year - but in that it became better. With the overall plot culminating so well in the opening night, where everything generally goes OK, but that is the least OK thing that could happen for Carmy - season ending with him locked in a freezer, talking to cousin and, unbeknownst to him, his girlfriend.
The Carmy love story was even so well done in this season, as we all fell so in love with Molly Gordon just like Carmy did - knowing that she is too good for Carmy. Just like all the women on the show are too good for their men (definitely Gillian Jacobs character for Cousin). The Bear I guess is even better if you are one with Chicago and what not, but evevn if not, even if just viewing as an outside who loves perfect dramatic storytelling, The Bear was insanely good this year. I don't know where this would rank on all my #1 shows over the years. Definitely not the best, but nowhere near the worst either. And I think it would hold up - this was just a fantastic season of television, start to finish by writers who wrote for actors who embodied these neurotic, driven, weird, funny, charming, painful people.
