Let Them Eat Cake – Best SHOWS of ’22 (according to me)

Oh right, I saw Squid Games this year.

It was moistly fine.

If that show is anything, it’s a masterclass in stretching out a movie idea into a tv series. I was gripped, sure, but after a while, I was fast forwarding. I didn’t care about half the people the show tried to make me care about, knowing in the end it was going to be our main guy no matter what.

Anyway, let me start with the shows we just started, which don’t have a place on this list other than to say I have a feeling that if I finished them BEFORE the year ended, the would probably be in the top 3…

Andor

I KNOW I KNOW I’M SORRY I’VE BEEN BUSY BUT WE’RE ABOUT HALFWAY IN AND IT’S GOOD

Abbott Elementary

This one came as a late rec and thankgoodness there’s at least 20 episodes to get through. Nothing worse than starting a new show and only being able to access one or two. Bingers be binging.

Poldark

Every other year we watch this series at least once. The other year is Downton Abbey, my favorite show of all time. I recently picked up the first season of script and was just amazed at how complimentary all of the pieces are. You get great shots coupled with double meanings and double meaning all throughout the dialogue. It’s chef’s kiss amazing and I wish we had more than what we do have.

Ted Lasso

Hard to say anything that hasn’t already been said. I was really into the first 6 seasons of Scrubs and really enjoyed that, so just seeing Bill Lawrence’s name in the credits makes me grin.

While writing that above section, I was reminded of some shows I haven’t seen 17 seconds of and that probably won’t change any time soon. So here’s that list randomly:

Better Call Saul

Euphoria

Handmaids Tale

MOVING ON!

NOW, for a couple of ones I really liked:

3) Peacemaker

I don’t get how James Gunn does it.

I first saw him on this AFI Top 100 scares…thingy show years ago. He had directed Slither which made the list and he had some commentary on a few other flicks, but I didn’t think much of it, MOSTLY BECAUSE SLITHER HAD A WOMAN EXPLODE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVIE AND I DON’T LIKE THAT KIND OF THING

And yet, I’ve been studying this guy like crazy. The man knows every freaking part of the form and it just makes me smile. His characters are memorable, the dialogue is funny and to the point, the music choices are ALWAYS AMAZING. The one vinyl soundtrack I have is for Guardians (my favorite Marvel movie) and it gets a lot of replay in this house.

I feel like Peacemaker ended perfectly and we didn’t need anymore, but then again, who knows? The man is now freaking running DC for the most part and breaking hearts along the way.

2) Kenobi

Look.

There’s been a lot said about this show. A lot. The chase sequence with Leia is…memorable in that it was terrible. I get that.

I get it.

But then, this happened, and spoilers:

https://www.tiktok.com/@jackoxtoby71/video/7112014167661645061?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7091636730556319278

And it broke something deep inside of me.

You can skip past my rantings if you want, but I could talk about this scene for a while AND SO I WILL.

I’ve never seen a villain let the hero off the hook.

I’m sure you have, you who have seen more movies than I have. That’s fine. But it’s like that bloody two wolves metaphor I’ve had beaten over my head for the last two decades, where there’s two wolves inside of him and JUST FOR A SECOND, Anakin feeds the good one, talks to Kenobi and ASSURES HIM “I am not your failure.” Kenobi’s been beating himself up forever about how he failed Anakin (see episode 3) and Anakin literally tells him it’s not your fault ala Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting.

Go deeper with me. Anakin’s voice breaks back to Darth Vader right at “Obi-wan.” The blue light on his face reminds us of his old lightsaber color, a time when he was good and indeed is doing something GOOD in this scene.

Then the light reflections starts to turn red as he says “you did not kill Anakin Skywalker” going fully DARK RED and he even gives us a smirk right as he admits “I did.”

Gosh. I’ve watched this like 80 times and it doesn’t get old.

I can literally forgive almost anything else in the series because of how perfect this was done.

But it can’t take my number one spot.

1) Severance

I haven’t felt this way about a show since Breaking Bad.

I have screamed at the television twice in my lovely little life. This was the first time at 1:37:

The last five seconds of Severance was the second time.

The show has a bit of a slow start. I’ll admit that, but once it gets going, it really gets going. The last episode is just non-stop every sequence makes you bite a nail or scratch your brain wondering what the heck is going on and where things are going. The unraveling of the brain dividing mystery was both shocking and unnerving as it was presented. Don’t even get me started about the waffle party.

See, you don’t even know what the hell that screenshots about.

Apple+ has a pretty sweet deal at costco right now. Get it. Give it a go. It’ probably the best streaming service right now. The quality (imo) compared to others can’t be matched. It may not have the volume of a netflix, but the difference is a whole bunch of hashbrowns to a single perfect ribeye.