- "The Winds of Winter" – Game of Thrones
- "Toast Can Never Be Bread Again" – Orange is the New Black
- "Exciting and New" – Transparent
- "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" – The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
- "Fish Out of Water" – Bojack Horseman
- "Faith" - Outlander
- "Meinertzhagen’s Haversack" – Silicon Valley
- "Travel Agents" – The Americans
- "NIM" – Halt and Catch Fire
- "Episode 7" – American Crime
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#1. Better Call Saul
Season 2 In 2016, television did not get better than BSC: the surprises were more shocking and had more of an impact; every scene, every shot, was vibrant and alive; and every character felt even more alive and urgent. Saul was already one of the biggest anomalies on TV when it debuted in 2015. How do you follow up a best-of-all-time show like Breaking Bad and not disappoint? Turns out, Vince Gilligan and Co. were not to be put in a corner. As crazy as it sounds, the quality of BCS season 2 was absolutely on par with its predecessor. I never thought I’d be saying such a thing, but waiting for the next episode of Saul every week made me more excited than any other show could in 2016. I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for season 3, waiting for the continual devolution of Slippin' Jimmy. #2. Rectify
Season 4 By far the TV event I was dreading most last year, the final season of Rectify came and went as quietly, as under-seen, as fragile, and as beautifully as it began four years ago. The fourth and final season finds Daniel at a reintegration home in Nashville, making the smallest of baby steps toward overcoming his demons. His family, at home in Georgia, also have to come to terms with this new life, one that involves letting Daniel go. There were no awards-baiting scenes of melodrama and no cut-and-dry reveals about the murder of Hannah; the show remained pure Rectify up until its final moments of hopeful melancholy. As if I needed any more convincing, season 4 only cemented Rectify on my list of greatest shows of all time. #3. The Americans
Season 4 Game of Thrones may put a lot of dramas to shame, but no other show out there is as consistent as FX’s The Americans. Not since Breaking Bad has a show continuously topped itself with every season. By now, The Americans is a force of nature that cannot be stopped. We all see the players headed for a major collision; it’s inevitable at this point. Paige, a daughter now living with her parents’ dirty huge secret, is a ticking time bomb ready to blow. A self-sustaining source of tension. The Martha and bioweapon storylines, both extraordinary, were simply icing on the cake. The show can speed by a year in a single scene or take its time, stretching out moments into forever, but it never feels dull. The penultimate fifth season will debut this year and there is no doubt in my mind it will upend all my expectations. There’s no safer bet. Best episode: Take your pick... Any will do. My vote goes to collecticely to episodes seven ("Travel Agents") and eight ("The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears"). #4. Game of Thrones
Season 6 After a brief stumble with season 5, Game of Thrones pounced back to life breathing fire and made sure we never doubted it ever again. It may have not been the biggest shock when Jon Snow breathed in life anew at the end of “Home,” but his resurrection was emotionally, lyrically, and narratively satisfying nonetheless. The same can be said for the season as a whole; the most shocking thing about season 6 was just how victorious and uplifting it was. The good guys claim major victories, the psychotic bastard of house Bolton falls, Khaleesi sails for Westeros (Finally!), family reunions make us weepy, we don’t lose any beloved Stark’s (sorry Rickon), Arya heads home, and long-gestating fan theories are confirmed/put to bed. Whew! No other show on television does what Game of Thrones does week after week. Even 2016 blockbuster movies failed to rally the troops the way “The Battle of the Bastards” did. Despite the occasional headscratcher - the conclusion of Arya’s Bravos storyline comes to mind - Westeros was a wild and entertaining as ever. Now, a long moment of silence for Hodor, the proof that every victory on this show has a catch. Best Episode: "The Winds of Winter" - In terms of sheer spectacle, "The Battle of the Bastards" (pictured above) was more awe-inspiring than any summer blockbuster. That said, the season finale was the perfect example of Game of Thrones at its best. From the awesome shocks to the gruesome deaths to the sprawling storytelling to the stunning visuals, "The Winds of Winter" delivered. My personal favorite moment, the one I rewound the most, was the confirmation of Jon Snow's parentage. Epic cannot even describe this show anymore. Also, "The Door" is an episode that will forever be remembered as one of the greats. Hodor :( #5. Bojack Horseman
Season 3 The promotional poster for season 3 featured a close up Bojack’s face and his name alongside the likes of Soprano, Draper, and Underwood. It seems like a nice joke to put the name of a cartoon horse alongside the antiheroes of those esteemed prestige dramas, but season 3 of this deft and hilarious Hollywood satire sure made a damn good case for Bojack’s name in the elite club. Season 3 sidelined all predictable plot possibilities - Bojack begins his a tough uphill journey of self realization after making the moves on his best friend’s daughter - and ventured into the unknown - Bojack spirals deeper into despair on a failed Oscar campaign, making every terrible choice imaginable along the way. Cartoon animals have never been this dimensional. As described here, the show sounds like a bummer, but Bojack Horseman is that tiny miracle of a show that gets funnier as it gets more painful. Best Episode: "Fish Out of Water" - This episode made a big splash - sorry, I had to - when Netflix aired season 3. Bojack attends an underwater film festival to promote his new film, beef up his Oscar prospects, and hopefully stay out of trouble. This being Bojack, he winds up doing none of these things. The episode plays as a silent film - Bojack can't understand the underwater language - that forces the titular horse to live inside his haunted head a while and comfront some of his sins. For a close second, "That's Too Much, Man!" brings the emotional climax of the season. For everything, including emotion, that Bojack Horseman does well, though, along with some technical wizardry, "Fish Out of Water" is the episode to see. #6. Orange is the New Black
Season 4 After a tonally inconsistent third season that failed up to live up to the exceptional promise of season 2, Orange is the New Black roared back to life in season 4. The horrors of privatization continued to loom and expand in frightening ways, making OITNB more relevant than ever. More prisoners were packed into smaller places, the races grouped together tightly and defensively against other races, and the lovable guards from seasons past morphed into abusive, ex-army monsters. Under the clouds of hate and confusion, I found light all season in Samira Wiley’s Poussey, by far the MVP of the season. The less said about the conclusion to her season 4 arc the better. I see pitch black storm clouds brewing over season 5. Best episode: "Toast Can't Never Be Bread Again" - One of the seminal episodes of 2016, this season finale was beautiful, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and controversial. A full-on race riot/inmate revolt errupts after the (SPOILER ALERT) death of fan favorite Poussey, leading up to the most nail-biting cliff hanger of the year. The rest of the season could have been mediocre, and this one game-changing episode would have still found OITNB on my Best Of list. #7. Horace & Pete
I’ve already lauded Better Things as the successor to Louie, but Horace & Pete never had intentions of being anything like CK’s flagship show. Actually, what makes H&P one of the best shows of 2016 is that it aims to fill no shoes, plays by no established rules, and is beholden to no studio. Straight out its creator’s pocket and brain, H&P feels like the rawest, most undiluted pathway we’ve ever had into the comedian’s brain. Rambling, devastating, and extremely funny-in-theory, this was must-see television for anyone with the stomach to deal with drama this raw and heart this exposed. If the familiar, generational pain that made up the show’s backbone could be focused in on one actor (in a cast of many exceptional performances), it would have to be Steve Buscemi’s titular Pete. I won’t say more. Just see it. Best Episode: Episodes 3 & 9: In terms of viruoso writing and acting, the third episode of the show is the one to watch. Critics have raved over Horace's reunion with his ex-wife, and for good reason. The monologue guest star Laurie Metcalf gives about her affair with her current father-in-law is unmissable. My personal favorite, however, is the season's penultimate episode, the final scene with Buscemi's Pete, who by this point is unreachable in his mental sickness, will slay anyone with a pulse. Basically, every episode of this groundbreaking series pushed boundaries and should be viewed immediately. #8. Halt and Catch Fire
Season 3 What began as a weak, even slightly pathetic, attempt by AMC to re-spin Mad Men gold has bloomed into one of TV’s most emotional dramas. The transference of focus from Joe MacMillan’s tortured white revolutionary to the powerhouse team of Donna and Cameron at Mutiny is possibly the smartest course correct in all of television history. Now legitimate Silicon Valley contenders, Cam and Donna make deals, work through crumbling/burgeoning relationships, and attempt to overcome the industrial sexism relevant only to the 1980’s…Good one, right? It’s a shame H&CF is ending after the upcoming fourth season, right when it is finally reaching the Draper-esque quality control it yearned for in season 1. Best Episode: "NIM" - This season's Comdex adventure was the most impactful and emotionally satisfying yet. Donna tries to get everyone back together, but the real punch comes in the form of Joe and Cameron's reunion. It's a grade-A culmination of the Joe/Cameron relationship the show has established over three seasons. And that Pixies-scored party sequence? "Velouria" has never sounded so bittersweet. |
Jordan JamesArchives
January 2016
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