2016 Media Round-Up: Telly!

[sabotabby]

Taking a break from updating my job application package to write about some more fun things, like the TV, movies, books, and music I have appreciated this year. Let's see how far I get.

Telly is the easiest to talk about because I'm a lazy bastard and I enjoy long-form narratives. In addition to things I've enjoyed in the past, like Game of Thrones, Orphan Black, and Peaky Blinders, here are some of the things that I got obsessive over this year.

Cleverman: The best show you've probably never heard of, unless you're Australian. Erroneously billed as an Aboriginal superhero show starring the whiny Nice Guy from Game of Thrones, it is actually a brilliant, subversive fantasy about racism, allyship, and indigenous identity. God, I made it sound boring and political, didn't I? It's very political, but it's also jam-packed with intriguing anti-heroes, redemption arcs, dystopian worldbuilding, and surprisingly decent special effects.

Black Sails: I just started watching it this year, although it's been going since 2014. I started watching it because it was apparently a decent pirate show with Anne Bonny as a major character, and I guess it's sort of marketed as a prequel to Treasure Island, but neither of those are things that I fell in love with. It's jaw-droppingly good. Michael Bay is the executive producer and this show singlehandedly makes everything he's done, including all the Transformers movies, okay, because it balances them out. It is as good as Transformers is bad; that's how good it is. Think of all the things we don't get to see often on television: intelligent, complex political maneuvering, well-written, complicated female antiheroes, queer characters, poly characters, lesbians who don't die horribly, anti-imperialism. I almost want to stop there because there are a whole bunch of reasons I like it that would give away critical plot points. Non-spoilery reason to watch it: Jack Rackham as a pirate Nick Cave—once you see it, you won't be able to un-see it. Season four airs soon and I'm a wee bit scared because the fates of most of my favourite characters are a foregone conclusion.

Class: I started watching this because, as a result of this being the Darkest Possible Timeline, there was no Doctor Who in 2016 other than the Christmas special. The trailers made it look like utter crap and no one was talking about it, but Peter Capaldi was in the first episode, so I gave it a whirl. It is 1000x better than the trailers would lead you to believe—hidden in the Monster of the Week premise is a surprisingly intelligent take on trauma, abuse, war, and genocide. The teacher character has to be one of my favourite fictional teachers and she is basically my Id that I shall carry around in my heart for particularly rough days at work. Also, joy of joys, there are no straight white guys in the main cast.

The Get Down: I'm not even sure why I started watching this. I'm not super into Baz Luhrmann but multiple people told me it was good, so I checked it out and then binge-watched it in like two days. It's a semi-fictional semi-musical about the birth of hip hop in New York, and the story and characters are so compelling that I ended up caring about disco. Disco. It's a story about how new art forms get made, and challenged, and co-opted. I take some issue with Luhrmann's editing choices; he needs a lighter hand, since the acting, music, and writing all really speak for themselves, but overall amazing.

Better Call Saul: The second season aired, and I'm pretty sure that it's ultimately going to be better than Breaking Bad. It's a smaller, quieter story, and again with a forgone conclusion, taking the comedic side character from Breaking Bad and giving him a backstory and inner life that is as wrenchingly tragic as it is darkly comedic.

Ash Vs. Evil Dead: I'm really shocked that like two people I know watch this. Didn't we all love Evil Dead? It's like that, only a little more heartwarming. Ash Williams is overweight, aging, and has done nothing meaningful with his life—except saving the world. Which he has done a lot. The second season sees much, much more Lucy Lawless, and also one of the grossest and funniest scenes I've ever witnessed on telly, which I watched with my hands over my eyes.

Black Mirror: I was into this show before it was cool. Thanks to #piggate, Netflix realized that Charlie Brooker was right about everything and revived the show for a third season. Aren't you glad David Cameron fucked a pig so that you could get quality TV? The best episode, of course, is San Junipero, which manages to do what Black Mirror does best—examine the societal impact of technology—while also making me cry like a wee girl.

Westworld: Yeah, everyone watched it. I also watched it. It was wonderful and gripping and upsetting and I can't believe we have to wait two years for another season, WTF?

The Magicians, Preacher, and Luke Cage: I can probably go on and on about why I loved these shows...or you can just read my reviews of each episode at terror_scifi.

What am I leaving out? What did you love this year?

Comments

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

Didja catch the Sense8 Christmas Special?

[sabotabby]

I didn't! I tend to watch most of my telly with the_axel and he hasn't seen the first series yet. I'll probably watch it tomorrow night, though.

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

I'm watching The Man in the High Castle S2 -- Alternative history where the Axis wins WW2 and there's tenuous peace between Japan/German as they occupy the US.

It's been good so far, but frustrating.

[sabotabby]

I watched the premiere, and then there was a gap before the show actually aired, so I've only seen the first one. I keep meaning to watch the rest.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I just started watching The Expanse with BC and I highly recommend it. Class struggles in space.with some really powerful characters and amazing sets.

[sabotabby]

She mentioned it in her round-up post. I think I need to check it out.

[katebacross.livejournal.com]

I agree with you re Class, which, being BBC3, was only available in the British Isles to download from the iPlayer, not broadcast. How did you view it in Canada? There has also been a surprisingly good 2-part adaptation this Christmas of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution (not usually my thing, but the cinematography was brilliant).

[sabotabby]

The same way I view many things—illegal torrenting. :) Though I think it was broadcast here, as I saw ads for it here (weirdly, ones that did not play up the DW connection).

I'm not a big Agatha Christie fan (though I am a big Agata Kristi fan) but brilliant cinematography? I'm intrigued.

[katebacross.livejournal.com]

We've also just had the second series of the brilliant sci-fi drama Humans (based on the Swedish original). Asks deep questions about AI, the nature of humanity, consciousness, etc. Definitely to be recommended.

[sabotabby]

I've heard it's great.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

I tried The Get Down, but despite liking the idea a lot, I didn't really care for the like, direction/acting/that kinda thing. I'm not a Luhrmann fan, apparently.

I watched S1 of Better Call Saul with my mom so planned on also watching S2 with her but thus due to busy schedules we've only watched like 2 eps so far, but yeah I heard it was really good, and already those 1st 2 eps showed a lot of promise (more than the 1st season, I thought). SO I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO SOMEDAY WATCHING THE REST OF THAT haha.

On a scale of the first Evil Dead to Army of Darkness, how campy is the TV show? Evil Dead 2 really hit the sweet spot for me but Army of Darkness was like, too much camp and crap looking skeletons, not enough gore for my tastes.

I did not watch Westworld because I heard it's got both JJ Abrams and Jonathan Nolan attached to it, so despite hearing about various plot elements that seemed RTMI I just STRONGLY SUSPECT I will only regret it later if I watch it, lol. Especially JJ Abrams. Every single TV show he has ever done, I watched more of it than I wish I had and then regretted all my decisions.

Mostly I watched a lot of anime as usual LOL which you're aware of. I'm typing up my anime year-in-review post right now haha. My hands hurt already. XD YOU SHOULD HAVE PUT YURI ON ICE IN THIS POST, LOL

Also got super into The Americans this year, definitely my fave live action of the year. I feel like we once talked about this before and you didn't like it or something... Oh w8, just went and dug up the time we talked about that, haha. It was you not liking how they were doing way more missions than they should have been doing! Which yeah is totes legit. BUT I STILL THINK YOU SHOULD CATCH UP ON IT SOMEDAY BECAUSE IT REALLY DOES GET BETTER WITH EVERY SEASON haha.

[sabotabby]

I was going to put Yuri on Ice in there but I actually haven't finished watching it.

And I keep forgetting about The Americans. Why and how, I have no idea. I watched like the first two seasons and loved it.

On a scale of the first Evil Dead to Army of Darkness, how campy is the TV show? Evil Dead 2 really hit the sweet spot for me but Army of Darkness was like, too much camp and crap looking skeletons, not enough gore for my tastes.

It's very camp, like Army of Darkness, but gory and splattery like the first Evil Dead. the_axel says My Name Is Bruce is a better comparison. There are no crap skeletons; the gore effects are truly excellent.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen My Name is Bruce, but ok that is helpful info!! Thanks.

Poor The Americans, it's probably b/c of how most TV watchers seem to have forgotten it too. IT'S SO TRAGIC B/C IT'S SO GOOD ARGH. I want everyone to watch it like Breaking Bad lol.

[the_axel]

I think the S2 trailer does it justice.
Loads of gore, loads of Ash being over the top (but not all the time).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzeJTAwqEJ4

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

Thanks!! That does look pretty excellently gory :D

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

Aaaaah, The Americans is AMAZING. C and I watched all of what there is this year, and I want MORE.

[sabotabby]

It's conceptually about ten billion things that I love; I just need to remember what happened so I can pick it up again.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

Oh god I have rarely had such a strong NOPE reaction as I had to episode one of Black Mirror. Didn't even finish it.

[sabotabby]

"National Anthem" or the first S3 episode?

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

The pig fucking one. It was viscerally not the kind of thing I like to watch.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

But you asked what people did love so I'll say: The Americans and Bojack Horseman and Master of None and, as ever, Transparent.

[sabotabby]

Aww, the pig-fucking one is one of my favourite episodes of TV of all time.

But how did I forget about Bojack Horseman? It's brilliant.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

There are certain kinds of horrifying that just are not recreational for me.

Oh I also loved Crazy Ex Girlfriend.

[miss-geek.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this. We just finished Westworld and The OA and we were looking for something new. Firing up cleverman now!

[sabotabby]

Yay enjoy! Everyone should be fanatical about that show.

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

I was trying to remember the other day whether it was Preacher or Lucifer that you said had a female character I might adore. I take it Preacher is the answer? (Yay, I finally remembered to ask!)

I haven't seen anything on this list but Luke Cage, but a few things are already in my to-watch list, at least.

And do you think Class is watchable to someone who's seen almost no Doctor Who (or other related shows) at all?

[sabotabby]

Yes, Preacher. Pictured in my icon. I don't like what they do with her backstory at one point, but she is still my flawless queen.

With Class, you really only need to have a vague idea of what Doctor Who is about. The Doctor shows up in the first episode to helpfully explain the concept of the show, and the final episode would have slightly less of an impact if you're not at all familiar with NuWho, but I feel that it makes sense just based on stuff you would have seen around the intertubes. The show itself is quite standalone.

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

Both of these things are good to know! ^_^

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's fair to say Cleverman was erroneously billed as an Indigenous superhero show -- it was explicitly created as such. The creator and showrunner has given a lot of interviews about his desire to create a superhero from his own culture.

BUT YOU'RE NOT WRONG THAT IT WAS VERY GOOD, despite having way too many white people.

[sabotabby]

It was, but I mean, to the extent that Coen is a superhero. I mean, I guess. I just think his story was more interesting than that.

They needed the white people. Someone has to be the antagonist. :)

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Sure, we need antagonists, but we didn't need Frances O'Connor's Nice White Lady With A Uterus, or Koen's awful hipster mate and the girl who mostly existed to be fridged!

[sabotabby]

This is true. I kind of liked the hipster mate at the end, though.

[ironed_orchid]

There were many things that irritated me, the fridging was one of them. But my irritations were more of the "c'mon you can do better than this" sort and were minor compared to how much I loved it.

I think as Australians we get to be more critical.

One of my favourite shows I saw this year was Glitch, which I missed the first time round, but watched on Netflix due to your recommendations, and finished it in 2 days.