BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2021: Outstanding Writing of a Limited/Anthology Series

Today's award is Outstanding Writing of a Limited/Anthology Series!

Check out the nominees and winner from 2020!

This year's nominees are:

JULIA BICKNELL, The Haunting of Bly Manor "The Beast in the Jungle" (Netflix)

LAURA DONNEY, WandaVision "Previously On" (Disney+)

SCOTT FRANK, The Queen's Gambit "Adjournment" (Netflix)

BRAD INGELSBY, Mare of Easttown "Sacrament" (HBO)

BARRY JENKINS, The Underground Railroad "Chapter 9: Indiana Winter" (Amazon)

ERIKA L. JOHNSON & JEFF AUGUSTIN, The Good Lord Bird "Mister Fred" (Showtime)

And the Winner Is...

BRAD INGELSBY

Mare of Easttown "Sacrament" (HBO)

It can be really tough to stick the landing on a murder mystery show. From Twin Peaks to The Undoing, fans have been left disappointed by resolutions of long murder arcs across a season or an entire limited series. So it was very impressive that Mare of Easttown had such a satisfying resolution and it was not so much because of the reveal of the killer (which may have pushed plausibility just a little bit) but because it was all about how the story impacted the characters we had grown to care about. Sure, people cared about the reveal (there were "Murder Rankings" after all) but the finale was so expertly scripted that it really made that key moment a small part of the overall story. Brad Ingelsby did a masterful job of traversing across the better part of a year during the one hour finale and giving service and time to each character they needed to. The finale (and entire series) avoided fluff in the story and knew how to focus on the right characters at the right times. If only more murder mysteries were written this well.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:

There was some strong writing across very different shows in the limited series realm. WandaVision broke from the rest of its story for a very dialogue-centric penultimate episode that included the much repeated line "what is grief, if not love persevering?" The finale of The Haunting of Bly Manor traded most of its spooks and scares for a really well written conclusion. The penultimate episode of The Queen's Gambit was very effective at creating the downward spiral of Beth. The "Mister Fred" episode of The Good Lord Bird was a different type of episode with some great dialogue for Daveed Diggs' Frederick Douglass. Finally, the heartwrenching "Indiana Winter" episode of The Underground Railroad really advanced the story more than the other nine in an effective way.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Writing of a Comedy Series!