Before the blog heads on a break next week, my Top 10 this week is Top 10 Episodes of 2021!
10. WandaVision "Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience" (1/15/21)
7. Schmigadoon! "How We Change" (8/13/21)
5. For All Mankind "The Grey" (4/23/21)
3. Mare of Easttown "Sacrament" (5/30/21)
1. Ted Lasso "Carol of the Bells" (8/13/21)
Close Calls
This is Us "One Small Step" (3/23/21)
Modern Love "On A Serpentine Road, with the Top Down" (8/13/21)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine "The Last Day" (9/16/21)
As I've probably stated before on the blog, I am not a Marvel fan. But I was willing to cast that aside for WandaVision because of its homage to classic TV. And while I was mostly uninterested in the mythology, I absolutely loved each classic sitcom that it paid tribute to. Perhaps the most impressive visually though was the first episode, a clear tribute to The Dick Van Dyke Show and actually filmed (pre-pandemic) in front of a live studio audience as the title of the episode says. It wasn't even a parody, the episode was played straight as a 60s sitcom save for a couple odd moments and its commitment to the form was pretty impressive.
9. Impeachment: American Crime Story "Stand by Your Man" (10/26/21)
The third installment of American Crime Story was compelling at times and very unfocused at other times. One of my gripes with the show was it didn't have much of a point of view in the way the very successful first season about OJ Simpson did. It had its best episode though when it had to create more of the drama instead of relying on facts and recollection. The "Stand by Your Man" focused almost exclusively on the Clinton marriage and of course the Clintons were contributing to the series like Monica Lewinsky. Edie Falco, who was used sparingly for much of the season, shined here as the betrayed wife who happened to also be the First Lady of the United States and how much it hurt because of the partnership they always had.
8. Superstore "All Sales Final" (3/25/21)
Superstore ended its run this past spring and spent its final season being one of the few shows that was actually very equipped to handle COVID in its story and do so in an effective way. It was never a very consistent show but I grew to love the characters over the six seasons. It was fitting that the finale would deal with a store closing as the show was always a workplace sitcom set in a precarious business. The series was cynical at times but often it was hopeful. In some ways, it was a little bit of the feel of The Office mixed with the optimism of Parks and Recreation. So I was glad to see the series ended with a focus on the work family and the happy endings many of them got.
I thought the short summer run of Schmigadoon was incredibly charming and fun. As a lover of musicals, I appreciate the good natured love letter this show was. It wasn't cynical by any means, it was just big-hearted in every way. And even though I know they were manipulating me a bit as an audience member at the end (like most musicals do), I could help but get just a little bit choked up watching the final number. When it aired, Broadway still wasn't back and live theatre was few and far between so maybe that made me extra emotional to see everyone singing and dancing together with such joy.
6. Pose "Take Me to Church" (5/16/21)
In the final season of Pose, we got an origin story of sorts for Billy Porter's Pray Tell. It was a heartbreaking episode with Pray Tell nearing death and trying to sort out a very complicated history in his small town and church. It was a real showcase for Porter and not just because he got to sing, but because we got to learn much more about the character. Pray Tell had lived a lavish life at times but he was still a little boy in that church and a confused teenager when meeting up with old acquaintances. I don't even think we needed any flashbacks, Porter really conveyed everything so well and the episode was littered with great guest turns as well.
The final episode of the strong second season of For All Mankind was a harrowing hour of TV. The alt-history series had been building tension all season both in space travel and in the relationship between Michael Dorman's Gordo and Sarah Jones' Tracy. Both stories came to a head in a very tense finale that required the on-again, off-again couple to complete a task together and risk their lives. I won't say what happened in case anyone reading this wants to still watch the show, but I will say it was a very compelling finale. The final glimpses that showed where the series is heading in Season Three was also quite exciting.
4. The White Lotus "Departures" (8/15/21)
I was captivated all summer by The White Lotus. I loved how it felt simultaneously like you were on vacation with the characters while there was also a strong feeling of unease and discomfort. It's hard to pick a single episode from the series because it really did feel like one long story but I ultimately went with the finale because creator Mike White had absolutely no intention of making us feel better about the characters or ourselves by the end. There were a couple very sympathetic characters but so many others you wanted to slap at times. The finale showed how a group of selfish people can swoop in, leave varying degrees of destruction and then swoop out while life goes on for the less fortunate still there. It was uneasy and not a traditional finale and I loved it.
So often the "who done it" shows end up being a bit of a disappointment. The hype throughout the season makes the finale never quite feel as satisfying as one hopes. Mare of Easttown could have easily fallen into the trap especially because the reveal of the killer in the finale was a little bit "ehhh" for me. But what made Mare so impressive was how much the finale showed to me that I didn't actually care who did it despite the popular "murder rankings" and all the speculation about the killer. But this show was ultimately a character drama, not a crime drama and the finale beautifully explored the way the actions of the series impacted the characters we cared most about. The finale was extremely satisfying for very different reasons than I expected.
2. Succession "Chiantishire" (12/5/21)
I was a big fan of the third season of Succession all the way through and I really enjoyed the finale that just aired as the well as the horribly uncomfortable Kendall's birthday party episode. But I ultimately went with the one in between those two episodes because it did such a great job of building the tension and leaving everyone talking. It also made expert use of Italy in a way that The Morning Show could only dream of. The setting was lavish and the sniping between family members was delightful as usual with the estranged matriarch getting in on the action too. But the last couple minutes which involved a super cringeworthy moments between Roman and Logan as well as a cliffhanger involving Kendall made everyone hardly able to wait for the next episode. Succession is one of the few shows I watch the same night it airs because it's just too hard to wait.
The best episode of 2021 was a Christmas episode that aired in the middle of the summer. The writers of Ted Lasso had a ten episode season planned when Apple came to them and wanted two extra episodes so they planned two one-off episodes and one of them was a completely charming, throwback episode that instantly joined the list of all time great Christmas episodes. From the claymation opening to the Christmas singalong closing, it was the most feel-good episode from a usually feel-good show. The episode earned a little bit of criticism for being too treacly but I like my Christmas episodes to have a little bit more sappiness than an average episode. It put me in the Christmas spirit even on the hot day I was watching it. It's a classic.
Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at Rachel Gunn, R.N.!
Tuesday, Jan 4: Top 10 The Good Wife Characters!
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