The best and worst of 2018 TV

best tv shows of 2018, what to watch on Netflix now
Here we go; these are 2018 TV shows, that I enjoyed the most:

1. Better Call Saul. Who knew "It's all good, man." could be such a punch to the gut.
2. The Americans. Perfect show, my two favorite actors, a finale that elevated this already spellbinding show. I keep thinking about the scene on the platform, and the last one overlooking Moscow.
3. Sharp Objects. Jean-Marc Vallée is my current favorite director, a millennial George Cukor. In total control of the music, cinematography, style, with an absolute love for actresses. I wasn't looking forward to this, it's not my favorite Gillian Flynn, but as soon as Amy Adams started rolling into Wind Gap, it was clear this was going to be special.
4. Riverdale, well obvi.
5. Daredevil. About this: a lot of critics when choosing the best TV of 2018 look for shows with a highbrow feel to it. I love those quality shows, but what I love more is a show that even cheesy, sets out do a thing, here making a Catholic redemption story about a tortured ninja, filled with incredible fight sequences, without sacrificing characterization and nailed every aspect of it.
6. Lodge 49. If you love the Big Lebowski or Cali col, this is the show.
7. The Good Fight. I couldn't tell you now, after a few months, what it was all about, there was the pee-pee tape, lawyers getting murdered, lots of banter...but it's so good, that I consider The Good Wife a prequel.
8. Black Mirror. Technically it came out on 29 Dec 2017,  but what the hell. Included for Hang the Dj and USS Callister, well apart from the Black Museum, the others were great too.
9. Orange is the new black, after a turbulent season, that I enjoyed a lot, they hit back with a structured, disciplined, effective chess game gone mad.


The shows that disappointed me the most. Of course, here hype comes into play. With the majority of these, I pushed myself to finish because of all the praise heaped onto them.

1. The Bodyguard.
It felt like season one, and two of Homeland were poured into an English setting. Carrie and Brody falling for each other were a stretch, made entirely believable by fantastic likable actors. Why David and Julia hook up, remains bewildering to me. Here the circumstances and craziness were poured onto the characters, smothering them, the plot took over, and no matter how much David kept scrunching his face, I never for once felt for him. I would have stopped watching if not for the good reviews, saw the whole show, but I didn't get swept up into it at all. And SPOILER I never believed David could be a bad guy. ( ps Homeland did it better, it made you doubt Brody was a good guy).

2. Jack Ryan
Wow, talk about hype. John Krasinski is miscast in it. Like Richard Madden in the Bodyguard, he keeps looking around, puzzled, and I didn't buy it one bit that he had seen combat or could even work computer. Too bad dear Bunk, I mean Wendell Pierce, was in this. On Prime, I enjoyed The Looming Tower and Bosch a whole lot more.

3. The Affair
I mean, WTF. Some best of the year lists include the scene where Alison is washing dishes and reality switches from light to dark. Really? For that hoodwink? That magic trick covered a season going off the rails caused by behind-the-scenes chaos. They should have ended it when Allison had managed to pick herself up, start a business, etc.
When it started the Affair showed how the out-of-towners disrupted a beachside community, that was made fragile by tragedy and recession. There was a power play going on, the powerful and arrogant, incarnated by Noah taking hold of Alison and Cole's lives. But Karma prevailed, Noah went to prison,  was miserable, and Alison finally took her power back returning home after a stilted stint among the New York elite. She gained autonomy. End of show. But no, they went on and on, and suddenly we have to believe that Alison was a character without recourse that due to the tragedy that she managed to survive was doomed from the start. Oh please. I loved the Affair, but the Noah and Helen's were the installments you had to get through to see how Alison and Cole dealt with these arseholes.  Sometimes writers and showrunners hate their show, that's the only explanation for this mess.

4. The Walking Dead.

This season is better than last season. Last season suffered from the same sabotage by showrunner as the Affair. Killing off Carl was head-scratching and doing it in such a weak way, suddenly this kid is the Messiah, was laughable.

5. Killing Eve. I know, you loved it, I will get to it.




The best scenes/sequences of the year:


1. Better Call Saul: Nightlife. My absolute favorite. The lyrics are spot on, so funny, so tragic — just genius.




2. The Americans can be a bit of a downer. And Elisabeth Jennings caring for a cancer patient, to extract information from her husband is an excellent example of that. But Elisabeth staring at the haunting paintings of this artist/patient; empty eyes, open mouths, while being pushed by the patient to start seeing the world with more than just a cold stare, to give art a chance, finally put the Americans in the masterpiece classification. Religion couldn't touch Elisabeth; everything America stands for she hates, but art finally reaches her dead and rigid heart. With no words, Elisabeth finally finds her soul. And the Americans states his claim, reflecting on what's essential, what freedom entails, and on the show own merits.

3. The prison fight scene in Daredevil. Like Mr. Robot's riot in an office building, this was all filmed in one take, and poor Charlie Cox must have been going crazy getting the choreography of it all right. Fantastic fight scene.


Others I liked: The smoothie scene in Dirty John, starting of healthy and fresh, but ending up nauseating, like the relationship itself. The widening of the screen when Heidi regains her memory in Homecoming. Sharp objects Camille and Amma rollerskating, ending up on the lawn of that sickening house. OITNB Caputo singing Springsteen to Natalie in the bar. The opening credit sequence of Sabrina.


My least favorite scenes.
These were all in Killing Eve.
I loved Fleabag. LOOOVE it. And I am glad is getting so much recognition, Phoebe Waller-Bridge rules. And I get it, the deadpan, the exaggerated ordinary details, the ridiculousness of it all. But here we have M.I.5 spies confronting an international killer believed to be extremely dangerous and:
Bill spots her on the platform and alone decides to follow her into a crowded nightclub. Unarmed? Extremely dumb scene.

In Episode 4, “Sorry Baby,” three assassins (including Villanelle) park their car in a village in open view, start messing with some big ass guns, with silencers (?!) Later Villanelle, aims a gun closing one eye. What follows is a high-speed chase through the English countryside, people shooting these enormous assault weapons out of their cars, Frank ended up at the path in the woods and waits in his car, while surrounded by forests for the assassins to get to him. By a miracle, he can get out, and then he again cowers one bush down from the road, instead of running through the woods.
Then when Eve saves him, instead of getting out of there, she confronts Villanelle, while the target is still in the car. Why didn't Villanelle shoot Frank by then, nice that she likes you, Eve, but the girl was still has a job to do. These are the scenes that drive people on Reddit crazy. The stupidity is not a moot point.

alright, what were you favorites of the year?