5. “This Extraordinary Being” – Watchmen
Watchmen is doing things onscreen with race, heroism, and trauma that no other show is doing or possibly has ever done. And with “This Extraordinary Being” it doubles down on all those things, while also delivering a spectacular technical episode, as Angela is subsumed by and bounces through her grandfather’s memories. It also answers an age-old mystery: the identity of Hooded Justice. I am not a longstanding fan of the Watchmen comics, so I’ll admit that personally, this twist means very little to me. But the show’s decision to finally reveal his identity: a black man forced to disguise himself to get anyone to accept his help, is a very strong and laudable decision. Watchmen has a lot to say about white supremacy in America (more than I can say in this measly paragraph) but in “An Extraordinary Being” it says it more strongly, and artfully, than ever.
4. “ronny/lily” – Barry
For the two seasons it’s been on the air, Barry has been quietly expanding in directions unheard of and unexpected, and it’s great. It’s been leveraging its artistic clout to branch out far beyond its initial premise, embracing its ensemble cast and really delving into whatever artistic visions it can muster. No episode exemplifies this better than “ronny/lily,” an utter departure from Barry’s acting arc, that unexpectedly dips into the possibly supernatural and the definitely utterly weird, with not a word of warning and scarcely any acknowledgment after the fact. Directed by Bill Hader himself, the episode features extended single shots, highly choreographed fights, and a father-daughter team who are, if not a pair of semi-immortal warrior vampires, at least a really excellent human approximation of such. The episode is utterly bizarre, and it allows Stephen Root to really shine as Fuches, outstripped only by Jessie Giacomazzi as the titular Lily, one of the show’s best unexplained creations.
3. “Vichnaya Pamyat” – Chernobyl
The final episode of Chernobyl doesn’t have any of the visceral effects of the previous episodes — no acute radiation poisoning, no brutal dog hunting, no helicopters dropping out of the sky or frantic dosimeters ticking themselves out of commission. But it does have something much scarier, and what is perhaps the actual intended horror of the all-around excellent miniseries — it has the full imposing terror of the Soviet state holding a trial for an event it inadvertently caused for reasons it’s hidden, with forced “expert” testimony meant to perpetuate the coverup. The episode’s finest moment is probably Jared Harris’s riveting delivery as Valery Legasov taking the stand, looking on with something like horror at what he’s about to do, as he decides, once and for all, to tell the truth. The only thing that might top it is Stellan Skarsgård’s devastating silkworm speech, but thankfully that’s also in this episode, so I won’t be forced to play favorites.
2. “This Is Not For Tears” – Succession
I avoided Succession for a long time because I was sure I knew what it was. I wrote a whole piece on that incredible oversight on my part. What I took to be a dry, overwrought drama is, in fact, a searingly funny look at wealth and power, with a whole bevy of characters it’s deliciously twisted to root for. With two seasons under its belt, Succession is consistently superb, but this year’s winner is the season finale. Taking place nearly entirely on a private yacht for a post-congressional hearing family “mini-break,” it’s a near-bottle episode of fraying nerves, casual backstabbing, and genuine terror as the Roys discuss, with unprecedented malicious frankness, whose head is going on the proverbial spike in order to save the company. It’s excruciating, but it’s also deeply funny, and a chance for each character to show glimpses, however brief, of their own humanity. It doesn’t hurt that it also has one hell of a final scene, an excellent bang to end on with promise for all-out war in season 3.
1. “Episode 6” – Fleabag
It’s difficult to pick the best episode from this year’s second and final season of Fleabag. Should it be the premiere, with its gloriously uncomfortable dinner introduced by Fleabag, staunching the flow of her bloody nose and declaring “This is a love story”? Or should it be the episode halfway through with the (in)famous “kneel” scene? All are worthy in my opinion. But I’d have to say the finest is the finale, in which this love story sees all its many loves (between fathers and children, between sisters, between a man and God, between Fleabag and the hot priest) finally voiced. It’s that last voicing, during the final scene, that really takes the cake. “I love you,” Fleabag tells Andrew Scott’s priest in a bus stop. “It’ll pass,” he says, followed later by a rueful “I love you, too.” It’s the conclusion to a love story that shouldn’t be so heartbreaking considering how little time we’ve had to become acquainted with it. But it is. After the priest leaves we see that damn fox trotting by, and Fleabag points it after him. Whatever exactly it is that the fox represents, it’s going to be following him for a long while still. But not so for Fleabag who, when the camera tries to follow her down the road as always, turns and shoos us away. As she told Boo once, she has all this love and needs a place to put it. First, it found a home in her mother, then Boo, then the audience, then the priest. With everyone else gone, we’re ready to slide back into the familiar role of confidant and object of love, but Fleabag won’t let us. The show is over, and wherever she’s going, she’s going there without us. And she’s taking that love with her for herself.
Related Topics: 2019 Rewind
