Best TV Shows of 2022
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- CreatorAshley MillerStarsYuri LowenthalLara PulverTroy BakerAfter encounters with a dragon and a princess on her own mission, a Dragon Knight becomes embroiled in events larger than he could have ever imagined.S3- Two seasons of a show within a year, never seen that before. And luckily, S3 is back to form. Far simpler in terms of plot and storyline compared to S2, not that I'd call alternate realities simple. And the dialogue isn't so overbearing this time around (maybe a little bit towards the end). Scenes were allowed to breathe this season. I'd highly recommend this series, good to see a decent animated series outside of Japan for once.
- CreatorMike WhiteStarsJennifer CoolidgeJon GriesF. Murray AbrahamThe exploits of various guests and employees of a luxury resort over the span of a week.S2- I was fully onboard after the first 2 episodes. Their pacing and thorough character work were hugely impressive, the best eps I've seen all year (not saying much there). The rest of the season didn't match up, slowing down while being far less incisive and more predictable. Still fairly watchable, with some good moments, but not on that level.
- CreatorAlec BergBill HaderStarsBill HaderStephen RootSarah GoldbergA hit man from the Midwest moves to Los Angeles and gets caught up in the city's theatre arts scene.S3- The most watchable season. The pacing and the absurdist humour especially were refreshing and hit the mark; I remember past seasons being a bit too grim and slow paced. I will say that the episodes felt very short, arguably too short. There was the chance for more meat on them with an extra 5 or 10 minutes per episode, and for some? The season was a little unsatisfying in that regard. The last episode or two weren't as good as the others, but not enough to derail an otherwise pleasant surprise.
- CreatorRyan J. CondalGeorge R.R. MartinStarsMatt SmithEmma D'ArcyOlivia CookeAn internal succession war within House Targaryen at the height of its power, 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen.S1- A low 7/10. Sluggish pacing in this drawn out soap opera, a dearth of likeable characters too. It has an air of fan fiction, doubly so when you consider the bizarre blackwashing. And the Velaryon's wigs too look so absurdly fake, making them look more out of place than they already are. One granddaughter looks like she's got 2 feet of white rope sitting on top of her head. Some of the acting was meagre too, particularly Corlys sticking out like a sore thumb at the small council meetings, Mysaria trying too hard with the slow motion Jamaican accent, younger Laenor had just one word in episode 3 and even that was laughably bad.
I did have an issue with some of the re-casting as well. It's like they mixed up the brothers. Older Aemond has the sharper jawline of younger Aegon while older Aegon has the rounder face of younger Aemond. And despite being the older brother, older Aegon now looks 10 years younger than his sibling. Older Alicent acted nothing like her younger self, personality wise, and they instantly changed Aemond's character after he got a dragon, suddenly turning into a psycho, which ran contrary to everything we saw before.
Paddy Considine was good as Viserys, I liked the change in his impotent character as he realised this and became more bitter and outspoken.
Matt Smith as Daemon was memorable, albeit largely underutilised after the initial few episodes.
It isn't great, it isn't bad, it's in the middle. Anyone claiming that this is comparable to or better than GoT S1 is lying to you. - CreatorPeter MorganStarsClaire FoyOlivia ColmanImelda StauntonFollows the political rivalries and romances of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped Britain for the second half of the 20th century.S5- Faltered in the beginning with its miscasting and shoddy writing, as if Peter Morgan had no idea what to say with this season beyond stilted dialogue entirely lacking in nuance. Then it found its footing in the middle as The Crown remembered what it was good at; depicting interesting historical events, like the Romanovs and Charles' sex tape(!). The last chunk was more so-so.
- CreatorDanny McBrideStarsJohn GoodmanDanny McBrideAdam DevineFollows a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work.S2- They dialled the absurdity up to 11. This must have been so much fun to film. It's hard to compare it to S1 because it's been so long in between them but I do feel like I enjoyed S1 more. S2 was too mean spirited for the most part.
- StarsAlexander DreymonEliza ButterworthArnas FedaraviciusAs Alfred the Great defends his kingdom from Norse invaders, Uhtred--born a Saxon but raised by Vikings--seeks to claim his ancestral birthright.S5- My least favourite season, wooden in dialogue and acting for a number of actors in that first half, the constant plotting and melodrama getting tiresome. Dipped its toe in wokery as well. Episode 7 was a noticeable improvement and while the 2nd half was better, it remained flawed, the final episode being very 'Hollywood'. Alexander Dreymon was as good as ever though.
- CreatorJames GunnStarsJohn CenaDanielle BrooksFreddie StromaPicking up where The Suicide Squad (2021) left off, Peacemaker returns home after recovering from his encounter with Bloodsport - only to discover that his freedom comes at a price.S1- The first 2 episodes have some embarrassingly bad dialogue, to the point where the actors look awkward having to act it out. While still wobbly, it generally got better after that, albeit with the most over the top woke tirades; a health apartheid was equated to "a minor inconvenience" for instance. Coming from James Gunn, who had to delete thousands of messages about paedophilia(!) because they were a minor inconvenience to some. He didn't even get cancelled for more than 5 minutes, likely due to his insanely left-wing views.
- CreatorHugo BlickStarsEmily BluntChaske SpencerStephen ReaFollows a woman as she seeks revenge on the man she sees as responsible for the death of her son.Some messy writing and pacing here and there, it was pretty to look at on the other hand, and the lead actor was decent.
- CreatorNick SantoraStarsAlan RitchsonMaria StenMalcolm GoodwinItinerant former military policeman Jack Reacher solves crimes and metes out his own brand of street justice. Based on the novels by Lee Child.S1- At its best when less conventional, veering into its violent, serial aspects. Only to be bogged down by episodic trappings, particularly with that stilted, expositional dialogue. Then something violent happens and you're back in!
The last episode sort of lost me though, pure schlock. - CreatorEric KripkeStarsKarl UrbanJack QuaidAntony StarrA group of vigilantes set out to take down corrupt superheroes who abuse their superpowers.S3- Better than S2, particularly the acting of Hughie and Starlight as well as Butcher's accent, yet while the first 2 eps settled into a pretty decent niche, by the end, 80% of a given episode was repetitive melodrama. Like Hughie needlessly omitting that he was searching for Soldier Boy, which caused tension with Starlight, Mother's Milk was an unbearable whiner (literally every sentence) and Frenchie just says "mon coeur" 20 times an episode. If Homelander isn't onscreen, The Boys isn't remotely as good. And the action scenes were few and cheap, like a little dent in a wall maybe. It's 2022 and a big budget series; we deserve better than that.
- CreatorDan EricksonStarsAdam ScottZach CherryBritt LowerMark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.S1- Painfully dull and drawn out for 6 episodes, with uninteresting characters. The last 3 episodes were quite good, but you have to suffer to reach them.
- CreatorAlfred GoughMiles MillarStarsJenna OrtegaHunter DoohanEmma MyersFollows Wednesday Addams' years as a student, when she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a killing spree, and solve the mystery that embroiled her parents.S1- A gothic Harry Potter, with CW-style writing for a CW-like audience. Jenna Ortega's good as the titular character though.
- CreatorGenndy TartakovskyStarsAaron LaPlanteLaëtitia EïdoFred TatascioreA caveman and a dinosaur bond over shared tragedy and work together to survive in a perilous prehistoric world.S2- I was disappointed. Slow and aimless for the most part, as if Tartakovsky had no idea what he wanted to do, and you can see that in S1; the first half was just dinosaurs surviving through to the caveman era, great. But then the 2nd half had super-soldier serums, witches, zombies? What are the rules in this universe?
S2 had Scots, Vikings, Romans, Babylonians, sort of Egyptians, none of this made sense. They didn't all live at the same time, so what is this world? Plus there's Hades because at this point, why not, then the invincible 15 foot tall men, who seemingly voluntarily acted as slaves because they weren't chained(!). One guy just thought 'screw it, I don't want to do this anymore', stood up and killed a whipper. These giant, unrestrained slaves outnumbered the whippers 20 to 1 as well, so the uprising was effortless. Utter nonsense.
Then the random 1800s episode... S1 made a big deal about damage, about how wounds took ages to heal but S2 had Spear with 20 arrow wounds and barely caring. Which didn't jive with the end, because suddenly he's not invincible anymore, looking like Deadpool, dry humped by Meera(!), because they both had clothes on, a layer of leaves in between them too... and that somehow produced a child. The season was overwhelmed by idiocy. - CreatorDennis LehaneStarsTaron EgertonPaul Walter HauserGreg KinnearJimmy Keene is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison but he cuts a deal with the FBI to befriend a suspected serial killer. Keene has to elicit a confession from Larry Hall to find the bodies of as many as eighteen women.Taron Egerton was a standout but the mini-series as a whole was overlong, with some shoddy writing.
- StarsGrey GriffinChris DiamantopoulosBen SchwartzA collection of animated short stories that takes place inside The Boys universe.Bizarre. 11 minute episodes, so not enough time to have much meat at all. Each episode handled by different people, some were good like the first 3 and the last one, the others not so much. The poop one with Awkwafina... I don't even. It just seems like a wasted effort; have 30-40 minute episodes, take it seriously and this could've been pretty damn interesting.
- CreatorAshley MillerStarsYuri LowenthalLara PulverTroy BakerAfter encounters with a dragon and a princess on her own mission, a Dragon Knight becomes embroiled in events larger than he could have ever imagined.S2- On paper, it should be the best season because of the scale, the visuals, the action scenes but it was just so overstuffed. The dialogue outright annoyed me because the characters never shut up, never let a scene breathe. Constant talking, drove me nuts.
- CreatorMatt DufferRoss DufferStarsMillie Bobby BrownFinn WolfhardWinona RyderWhen a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one strange little girl.S4- The most superfluous season, and that's saying something because everything after S1 feels like they had no idea how to follow up on the initial success. The characters reflect that in S4; Will/Jonathan/Mike were basically pointless, Hopper's Russia arc was dreadful, Robin was written to be annoying with every sentence, no-one cares about Lucas or Max (never have either), they spent the entire season (spoiler) looking to get Steve and Nancy back together before going 'nah' right at the end.
The endless, hammy monologues were painful, no main character is allowed to die either, only the new additions, and that's true of the last 3 seasons now. To the point where a few main characters got strangled for 30 minutes yet they lived(!) while a new character got nipped at briefly, only to, of course, have a heroic speech before he croaked. The number of things that didn't make sense are too numerous to go through as well, a huge qualm for me. It wasn't all bad; there were some stretches that worked well like the search for the gate and the lab flashbacks. But the finale was such an endless, messy ordeal that the whole thing collapsed with it; too many bad subplots and lacking character work. - CreatorChristopher StorerStarsJeremy Allen WhiteEbon Moss-BachrachAyo EdebiriA young chef from the fine dining world returns to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop.S1- The premise makes no sense. They've got a ridiculous number of chefs and workplace stress for a damn burger joint, that's been treated as an overly complicated, high end restaurant, with even a sous chef. And the bizarre repetition of "cousin" is way overdone. I'm a bit let down, given the hype but it's been a terrible year for tv in general, so par for the course.
- CreatorVince GilliganPeter GouldStarsBob OdenkirkRhea SeehornJonathan BanksThe trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer Jimmy McGill in the years leading up to his fateful run-in with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.S6- The worst season, by far. So mundane (the 3rd last episode was about distracting a security guard with cakes while department store clothes were stolen), such a slog to sit through. Even their supposedly big moments were completely anti-climactic because we knew who would and wouldn't make it to Breaking Bad. Season 5 was entirely forgettable but S6 was a real chore.
- CreatorSteve BlackmanJeremy SlaterStarsAidan GallagherElliot PageTom HopperA family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world.S3- Aimless and badly written, a drastic step down from previous seasons. I've read the excuse of covid restrictions being an obstacle, yet other series weren't this confined and shoddy. It really didn't feel like there was a point, and the only thing you can really say about S3 was the transitioning of Vanya, which made absolutely zero sense with what's happened until now. Every character of course accepted it immediately despite it being so random, so there wasn't any conflict from it, any real point for doing it at all. It added nothing. And even Page didn't want it done, but the team wanted to pander and get some twitter retweets, because the writing wouldn't! S3 was poor enough that many couldn't make it halfway through, let alone to the end.
- CreatorTony GilroyStarsDiego LunaKyle SollerStellan SkarsgårdPrequel series to Star Wars' 'Rogue One'. In an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue, Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a Rebel hero.I can't believe how meagre this is, considering the level of praise. The pacing is absolutely horrendous, what little plotting we get has silly flaws as well. The brutal dialogue consists of either exposition or a character assuming what another is thinking or going to do (which is what ended up making Black Sails unwatchable for me during the bulk of S2 and onwards).
Many of the cast come from UK soap operas and their acting reflects that. As always, they've gone for maximum diversity to try to mask the inadequacies (which so few seem to have noticed), even to the point that the creepily Aryan-looking Imperial officers we've known since 1977 (making the Nazi inspiration even more vivid) are now almost entirely non-white, which is completely missing the point and rewriting a racist and speciesist Empire. I've seen half of the season, 4 hours in and it's just dull dreck. - CreatorBaran bo OdarJantje FrieseStarsEmily BeechamAneurin BarnardAndreas PietschmannMultinational immigrants traveling from the old continent to the new encounter a nightmarish riddle aboard a second ship adrift on the open sea.Hugely disappointing, coming from the makers of Dark. No likeable characters, on the nose writing, overlong episodes and basically just lingering stares with ominous music.