In 2022, TV gave the middle finger to Silicon Valley’s scammers and full blown gangsters, whose antics are now despised even by the normies: Elizabeth Holmes, Adam Neumann, Trevor Travis Cordell Kalanick uber alles. But there could be many more coming in 2023, e.g. how about a limited series on Elon Musk’s Twitter? American Horror Story meets Black Mirror turning into The Purge?
Atlanta managed to pull two seasons in a year after a long hiatus: it was, by far, the most inventive, original, and innovative TV series since… forever. Season Four, in particular – The European Grand Tour – will be remembered as a masterpiece.
Five Days at Memorial was a complete surprise: the depiction of the patient massacre at Memorial Hospital after Katrina is raw and powerful: America’s sickcare system in full force. The fact than nobody is talking about this work proves its brilliance. Vera Farmiga was incredible as the evil mastermind and primary executor in chief, Dr. Anna Pou. Pou was protected by a powerful coalotion of forces, both corporate and political: it's America, after all.
2022 was also a year of debacles: Russian Doll S2 (Netflix), Better Things S5 (FX), Station Eleven (HBO) just to name a few. How to Do With John Wilson S2 (HBO) felt a bit redundant and was overshadowed by Felder’s The Rehearsal (HBO). The title of most overrated series of 2022 goes to Severance (Apple TV+): They work at the Dharma Initiative, they live in Vivarium and they recite Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind daily. Severance looks like as an offspring of Charlie Kaufman's beautifully deranged mind and it features the best opening sequence of the year (kudos to Oliver Latta). And yet, this is another example of lazy storytelling, outsourcing all the interpretative work to the fans. Basically, a Lost-wannabe. I'm really not interested in investing the time to fully grasp the intricacies of the Lumen corporation. Let the fans make their flowcharts and maps and feel like they've accomplished something meaningful.
Didn't watch: The White Lotus S2 (HBO): I skipped it altogether as it was set in Italy. Industry S2 (BBC/HBO): I understand you need to be an awful person to work for an investment bank and that the financial market does not represent society as a whole, but an entire season at Pierpoint & Co will make you wish for human extinction. I love horror and I can even bear torture porn in small doses but I must draw the line somewhere on the “abject scale”: Industry is just too painful to watch. I gave up after one episode of S2.
Below are some random comments - the original "reviews" were much longer, but MUBI unilaterally erased all users' comments.
Atlanta
When it comes to the subtleties of race and class in America, the critique advanced by the "Juneteenth" episode (Season 1) is much more effective than anything by Jordan Peele's (Get Out). And Season 3 is more unsettling than all seasons of Black Mirror combined. Season 4 - The European Grand Tour - is a pure masterpiece. How big of a problem is it that this series is just too smart for the average audience? Hiro Murai is the greatest avantgarde director working in a mainstream context.
The Bear
The best new show of 2022, hands down. Standout episode: S01, E07, The Review: the manic madness of this kitchen makes Boiling Point look like slow cinema. The Bear is about toxic masculinity, addiction, relationships, the cult perfection, but also about the joy of multiculturalism. There's nothing quite like it on "TV". Please don't ruin it with Season Two, ok chef?
The Rehearsal
An insalubrious mix of Caveh Zahedi's The Show about the show and Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, with cringe worthy elements that you'd find in most episodes of How to do with John Wilson. Scenario planning porn and flowcharts like we're living in the Rand Corporation's world. Just the right amount of social engineering, psychological manipulation, thirst for fame, game theory & especially premediation.
Five Days at Memorial
In this torture porn series, the patients of a hospital are given a bracelet: if you get a blue one, you may make it alive, if you get a black one, you’ll end up stiff, thanks to an injection of pentothal administered by (surprise!) white doctors. The U.S. “healthcare professionals” mock the Hippocrates’ oath and start killing their patients as a biblical flood devastates New Orleans. Sad! But also: true story. This is America.
The Staircase
"A TV series based on a documentary chronicling the aftermath of a true crime case". It cannot get more meta than this. António Campos delivers. Colin Firth is excellent as an aging (not-so) Single Man, and Tony Colette's Valium-smiles are unforgettable. Juliette Binoche brings Parisian style to McMansions & fast food chains. Oh, the defense lawyer is a Robin Williams doppelgänger. Also, Parker Posey. Meta meta meta.
WeCrashed
Doesn't add much to the Made in Hulu doc WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, but both Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway are irresistible as Adam & Rebekah's doppelgangers. Con games + delusion of grandeur are the key ingredients of the American Dream and the dominant narrative of the 21c. The persistent failure of capitalism is above all a failure of imagination. Turning it into a cult won't help.
This is Going to Hurt
Brutal, dark, and hysterically funny. This is the unofficial adaptation of How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps: The Blueprint That The Government Does Not Want You To See by Youssef El-Gingihy, or "How austerity, Thatcher, Johnson, and Neoliberalism are literally killing you". I love extreme horror, but often I had to close my eyes shut because so many situations are beyond horrifying.
Fleishman is in Trouble
Eight hours of Marriage story. Bergman lite.
The Patient
Dexter meets In Treatment, starring Richard Ashcroft as a foodie serial killer with too much make up and a fetish for country music. I'm not making this up.
The Dropout
A flattering portrait of a true American Psycho. Like Patrick Bateman, Elizabeth Holmes has no empathy. But unlike Ellis' fictional serial killer, she is real. She perfectly embodies the Silicon Valley ethos and the monstrosity of American corporate culture. She is also a byproduct of the American Dream: Steve Jobs stole everything from Xerox. Likewise, Holmes stole Siemens technology to keep the scam going for as long as possible. The idiotic "fake it till you make it" mantra killed people, directly and indirectly. Girlboss is leaning in.
Shining Girls
The best novel that Stephen King never wrote and - thankfully - never adapted for TV. This works so much better than Lisey's Story - night and day. Shining Girls is far from perfect but it's a million miles away from AppleTV+ most egregious fiasco.
Previously:
LINK: 2021_TV stuff
LINK: 2020_TV stuff
LINK: 2019_TV stuff
LINK: 2018_TV stuff
LINK: 2017_TV stuff
LINK: 2016_TV stuff
