‘Baby Reindeer’
Richard Gadd’s autobiographical drama is the most talked-about show of the year, though not always for the reasons its creator — or Netflix — would have wanted. The streaming giant is almost certainly regretting the “This is a true story” splash at the start of the series, when adding “based on” could have saved them at least some of the cash it will likely lose in lawsuits from the real-life people that the too-easily-cracked characterizations have exposed. But the legal and ethical fallout shouldn’t overshadow the fact that Gadd’s painfully honest depiction of a wannabe comedian (himself) and his relationship with an unhinged female stalker is original, compelling, infuriating, and sometimes, at least in the early episodes, as funny as it is horrifying. And Jessica Gunning, as the stalker, Martha, turns in an extraordinary performance that should earn her a slew of awards.
‘Fallout’
An adaptation of a post-apocalyptic video game was one of 2023’s finest shows (“The Last of Us”) and, thanks to “Fallout,” the same will likely be said for 2024. But the two shows — like the two games — are vastly different. Yes, “The Last of Us” had monsters in it, but it was largely grounded in gritty realism. “Fallout” is far more cartoonish, both in its aesthetic and its violence. It’s set in an alternate history in which a nuclear exchange between the US and China in 2077 drove many survivors underground into bunkers known as Vaults. More than two centuries later, a young woman, Lucy, leaves her Vault and ventures into the wasteland that used to be Los Angeles to hunt for her father, who has been kidnapped by raiders. Having been raised in the safety and the — ostensibly — polite society of the Vault, Lucy is woefully unprepared for the horrors that await her in the outside world.
‘Ripley’
The plot of Steven Zaillian’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s psychological crime thriller novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley” is fairly straightforward: Tom Ripley (the excellent Andrew Scott), a down-on-his-luck con-man in 1960s New York, is hired by the wealthy Herbert Greenleaf to convince his wayward son Dickie to return home from Italy, where he is living a leisurely life at his father’s expense. But Ripley sees a chance to transform his life — if he’s willing to cross some serious boundaries. Zaillian draws out the suspense with lingering shots of the Italian seaside town where Dickie is living and long sections without dialogue, carried by Scott’s commanding performance. The anomaly of shooting the series in black-and-white only helps it stand out all the more.
‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
Farewell, then, Larry David. Or at least the version of Larry David that anchored this brilliant largely improvised sit-com over 12 series and 24 years. In this final season, Larry doesn’t suddenly see the light and transform into a decent human being. Instead David continued to find new ways for his misanthropic character to make us laugh and cringe in equal measure. The final episode is titled “No Lessons Learned.” That’s all you need to know, and all fans would have wanted.
‘Shogun’
Kudos to FX and Hulu for making a success of a show that, the majority of the time, is in Japanese. John Blackthorne, the hero of this historical drama adapted from James Clavell’s 1975 novel, is loosely based on the English navigator William Adams, who became a samurai for the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate in the early 17th century. The show’s beautifully paced mix of political intrigue and brutal combat is compelling viewing.
‘True Detective: Night Country’
With a female showrunner, Issa Lopez, and two female leads (Jodie Foster as detective Liz Danvers, Kali Reis as Trooper Evangeline Navarro), the fourth season of the anthology series naturally enraged online trolls. But this tale of the simultaneous disappearance of eight scientists living at the Tsalal Arctic Research Station in the small town of Ennis, Alaska, during the winter period when the sun never rises is immediately gripping. Lopez leans into the supernatural horror elements that were an undercurrent of the acclaimed first series, and Foster and Reis are a badass double act.
‘Masters of the Air’
Executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks signed off from their trilogy of miniseries based on the events of World War II (from an American point of view) in spectacular fashion with this show focused on the Eighth Air Force, which was engaged in some of the war’s most-dangerous missions in Northern Europe. “This is not a narratively complex beast, replete with twists and turns,” our reviewer wrote. “Rather, it’s a show that seems to belong to a bygone era: a lovingly made, epic chronicle of remarkable people doing remarkable things during remarkable times.”
‘Mr & Mrs. Smith’
When it was announced that “Fleabag” creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge had walked away from this spy series (loosely) based on the 2005 film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, which she was meant to be co-creating and starring in with “Atlanta” creator Donald Glover, there were fears the show would flop. Instead, Waller-Bridge’s replacement, the Japanese-American actress Maya Erskine, is excellent as the Jane Smith to Glover’s John Smith, matching her partner’s easy onscreen charisma all the way and giving the show a grounded heart around which to base its often-outlandish storylines. “Mr & Mrs. Smith” was a lot of fun.
