The Best TV Shows of 2020 (So Far)
The world of television is cluttered, and 2020 might be a mess, but we have gotten some dope TV out of it. Here are the best TV shows of 2020 (so far).
One of the biggest, if not the biggest, stories in Hollywood for 2020 is without a doubt how COVID-19 shifted the entire game. Most of the impact was felt by the film industry, for sure; while movies have been released, the potential box office destroyers (No Time to Die, Black Widow, Mulan, etc.) that should already be out got their release dates pushed back, sometimes more than once (we'll see what happens to Tenet). The TV industry felt it as well—with the rona touching down in early spring, a number of shows with active seasons had to truncate their series orders to accommodate for the missing episodes (Riverdale), while others split up their seasons or took different routes to fill in space (One Day at a Time, Black Monday). That said, there was more than enough heat hitting the plethora of streaming services and TV channels at our disposal.
The game's also shifted; 2020 saw the debut of HBO Max and Quibi debuting, with new streaming channels like Peacock set to further give you a grip of TV shows you have to then figure out how to fit into your schedule. That point might be moot, honestly, given that the cream of the crop seem to still be residing on HBO, FX, and other top-tier stations. Or they are just making more heat than your average network. Whatever the situation is, we've seen some of our favorite series make triumphant returns, slept-on shows continue to get slept-on (even with a loud minority in tow), and others series really finding ways to cut through the chatter of a system that can see the release of whole-ass TV seasons dropping damn near on a weekly basis, although some behemoths might average a new season of a show damn near every other day.
No matter what your viewing habits are, we know that, at the halfway mark for 2020, the Complex Pop Culture squad assembled the best TV shows that have aired this year.
21.
One of the biggest, if not the biggest, stories in Hollywood for 2020 is without a doubt how COVID-19 shifted the entire game. Most of the impact was felt by the film industry, for sure; while movies have been released, the potential box office destroyers (No Time to Die, Black Widow, Mulan, etc.) that should already be out got their release dates pushed back, sometimes more than once (we'll see what happens to Tenet). The TV industry felt it as well—with the rona touching down in early spring, a number of shows with active seasons had to truncate their series orders to accommodate for the missing episodes (Riverdale), while others split up their seasons or took different routes to fill in space (One Day at a Time, Black Monday). That said, there was more than enough heat hitting the plethora of streaming services and TV channels at our disposal.
The game's also shifted; 2020 saw the debut of HBO Max and Quibi debuting, with new streaming channels like Peacock set to further give you a grip of TV shows you have to then figure out how to fit into your schedule. That point might be moot, honestly, given that the cream of the crop seem to still be residing on HBO, FX, and other top-tier stations. Or they are just making more heat than your average network. Whatever the situation is, we've seen some of our favorite series make triumphant returns, slept-on shows continue to get slept-on (even with a loud minority in tow), and others series really finding ways to cut through the chatter of a system that can see the release of whole-ass TV seasons dropping damn near on a weekly basis, although some behemoths might average a new season of a show damn near every other day.
No matter what your viewing habits are, we know that, at the halfway mark for 2020, the Complex Pop Culture squad assembled the best TV shows that have aired this year.
20.'DAVE'
Network: FX
Season: 1
Where to Watch: FX on Hulu
If we're keeping it funky, I didn't want to watch this show. I'm not a fan of Lil' Dicky, and have long realized that his end goal was DAVE, a show I best describe as the Trojan Horse that I imagine some FX heads though Donald Glover's Atlanta was going to be. That's not meant to be shade, just to point out that if you wanted to know what to expect with DAVE, it's legit Lil' Dicky doing the "weirdo aspires to e a rapper" thing. It's not without dope shit—even in an episode centered around getting a joke off regarding how Dave likes to get down with a sex doll, you end up getting some intriguing conversations surrounding boundaries and exploration within a committed relationship. Travis Bennett, better known to Odd Future fans as Taco, was an early standout, perfectly working scenes as Dave's friend and engineer, but it was GaTa, who becomes Dave's hype man, that I'd never seen before on TV. He's got some of the Zen-like qualities of Atlanta's Darius, but instead of keeping GaTa a mystery or an enigma, we are given a front-row seat to the mental health issues that he, and many across the globe, deals with.
If Lil' Dicky isn't your bag, I get it; there are moments on this show where I'm just on some "WTF, aren't we past this?!" shit, but honestly, it's almost like Lil' Dicky is the Trojan Horse that allowed a show like DAVE, which is as open with its sophomoric humor as it is with its emotions and feelings, to exist. Hopefully, that doesn't turn into a bar Dicky uses at some point. —khal
19.'The Plot Against America'
Network: HBO
Season: 1 (Mini-series)
Where to Watch: HBO Max
Ed Burns and David Simons' series adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel presents an alternate version of America devolving into a post-World War II fascist regime. When famed aviator Charles Lindbergh beats Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, we witness xenophobia and Anti-Semitism take hold in America through the lens of a Jersey-based Jewish family, the Levins. We not only see the President’s authoritarian political decisions aim to literally segregate the Jewish people in America, but also how his politics trickle into the Levins’ household as they wrestle with the anxiety that they are no longer safe in their own country.
With superb performances from the cast, we’re able to glean comparisons of this alternate history with the America we’re living in today. It’s also a poignant portrait of how politics can divide families when certain members take allegiance to a political figure who aims to suppress them. It’s a somber series, but one that feels relevant to our reality. —Andie Park
18.'Dare Me'
Network: USA
Season: 1
Where to Watch: Hulu
The year 2020 has killed a number of things; seeing Dare Me be one of those things to burn out before it truly got to shine bright was terrible. Based on a novel by the same name, Dare Me—which was canceled back in April—followed two friends who owned the cheerleading team and, in effect, ran one of the more popular social circles in their town. The series took a hard look at their lifestyle, aka getting lit and doing adult things under the cover of a small suburban bliss. The emergence of the murder mystery paired with layered performances from Herizen Guardiola and Marlo Kelly make this series not getting a second season high on the list of things I hate about 2020. Especially after that amazing twist in the Season 1 now-series finale —khal
17.'Narcos: Mexico'
Network: Netflix
Season: 2
Where to Watch: Netflix
Diego Luna’s turn as Felix Gallardo has been one of his best roles yet. This second season is centered around Gallardo’s downfall as he tries to take control of Colombia’s stranglehold on the cocaine business. Gallardo and his team were the ones who figured out how to make cannabis without seeds (sinsemilla in Spanish) effectively changing the weed game forever. Now Felix sets his sights for bigger and better things all while the walls around him begin to close in as his political influence disintegrates due to his role in the torture and murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena (Michael Pena). And as Gallardo is dealing with the crumbling of his empire, Chapo is laying the groundwork for Sinaloa’s takeover, so I think it’s safe to assume Season 3 will cover his rise to becoming the richest drug dealer to ever live. Luna encapsulates the anxieties and paranoia Gallardo must’ve been going through and Season 2 does a good job at closing the Guadalajara Cartel’s chapter. —Angel Diaz
16.'Devs'
Network: FX
Season: 1 (Mini-series)
Where to Watch: FX on Hulu
People come to television in search of many different experiences. There’s the hangout show; most typically a comedy, it involves characters hanging out and shooting the breeze. There’s the prestigious show; which often features a high-profile actor or creator with weighty material that feels Important. However, when it comes to FX and Hulu’s Devs, the show is far more of a, shall we say, mood or experience than it is anything else.
Entirely written and directed by sci-fi wunderkind Alex Garland (Ex Machina), Devs can be exceedingly difficult to explain, but I’ll do my best to do so without giving the whole thing away: The show focuses on a Silicon Valley tech company named Amaya, whose development team (get it?) is working on a secret project at the behest of CEO Forest (Nick Offerman). Lily Chan (Sonoya Mizuno) is drawn deeper into the mystery of the project after the sudden and inexplicable suicide of her boyfriend, who had just started a new role with the team.
This is about as straightforward as Devs gets, as it soon turns into a weighty treatise on free will, determinism, and the evils of corporate greed. If you’re excited by any of those themes, congrats, you’re going to absolutely love Devs. The show never lacks in ambition, diving deep into big ideas and concepts. It’s not a passive show either. Instead, it rightfully demands your attention with every beautifully composed shot. Far and away the best-looking show to have aired in 2020, the visuals of Devs frequently evoke Kubrick in their framing and staging. Additionally, Garland manages to make the well-worn landscape of San Francisco feel as alien as The Shimmer did in Annihilation. The show isn’t without its fits and spurts, however. It’s purposefully methodical in its intentions and storytelling, which means this deliberate pace certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If it is yours, however, Devs offers a singularly unique experience that is exactly what we need from our stories.
The thing with mood-based television is that its success ultimately comes down to whether or not you’re willing to take a specific journey with a very purposeful creator. For those willing, following Garland down his rabbit hole will find a new Wonderland, one you’ve likely never seen before. So many of the show’s moments have lingered in my mind long after airing, beautifully imprinted like a tapestry adorning a wall. That is to say: Perhaps Devs isn’t so much an experience as it is a feeling. —William Goodman
15.'The Outsider'
Network: HBO
Season: 1 (Mini-series)
Where to Watch: HBO Max
There seems to be news of a new feature or series based on the work of Stephen King every week or two these days. But the HBO miniseries adapted from King’s 2018 book The Outsider stands out in that crowded field because Richard Price, a veteran crime novelist who wrote some of the best episodes of The Wire, treats it not as a horror story but as a hard-boiled murder mystery that happens to take a supernatural turn.
Like Price’s 2016 miniseries The Night Of, The Outsider follows every moment of a single investigation, largely through the eyes of small-town Georgia police detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn). But in King’s story, there’s a surreal twist to the gruesome murder of a young boy that appears to have been committed by his little league coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman, who also directed the gripping first two episodes). The logical and calculating Anderson can’t bring himself to accept the unbelievable explanation that a monstrous shapeshifting entity took the form of Maitland to kill the boy, until it becomes the only possible truth. —Al Shipley
14.'Killing Eve'
Network: AMC
Season: 3
Where to Watch: AMC
Arguably the most addictive cat-and-mouse chase on television, Killing Eve’s third season explores a more delicate side between their two protagonists. When Eve (Sandra Oh) survives getting shot by Villanelle (Jodie Comer) in the previous season’s finale, we see Eve trying to move on from her failed marriage and losing her job with the MI6. Villanelle, on the other hand, seems to have moved on from both killing people for hire and also from Eve. But, of course, the strength of the series lies in their dual obsession with one another. While the two women share little screen time together, when they finally do, their chemistry is electric. The delight from the show mainly comes from the cunning performances of their cast. Watching the two women who are intoxicatingly obsessed with one another to the point of being reckless feels like a guilty pleasure that’s worth watching for a third season. —Andie Park
13.'Homecoming'
Network: Prime Video
Season: 2
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Homecoming’s near-perfect debut season was a tough act to follow, particularly without Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail behind the camera or Julia Roberts in front of it. But R&B iconoclast-turned-movie star Janelle Monae confidently stepped in as Season 2’s protagonist, a woman whose erased memory leaves her piecing together clues about who she is, why she can’t remember anything, and whether she’s a good guy or a bad guy in this story.
Homecoming could have continued like Lost, piling on more and more unsolved mysteries about the shadowy military contractor Geist Emergent Group. Instead, Season 2 entertainingly pulls back the curtain on the ascent of Geist employee Audrey Temple (Hong Chau), and the power struggles between owner Leonard Geist (Chris Cooper) and Department of Defense rep Francine Bunda (Joan Cusack). And in a climax that once again leaves Homecoming without any clear path forward for future installments, Season 1’s tragic figure Walter Cruz (Stephan James) gets a surprisingly satisfying conclusion to his character arc. —Al Shipley
12.'What We Do in the Shadows'
Network: FX
Season: 2
Where to Watch: FX on Hulu
It is an exceedingly difficult challenge to successfully adapt a film to a television series. Unless you’re a place like HBO—who has the money to pump into shows like Westworld—these projects frequently lose their cinematic spectacle when translated to a smaller screen. The same can’t be said for FX’s film-to-television version of What We Do in the Shadows. If anything, the show is stronger—and funnier—by letting its central premise sprawl unfold across a few hours.
As I’ve previously discussed, the second season of Shadows was when the show really found its stride. Well-acquainted with the show’s core vampire group of Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) as Nandor’s familiar and caretaker; and energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) the sophomore season goes further, introducing shamans, zombies, ghosts, trolls, and witches—all with hilarious results that feel like natural extensions of an inherently supernatural show.
The other half of the continued expansion is the show’s dedication to providing strong, standalone moments for individual characters. The real standout involved Matt Berry’s Laszlo absconding from the group’s Staten Island home after the return of an old rival. Laszlo then relocates and takes on a ‘human’ disguise just by...placing a toothpick in his mouth and renaming himself “Jackie Daytona.” In most other comedies, this plot would likely be regulated to a more minor role. However, in Shadows, it takes center stage and provides a showcase episode that’s inspired and stupid, but never not funny.
This balance is the core of what makes Shadows so brilliant to behold and so fun to watch. Sure, characters are often dumber than a sack of dirt, but the show is consistently intelligent in how it executes its jokes on behalf of those characters. It feels like there’s so much left for What We Do in the Shadows to sink its teeth into—and I’m certainly eager for whatever hilarious absurdity awaits us next. —William Goodman
11.'blackAF'
Network: Netflix
Season: 1
Where to Watch: Netflix
I'll keep it two Virgils—after the first episode of #blackAF, I decided that I did not like it. Not because of the surface level and quite frankly stupid criticisms it faced about colorism (it's based on his real family, leave his family alone) and “being for white people.” I thought it was playing a little too hard trying to galvanize a Black audience and the acting was a bit stale. But, the show grows and grows. Then its fifth episode “yo, between you and me...this is because of slavery” hits, and it’s clear that doubting Kenya Barris is its own form of stupidity.
“yo, between you and me...this is because of slavery” (read an in-depth review of it here) is a smart rumination on Black art and its appraisal, chiefly by Black people. The episode centers around the reception of a highbrow film by a fictional (psst, he’s based on Boots Riley) director and brings Tyler Perry along the ride to examine his relationship to filmmaking, criticism, and his audience. Some of the best moments of #blackAF deal in meta subtexts and have an uncanny ability to critique some of the criticism the show itself has faced.
#blackAF at times has a gilded quality, which is likely the point, but when Kenya Barris truly bears his soul and gets raw and honest, like when he and Tyler Perry sit down for a lengthy chat in the aforementioned episode, or when his marital woes reach a breaking point that erupts into a direct and candid argument, #blackAF is at its absolute best. —H. Drew Blackburn
10.'Ramy'
Network: Hulu
Season: 2
Where to Watch: Hulu
Ramy Season 1 was relatively light-hearted and a refreshing look into the world of a modern Muslim family trying to navigate living in these American times. It was funny, smart, and tried to show an honest portrayal of a millennial Muslim male wrestling with his faith and temptation. Season 2, on the other hand, was all those things except with a lot more cringe.
Ramy made it very hard for us to root for him like we did the season prior as he constantly fell off his din and into the clutches of shaitan. This season had me wanting to spend more time with his father Farouk (Amr Waked), mother Maysa (Hiam Abbass), sister Dena (May Calamawy), and uncle Naseem (Laith Nakli) instead of him. Ramy’s life is too chaotic for my liking; he truly needs to find God after what went down this season. However, redirection from lovable idiot to a fucking dickhead worked along with making this go-round deal with heavier situations. Mahershala Ali’s turn as Sheikh Ali Malik makes you stay, though. His calm demeanor, empathy, and wisdom is intoxicating as we try to forget the shit Ramy steps in. While Ramy Season 2 makes you get into a fetal position in disgust, it's an overall better season than the first. —Angel Diaz
9.'ZeroZeroZero'
Network: Prime Video
Season: 1
Where to Watch: Prime Video
This show is art. Created by Stefano Sollima (the same guy that brought us Gomorrah) and based on the book of the same name by Roberto Saviano (he wrote Gomorrah, too), the story follows a shipment of coke as it connects three criminal organizations internationally. ZeroZeroZero is set in three separate parts of the world—New Orleans, Monterrey, Mexico, and Gioia Tauro, Italy—via land, sea, and air. Gabriel Byrnes’ family owns a shipment company that plays middleman to the Leyra brothers in Mexico and the 'Ndrangheta in Italy. Scottish rock band Mogwai provides the dramatic score that follows this cursed deal across the seven seas as the direction of Janus Metz, Pablo Trapero, and Stefano Sollima coupled with the cinematography of Paolo Carnera, Romain Lacourbas, and Vittorio Omodei Zorini immerses the viewer into this world where legit and illegitimate business are one in the same. I ran through the eight-episode season in a matter of days and can’t wait for the second go-round. Easily one of the most underrated shows so far. —Angel Diaz
8.'Vida'
Network: STARZ
Season: 3 (Final season)
Where to Watch: STARZ
The 30-minute drama is an underrated television format that’s finally gotten some traction in recent years, particularly on STARZ, which has aired half hours including The Girlfriend, Sweetbitter, and most notably, Vida. When the series premiered in 2018, estranged sisters Lyn (Melissa Barrera) and Emma (Mishel Prada) were brought back to East L.A. by the death of their mother Vida and decided to make a go of running Vida’s bar with Vida’s wife they never knew about, Eddy. Over the course of three seasons that dug deep into family secrets, issues of ethnic and sexual identity and gentrification, and lots of sex and arguing, Lyn and Emma and Eddy never exactly figured out how to get along all the time in their strange new life together. But in last month’s series finale, it felt like the journey concluded on an optimistic note, with the three of them starting to become the family they always could have been. —Al Shipley
7.'Normal People'
Network: Hulu
Season: 1
Where to Watch: Hulu
When we hear the story of a popular jock falling in love with the awkward, unlikeable girl at school, we feel like we’ve seen this trope played out to an exhausting degree. And we have, endless times when it comes to the coming-of-age romance genre. Hulu’s adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel, Normal People, however, makes this story feel different. It’s a tender portrayal of two young people, Connell and Marianne, falling in love in high school and constantly being drawn back to each other in the years following. It’s a sexy show—but not in the way we usually experience “sexy" in television. It’s sexy in that there’s a lot of sex, but never presented in a way that feels gratuitous. The first sex scene of the series between Connell and Marianne is in the beginning of the second episode when Connell takes Marianne’s virginity. Of all the depictions of sex on television, this scene is a refreshing one—one that emphasizes consent and shows two people who are learning to use their bodies to create an intimate connection.
As Connell and Marianne drift apart, they still go off to attend the same university. We see them orbiting each other’s lives as they start and end new romantic relationships, get back together in between, and go through truly depressing episodes of life. At times, it’s extremely frustrating to see the two of them fail to communicate through words—we know they love each other, why can’t they just say it and make it work? It’s through their lack of verbal communication, we see how they use sex - together and with different partners—as a form of connection but also of self-destruction.
Normal People is revelatory in its attempts to portray sex, mental health, and emotional development as they would happen in real life. Watching the series doesn’t feel like watching television—it feels like experiencing the love between two people, and all of its intensity and frustration that it births. The series’ ending is painfully ambiguous, but it also feels full of hope for Connell and Marianne. They want the best for each other, even if that means they might not be together. It’s a testament to the hopefulness that love brings us. —Andie Park
6.'Ozark'
Network: Netflix
Season: 3
Where to Watch: Netflix
Let's not sit here and play in each other's faces—Breaking Bad and Ozark are each other's tether. Breaking Bad is the cleaner version, a meticulous Shakespearian drama built around one loathsome genius’ arc to reach a glory he’s always felt was his destiny. Ozark takes Breaking Bad’s narcotics-soaked concept back to square one—you crawl into bed with the devil, now you're the devil—eschews any whiff of pretension, and cranks the pulp up to eleven. No overt use of color schemes to evoke fastidious symbolism. It’s all gray, dark, dreary, blue, and perilous.
Ozark’s third season puffs its chest and stakes its claim as one of television’s all-time nail-biting edge of your couch crime thrillers. Every obstacle presented in Ozark escalates until it combusts. Though Julie Garner’s turn as Ruth Langmore, which can be described as nothing less than a ball of thunder, is a high point, Jason Bateman’s choices to evoke subtle comic beats as turmoil surrounds him speaks loudly and shouldn’t be ignored. Ozark’s fourth season is promised to guide us deeper into the underworld. The Byrds are magnets of chaos. The Langmores are cursed. The Snells seek revenge. I’m already sweating. —H. Drew Blackburn
5.'Dead to Me'
Network: Netflix
Season: 2
Where to Watch: Netflix
Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini launched their careers playing troubled high schoolers in two very different shows, Married…with Children and Freaks & Geeks (respectively). Decades later, Dead to Me brought Applegate and Cardellini together for arguably the most substantial and complex roles they’ve ever played, as two very troubled middle-aged women whose uneasy but genuine bond of friendship deepens despite being enmeshed in an increasingly complex web of death and deceit.
Created by comedian Liz Feldman, Dead to Me is a thrilling and often morbid show, full of tense cliffhangers and moments of catharsis. But the cast’s comedy chops keep the show from getting too heavy: Applegate plays a woman at her wit’s end, regularly letting loose impressive strings of profanity like “Fucking don’t fucking cuss at me!” James Marsden felt almost underused in the first season, which ended with the death of his character Steve. But the second season of Dead to Me resurrected Marsden as Steve’s more entertaining twin brother Ben in a classic soap opera twist, giving a loony, unpredictable edge to the show’s dark comedy. —Al Shipley
4.'Better Things'
Network: FX
Season: 4
Where to Watch: FX on Hulu
Four seasons into Better Things and I'm not hearing enough of you giving Pamela Adlon the auteur accolades she deserves. Four seasons in, and she's steered this series into not just a vehicle that mirrors her life but one that is loud and unafraid to highlight what women have had to go through—and continue to go through—in a number of facets of life. Season 4 featured everything from being at your wit's end with an ex to periods to teens discovering themselves. It's a lot of heavyweight real talk that's hilarious AF and always touching. I was OK with the Season 4 finale, complete with REM needle drop, to be the end of the series, but word is Season 5 has been ordered so who knows where Pamela will be taking Sam and her brood into the future. I do know that those who know, and are ready to feel, will be along for the ride. —khal
3.'Insecure'
Network: HBO
Season: 4
Where to Watch: HBO Max
“The Ultracheese,” is one of pop culture’s most profound explorations of growing older and how friendships pass. Alex Turner, who basically always goes off, really went off when he opens the song singing: Still got pictures of friends on the wall, I suppose we aren't really friends anymore.
Turner is equal parts melancholic, disaffected, nostalgic, which is why it’s so haunting to hear him sing it this way, cause that’s the truth. “The Ultracheese,” is the only piece of art that dissects the loss of a friendship that comes close to rivaling Molly and Issa’s arc in Season 4 of Insecure. What I’m really saying is, Molly and Issa’s arc is top two and it’s not two.
The selfishness, navel-gazing, hurt, loneliness, the chase to fill the deep void that person left in you—Insecure gets it so painfully right. The slow burn that’s unique to television is what makes the depiction of their break-up so special. If you’ve been watching Insecure since 2016, you can probably barely count on one hand a twist in a show that’s as simultaneously shocking and obvious as Molly and Issa falling out. Issa Rae, Prentice Penny, and co. truly take their characters where they’re naturally gonna go, that’s part of their genius. In any situation, the characters feel authentic. We're not gonna put anybody on that Summer Jam screen, but there are shows and movies that try and accurately capture millennial Black life, but tell stories too dependent on aesthetics starring archetypes doing line readings of twitter threads. Insecure shatters this mold—it’s not on the race beat or sending a message about how fucked up this really country is. These are often necessary and important stories to tell, but it’s just as important to have stories where Black folks, particularly Black women, are just living, getting beat down by all of the very regular garbage life throws our way. Insecure, of course, isn’t the very first show or movie to do these things, but I’ll be damned if Issa Rae’s take isn’t lowkey brilliant. —H. Drew Blackburn
2.'Curb Your Enthusiasm'
Network: HBO
Season: 10
Where to Watch: HBO Max
It's almost as if Larry David knew and readily acknowledged Season 9 of Curb Your Enthusiasm wasn't his best effort—he confirmed plans for a tenth quicker than he's ever agreed to a new season since the fifth. Like JAY-Z once hilariously said of Kingdom Come: "First game back, don't shoot me." From Season 8 onwards, I've treated new seasons of Curb like I treat new JAY albums: tempered expectations, tapering my hopes off at "solid" and accepting that nothing new will probably match the heights of the imperial phase. Even Kingdom Come has gems; Season 9 has its own flashes of brilliance. Still, too many middling returns can threaten the curve.
But that quick-trigger renewal held promise. So I approached Season 10 with cautious optimism. And the reward is Larry's 4:44. If Season 9 was the first game back, Larry is fully in shape in Season 10, with just one dud (that'd be "Side Sitting") and a bunch of truly inspired rich people's problems fuckshit. Spite Stores! Fake Criers! Destination Weddings! Jon Motherfucking Hamm reinventing the celebrity cameo on a show that's already reveling in meta-satire. Plenty of viewers came away from Season 10 hailing it one of the show's best. Those people clearly haven't revisited the early seasons in awhile. But what matters is that a show in its tenth year and two decades of being a thing is still producing heaters that are even debatably in line with its prime. True GOATs don't fall-off, they just need a recharge. Hopefully LD is at 100 because there's only one creator I trust to tackle the pandemic. —Frazier Tharpe
1.'Better Call Saul'
Network: AMC
Season: 5
Where to Watch: AMC
Better Call Saul seemed like an underdog. The Breaking Bad prequel/spinoff arrived with a healthy amount of skepticism—understandably so! Vince Gilligan had just delivered a deeply satisfying conclusion to the story of Walter White, so why tempt fate a second time? Especially with a character who was, for the most part, around to be comedic relief as the states got increasingly darker and more dramatic?
Well, Season 5 of Better Call Saul certainly made fools of us all.
Don’t get me wrong, while I’ve been a fan of the Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan show since it started (and have certainly done my fair share of advocacy for those prior seasons on this very site) but Season 5 elevated itself into a whole new stratosphere, landing in a certain rarefied air few series can hope to achieve. Saul has always functioned as a somewhat bifurcated product. On one side, you had the lawyer aspects of the show, exemplified by Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn). The other functioned as more of the dedicated Breaking Bad prequel featuring Mike Ehrmantraut in his early days of working with Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito).
While the early goings of the show saw a slight crossover between the two halves, they largely stayed apart...until Season 5 essentially ran the two into one another like a high-speed collision. The resulting show was explosive—both literally and figuratively. Jimmy’s full transition into Saul Goodman puts him directly into the wake of some unsavory characters and dangerous positions, all of which eventually spilled out into his home life with Kim. On the subject of Kim, Rhea Seehorn’s performance has always been superlative—but Season 5 saw her elevate her acting time and time again. It was already a shame she’s not been nominated for an Emmy, but it’ll be nothing short of negligent if she’s not among the awards pool this go-round. Other highlights included the Vince Gilligan-directed “Bagman,” which solidified itself in the same breath as Breaking Bad classics like “Fly” and “Ozymandias.”
On the other side of the fifth season, there’s now no doubt Better Call Saul is absolutely worthy of the legacy Breaking Bad left in its wake. We never should have doubted Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, as it’s clear they’ve managed to capture lightning in a bottle for a second time. The scrappy underdog has victoriously emerged as a full-grown beast. Underestimate it at your own peril. —William Goodman