written by James Poniewozik, The New York Times
This list may not be as definitive as our best-of-the-year list — no human can watch every episode of TV made in a year — and it includes many less-than-famous titles. But for my money, it is always the most fun list to put together. What you learn, spending a year watching series after series that you may never end up writing about, is that greatness can pop up anywhere, sometimes where you would expect it, sometimes in an offbeat documentary or an off-the-radar streaming curio.
A critic ends every year with a pocketful of these randomly acquired gems, and it’s a pleasure to dump them out on the table for you here. Enjoy, and feel free to share your own.
‘3 Body Problem’
Season 1, Episode 5: ‘Judgment Day’
There were a lot of ideas in this slow-burn alien-invasion saga — whose title concerns the perils of living in a three-sun solar system — but maybe the most interesting was ethical rather than scientific: How hard hearted can you be, must you be, in the face of an existential threat? In this midseason episode, new nanofiber technology is put to military use, precision cutting a massive ship full of alien sympathizers (including families with children) into bloody deli slices. The gee-whiz awe of the visual effects collides with gut-level horror at the slaughter, and the matter-of-fact presentation of the destruction leaves you to decide which reaction wins out. (Stream it on Netflix.)
Featuring work from Michael Ruscio, ACE | Editor
