From ‘Severance' to ‘Peaky Blinders,' here are 2022's must-binge shows
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Loading... - Faraj Dutt
- 09 Aug 2022
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‘Severance’
There are still some big shows to come, but if “Severance” doesn’t top most of 2022’s end-of-year TV roundups, it’ll be a huge surprise. Hugely engaging, beautifully shot and brilliantly acted, this Apple TV+ series arrived with little fanfare (possibly because it’s very much a slow-burner, so reviewers seeing only the first couple of episodes may have been less-wowed than if they’d seen the whole thing), but turned out to be one of the finest shows in years. A dystopian psychological thriller with some heavy doses of black comedy, the show focuses on a group of employees at a mysterious tech giant, Lumon Industries, where they volunteered for a medical procedure that severs their non-work memories from their work memories. Mark (Adam Scott) is the leader of a team that begins to unravel a company conspiracy. “Severance” is disturbing, thought-provoking, funny, moving and wholly original.
‘Station Eleven’
HBO’s adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel set 20 years after a flu pandemic causes civilization to collapse would’ve made waves whenever it was broadcast. Arriving as it did in the midst of an actual pandemic just gave it an extra edge. Post-apocalyptic shows are rarely uplifting, but this one — which focuses on a group of survivors (and their back stories) who have built new lives as wandering performers (the Traveling Symphony) making an annual round trip to various settlements — contained real optimism about how humanity and culture might prevail when our infrastructure and technology collapses. There is plenty of grim stuff too, mostly caused by a violent cult whose leader is inspired by the (fictional) titular graphic novel. The show is anchored by three superb performances from Himesh Patel, Mackenzie Davies and Matilda Lawler — the latter two playing older and younger versions of the symphony’s lead actress Kirsten. It’s an intense ride with a great payoff.
‘Ozark’
The so-tense-it-hurts fourth and final season of “Ozark” was a fitting end to a great run. The Byrde family — Marty (a wound-tight Jason Bateman) and Wendy (a captivating Laura Linney) and their kids Charlotte and Jonah — began the season still in over their heads laundering money for a ruthless Mexican drug cartel, but still believing they could get out clean and return to Chicago. The deeper we got into the season, the less likely that appeared. Instead, it was Marty’s former protégé Ruth Langmore (a faultless Julia Garner) who was starting to make the journey to respectability and wealth that the Byrdes so longed for. This was a twisted roller-coaster ride of a final run that left us wanting more — more of the great writing, more of the spot-on directing, more of the stunning cinematography, more of the pitch-perfect acting. Read More...
