The Best Shows of 2013

Huh, I suppose it’s time to do one of those obligatory “best of the year” lists. 2013 saw me further delve into my second favorite medium of entertainment via some amazing shows. I branched out into new genres and gained a much deeper appreciation for anime, amongst other foreign entertainment. In other words, I sat on my ass for a wider variety of reasons and watched plenty of new things.

So here are my top five shows of 2013. I don’t go into great detail, so fear not the deadly spoiler.

5. Arrested Development- Netflix has a done a wonderful thing. Thanks to their new initiative of creating “Netflix Originals,” there has been an influx of worthy dramas and comedies. Particularly the return of the short lived- but well received- Arrested Development.

True to form the Bluth family is back and stirring up all sorts of hilarious debauchery. Seeing the entire core cast return and practically not miss a single beat is a thing of chuckle-worthy beauty. What made the previous three seasons succeed is the ever-witty combination of crass humor and the more well thought out jokes.  No boundary is too far, as the writers know when to even make fun of themselves, which there is plenty of.

The biggest change is in the presentation. While Michael (Jason Bateman) is still the main focus, each episode tells the season’s story from a different character’s perspective. What this allows for is a culmination of laughter every time paths are crossed and doubly so in the finale.

While it takes a couple episodes to fully get back into the swing of things. Season four of Arrested Development is another welcomed addition to the best comedy out there.

4. Flowers of Evil (Aku no Hana)- Ignore the whiners who complain about the change of art style from the manga, Flowers of Evil is disturbingly delicious.

Masquerading as a simple slice-of-life comedy about high school boy- Kasuga- stealing his crushes’ gym uniform, Flowers of Evil quickly turns into a psychological fuck-house. As a witness to his “sin” classmate, Sawa, blackmails and tortures Kasuga to the brink. Each episode ramps up the tension as he is manipulated further and further into madness as the thought of social ridicule looms over his guilty conscious.

In a mere 13 episodes the arcs are profoundly significant. You may be wondering how high could the stakes possibly be when the biggest offense is a stolen gym uniform, but damn are there some catastrophic moments which put the human psyche on display.

As far as cliche sayings going, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” is an excellent descriptor for Flowers of Evil. Backed by one the most unsettling ending themes, and a incredible tease of the second season, you’d be a damn fool to miss out on this gem. At first you’ll be saying “what the hell am I watching,” but by the end you’ll question “why the hell haven’t I been watching?”

3. Game of Thrones- Is anyone honestly surprised by the fact that Game of Thrones continues to be stellar? Each season seems to electrify the not-so-cheery happenings of Westeros, and season three is no different.

Few shows could continue to add more characters and plots while managing to weave such a compelling narrative. Veteran faces such as Jaime and Arya have started forging their own paths- just as enjoyable as those before- while newbies like Berric and Lady Olenna solidify the foundations.

You can’t talk about season three without mentioning the now infamous Red Wedding. I’ll avoid spoilers, but this is scene is arguably more memorable than the execution in “Balor” of season one. Such gut-wrenching has surely caused more than a few to turn away from sheer fear of being subjected to any more pain.

While not ending on as great of a high-note as season two- splitting a book will do that- Game of Thrones continues to give good reason why it’s not only one of my favorite shows, but a cultural phenomena.

2. Breaking Bad- The end of a brilliant journey. Breaking Bad may not be my favorite show, but I can’t deny it’s holistically the most well put together I’ve seen. Every aspect is a showcasing of masterful talent and season five lights the final powder-keg , exploding into almost everything I had hoped for.

Walter and Jesse continue to be the best duo on television while their worlds come crashing down around them. What Breaking Bad gets that most other shows fail to truly understand is the art of storytelling. Pacing, misdirection, deep character arcs, and beautiful cinematography have always been a mainstay of the series and the second half of season five rises to the top.

Shows typically increase the tension in each successive episode- it’s a natural tactic- but the final half of season five excels in this manner. Being able to wait for Sunday to roll around for eight straight weeks has to be cause for some sort of accolade. Not a moment is wasted on letting the viewer breath while forging on to the conclusion.

Here’s where I tend to disagree with people though. While I enjoy the final episode, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Don’t misunderstand me. It’s a good ending, but not the ending I expected after five amazing seasons. So yeah.That’s my biggest complaint about the final eight episodes of Breaking Bad, and the only reason it isn’t number one.

1. Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin)- Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! How could anything possibly top both Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. By being Attack on Titan, that’s how.

Attack on Titan does to the shonen genre what Evangelion and Madoka Magica did to each of their respective homes. A strong will, courage, and friendship will not win the day: they’ll get you killed. While traditional stories are often told through exposition and dialogue, AoT imparts its tale through the action and the intense atmosphere surrounding it. In a world where humanity is on the brink of extinction due to the little understood man-eating humanoids known as titans, there is not a whole lot of hope and cheer.

Game of Thrones is notorious for killing off its cast no matter if they’re despised or fan favorites, and AoT -in many regards- makes GoT feel like a Disney fairytale in comparison. The oppressive world never lets up and when death arrives it’s not this played up event Hollywood has made mainstream. It’s often swift, brutal, embarrassing, and emotionally devastating. Imagine having to watch Red Wedding-like episodes several times in the matter of 26 outings, and potentially more considering a second season seems guaranteed at this point.

It should come as no surprise that AoT took the anime industry by storm this past year. Tetsuro Araki (Death Note) is a highly talented director who had a lot to work with in manga author Hajime Isayama’s work. Paired with one of the best composers in the business, Hiroyuki Sawano, who created a soundtrack with few equals, and each and every second of AoT is a tension filled nightmare.

If you’re an anime fan, you’ve more than likely made the logical choice of watching or intending to watch Attack on Titan. If you’re not an anime fan and you have some sort of aversion towards the genre, STOP! You’re only cheating yourself out of the best show of 2013.

Honorable mentions:

Oreimo- A comedy anime about otaku culture and the more socially unacceptable sides of it.

Kill la Kill- A farcical, parody/satire anime that’s off-the-walls and into your face with everything that’s missing from American action shows.

House of Cards- Game of Thrones’ political machinations sans the fantasy and mass violence, and full of “Netflix Original” and Kevin Spacey.

I Watch Things Too: Sci-fi, Super Heroes, and Criminals

Arrow- Tough guy internal monologues and intense Rocky-esque training montages are just two of the many problems plaguing this DC hero show. I admit, I’ve never been one for comics, so my knowledge of the Green Arrow is incredibly limited. However, I’ve been yearning for some action oriented T.V. of the American persuasion, and with reckless abandon I sat down to watch Arrow. The trouble is, Arrow is a cynical and haphazard attempt at bringing the DC universe to television.

One cliche after another, followed-up by characters who are dragged along by the plot in a forcible manner; that’s Arrow in a nutshell. Characters boil down to the love interest, the goofy best friend, a grizzled war vet who has seen things MAN, and the delinquent 17 year-old.  Each and every face is a painful reminder of how not to write characters. Most egregious of all, Arrow comes of as little more than a Batman rip-off. There’s a corrupt city. Our hero returns home to seek vengeance on those responsible. He’s from a rich family who has a hand in the city's politics and economy, thanks to their suspiciously Wayne Enterprise-like corporation. With the aid of his family wealth and fighting experience gained in a land far to the east, Arrow strikes. Though he may not have super powers, he’s a vigilante out for justice and a capable one at that. He’s a bit of an anti-hero, but covers up his true identity with the ruse of being a millionaire playboy.

If that doesn’t sound like Batman, you’re hopelessly daft.

Bad writing aside, it is an action show, so how does it fare in that regard? Miserably so, failing to satisfy the base visual desire required. The first episode contained some rather exhilarating parkour and hand to hand action but that fades away instantly in favor of something more standard.

If you forgo writing in favor of action, then you’ve better have something that pops.  A unique style of combat or visuals would work. Arrow lacks such a thing, and because of that, it fails in all aspects.

Orange is the New Black- In recent months Netflix seems to have been participating in some sort of arms race. Emmy level shows such as House of Cards and Arrested Development are the most publicized, but there are several other Netflix original shows including, Weeds creator Jenji Kohan’s, Orange is the New Black.

Much like Weeds, OitNB is a dramedy centered around not only a female protagonist, but an almost all female cast. Seeing that it’s set in a women’s prison, this should come as no surprise. Still, I have to applaud the uniqueness of such a thing. Sadly, once you actually meet them, many are crude stereotypes at best. Black prisoners are mostly loud and in your face. Hispanics have an attitude and are a tight-nit “family.” There’s also the hippie from California who heads the prison’s yoga class and ran a weed farm before serving time. Forgetting racist implications, this is a prime example of bad writing. It’s been done approximately 1.8 billion times before and therefore not the least bit original.

Eventually backstories are revealed, but far to little and far too late. Even if some of them are rather good. When you do finally get to know them, they drastically improve. Prison may be an easy setting for sympathetic characters, well at least once their sob stories are told, but even so I was impressed. So often when you think of convicted criminals, the thought of the world’s worst people come to mind. While this is true in some cases, it’s not so across the board and OitNB conveys this quite well.

As far as the comedic aspects go, it’s a rather mixed bag. Some characters like Crazy Eyes are hilarious, while others are nothing more than forgettable. This hit or miss quality left me rather confused at first, I wasn’t sure what I was watching. I could tell they were trying to make me laugh but it wasn’t always happening. And when the drama was being played up, I was mildly engaged.  By the sixth episode or so this is no longer the case and both fronts are improved.

Do I recommend Orange is the New Black? Sure, it’s enjoyable. I am however worried about longevity, doubly so thanks to Weeds’ abysmal quality after the third season.

Dredd- Sometimes I watch a movie and wonder, what just happened? Not in the sense that I was confused by the set of events. I’m simply shocked numerous people and millions of dollars were spent on something so nonsensical. As you may have guessed, Dredd is one such movie. It’s a stringing of pointless happenings set in an underdeveloped dystopian world, all for the sole purpose of excusing incredibly senseless violence and gore.

The kicker is there really was potential within the setting. The concept of a dystopian police city-state that spans from Boston to D.C. is interesting and even rather topical courtesy of the NSA scandal, court case controversies such as the George Zimmerman trial, and Anonymous’ November 5th protests Yet, creativity is overshadowed by lackluster action, which makes the hour and thirty minutes spent watching this garbage even less pleasurable.

There are characters in the sense that there are actors and actresses being filmed, but most are devoid of any distinct personality. Dredd is a mess, and I highly suggest you avoid it all costs.

 

Star Trek: Into Darkness- Recently I’ve been on a bit of a visual novel kick and this has led me to some truly remarkable pieces of complex sci-fi. In fact, I even have a review of one at Plus10Damage. Then there is Star Trek: Into Darkness, a much more easily accessible bit of sci-fi. What I mean by that is it’s not very deep, which is by no means a bad thing, because I actually rather enjoyed the film.

Firstly, Benedict Cumberbatch was terrific as, well I suppose I better not say for spoilers sake, but I assure you he was a delight to watch. Although even as someone who has never been a fan of Star Trek I thought the twist was obvious. As for the rest of the characters, most of the crew was as dull as a box of rocks, but Cumberbatch, Pine (Kirk), and Quinto (Spock) managed to keep things interesting. Fortunately the others were relegated to the sidelines so much that I half-forgot they were there. Well other than Bones, whose over-acting was an annoyance. Karl Urban was clearly trying to pay homage to the original character what with the whole “I’m a doctor, not a physicist” shtick, but after about five minutes it felt tiresome and out of place.

Back to what made the film work though. Things were much more contained this time. It didn’t jump around the galaxy too much and the majority of the action felt like one appropriately extended scene rather than a bunch of schizophrenic nonsense. We met the characters and then got straight to the action and sci-fi goodness, which lets face it, that’s what we came for.

By no means is it a perfect film, and I’m still not too keen on J.J. Abrams, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.