Mike's Top TV of 2018

by Mike Lunsford, Editor-In-Chief Great Geek Refuge

It’s nearly the end of 2018 and what a year! It felt like it lasted forever, for better or for worse. As far as our little refuge is concerned, it was definitely for the better. There was a metric ton of great media to consume.

When it comes to the geeky/nerdy media, movies are the big focus. They always have been. Do I, as editor-in-chief of the greatest geeky/nerdy website on the internet (confirmation needed), watch all of these movies? Nope, not even close. In fact, I miss most of the big movies. I saw Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther and Deadpool 2 and that was it. Heck, I’m a huge Star Wars fan and I didn’t even see Solo: A Star Wars Story. But that’s why we have other people on the podcasts with us! People like MC, Ulie, James Rambo, Phil, Vik and Andy fill in the gaps for me. Normally, I would say Steve fills in the gaps too but he’s got a 1 year old son right now. Understandably, he’s not watching movies in bunches any more. Personally, where I miss out on movies, I make up for in television content. I watch a lot of Netflix, Hulu and other “small screen” media, so let’s start with my “best of the best” of what I watched from the streaming services and TV content. I even have categories.

Best Series I Should Have Been Watching For A While:

Black Mirror (Netflix)

Picture, if you will, a series that has the heart and soul of The Twilight Zone but has integrated modern technology into the narrative. Instead of an idyllic utopia of endless possibilities, this dream world is often given a dark twist that turns the wonderous technological landscape into a living nightmare. The 4th season of the runaway British hit show debuted on December 29th, 2017. I feel like it has to be included in the 2018 slate of shows because of this late release.

What was captivating to me about this show was not the most recent season. I tried once before to get into this show unsuccessfully. The “U.S.S. Callister” episode was good though and convinced me to give Black Mirror another chance. But it was the prior seasons that really blew me away and made me include this show on my list. In particular, the episodes Be Right Back starring Haley Atwell and Domhnall Gleason and Playtest starring Wyatt “Son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn” Russell. Those two episodes are the definitive examples of why Black Mirror became a must-watch in 2018. They showcased what this show truly is all about. If you haven’t seen them, I will not spoil the plots but give a quick snap shot.

Be Right Back is from season 2, originally airing in 2013. It follows the relationship of Ash and Martha, who have just moved to a house in the country. Upon returning the moving van, Ash is killed in a traffic accident. At his funeral, Martha’s friend Sarah informs her there is a way, through technology to still communicate with Ash. Initially angry at Sarah’s suggestion, she joins the service. It uses Ash’s social media accounts to create an AI version of Ash to communicate with Martha. What starts as instant messages progresses further and begs the questions “how does technology effect our relationships” and “where does grief end and obsession with the past begin?” The episode is equally frightening and heart-breaking. It’s a must watch if you’re like me, and missed it the first time.

Episode 2 of Season 3 is called Playtest and it is quite possibly the most frightening piece of media I’ve seen in years. Wyatt Russell plays Cooper, an American traveller stuck in London because of identity theft. Forced to find some money, he takes a job found on a short-term gig finding app as a video game tester. The company he is testing for is famous for survival horror games and is experimenting with augmented reality via an implant inserted into the base of skull. As Cooper begins testing the games, things become more and more frightening as he is unable to distinguish what is reality and what is part of the game. For anyone who’s ever been a gamer, this episode speaks to you directly. As you find yourself playing endless hours of a game, sometimes the game’s reality bleeds over into your real life and you question if you should keep playing. Now that augmented reality and virtual reality are no longer science fiction but science fact, how will they affect our lives going forward?

One of my biggest gripes with modern horror is that none of it is actually scary. A few jump scares of frightening images and tons of blood and gore is normally what you’ll get. Black Mirror masterfully builds tension, makes you anxiously wait for the next scene all while wishing the episode, its horrifying visuals and themes will end soon. A lot of modern media is forgettable after one viewing, leaving you with no desire to watch it again. Black Mirror sticks with you and hangs on for dear life, almost daring you to watch episodes again… if you’re brave enough.

Show That Lived Up To The Social Media Hype:

Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

Holy crap is this series good. I raved about its merits in a prior “What to Watch.” This show does not disappoint at all. There are a lot of shows people rave about on social media that are absolute crap (The Walking Dead, Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother to name a few). This one delivers, big time.

What makes The Handmaid’s Tale such a good series is that it’s “science fiction” but it is not far off from reality. When Margaret Atwood wrote the book back in 1985, it won her an Arthur C. Clark Award for best work in sci fi. Good science fiction will always take what is going on in the real world and twist it ever so slightly. Now, in the 21st century, this story could definitely happen in our world, which makes the series both relatable and frightening. There was a movie version in the 90s that sucked pretty hard, so it was a breath of fresh air that this series has been so wonderful. It has the checklist of awesome TV and something for everyone to enjoy:

• dystopian future

• shocking reveals and unexpected twists and turns

• based on a novel but doesn’t follow the source material exactly

• the balance of episodes that leave you depressed after one and then uplifted after the next, giving you hope for the characters

• female empowerment

• violence, blood, gore

If you haven’t started watching The Handmaid’s Tale, you need to fix that as soon as possible. It lives up to the hype and leaves you wanting more after you’ve binged the first 2 seasons.

Best “Course Correction”:

The Flash Season 4 (The CW)

I hate saying this because I love this show so much, but here goes. Season 3 of The Flash was not good.

(spoilers if you haven’t seen season 3 yet)

In season 3, they introduce a really cool bad guy with Doctor Alchemy, then there’s an even bigger bad guy in Savitar. And who is Savitar? Another speedster villain, in fact he’s a time remnant of Barry Allen and he’s evil!!! And he’s evil for some stupid, non-sensical reason! They started season 3 with a tease of “Flashpoint” and that only ends up lasting for 2 episodes. It was such a tease because the comic version of Flashpoint was this amazing, alternate reality where EVERYTHING was different. The lip-service Flashpoint we got was a total disappointment. Season 3 looked at everything that was great about The Flash and took it away. Barry and team Flash are supposed to be hopeful, uplifting, and creative, the perfect counter-balance to the dark world of Oliver Queen and Arrow. Season 3 of The Flash was so disappointing, no one even bothered to write a wikipedia article about it.

seriously, there is an entire wiki page written about Cop Rock. No one wants to write about The Flash Season 3. Ouch

Season 4 had a lot to atone for in the eyes of Arrow-verse fans, and it certainly achieved that. It returned to its roots and got rid of the whole “weight of Barry’s decisions burying him in depression.” The show become fun again and added a new character: Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man. It also has Barry and team going toe to toe with a powerful advesary: the Thinker. The only gripe I had with this season was the finale. It was very meh, which was disappointing for an otherwise awesome season.

Honorable Mention:

Iron Fist Season 2 - I wrote in a “What to Watch” that season 2 was SO MUCH better than season 1. It cleaned up nearly all the messes it created and even took some bold liberties with the character, but it ended up being too little too late. Man, I want to like Danny Rand, the Immortal Iron Fist, but I’m still Team Flash. Plus, I’m fairly certain the Flash could take Iron Fist in a fight.

“It Only Takes One Bad Season…”

Orange Is The New Black Season 6 (Netflix)

Orange Is The New Black is the crown jewel of the Netflix originals empire. It was one of their first in-house-made breakout hits and really helped transform the streaming service into a powerhouse of content. That being said, season 5 was sloppy, the writing was lazy, and it was a huge disappointment after a gut-wrenching 4th season. Often times, a bad season from a powerhouse show is the beginning of the end (looking at you Walking Dead…again). Not with OITNB. Season 6 showed that this show will not go out with a whimper and outstay its welcome.

Now, in the grand scheme of things, you needed the stories told in season 5 to set the table for season 6 to make sense, but season 6 was leaps and bounds better than it’s predecessor. After the riot, there are severe consequences. We catch up with most of our “friends” as they are now in maximum security. There are investigations into Poussey’s death, a trial involving Tastee and her role in the riot, former Warden Capputo’s battle of conscience that becomes a battle with the prison system for justice and a turf war between murderous sisters in this fully packed season. As always with OITNB, the stories are woven together to make for a captivating season and this one cleaned up its mistakes and missteps from the prior season.

Piper was insufferably annoying in this season, like she has been for the past 3 seasons for that matter, but that raises an interesting aspect of this show. She was the main character of this series, it is based on Piper Kerman’s novel after all. The Netflix series has taken on a life of its own and given a depth to the supporting cast that makes them more interesting than Piper herself. They’ve become the focal points more so than Piper. Imagine any other show that had a main character who was not only outshone by the “also starrings,” but were so good they made the main character expendable. They are few and far between, if there are any.

“It Can’t Be THAT Good, Can It?”

Daredevil Season 3 (Netflix)

To answer that question: yes, it can be that good. It was that good. The first 2 seasons of Daredevil were the gold standard of all superhero series. While I love the Flash, Daredevil is by far my favorite superhero series ever. It is incredibly written, incredibly acted, the casting is phenomenal, the choreography is flawless, I’m sure the craft services table has awesome food, the interns are quick with getting coffee, this show just doesn’t have any visible flaws. And after an incredible season 2 featuring Jon Bernthal as the Punisher, I legitimately thought there had to be a drop off in quality with season 3. I was pleasantly proven incorrect.

After the events of The Defenders, Matt Murdock is physically and emotionally broken. Can he continue his quest to protect the citizens of Hell’s Kitchen as Daredevil? Can he mend the broken relationships with Foggy and Karen? What does Wilson Fisk have planned and how is he getting out of prison? I would love to spoil this, but if you haven’t seen it yet, please drop what you’re doing and do so now. Daredevil Season 3 is the best superhero season of all the superhero shows past or present. Hands down. Full stop.

Honorable Mention:

Jessica Jones Season 1 - I waited a long time to watch this season and I’m really sorry I did. Season 1 was incredible. David Tenant was fantastic as Kilgrave. Krysten Ritter made me like her. Read the review I wrote earlier this year for more.

Surprise Hit:

Making It (Hulu and NBC)

Let’s not act like this is really a “surprise.” The show features Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman as the hosts. That alone would make this crafting competition show at the very least mildly entertaining. It was so much more than that though. Imagine Project Runway meets This Old House with a dash of The Great British Baking Show and you’ve got Making It. The contestants use wood-working tools, fabric, paper, textiles, and many other mediums that you don’t often see in these competition shows. And their final products are incredible. Take a look at artist Billy Kheel’s taco truck playset.

He made all of this by hand! The tacos and all the toppings were made of felt and the taco shells actually could close! I want one of these things!

As I mentioned previously when talking about The Great British Baking Show, Making It also bucks the reality TV trend of pitting competitors against each other. As you watch and start having favorite contestants, you also see that they themselves are rooting for one another. When one person ends up being eliminated, it’s an emotional moment for the entire group. This show is a nice, peaceful, fun show in a sea of turbulent reality TV. It was a refreshing addition to my viewing in 2018.

Honorable Mention:

Letterkenny (Hulu) - I’ve become a huge fan of this show so much so that I’m using jargon from the Canadian comedy in my every day life. I put a clip of the show into our podcast intro. I’m a fan now, for sure. It’s so bad that I’m now a fan of “All Dressed” Chips.

best chips ever, eh?

As I stated in my “What to Watch” from earlier this year, it is quite possibly the funniest new show I've watched in years. There's plenty of crude humor but at the same time, there's a level of intelligence and witty banter that proves the creators are no slouches. The jokes come quick and in such a fast-paced manor that you might be laughing too hard and miss one of them. What makes the show great is that it is not a slave to convention like so many other comedies.  The writing has diversity and shows that they are able to take on deadpan, irreverent and topical humor, all being well balanced and not heavy handed. 

Shows That Deserve Mention Again

I watched a lot of TV in 2018, some of it was so good or so surprisingly good that I would be doing it a disservice if I didn’t bring them up in this makeshift “Year In Review.”

Castle Rock - Take every Stephen King book/TV series/movie and force someone to consume all of it. No, ALL OF IT. EVERY SINGLE BITE. Then, force them to tell you a story set in the King-a-verse. AND IT BETTER BE AWESOME. Fear not for our imaginary, force-fed friend, because the story totally is awesome. That’s Castle Rock in a nut shell. It’s 10 hours of edge-of-your-seat horror, suspense, science fiction, and mind warping entertainment. Do the damn thing and watch Castle Rock. Read my review if you need more details.

Evil Genius - Holy crap is this documentary captivating. A kidnapped pizza delivery guy, a collar bomb, a crazy hoarder and his unrequited love of a psychopathic, possible criminal mastermind woman and all of this is et in the the boring town of Erie, Pennsylvania makes for a wild ride and fascinating series. Check out the full review here.

Wild Wild Country - “A radical Hindu guru who preaches free love, consumerism and has an international group of followers moves his community to a rural Oregon town” sounds like the premise for a sitcom. Turns out this actually happened in the 1980s and there were not “wacky hijinks” or “hilarious results.” This documentary is a must watch. Read more here.

The Staircase - A woman dies from falling down the stairs in her home and her husband is accused of pushing her and that is the most cut and dry portion of the case. Once it hits trial, all hell breaks loose. If you ever want to watch a Netflix documentary that will make you hate how our judicial system is structured, this is your series.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 - Don’t listen to the purists who bemoan that this “isn’t Star Trek.” It’s fun, original, creative, and unlike the Seth McFarlane love letter to TNG The Orville, it breaks from traditional Trek storytelling. To be brutally honest, that is what killed Star Trek. There’s a reason why Discovery is the first Trek series in over a decade. The cast and crew of Discovery are doing bold things and I can’t wait to see what season 2 has in store for us. Read more about season 1 here.

Thank you for reading my take on the best shows of 2018. Stay tuned to GGR as we have more favorites from 2018