Kayla Cobb’s 10 Favorite Things of 2017

Never in a million years would I guess that a German drama about time travel would be my favorite escapist watch of the year, but here we are. Dark is the chilling, logically brilliant, and broody supernatural drama that I wanted Stranger Things to be. From it’s spot-on casting, which perfectly captured its central characters throughout history, to a thrilling score that will likely haunt viewers for weeks after this binge, Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese’s drama is an excellent watch. Dark stands as the best of the best ignored gems on Netflix while delivering a truly great mystery.

Stream Dark on Netflix

I never thought that a show about women’s wrestling would bring me so much joy, but at this point I should know to trust Jenji Kohan and Netflix. Everything about GLOW was a joyful delight — Ruth’s (Alison Brie) struggle to prove to herself that she’s a good person, Carmen’s (Britney Young) journey of self discovery, Sam’s (Marc Maron) grumpy brand of support. At its core, GLOW is a story about a group of outsiders, most of them women, trying to make something new for themselves. Beneath the team’s inner drama and one of the most mature abortion plots to ever grace television, there’s something really pure about that.

Stream GLOW on Netflix

There’s only one celebrity I could count on to cheer me up this year — two-time Emmy winner Kate McKinnon. Whether she was stalking Jake Tapper or singing about hell itself, McKinnon showed off a biting edge to her comedy this year that cemented her as one of Saturday Night Live’s greats.

Where to stream Saturday Night Live

Ryan Murphy’s take on the iconic fight between two Hollywood idols has been criticized for its lack of subtly. But when a story from the 1960s so chillingly mirrors gender disparity in 2017, subtly isn’t a priority. Unlike other women-focused projects released this year like Big Little Lies or The Handmaid’s Tale, FEUD wasn’t quiet or restrained. It was big, loud, and flashy all while telling a heart-wrenching story about two women who could have been friends but instead tore down the only other person who understood them. Watching Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon tear each other down was fun in the cattiest and most addicting way possible. However, buried beneath all of the scathing Hedda Hopper (Judy Davis) articles was a story of abuse, loss, and an unfair system that is now more relevant than ever.

Where to stream FEUD: Bette and Joan

No matter how you look at it, Jordan Peele’s horror film is a masterpiece. Get Out is a fun watch for mainstream audiences, packed with genuinely shocking twists and the perfect balance of jokes that make it clear that even though this is high-brow horror, the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously. However, if any viewer is looking for a more intellectually stimulating viewing experience, Get Out delivers on that front too, acting as a metaphor-packed study on the sinister forms racism can take. The film also brought Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Lil Rel Howery, Betty Gabriel, and Lakeith Stanfield — an actor so talented he was almost able to single-handedly save Netflix’s Death Note — to national attention. Get Out and Jordan Peele’s many interviews and surprise college appearances were very good things this year.

Where to stream Get Out

Every year I think there’s no way Raphael-Bob Waksberg’s depressed horse show can get better, and every year BoJack proves me wrong. From its insightful look into Todd’s (Aaron Paul) exploration of his asexuality to a haunting day-in-the-life episode that pulled us into BoJack’s (Will Arnett) depression, there are so many things this season did right. There are no other shows on television that can one minute explore the twisted toils of femininity throughout the decades and the next dive into a election plot that is simultaneously laugh out loud funny and creepily relevant. This year, BoJack proved what television could be.

Stream BoJack Horseman on Netflix

The third season of Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland’s sci-fi comedy stands as one of the most intelligent and ambitious shows on TV. That’s always been the case from the show’s first episode, but Season 3 truly went above and beyond, presenting viewers with heart-pounding on-screen fights while also exploring into the clawed demons on self-hatred. If you can peel back the show’s rabid fan base and the truly cringe-worthy Schezwan sauce controversy, Rick and Morty stands as an insightful and often heart-wrenching examination of the toils of excellence and the value of therapy. If you sift through all the penis jokes, mass deaths, and Roiland’s hilarious screeching, there’s hope hiding at the center of Rick and Morty. During this trying year, a show that embraces its darkness while promising that optimism can still exist was essential.

Where to stream Rick and Morty

It’s difficult to explain HBO’s The Young Pope to the uninitiated. The Paolo Sorrentino series focuses the younger-than-averge Pope Lenny (Jude Law), a hyper conservative holy man who only can to rule the papacy through sloppy inner-Vatican politics. There’s a lot to dissect in the drama’s first season — Exactly how young is this pope? Could this happen in real life?How can the pope not believe in God? But to me none of these details mattered because HBO gifted us all with a show that involved kangaroos, a vaping pope, and a changing scene set to “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” Thinking about The Young Pope and explaining it to anyone who will listen has kept me entertained for a full year. Much like religion itself, Pope Lenny’s power comes from how unknowable he really is. We are all blessed to have him

Stream The Young Pope on HBO Go and HBO NOW

This year Noah Hawley was behind not one but two shows that altered my perception of what great television can be. Even though it’s almost been a year since Legion’s premiere, not a day goes by where I don’t think about David Haller’s (Dan Stevens) trippy journey through his own insecurities and psyche. Legion, with its stunning visuals, Bollywood dance number, and choice to cast Aubrey Plaza as a 40-year-old male creep, is an unabashedly weird show. However, its many oddities helped me to better cope with my own inner darkness. It also gave us all one of the most haunting versions of “The Rainbow Connection” ever put to screen.

Fargo’s third and possibly final season was another visual feast as the show always is. However, there was a gentle sense of self-reflection to this year’s midwestern murder mystery. Season 3 didn’t deal with the embodiment of good vs. evil like Season 1, and it lacked the history changing war of Season 2. Instead, this year of Fargo focused on a brand of corporate evil that can never be fully stopped, chillingly portrayed by David Thewlis. Over 10 episodes, this inevitable evil took many casualties, including a haphazard criminal (Ewan McGregor), a corrupt middleman (McGregor), and a spunky opportunist (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). This season’s ambiguous conclusion saw a tired but hopeful Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) facing off against the face of evil itself, V. M. Varga. At the end, we don’t know if it was good guys or the bad guys who walked away from Fargo victorious, and that uncertainty is more disturbing than any murder the show could concoct.

Stream Legion on Hulu

Where to stream Fargo

There were a lot terrible moments this past year, but in the face of so much terrible news and what often felt like an unstable political environment, 2017 brought us some true heroes. Hollywood’s history of covering up the sexually manipulative and abusive behavior of men in power started falling apart with an accusation from Rose McGowan, and America hasn’t quite been the same since. Thanks to these brave women and men as well as the tireless worth of many journalists, we’ve now learned some of the deeply disturbing secrets buried in the closets of Harvey Weinstein, James Toback, Kevin Spacey, Louis C.K., Danny Masterson, and many other people in Hollywood and in positions of power. None of this would have been revealed if it wasn’t for the limitless courage of these accusers.