Top TV Shows Of 2021 Pt 2
4. The Bureau
This one is for fans of John Le Carre, prolific author of over 30 novels including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, and many others. These are spy stories that are about as far from the brutish action of James Bond and Jason Bourne as one can get, and seems to be, in terms of style and tone, exactly where The Bureau likes to live.
The show portrays the daily life of the employees of the DGSE, the French equivalent of MI5. It stars Mathieu Kassovitz as Guillaume Debailly, codenamed Malotru, who has just come back from a six-year undercover operation in Damascus and is having trouble adjusting to normal life. The leading cause of his difficulty in forgetting his old life is Nadia El Mansour, played wonderfully by Moroccan actress Zineb Triki. Nadia finds herself, unwittingly, in the middle of a geopolitical maelstrom, with Malotru putting himself, time and time again, in harm's way at the expense of not only his own health and safety, but also his comrades in the DGSE.
One of the mains draws for me is the absolute top tier acting by Mathieu Kassovitz, in scene after scene his face and body expression must betray nothing to the person sitting across from him. But he must also convey to the audience that he had has in fact gleaned the information he was looking for. The supporting cast is also just as strong as Mathieu. Sara Giraudeau plays Marina Loiseau, the newest recruit in the DGSE. Early on, we are to believe that she wasn’t able to make the cut, and is asked to leave due to her inability to travel. Soon after, it’s revealed that she was to take on a mission of such secrecy and importance that no one in the office could know about it, save for the top brass. ‘Shame,’ I said as she left ‘I really liked her.’ I’m not a smart man.
The Bureau is available to stream through Sundance Now.
3. Midnight Mass
Where do we go when we die? This is one of the central themes that Mike Flanagans newest series on Netflix attempts to grapple with. During one of series’ most notoriously long dialogue scenes, Crockett Island prodigal son and non-believer Riley have a conversation with the faithful church-goer Erin. Riley states that he believes we are made of neurons, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and back again shall we go when we die. Erin, speaking not for herself but the unborn daughter she lost, says this.
Just re-watching the scene made me tear up, and I’m as much of a non-believer as you’ll ever meet. But the imagery that Erin conjures in that speech is something no religious person I’ve ever talked to has been able to get across to me. Hoping for an afterlife isn’t about being with your loved ones on fluffy clouds with giant angel on your back. It’s about hoping you're going somewhere you know you’ll always be safe and loved and taken care of.
Anyone out there that’s a fan of great writing, acting, and thoughtful, sincere, masterful storytelling check out Midnight Mass on Netflix.
2. Succession
Reversing course almost entirely, Succession is not a show about where you go when you die, it’s a show about how shitty you can be to your fellow human beings. Logan Roy, the patriarch of the Roy family, has a stroke at the end of the first episode, and from that point on the rest of his family, especially his kids, beg, borrow, and steal to try and take over his company, Roystar Wayco. Essential it’s a conservative mass media company (think Fox News owners Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation).
Every episode, every moment really, is chock full of insults, put-downs, and derogatory remarks that would make a sailor blush. Some examples being, “It’s Tough To Have To Tell You This But I’m In A Sexual Relationship With Your Mother And She Talks In Her Sleep.” “What Is That — Date Rape By Calvin Klein?” and “Put my fuckin’ wine back now. Put it the fuck back. Don’t make a fuckin’ mess.”
The standout of the third and latest season is Kendall Roy, played by method actor Jeremy Strong. In a New Yorker piece written by Michael Schulman, Jeremy Strong is profiled as a method actor, aka an actor that doesn’t get out of character even when the cameras aren’t rolling. According to the article, Strong avoids engaging in the behavior of fellow method actor Jared Leto, who was rumored to have sent used condoms to his fellow Suicide Squad castmates. Rather, Strong is said to simply choose to isolate himself from the rest of the cast and crew between shooting scenes. Whatever he’s doing it seems to be working, as the emotion he’s able to convey not only in this season but during the entirety of the show is nothing short of incredible.
Check out Succession on HBOMax.
1. Mare Of Easttown
The common theme I’ve found looking over my list is a fantastic supporting cast, and that’s especially true for Mare Of Easttown. The show is essentially a 7 episode police procedural, with multiple murders at the center of it. It stars Kate Winslet, Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart, David Denman, Neal Huff, Guy Pearce, John Douglas Thompson, Joe Tippett, and an incredible drunk performance by Evan Peters. It’s not enough just to have a star-studded cast if you don’t do anything with them. Every character is fully formed, multi-dimensional, and deeply interesting. They all have their own agency, their own wants, and needs, and feel like organic, authentic people that we all know in our life.
The realism also extends to the relationships between these very authentic characters, there’s lots of love here but there’s also a lot of resentment and hostility. Mare and her mother Helen (played brilliantly by Winslet and Smart) have years of traumatic events built up between them, and how they unpack that trauma isn’t always pretty or helpful, but it is always authentic to the world that series creator Craig Zobel and head writer Brad Ingelsby have built here.
Give it a watch at HBOMax.
