96 Time December 27, 2021/January 3, 2022
1 The Underground
Railroad
In adapting Colson
Whitehead’s novel about
a young enslaved woman’s
(Thuso Mbedu) slightly
fantastical journey north,
Barry Jenkins improved upon
a masterpiece, expanding
minimal prose into an
immersive audiovisual and
moral landscape. While his
insightful direction yielded
indelible performances,
bespoke music and production
design made each episode
a discrete allegorical world.
Although it would’ve been a
breathtaking achievement at
any time, in a year when racists
revolted at the Capitol and in
the classroom, it felt as essential
as any work of art could be.2 The White Lotus
Asked to pitch a series that could be
shot in a single location, for COVID-19
reasons, creator Mike White cannily
picked a Hawaiian resort. Well, he
earned both the trip and a surprise
second season, with this perfectly cast
pseudo-mystery that made rich people
on vacation avatars for a mess of social
ills. Yet White’s scripts left room for
empathy. Instead of diluting his critique,
that controversial choice reinforced it,
insisting that these overindulged clowns
were not so different from ourselves.3 Work in Progress
This deeply underappreciated traumedy
is a portrait of co-creator and star Abby
McEnany as a self-described “fat, queerdyke” battling suicidal ideation. In a
second season that improved upon
an excellent debut, our hero stared
down demons that had tormented her
since childhood. What might sound
like a downer is buoyed by scenes
of tenderness, wonder and expertly
deployed cringe comedy.4 Exterminate
All the Brutes
In a big year for nonfiction TV, Raoul
Peck’s four-part essay raised the bar
for serious art, and serious political
engagement, in the genre. Brutes
approaches inequality from theBEST TV
SHOWS
BY JUDY BERMAN
broadest possible perspective,
tracing capitalism, colonialism, white
supremacy and genocide around the
world and through the centuries. He
gets personal too, illustrating how
global power dynamics can shape a
life. Not every stylistic choice works,
but that’s to be expected when a
creator is experimenting this boldly.5 Reservation Dogs
Creators Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi
have given TV something it desperately
needed: a great show by and about
Indigenous people. Set on an
Oklahoma reservation, this dramedy
follows four teens mourning a friend as