97
that capitalized on America’s love-hate
obsession with our billionaire elite.
And it was just getting started. In the
aftermath of patriarch Logan’s (Brian
Cox) betrayal at the hands of his love-
starved son Kendall (Jeremy Strong),
the Roy clan devolved into a civil war
conducted through elaborately uncivil
dialogue, for a third season that raised
the stakes without sacrificing what
makes Succession such cathartic fun.
8 We Are Lady Parts!
In this U.K. import, a timid microbiology
Ph.D. student (Anjana Vasan) strays
from the path to achievement, arranged
marriage and perfect womanhood
when her killer guitar chops get her
recruited by an all-Muslim-girl punk
band. A subversive, hilarious and—dare
I say it?—empowering comedy, Lady
Parts shatters stereotypes just by
authentically inhabiting its characters.
Each young woman is a whole person,
and one we’ve never seen on TV before.
9 I Think You Should Leave
A cable show called Coffin Flop. “Wet
steaks,” the disgusting meal of choice
for cretins out on the town. Dan
Flashes, a men’s store where shirts are
expensive “because the pattern’s so
complicated, you idiot.” The concepts
Tim Robinson cooks up for this sketch
comedy, which dropped its second
season in 2021, are so absurd that
they shoot straight into the meme-o-
sphere. But they linger because his
characters—dudes throwing tantrums
for nonsensical reasons—evoke the
incoherent anger that defines our era in
a way straight-faced shows never could.
10 Yo u
It’s an enticing premise: a cute, bookish
romantic turns out to be a psycho
killer. But by the end of Season 1, this
insanely popular rom-com satire had
made its point about the genre’s hidden
creepiness. Happily, the show has
found new targets. This year’s third—
and best—season sent Penn Badgley’s
murderous Joe and his unhinged
bride to a ritzy California town to raise
their baby, taking on everything from
momfluencers to swingers in a searing
send-up of pop culture’s obsession
with suburbia.
they scam and save to honor his dream
of moving to California. Like many great
recent shows (Atlanta, Betty), it has a
hazy surreal-meets-DIY vibe, moving
fluidly between hijinks, gallows humor
and earnest emotion. Add stars who
disappear into their roles and writers’
refusal to dilute Indigenous culture—or
anger—for non-Native audiences, and
the result is as uncompromising as it
is groundbreaking.
6 Yellowjackets
It’s still anyone’s guess where this wild
post-Lost survival drama is headed.
And it’s probably safe to assume
that not everyone is getting as much
pleasure out of the eerie ’90s-set
tale as I—a child of that decade who
grew up watching stars Christina Ricci,
Juliette Lewis and Melanie Lynskey play
disturbed teens—am. (Oh, well. My
list, my rules.) Just know that amid a
25-year narrative that probes what really
happened during the 19 months that the
members of a high school girls’ soccer
team spent in the wilderness following a
plane crash, the show carves out some
of the deepest, strangest and most
distinctive characters in recent memory.
7 Succession
HBO’s Murdochian Lear became a
breakout hit in two scathing seasons
MBEDU
CAPTIVATES ON
THE UNDERGROUND
RAILROAD
PHOTOGRAPH BY ELISABETH CAREN
CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES
