[TV] THE BESTS, WORSTS, AND MOSTS OF THE 2020- 2021 SEASON

****WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD. LOTS AND LOTS OF SPOILERS.

I MEAN IT. *****

As I write this, it is approximately two weeks into June, which means that the 2020-2021 television season is officially over, and man, it was a strange one. Just as COVID had thrown a monkey wrench into the back end of the previous television season, it messed up the roll-out of this one. Television shows not only were late returning to the air, they also had to cope with stringent safety measures designed to to protect the casts and crews from a deadly disease. As we shall see, some shows handled this disruption better than others. But some things didn't change. Like all television seasons, this one had it's ups and downs, it's hits and misses, it's shows that we loved that we will see another season of and shows that broke our hearts by being canceled too soon.

Following is my take on the television season just past. As always, you can put up your own choices for Best and Worst, and your own Mosts; critique the choices I or others made; or just shoot the breeze about the TV season just past. The fun part of these threads for me is not just sharing my thoughts, but getting yours as well!

So, without further ado, I shall kick things off:

THE BESTS, WORSTS, AND MOSTS OF THE 2019-2020 TV SEASON

Firstly, the Bests and Worsts:

BEST NETWORK SHOW
Superstore
Ever since it premiered in 2015, SUPERSTORE always made my short list of nominees for Best Network Show – and every single year, it always got nudged out by another show. Sorry, SUPERSTORE, but the Flarrowverse was just that good! And, to be honest, it probably would have been nudged out again were it not for the fact that, thanks to the COVID-caused messed up television season, LEGENDS OF TOMORROW is airing as a summer show. But the Legends didn't air during the typical network season this year, and SUPERSTORE did. And SUPERSTORE reached new heights in this, it's final season. And attention must be paid.

Every show, whether drama or comedy, set in the present day in the 2020-2021 television season, had to cope with whether or how to integrate the ongoing COVID-19 crisis into their shows. Most of them just ignored it. Others simply nodded in it's direction by showing characters donning masks when they were indoors or in groups. Some medical shows went the route of doing a non-specific time jump to a non-COVID future, acknowledging that the pandemic was awful but now they were in a Brave New Future where everything was Back To Normal.

SUPERSTORE, on the other hand, tackled the pandemic head on, and in the process delivered up some pretty hard-hitting yet still laugh-out-loud funny episodes. The show had always made it a point to realistically show retail work as one where the people stuck in it were overworked, underpaid, and treated as unimportant cogs in a machine by a heartless, clueless corporation; while still mining humor from the ways in which the people coped with this. SUPERSTORE showed how the pandemic made alll this even worse. (In one hard hitting scene, the employees of Cloud 9 are informed that, due to COIVD-19, not wearing a mask on the job will be an immediate firing offense. When an employee asks if the company will provide the now required masks, the answer is “No”. The scene ends with the store manager reciting the the meaningless platitude that corporate has sent out to the employees they are leaving to dangle: “Cloud 9 employees are the True Heroes of the Zephyr family”).

But while it had it's share of serious moments, SUPERSTORE never forgot that it was a comedy show, and so made sure to deliver the laughs. It utilized it's excellent ensemble cast (seriously even minor characters are so well written and acted they are standouts) and it's whip-smart writing to full effect this season. In a year where so many other shows just didn't or couldn't deliver, SUPERSTORE shone. It went out on top.

BEST CABLE OR STREAMING SERIES
DuckTales
Speaking of belated kudos and going out on top...

In it's third, and sadly, final season, DUCK TALES really came into it's own. A season long plot arc had the Duck family and it's friends facing off against the evil organization F.O.W.L. and it's plots to attain it's ultimate goal – to remove all adventure from the world. The series expertly set up and played out the threat, while still finding time to give all it's characters fun side adventures and moments in the spotlight. Months before WANDAVISION aired, DUCKTALES did it's own “trapped in a sitcom” episode and got in some hilarious riffs on sitcoms past (THAT 70'S SHOW and FULL HOUSE in particular came in for some intense ribbing). And the season itself culminated in a beautifully crafted finale that sent the show off in style.

What made DUCK TALES so good this season wasn't just the excellent writing, the well-developed characters, the fantastic voice actors who embodied them, and the top-notch production values (though they certainly didn't hurt). It was the way the show found it's groove and the absolute confidence with which it executed it's moves. Unlike so many shows that come out with a dazzling first season, only to fizzle out as the showrunners lose track of what they were supposed to be about, DUCK TALES consistently kept it's eye on the ball, building on it's strengths and shoring up it's weaknesses. And in a disrupted television season that threw so many shows back on their heels, DUCK TALES never broke stride. It was that rare show where, instead of trying to be best kid's TV show it could be, or the best family TV show it could be, it was (to quote a song) simply the best TV show it could be, period. And in doing that, it became the best cable/streaming show on television. Because Family truly is the Greatest Adventure of OH NO!!! THE GROUND!!!


BEST NEW CABLE OR STREAMING SERIES
(Tie)WandaVision/The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
The MCU came to the world of the smaller screen this year, and delivered a one-two punch that showed that they had come with their game faces on. First out of the gate was WANDAVISION, which wrapped an homage to sitcoms of decades past around a story about grief and trauma. Then came THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER, which wrapped a two-fisted actioneer around a story about coming to terms with the past. In both cases the series took advantage of the longer time frame afforded by television to do deep dives into their themes. WANDAVISION was the most stylistically adventurous, while THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER was the more thoughtful. What was amazing about both of them is that Marvel could have easily done simplistic series that had their protagonists saving the world or a part thereof and still had smash hit series, instead they had the guts to explore problems that couldn't be solved by punching someone in the face. Marvel swung for the fences on these shows, and in doing so produced the best television of the year.

BEST NEW NETWORK SHOW/MOST PROMISING NEW SHOW
Superman and Lois
"Oh no", I hear you groan. "Not ANOTHER Superman show!!!" It's a legit reaction. After all, what angle could a new show possibly take on Superman and the love of his life, Lois Lane, that hasn't been done a bajillion times before? How about Superman/Clark Kent as a married couple with children, coping with the special stresses put on the family when one of it's members is Superman?

It's amazing how well that approach has worked.

What made SUPERMAN AND LOIS such a breath of fresh air this season was how it broke away from the usual CW/Berlanti-verse formula of young adults angsting their way through their love lives and the challenges of being an adult in between punching out supervillains. Superman and his wife have been there, done that. They are fully formed adults, and they have found their life mates. Their challenges come from helping their two teen sons navigate their own journeys into adulthood – a challenge made even more difficult now that one of their children has developed superpowers of his own. Oh, there is plenty of teenage angst and punching out supervillains to be had, no worries there, but it is all framed in the context of a loving family working together to solve their problems.

Of course, not everything on SUPERMAN AND LOIS worked perfectly. The plotline concerning John Henry Irons took too long to come together and often seemed like an intrusion on the more interesting stuff happening with the Kent family. And the plotline concerning evil billionaire Morgan Edge's nefarious plans to weaponize X-Kryptonite seems more suitable for a crossover event then something that might happen in Smallville. But those are small quibbles for what is otherwise a great show with a ton of potential going forward. In a landscape where CW superhero shows were getting to be a bit samey-samey, SUPERMAN AND LOIS stood out with something new, fresh and different.

BEST ACTOR
(Tie)Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, and Wyatt Russell, THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER
I really couldn't make up my mind as to which of the three lead male characters of THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER had done the the most superb job. There was Anthony Mackie, as Sam Wilson struggling to decide whether or not he should assume the mantle of Captain America and trying to come to terms with his people's past. There was Sebastian Stan, as Bucky Barnes trying to come to terms with the weight of his own personal past and chart a future for himself. And there was the newcomer to the MCU, Wyatt Russell, as the man who happily assumed the mantle of Captain America, only to hideously crack under the pressure of living up to the name. All three gentleman had delivered the goods in one scene after another. Which one to pick? In the end I threw in the towel and declared it a tie. All of them were fantastic, and all of them were outstanding, and I am looking forward to seeing where all of them go next.

BEST ACTRESS
Elizabeth Olsen, WANDAVISION
On the other hand, I had no problems deciding that Elizabeth Olsen was hands down the best actress of the 2020-2021 TV season. In the series WANDAVISION, Plsen gave a master class in acting, expertly cycling not only through different syles of comedy but also different extremes of emotion. It was amazing to watch how Wanda crumbled as her constructed reality did, heartbreaking to see her sacrifice everything to set the wrong she had done right, and inspiring to watch her find the inner stregth to carry on. All this, and she did a pretty good job battling a supervillain!

WORST SHOW/ MOST EGREGIOUS WASTE OF A TALENTED CAST
All Rise
ALL RISE was the worst kind of bad show out there ・the show that could have been good, and just kept frustratingly missing the mark. A show centering around the personal and professional lives of the judges, lawyers, clerks, bailiffs and cops who work at an L.A. County courthouse; ALL RISE centered itself around the character of Lola Character, a newly appointed black female judge determined to take a different approach to justice. The show had all the ingredients of a good show: interesting characters, quippy dialogue, and a snappy pace. But it was dogged at every turn by ridiculous plots, a presentation of the legal system so unrealistic it seems to have come from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, and overall incoherence as to just what exactly this show was supposed to be.

The incoherence is what doomed ALL RISE to be such a stupid, irredeemable show. Was it supposed to be a legal version of GREY'S ANATOMY? Because it certainly had that soapy, over-the-top aspect to it. Was it supposed to be a legal version of THE OFFICE? Because it also had a ton of “comedic takes on workplace quirks” in it. Was it supposed to be a West Coast version of LAW & ORDER? Because every other episode seemed to feature (badly) a “ripped-from-the-headlines” story about a hot political topic of the moment. If the show had picked a lane and stuck to it, it might have been passable, but no, it decided to be a comedic take on workplace quirks featuring gritty takes on the injustices of the legal system that young and sexy legal professionals navigated in between the tumultuous developments in their love lives. IT. JUST. DIDN'T. WORK.

And here is the worst thing about ALL RISE – this horrible, all-over-the-road, babbling lunacy of a terrible TV show wasted a veritable Murderer's Row of acting talent. Anchoring the cast was Simone Missick, who had impressed in the Marvel Television series LUKE CAGE, IRON FIST, and THE DEFENDERS, as well as ALTERED CARBON. Appearing regularly on the show were Marg Helgenberger, Paul McCrane, Peter MacNicol, and Amy Acker. These people are practically television royalty! And their talents were completely wasted on this pathetic excuse for a television drama! It takes a special kind of incompetence to have that kind of talent on hand and not be able to write to their talents.

After two seasons of stinking up the television landscape, ALL RISE was mercifully cancelled this year. The axe fell about two seasons too late.

WORST NEW SHOW
Big Sky
BIG SKY is the worst kind of blast from the past – the umpteenth go-round of elements that by now are so worn out they are transparent, that probably were considered fresh and now when they were first attempted. But it has been a loooooooong time since they were first attempted, in the case of BIG SKY, it's been decades.

The tropes that BIG SKY so laboriously recreated were first rolled in the movie SILENCE OF THE LAMBS 30 years ago in 1991. There's the damsels in distress that the show spends an egregious amount of time being stalked and kidnapped, and the recurring scenes of them huddling, whimpering and frightened, in a cold dark place. There's the egregiously weird villain who did the stalking and kidnapping (the show changes up a bit here from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by giving the guy – wait for it – MOMMY ISSUES! GROAN). And then there are the female protagonists doggedly trying to find the missing girls before Something Terrible happens to them. About the only thing different from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is that the creepy stalker kidnapper has grabbed his victims in order to sex traffic them rather than kill them.

Perhaps it is the been there-done there aspect of BIG SKY that causes it to commit the worst crime a “thriller” can possibly commit – it's BORING AS HELL. When the young ladies are stalked and kidnapped by Creepy Guy With Mommy Issues, the scenes aren't suspenseful – you're sitting there going, “Oh, for Pete's sake, just kidnap the girls already, we know that's what you're going to do!” Plot developments that are meant to be big shocking twists just fail to land because they are so utterly predictable. Gee, the Ryan Phillipe character is questioning a police officer in a small, out of the way town, and the officer is acting all squirrelly and weird – WHAT COULD IT POSSIBLY MEAN?!

BIG SKY is the worst of all possible television worlds – the thriller that doesn't thrill, but instead is just a boring slog. Amazingly, the show managed to get renewed for another season. Another season we can all be bored to tears by it.

BEST SERIES FINALE
DuckTales
The House of Mouse broke the hearts of loyal DUCKTALES fans this year by lowering the cancellation axe on the show. The small sliver of good news from the announcement was that the DUCKTALES showrunners had the time to craft a fitting finale to the beloved series. And what a finale they gave us! From beginning to end, the love and care with which the creators crafted fitting endings to every character's story was evident. Jump up and cheer moments abounded through the finale – from Donald Duck rediscovering his love of adventure, to Webby earning her way square into the McDuck family, to Launchpad realizing that he, too, could be a superhero. But the finale also didn't stint on the quieter, character driven moments – the scene where Donald and Della discussed the changes to their relationship that would occur due to Donald's decision to go on an around-the-world trip with his beloved Daisy was truly moving. And the scenes over the end credits, with the characters metaphorically takng bows as they engaged in a skydiving adventure, would a smile on anyone's face. DUCKTALES pulled off the feat of bringing the series to a satisfying end while at the same time leaving fans wanting more. Not just the best series finale of the 2020-2021 season but one of the best of all time.

WORST SERIES FINALE
Supernatural
... aaaaand then there was the SUPERNATURAL finale. In some ways, the series finale to SUPERNATURAL being a gigantic dud was pretty much baked into the cake. For one thing, SUPERNATURAL had already delivered up a nearly perfect series finale at the end of their fifth (and last good) season, only to get renewed anyway. Also, there was really nothing left to do with the Winchester brothers that hadn't already been done. They'd already died (multiple times). They had gone to Heaven. They'd defeated almost every Big Bad that could possibly be conceived, up to and including both God and the Devil. What was there left to do?

What was left to do, according to the showrunners, was for Dean to die in the most stupid possible way and sitting around in Heaven getting monologued at.

The notion of having Dean meet his end by going down swinging was not in itself a bad idea, but having him meet his end via a piece of rebar was anticlimactic to say the least. And having Dean meet all the people he cared about so much who had predeceased him when he reached Heaven would have been a terrific scene – but COVID-19 put paid to that idea, so instead we have Afterlife Bobby Singer telling Dean that all those folks are there. About the only good idea that was executed well was Dean tooling around Heaven in Metallicar to the strains of “Carry On, My Wayward Son” while he waited for Sam to live out his life and then join him there. But one good sequence does not a satisfying finale make.

SUPERNATURAL is a case study of what happens when a television show is allowed to keep going long after it's creative juice has run out. There was no possible way it's finale could have left fans wanting more, because, by the time it ended, there was nothing left to give.

And now, the Mosts:

MOST IMPROVED SHOW
Batwoman
It's kind of weird tagging BATWOMAN as a show that needs “improving” because, really, it was just fine to start out with. But BATWOMAN this season pulled off the amazing feat of taking a show that was already good and making it better.

The root cause of all the improvements was a case of the BATWOMAN showrunners being more or less thrown for a loop. At the end of last season the original BATWOMAN, Ruby Rose, exited the show, citing the physical stresses of the role causing her to suffer injuries as a cause. This left the showrunners in a quandary – the entire show had been built around Ms. Rose's character, how were they going to replace her? The easy way out would have been to simply recast the role of Kate Kane (Batwoman's alter ego) and act like nothing had happened. The showrunners took the harder, but more rewarding course – they brought on a brand new character to take up the mantle of Batwoman.

The decision to bring on an all-new Batwoman shook up the canvas of the show in interesting and compelling ways. Out went the soap opera aspects of Kate Kane's daddy issues and her tormented relationship with her long-lost sister. In was the story of how scrappy street kid Ryan Wilder (portrayed with firecracker intensity by Javicia Leslie) fights to become Batwoman and how she protects the powerless and forgotten people of Gotham City from those that would prey on them. Relationships on the show were rearranged as a result of this new focus and new character, and suddenly the show acquired a focus and intensity it hadn't had in it's first season.

The new, improved BATWOMAN shows that it is possible for showrunners to turn lemons into lemonade. May that lemonade stay tasty for a good long time.

MOST WORN-OUT SHOW
The Flash
Remember when THE FLASH was the fun, lighthearted alternative to the po-faced ARROW? That was a long time ago, folks. Over the years, THE FLASH has gotten more and more grim and more and more dour until now, it's the po-faced show that sets off the fun, lighthearted alternative. (That alternative being LEGENDS OF TOMORROW). As a result of the CW formula of young adults angsting over their relationships while said relationships constantly get torn apart and put back together again, THE FLASH has become a tedious slog. News of the departure of Carlos Valdes, who's wisecracking character Cisco often provided the humorous ballast to the melodramatic goings-on of the show only served to underscore that there was no more fun to be had watching THE FLASH. Word has come down that next season will be THE FLASH's last. That word has come about two season's too late.

MOST SAVING GRACE OF AN OTHERWISE MUNDANE SHOW
Harry and Melody, THE EQUALIZER
THE EQUALIZER is one of those shows that can't exactly be called a disappointment, but can't exactly be hailed as a triumph either. It's mostly a pleasantly mediocre way to while away an hour of television viewing time. But amidst the mediocrity, there is a bright spot – the characters of Harry and Melody, the shaggy, wisecracking hacker and his beautiful but deadly wife.

The fun thing about about the odd couple of Harry and Melody (a hacker and assassin) is that it is made clear from the jump that these two people are deeply in love with each other. They completely accept each other's quirks and foibles. Harry thinks that his wife's ability to take out targets from the top of a skyscraper is just awesome, while Melody glows with pride whenever Harry urges McCall to right thing, regardless of risk. Their loving banter with each other enlivens scenes that otherwise would be dreary exposition dumps.

THE EQUALIZER is a show that still has a ways to go before it is really good. But with the characters of Harry and Melody, it has the building blocks to get there.

MOST ANNOYING CHARACTER IN AN OTHERWISE INTERESTING SHOW
Alice, BATWOMAN
There was one signal exception to the across-the-board improvements that the new season of BATWOMAN brought to the show. It was Alice, the show's gender-flipped Joker analogue. Alice had already thoroughly worn out her welcome by the end of the first season of the show – the showrunners just couldn't seem to get it through their heads that such a character is fine in small doses, but a steady diet of same produces nothing but viewer heartburn. In the second season she graduated to being an obnoxious pest that no longer fit on the canvas but hung around sucking up screentime that should have been used for other, better characters.

What is it that makes this character so immensely annoying? It's the fact that she is a one, and only one, note character, and that note is played at top volume. Alice is nuts. That's it. She is also Hollywood Nuts – her “mental illness” doesn't in the least resemble any real life mental illness that real people cope with. Instead, it's symptoms include bugging eyes, wild mugging, cackling laughter, and the rabid chewing of every piece of scenery in sight. She's a Dollar Store Jokerette. And she is in Every. Single. Episode.

Alice as a character only worked as a counterpoint to Kate Kane (the sister who spent most of her life thinking Alice was dead). With the changes that have been worked on the show, she no longer has any reason to be kept around. Get rid of her, BATWOMAN. Pronto!

MOST REDEEMED CHARACTER
Lizzie Saltzman, LEGACIES
Lizzie Saltzman started out on LEGACIES as a character who, if you just ignored her, the show was good. She was a stereotypical Mean Girl, who also had anger issues, and who was constantly whining what a terrible lot she had in life when her life was, in actuality, pretty damn good. But something interesting happened on the way to the current season of LEGACIES. Lizzie Saltzman realized that she was, in fact, a very bad person. And set out to make herself into a good one. The journey was long, and it wasn't easy – there was some backsliding along the way – but eventually, Lizzie emerged as one of the most fascinating characters on the canvas as she progressed on her journey of self reinvention. So much so that when she was forced to betray a friend in order to save her beloved sister – her “Kryptonite” - our hearts broke for her. Lizzie Saltzman has grown from being the character you loved to hate to the character you just love. Good for you, Lizzie!

MOST AWESOME PLOT DEVELOPMENT
Sam becomes Captain America, THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER
If there is one thing that the MCU knows how to do, it's delivering those fist-pumping, stand-up-and-cheer, “OH YEAH!!!” moments. And so it was with the scene where Sam Wilson revealed himself to be the next Captain America. It wasn't so much that revelation was a surprise – savvy viewers knew that sooner or later Sam was going to take up the mantle – it was how it was done. In the climactic action sequence of the series, Sam was in deep shadow and silhouette, flying through the air in his new flight suit as the Flag Smashers executed their attack on the GRC summit meeting. The Flag Smashers throw gas grenades into the conference room and the attendees flee – only to be their escape to be cut off by yet another Flag Smasher. It is only then that we see Sam fly up and fling Captain America shield through a window to take out the Flag Smasher. As the shield boomerangs back to his hand he then flies through the window and lands, giving us the first clear look at him, decked out in red, white, and blue, proudly holding the shield that he had earned. Sam Wilson was Captain America. OH YEAH!!!

MOST HEARTBREAKING PLOT DEVELOPMENT
Wanda sacrifices her family, WANDAVISION
It was open question, however, as to whether poignancy was in Marvel's wheelhouse. With one of the final scenes of WANDAVISION, though, they definitely answered that question. Oh, yes, they could do it. And they could bring us all to tears doing it. After finally defeating evil witch Agatha, Wanda was left to cope with the horrifying realization that the alternate reality she had made for herself – one in which the love of her life, Vision, was still alive and where she had two children – had trapped innocent people inside it. These people were living in a state of constant torment, forced to act out Wanda's happy sitcom fantasies, cut off from their children, dreaming her nightmares. It had to be destroyed. So Wanda went back to the fantasy house where she had known such happiness with her husband and children and, standing in the living room with Vision, let the alternate reality disintegrate. The last part of that alternate reality to go was Vision, still speaking words of love to Wanda, still gazing at her with adoration. And viewers hearts broke as Wanda returned to real world, where she was left with nothing.

MOST RIDICULOUS PLOT DEVELOPMENT
Cody Hoyt (Ryan Phillipe) is killed, BIG SKY
BIG SKY clearly thought it had delivered up the plot twist to end all plot twists when Cody Hoyt, played by biggest-name-in-the-cast Ryan Phillipe, was gunned down by corrupt officer of the law Rick Legarski. (Turns out Legarski was in on the sex-trafficking conspiracy that is the show's big MacGuffin). Early PR runups to the show had tried to throw prospective viewers off the scent by putting Phillipe front and center, having him give lengthy interviews talking about the setup of the show and dropping broad hints that it was going to be about the love triangle his character was involved in.

And it might have worked, had it not been for the folks who actually wrote the show.

Because boy, oh boy, from the very first second of the first scene where Cody Hoyt talks to Rick Legarski, it is completely obvious that Legarski Is Suspicious As Hell and Something Is Up With Him. In fact, Hoyt comes off as a complete clueless dimwit for not seeing how manifestly hinky this guy is! So instead of being shocked when Legarski finally pulls out a pistol and blows poor Cody's brains out, the audience instead simply shrugged and went, “Yup. Saw that one coming a mile away”. It was a dumb plot twist that wasn't at all twisty and did nothing to help the plot. Just utterly ridiculous.

MOST ANTI-CLIMACTIC CLIMAX
The Mirrorverse shatters, THE FLASH
Believe it or not, this was supposed to be season finale for THE FLASH until COVID threw a spanner in the works. The reason I say, “Believe it or not” is because the showrunners, clearly out of ideas as to how to resolve the Mirror Universe plot arc, choose to do so in the most contrived, stupid way possible. Barry regains the Speed Force, the villainous Eva is defeated and her minions destroyed, and Harrison Wells is brought back from the dead through... wait for it... THE POWER OF LOOOOOOVE!!! (Cue Huey Lewis song). No joke, this episode actually has a character delivering the line, “Run, Barry, run... TOWARD LOVE!” (Tom Cavanaugh should get an acting Emmy just for being able to deliver this stupid line with a straight face. And sure enough, the Power of Love turns out to be the perfect, all purpose solution for every single challenge and problem that the plot arc presented. (Well, except for Elongated Man).

The reason this climax was such a misfire wasn't just that the deus ex machina ex amore was so dumb. Many a plot point on a superhero show has been dumb. Audiences can roll with dumb if it is properly set up. But THE FLASH didn't bother to set up the whole Power of Love thing until it literally showed up in the climactic episode. It was yet another sign of the creative exhaustion afflicting the show and dragging it under. The Power of Love can do a lot of things. But what it can't do is make a poorly set-up, badly written dramatic climax work. And this one didn't.

MOST SATISFYING CLIMAX
Luke Skywalker shows up in the nick of time, THE MANDALORIAN
Madndo and pals were in a tough spot as the concluding episode of season 2 neared it's end. Trapped on the bridge of Moff Gideon's imperial shuttle, they have only a single door between them and the army of Dark Troopers (superpowered droids) looking to kill them. They have come so far, done so much to rescue little Grogu, and now it looks like they will all die, and he will be returned to clutches of the villain. Moff Gideon, although a prisoner of Mando's band, smirks serenely, knowing that is only a matter of time before he is once again victorious.

But then, a lone X-Wing fighter swoops by. “One X-Wing? Great, we're saved”, Cara snarks. Little does she know. As the group watches the security feed in amazement, a single mysterious figure, wielding a green lightsaber, methodically destroys the Dark Troopers. Grogu's attunement to the Force allows him to sense what is happening, and he suddenly looks hopeful. Moff Gideon senses the same thing, and, for the first time, he looks frightened.

Luke Skywalker has come to save the day.

What made this climax work so well was that it was both well set up (viewers knew that Grogu had contacted somebody when he activated a Force Beacon in a previous episode, there was just speculation as to who), and a complete surprise (the showrunners had managed to conceal the fact that Mark Hamill had done the voice work for a CGI'd Luke until he showed up in the actual episode, so fans assumed that someone else who ride to the rescue). And then there was the way they teased who the mysterious figure was. The single X-Wing. The shots of the gloved hand and the green lightsaber. All of them allowed fans to put two and two together that the figure was indeed Luke Skywalker. It was a thrilling, stand-up-and-cheer moment (see Marvel, other franchises can pull them off to!), that also served as a deeply satisfying climax to the second season's plot arc. Here's hoping that THE MANDALORIAN keep serving up those moments in the seasons to come.

I kind of feel that the first open same-sex relationship on Disney Show (Owl House, with Amity having an undeniable crush on Luz, to the point she nearly functions in her presence) deserves a shout-out.
I'll reserve the first open sexual minority main charter in a Disney show till Luz undeniably confirmed to be Bi. She has been confirmed to be bi by the show creator and have show signs of being bi, but so far there is nothing as undeniable as Amity's reactions (through if the spoiler for screening of the first two episodes of season 2 there might be).

Oh an BTW it X-kryptonite. Red Kryptonite is another thing.

Video Spoiler for how undeniable Amity crush on Luz is

Quite the tweet

(Dana trace is the showrunner and show creator, she also the one who confirmed on twitter that Luz is Bi).

Hunter said:

MOST WORN-OUT SHOW
The Flash
News of the departure of Carlos Valdes, who's wisecracking character Cisco often provided the humorous ballast to the melodramatic goings-on of the show only served to underscore that there was no more fun to be had watching THE FLASH.

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And Hartley Sawyer being fired for being a racist misogynist the other numerous counterpoint to "the drama" is gone which so far no news (as far as I know) of Ralph returning any time soon with a new actor.

Literally the only show I have seen from this season is Shadow and Bone. So I guess I nominate that for Best Reminder that TV is a Thing.

SunlessNick said:

Literally the only show I have seen from this season is Shadow and Bone. So I guess I nominate that for Best Reminder that TV is a Thing.

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That could be a contender for “most improved over the source material”.

Does Handmaid’s Tale fall into the evaluation window? Elizabeth Moss deserves some Best Actress consideration.

Does Queen's Gambit fall under this? Because that was frankly the best thing I watched last year, and I'm not even all that much of a chess buff. Anya Taylor-Joy was simply amazing and would be my pick for Best Actress.

Big Sky, ooof. I tried to watch it because I think Katheryn Winnick is a fine actress, but man, I couldn't last more than 15 minutes of the first episode. The dialogue was just nails on chalkboard bad.

I finally bailed on SEAL Team halfway through the season when, just as things were looking to diverge nicely from the tired status quo, the showrunners chickened out and went back to said status quo. Nope, no more aging warrior Jason Hayes coming to terms with not being on the front line any more. He's back in action, same as he ever was. Clay's ambitions of becoming a high-ranking officer and his relationship with a Washington insider (far more interesting than his previous and current girlfriend Stella)? Flushed down the toilet.

It's not all negative, though! I loved WandaVision and Falcon & Winter Soldier. The cast on both shows were A+ all around. I especially look forward to whatever Wyatt Russell (previously unknown to me, unlike most of the other leads) does next. Legends of Tomorrow continues to be goofy comfort food.

In answer to inquiries about what constituted this year's television season, I basically went with any show that aired it's season/series finale before June 6. Theoretically, the television season is supposed to go from approximately Labor Day (beginning of September) to approximately Memorial Day (end of May), but thanks to COVID a lots of series started way late.

I am going to keep an eye on how next television goes. I'm thinking I may change my Bests, Worsts, and Mosts threads from covering the television "season" to the calendar year if the trend towards "television seasons" being pretty much meaningless continues.