This wasn’t my favorite category this year, but there are
a few gems! Thank GOODNESS we have the new Doctor Who rule (section 3.8.5 of the WSFS Constitution). Without it, we’d
have THREE episodes of Game of Thrones!
Here’s my final ranking:
1.
Doctor Who: "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", written by Steven Moffat, directed by Ed Bazalgette (BBC Cymru
Wales)
2.
Splendor & Misery [album], by Clipping.
(Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes)
3.
Black Mirror: "San Junipero", written
by Charlie Brooker, directed by Owen Harris (House of Tomorrow)
4.
No Award
I did not rank the others as #5-7 under No Award. Ranking
them would have required watching them.
OK, a few words about each.
This episode is a Doctor Who / Superhero mash-up. OMG.
Come on now. Silly and wonderful. Once again, intellect and romance triumph
over brute force and cynicism!
Wow. Let me start by saying, I’ve always loved
concept/story albums. I’m not very familiar with this style of music, so it
took a couple of listens to really start parsing the story. My first
impression, on first listen, was “Hm, this is trippy and interesting.”
Second listen, as I began to parse more, added the descriptor “intense.” Third
listen, and I’m hooked now, and the album is haunting me, I can’t get it out of
my head. It’s a musical science fiction space opera allegory of the Atlantic
slave trade and the shackles that follow through to modern times. There are plenty
of people out there who ‘get it’ at a much deeper level than I do, some
examples here and here. I uncover a little more every time I listen. I’m really
glad this album was on the ballot this year.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Black Mirror, but
had never watched it, because I’d heard it’s very dark. This episode deals
with a heavy subject, and leaves you thinking at the end. Intense and
beautiful. Watch all the way through the credits at the end. I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll stop there.
Game of Thrones
I did not watch the two Game of Thrones episodes. I’m
familiar with the story. I spoiled myself on “The Door” when everyone was talking
about it the day after it aired, and it does sound like it has some really
interesting things to think about. Almost interesting enough for me to want to
go back and watch the whole story from the beginning. But, you know what. Nope.
There’s enough bad stuff going on in the real world. Which brings us to “Battle of the Bastards.” I’ve also spoiled myself on this episode, and it’s a hard
pass.
I read the first couple of Expanse books. A lot of really
interesting ideas in there. I stopped reading the series because the story kept
swerving away from the interesting ideas, focusing instead on the bangity bang
bang, fist fight pow, oh by the way here’s something really really gross and you’ll never have enough brain bleach to erase it from your mind. This episode is
one of those really really gross scenes. Even though it sounds like the tv
show version may not be as bad as what’s in my head from the book, that’s
another hard pass.
Can't wait to see what wins!!
Can't wait to see what wins!!
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