2024 flew by. The last time I reviewed a show was Game of Thrones almost a full year ago.

When finishing a show and deciding to post, I need one of these things to be true:

• Did I enjoy the show so much that I must spread its gospel?
• Do I have something unique to say about the show that may contribute to the conversation?

I’m proud to say, these have held true for the majority of my TV reviews so far. I genuinely only want to post about shows I loved. I see no reason to spew negativity on my blog. There are a few factors behind my blog’s drought in 2024. Forgive me for another list—I guess we’re doing that in this post:

• My mind was elsewhere for most of the year, and I wasn’t exactly motivated to write.
• There was a distinct lack of fresh shows that floored me. (Was it the writers’ strike? Who knows.)
• The shows I did watch ended up not being “postable,” mostly because I liked them but didn’t have anything entertaining to say.

I think this drought was totally okay. But I also think it’s a shame not to preserve a time capsule of what I watched in 2024 in any meaningful way. This post is an all-encompassing look back at 2024, where I’m gonna talk about the shows I barely didn’t post about.

The Penguin

The Penguin fucking rocked. Easily my favorite show in 2024. I really liked The Batman, so I wasn’t necessarily apprehensive about watching this, but it still blew me away. At its core, it’s a tightly paced crime show—a fantastic exploration of a despicable yet brilliant villain. Each episode pushed the boundaries of how far Oz would go to fuel his ego.

Colin Farrell instantly brings Oswald Cobblepot to life. It’s almost distracting how fully he embodies the character. Every facial expression, every word he speaks—it’s mesmerizing. Cristin Milioti also obviously killed it. She’s gotten a lot of well-deserved praise. Sofia Falcone is an all-time antagonist and a scene stealer. It’s hard not to praise all the performances, but those two stand out the most.

Arcane Season 2

Holy crap, I love Arcane. Season 1 has always been a 10/10 masterpiece to me. I didn’t post about Season 2 because there’s just not much more to say. An extra season of content doesn’t give me much more fuel to the fire.

Season 2 didn’t meet the heights of Season 1, and I have nothing to say about it that hasn’t already been said. The pace was too fast, they added too many plotlines, and they lost focus on Season 1’s story. Making Viktor the final boss while forgetting the whole “top side vs. bottom side” narrative felt disingenuous and unearned. I’d say Season 2 was a 9/10. I still cried like four times. Any show that makes me literally cry is a good show. I like that metric.

Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher

The Haunting of Hill House is one of my favorite shows ever, and I’m a self-admitted Mike Flanagan fanboy. This year I watched two more of his shows, and they were both great. Midnight Mass is very slow and grounded. Nothing exciting happens; characters speak in five-minute monologues, but every second is cinema. It really burns the rope so slowly—much slower than Flanagan’s other shows. But its unique tone is so singular that it flourishes. Hamish Linklater as Father Paul was revolutionary to me, and I hope to see him in more stuff.

The Fall of the House of Usher was almost the opposite: much faster paced, very campy, and at times downright goofy. It’s a fun episodic story that explores individual characters in a dispicable family. This one didn’t click for me as hard though. The characters weren’t exactly compelling, and all of the “reveals” left a lot to be desired.

The Boys

Most notably, 2024 was the year I fully caught up on The Boys. The whole “what if superheroes were evil” trope never really appealed to me. I don’t think it’s as creative as people claim.

The Boys was a perfectly serviceable show. I liked watching it. I’m excited for the final season. But it wasn’t groundbreaking, and it wasn’t even necessarily memorable apart from a few moments in the early seasons. It especially seemed to crumble in Season 4 as it started getting high on its own supply. Season 1 is probably the best season because it wasn’t trying to be The Boys; it wasn’t trying to emulate any kind of success. The deeper the show goes, the more it loses sight of why it worked in the first place.

This show is probably the biggest offender of me having nothing meaningful to say. I could try to come up with some BS to justify this section in the post—maybe make stuff up about character development or themes or plot or whatever. I don’t think anything I could say about The Boys would actually be enjoyable to read.