Reservation Dogs (FX/Hulu)
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Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s FX-produced Hulu series completed its elegant three-season evolution from a raucous comedy
Succession (HBO)
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Jesse Armstrong’s scathing satire of family dynamics and corporate dysfunction stuck the landing with a finale filled with unexpectedly sweet moments, expertly undercut by Armstrong’s trademark bleak venality.
Beef (Netflix)
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If so, no show captured 2023’s undercurrent of unfocused discontent with the intensity, empathy and underlying humor of Lee Sung Jin’s eight-episode Beef.
Wrestlers (Netflix)
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Greg Whiteley isn’t on the radar of most TV critics, but he has developed and refined one of TV’s most reliable formulas through Cheer and the Last Chance U franchise.
I’m a Virgo (Amazon)
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If Beef isn’t 2023’s most 2023 show, Boots Riley’s blending of bizarre urban fairy tale, superhero origin story and straight-up Marxist critique — delivered via Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, of all places — surely is.
Dark Winds (AMC)
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After dedicating its first season to exposition and establishing the Leaphorn and Chee characters from Tony Hillerman’s novels, AMC’s Dark Winds came into its own with a layered and strikingly efficient six-episode season.
Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix)
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Visually, overseen by supervising director Jane Wu, it’s a dash of Noh theater here, notes of Bunraku puppetry there, all wrapped up with a flair mined equally from the films of Suzuki and Kurosawa and the Shaw Brothers.
The Bear (FX/Hulu)
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That “Fishes” was probably my fourth or fifth favorite The Bear episode of the season — certainly behind the Ebon Moss-Bachrach-centric “Forks,” Ayo Edebiri’s Chicago restaurant crawl in “Sundae” and the Copenhagen-set showcase for Lionel Boyce — is a testament to how good the show has gotten.
Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi (Hulu)
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Someday perhaps it won’t feel significant to have a series dedicated to the crucial place of immigrants and food traditions in our national tapestry.
The Last of Us (HBO)
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Heck, if it weren’t for The Last of Us, I might be talking about Peacock’s Twisted Metal as one of the best video game adaptations ever and it wouldn’t exactly be wrong. It would just be meaningless.