I didn’t get to the first season of this 2016 BBC America original until earlier this year, and found it to be a delightful, charming sci-fi romp that opened up an insane number of threads and actually tied most of them together in a really satisfying way. Season 2 picked up where it left off without the same frantic ambition as the first, and instead chose to ease into the story in a way that felt frustrating and less exciting. However, by mid-season it found a way to reproduce some of that same fun energy with an entirely different flavor, which was both creative and fun. On top of that, they took some needed time to evolve the characters and relationships in moving and cool ways. The overall experience may haven’t quite lived up to the sprawling puzzle of the first season, but it had enough really cool moments to still be a strong chapter in the (hopefully continuing?) (officially canceled) saga.

This year contained the last four episodes of the first season, including the jaw-dropping finale that turned my head upside-down, and seared that Ted Danson face into my brain, as well as 7 episodes from Season 2. My first thought when I started this show was “How are they gonna sustain this premise for one or even more seasons?” Well, remind me to have more faith in Michael Schur (of himself), because man, he delivered! Not only is the show consistently hilarious with its inventive characters and afterlife “rules”, but it’s continually re-inventing itself, as it has now 4 or 5 times. It also, oddly, has the best character development from Janet, its anthropomorphic Siri, who doesn’t mind if you power her down, but is programmed to scream for mercy if you try.

After a confused and disappointing second season, Mr. Robot came crashing back this year with probably its best content to date. The building conflict between Elliott and Mr. Robot was a great framework for a more focused story arc, even if it occasionally hearkened back to my least favorite elements from that movie that shan’t be named. Bobby Cannivale was a fun addition, even though he eventually reverted back to his “type” which I initially thought he’d subverted. The midseason had an incredibly cool “one-shot” episode: Yes, it’s starting to feel a bit more like a prestige drama checkmark than a technological feat at this point, but it really worked for the tension-filled and pivotal day in the series. While the finale felt a bit paint-by-numbers, it was good enough, and satisfyingly teased what’s to come in the next (final?) season. Really quite enjoyable and impressive show again.

To be honest, this season felt like a bit of a step back for me. Last season felt like it took more risks, dug deeper into characters, and was wink-funny without knocking you over the head with it. This season’s jokes took what felt like easy shots at politics and manipulating the short attention spans of stupid voters. Granted, it’s especially relevant now, but it didn’t feel like it was adding much to the conversation. The relationship between Bojack and Hollyhock felt like only a slightly different shade of his relationship with Sarah Lynn from the first 3 seasons. That said, they did some very interesting things with BoJack’s mother, and her various flashbacks. Some really strong storylines with Princess Carolyn. And of course, Felicity Huffman’s Booty Court! So despite not living up to last season’s promise, it remains a strongly unique show with still a lot to say.

It’s a shame that Rick and Morty have some really shitty fans, because this may have been the most contemplative season yet, with a big focus on looking inward even as the insanity continues to mount on the outside worlds. The focus on family has always been at the core of the show, but this season has felt the most insightful and even hopeful in regards to the many frayed relationships among the family and how the characters might find middle ground in repairing them. No show I can think of bounces so deftly between cynical and optimistic, all the while creating the craziest and more creative scifi trappings and hilarious situations. Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon were reportedly stressed out by the pressure to top themselves after the fantastic second season. I hope they can take a moment to relax with pride before giving us another even better season. (And some goddamn Szechuan Sauce plz!!)

Season 2 of The Missing played around more with the structure introduced in the relatively separate Season 1. Like the first season, we bounce back and forth between two time periods, and two separate investigations into a kidnapping. In its own way, it is also about the obsessive behavior that leads to the investigation continuing after a number of years of the case being closed. The nuances are different, and this time around there are many more moving parts. It was a tapestry of characters and motivations and connections that were actually pretty impressive in how they actually came together in a satisfying way at the end. At the same time, it made it at times hard to follow, as we had to track and remember so much about what characters knew what at the current time period we were in. This may lend itself better to a binge style viewing, or repeated viewing, but it was challenging on a week-to-week basis. In addition, one of the charms of the first season was the relatively narrow scope and relatively relaxed pace. It more favored digging into the characters and the nature of their experiences over an extremely complex plot and mystery piece. That said, there were a lot of cool “a-ha” moments, and the twists were doled out at a pretty nice pace, by having a number of other mysteries surrounding the main “whodunit” one. These twists and turns were fun and pretty smart. It was just a bit more “by the book” than the very unconventional ending to season 1. And that’s okay, it just didn’t push the format in the same way.

The show definitely has a different feel now, but it is still packed with enjoyable moments. The sense of danger is almost completely gone: ill-advised suicide missions are completed with little in the way of character casualty. While the first half of the series was about fractured family struggling to survive, now reunions are standard fare, and instead of constant tension, our character can mostly relax on the day-to-day danger and worry about making the right big-picture decisions instead. Cersei, while still talking a strong game, felt mostly toothless this season. The Night King and his horde, while talked about a good deal, remained still a remote threat, except for toward the very end of the season. On the whole time-jumping issue, I’m not nearly as bothered as some, but it again, makes the show feel different. In Season 1, it would take 4 episodes for Tyrion to get from Winterfell to Castle Black, but now people are zipping from the southern most part of the continent to the northern most and back in a single episode. I don’t care much from an “is that realistic?” perspective, but it does make those decisions to travel those long distances feel like they have substantially less weight to them. If they can “yada yada” two weeks of travel, then, sure, let’s go visit every house in the north and rally them to our cause, grab a wight, go back to Essos, visit Khal Drogo’s grave, say hi to Daario Naharis (remember him?), and get back in time for supper! Our players felt more constrained and in need of finding creative solutions in the past seasons, and now it feels like they’re cheating a bit. Send a text to Danaerys and she’ll pop over in a few minutes to bail us out of this stupid thing! No worries. However! The finale was a great change of pace, and set up a lot of interesting dynamics for the final six (!!!!) episodes.

It’s rare these days that I discover a top-tier show by recommendation. I mean, what show haven’t I tried already? But thanks to my good friend Fiona’s insistence, I pushed past my prejudice against pirate stories to give Black Sails a try this year. A celebration of plunder, murder and whorehouses held no appeal to me, and I was pleased to discover that wasn’t this show, as I plowed through the first three seasons. Okay, the first couple episodes didn’t completely dissuade that notion, but as the series went on, it became clear that these characters, while certainly flawed, saw themselves as Robin Hood type heroes, in defiance of the tyrannical British Empire, and on many occasions, it was difficult to argue. This was a conflict I could get behind. Season 4, the final season, comes crashing out of the gate as that conflict comes to a head, with one of the most massive battle scenes I’ve seen outside of Westeros. As had been teased in the prior seasons, it was also about the core relationship between poster-pirate Captain Flint and Long John Silver, and their scenes this season were some of the most powerful in the series. And they topped it off with a finale that was both moving and surprising. Just a shame I took so long to give it a shot, or it would’ve found its way into the top spots of my last two lists as well.

A bit of a step back this season, especially over the first two-thirds. I’m very conflicted once again by wishing this highly non-standard spy show would try to be a bit more standard. What do I mean by that? One of the interesting (in theory) aspects is the examination of the less glamorous bits of being a spy. Juggling multiple operations, maintaining relationships, doing the grunt work. So I appreciate that unusual angle. But the downside to that experimental mentality is that it’s sometimes BORING. I hate using the word “boring” when referring to art, because I think it’s overly general, and not very useful. In the case of the Americans, I think that boredom comes from a lack of focus. We don’t get to follow the thread of a single operation as a whole, instead having it spread over one, two, sometimes even three seasons. So Kimmy shows up again, and you’re like “it’s been 8 episodes since we’ve seen her. What was going on with that one again?” And it’s not just a memory thing (though that doesn’t help), it’s mainly an investment thing. We’re not given the opportunity to really dig in and care. Now, in the most recent seasons, this ongoing issue has been overcome by much more interesting conflicts between characters that we care about. These conflicts don’t have the same luxury of the extremely slow burn, and also are more inherently personal and compelling. But this season, they kinda pumped the brakes on the whole Paige situation for a while, which I think hurt the great momentum they’d been building in the series. A few good scenes were interspersed, but for the most part wheat took the front seat. That being said, the last four hours pulled it back together, and really dove back into the characters, which is where all the meat is. (Meat > Wheat!!) And they also found a way to give us those character beats (Beats > Meat > Wheat!!) wrapped in extremely gripping tension and natural but unexpected turns. It almost felt like Breaking Bad in the masterful way it wove the two together. So while it both ended and peaked high, I can’t quite write off the slog of the first 9 episodes. Please, no more Oleg.

The pilot of Legion was one of the freshest, most original, most intriguing TV experiences I’ve ever had. And at times over the course of the next 7 episodes, it lived up to that. Dan Stevens gives one of the most eminently watchable performances in a while, weaving deftly between nervous ticks, dark impulses, confidence, and romantic lead with unpredictable precision. As the series goes on though, it’s really Syd, the female lead, played by Rachel Keller, who takes up the reins and kills it as the strong heroine who needs to step up to save the dude in distress. The show generally feels more clunky when it tries to fall back into a more standard super-team mode. That’s clearly not Noah Hawley’s wheelhouse, and it clicks far more when diving through David’s psyche, or spending time in other dimensions. And while I could have used three times what they gave us, the few Jemaine Clement scenes were just a confluence of perfect casting and direction (speaking of wheelhouses.) While it didn’t QUITE live up to the grand promise of the first episode, there were enough moments of utter joy and amazement in what was easily the most ambitious Marvel property to date.