2024 - In closing

My faves of the small screen offerings of 2024

2024 has been a year of rewards and defeats, trauma and healing, home runs, big swings and misses. It was the year that I discovered Substack which enabled me to reconnect with my love of the media, writing and the blending of them both. The last few weeks I launched The Nostalgia Series in preparation of this post, where I took a look back at the years prior to me coming to Substack. It was in 2020 that I started writing reviews with the main purpose of getting back into the habit of writing. As the young people say, life was life-ing HARD and my writing became a casualty. With COVID, I was consuming a lot of content on the small screen and I thought doing reviews would be a good practice. For one thing, it would help me to rediscover vocabulary that had long since gone dormant, and for the other, it could be fun. In the years between, I consumed a lot and wrote a lot and then hit a wall. Substack helped me over that wall. In 2024, I fully embraced my perimenopausal stage of being and launched a female-centric podcast / book club (shamelessly plugs De-Stigma Dialogues). As such, I found myself drawn to the stories of women and 2024 offered a myriad of them. These are my favourite small screen wonders of 2024 in no particular order.

This limited series was simply fuckin awesome! It was a blend of true events, a murder mystery, female empowerment and telenovela melodrama with the flair, fashion and toxic masculinity of the 70’s. I was in my glee as I tuned in each and every week!! These are the stories that inspire and motivate and applaud the women that came before! I congratulate Apple TV for including it in its roster for 2024 and I curse them for not marketing it or doing enough to ensure this series made it into conversations like they did for the mediocre Presumed Innocent… I said what I said! Isn’t it just like the patriarchy to give us crumbs at the kids table while the big boys feast on steak… This series is a reminder that even with our hands tied, women find a way to keep moving forward. A MUST SEE!

This series was a nuanced and layered and mindblowing! It explored the power of narrative and how destructive it can be. Cuarón is a master storyteller! Blanchette and Kline are at the top of their game. I was carried by the story and found myself switching allegiances as more was revealed. Eye-opening! Tragic! Inspiring! Oh yeah, also underrated and undermarketed… Kudos Apple TV!

The next two series, Palm Royale and Lady in the Lake also displayed masterful storytelling. Both book adaptations and period pieces, these series explored female identity with a more overt patriarchal society. Like the other series on this list, it explored identity and what it takes to ‘BECOME’ in this world. I haven’t read the source material of either of these series (still on my tbr list, I lower my eyes in shame) so I didn’t have the luxury / hindrance of comparison. Based on other write ups of Lady in the Lake, I do know that it expanded the character of Moses Ingram’s Cleo. I thought that move to be revelatory as I found her story to be more intriguing and the parallel between her and Portman’s Maddie was what truly elevated the story being told. Palm Royale was kitsch and camp yet more layered than its Lilly Pulitzer façade. This was a series that could and probably was overlooked but trust me when I say, do not judge this book by its floral cover. Richly metaphoric in its storytelling. A true gem!

Fun! Fun! Fun! Based on the movie which I thoroughly enjoyed, this new crop of characters were sublime! Theo James and Kaya Scodelario were incandescent and the supporting cast were the perfect foil to them. Even though, this series is like a love letter to the bros, Scodelario’s Susie Glass holds a place of honour. She matched the male energy and then elevated it with her feminine mystique. An example of the latent power of respectful cooperation between both genders. Plus the chicken dance is not to be missed (IYKYK).

The ever polarising True Detective Night Country is one of my favourites for the exact reasons it separated so many fans of the series. It was different yet reverent to the original storytelling. It’s inclusion of the indigenous myths of the area and its exploration of the pandemic of missing and under-investigated indigenous women made it the perfect blend of fantasy and reality. Reis and Foster were the contemporary flawed versions of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl! Issa López evolved the series and elevated the storytelling while paying homage to the original season. It’s a pity that the original creator’s ego couldn’t recognise that. Regardless, it’s not to be missed!

Quite a few spy series were released in the last quarter of this year among them The Day of The Jackal rose as the cream of the crop. Equally intelligent and action packed with gripping characters, this series delivered in spades with a conclusion that I didn’t see coming! Redmayne and Lynch were like lightning in a bottle. I had to come to terms with my initial disdain for Lynch’s character but once I did, I simply held on for the rollercoaster of a ride. I will concede that much of the plot was fairly rote but so are most all spy dramas. That said, the portrayals of Redmayne and Lynch were instrumental in elevating this series above its counterparts.

What a truly tragic yet profound series! The Woman in the Wall explored the heart wrenching and evil episode in Irish History: The Magdalene Laundries and the trauma left in its wake. It is only by exploring the darkest of our histories and acknowledging it can we come to terms with it and reconcile our past, present and future. This series was an exercise in facing these hard truths. Ruth Wilson continues to awe! Truly one of the most underrated actresses of our time. Poignant! Tragic! Important!

Based on the book of the same name, this series was a revelation! Its exploration of women and their sexuality and the narrative that surrounds it was exciting! Each story spoke to a narrative that society placed on women and the stigmas they created about this very intrinsic part of our life. I did not read the source material so I came into this series blind. I find it the best way really as my viewing was coloured by comparison. i do recognise that there storytelling was somewhat uneven and yes some of the resolutions and stigmas represented were biased, but I do believe that the purpose of the series was fulfilled. It offered a path for us women to start conversations and look inwardly at the narratives we were told about our sexuality and to explore what we truly want.

Based on true events in Canada, this tragic story of “BIC” (named after disposable lighters) girl Reena Virk. This series was tragic and a reminder of the consequences of neglect. It explored identity and trauma, family and conformity, as well as the deeper atrocity served upon the indigenous people when their children were taken away from them. There were no heroes in this series, simply damaged characters seeking the comfort of knowledge and acknowledgement and a means of escaping perpetual generational trauma.

So those were my favourites of the small screen for 2024. I did enjoy other series like Bad Monkey, Sugar and Criminal Record (Apple TV), The Bear, Only Murders in the Building and Death and Other Details (Hulu), Sweet Pea (Starz) and The Agency (Paramount - still ongoing) but the ones I listed above were head and shoulders for me. In compiling this list I also realised that Apple TV released some really good content! Netflix and the rest take a page, just saying... I look forward to the new offerings to the pulpit of the small screen for 2025. What were some of your faves of the small screen for 2024, maybe I missed some? Let’s chat…

Tomorrow I close out 2024 with my favourites of the Silver Screen.