I have this short-standing tradition from the last two years where I pick my favorite TV shows, movies, albums, and video games from the previous year. The official categories are: TV Show, Animated TV Show, Movie, Animated Movie, Video Game, and Album. Now, there’s a LOT of personal bias in this list, so I want to make that clear before I start giving you my picks for 2022. And yes, I understand that this isn’t 2023. I want to save that for a later date, and sort of warm everyone up to my picks for 2022 instead. That way, you can sort of understand how the process works.
Before we kick it off, let’s give a few details to understand how this works. When I say TV Show, I could mean a single-season release of a new TV show, or a new season of a previously released show. (For example, I could pick Andor as a single season release, or Barry S3. Either would be fine under these guidelines I’ve created.)
So without further ado, I give my personal, meaningless trophies to these following things.
TV Show Awards:
TV Show: Better Call Saul S6
Honorable mention: The Boys S3
I never thought Breaking Bad could be topped as the greatest show ever created, but Vince Gilligan did it. He somehow replaced himself on the top of the board for best show, and he did it with some of the same actors from his previous show. Bob Odenkirk couldn’t have been a more perfect pick if the character, “Saul Goodman” actually existed. This season is arguably a better wrap-up of a show than Breaking Bad was. We see the ends of Lalo Salamanca, Howard Hamlin, Gustavo Fring, Nacho, just to name a few of the main characters.
The episode, “Point and Shoot” (S6E8), was PEAK television. I would even go as far to say that it’s my favorite episode of television in history. And it was well done to end as the half-season finale, leaving audiences struck and then leaving for a month. We also see the rise and fall of Gene Takovic, Saul/Jimmy’s third transformation. I could ramble on and on about this season for literal years, but where would the fun be in that? I need to make space to write about everything else.
The Boys S3 was also something brand new to be done on screen. It was disgusting, awesome, and incredible. I don’t want to say anything to spoil it because I want everyone to watch these shows, just like the movies, albums, and games.
Animated TV Show: Chainsaw Man
Honorable Mention: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
I feel like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was the main reason why I added honorable mentions, but it’s so warranted because Chainsaw Man just still above it in almost every aspect. Before Chainsaw Man, I was extremely closed off to watching anime. I had probably seen a total of three animes up to that point, and my expectations were sort of low. Luckily, they were blown away. “Pochita” the chainsaw demon had my whole heart when I first saw him. Every single episode has some crazy fight sequence within, and I’m surprised the animators chose to let that happen over and over and over. The train fight with Katana man was one of my favorite fight sequences in anime. But I will not spoil anything.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners deserves an equal amount of space on this post. After watching the first episode, you think David is a spoiled, annoying brat. But keep watching, please. The little rat-tag gang that David joins is perfect. Every single character has their little perks that makes them likable, even Maine. And I won’t even say any spoilers about “Girl On Fire” but it’s perfect. Watch both shows, considering them near equals.
Movie Awards:
Best Movie: Everything Everywhere All At Once
Honorable Mention: The Batman
Okay, okay this is where the list is going to get unhinged, for one big fact. I never actually watched Everything Everywhere All At Once. From what I heard, it’s the best movie made in the year 2022, and literally every single person I talked to agreed. Because I didn’t watch a lot of movies in the year 2022, I figured that I should let this one slide. I still haven’t seen it yet, and I know that it’s my fault still. But there’s only 24 hours in a day, and sometimes that doesn’t cut it.
I did, however, see The Batman, in theaters. I saw it while in Dublin! My apologies go out to Ciaran and Donner for scheduling the tickets for the wrong day. Somehow, I didn’t have to use the bathroom ONCE during the 3 hour film time, so props to me for that. I think if I were to redo the list of movies that I actually watched from 2022 (but I watched them in 2023, which would invalidate them), I would’ve said “All Quiet On The Western Front” goes to first. Normally I don’t fall for superhero movies, but I did enjoy The Batman. I think this was the weakest selection though.
Animated Movie: The Bob’s Burgers Movie
Honorable Mention: The Bad Guys
Here is probably my most biased pick of the entire award show, and I’m giving it to an animated show in movie form. They followed all of the classic transformations, including intense shadowing (look at The Simpsons vs. Simpsons Movie) and every single character of significance from the show. My bias comes from my girlfriend who’s favorite show is none other than Bob’s Burgers, and we had planned to watch it together when we first heard about it, waiting for months until we saw each other from our long distance relationship. The movie was extremely funny and still anxiety-inducing (Yes, I know the main characters won’t die because they’re not allowed to kill them off in a movie). I give it a two thumbs up.
I watched The Bad Guys at the latter half of the year, probably less than a week before the New Year. I thought it was extremely funny and some good family friendly violence. I can’t remember too much of the movie, but it was arguably the second-best animated movie released.
Video Game and Music Album Awards:
Video Game: Elden Ring
Honorable Mention: Pentiment
I think that 2022 was definitely a down year in terms of gaming. For me, personally, it was also a down year in gaming. 2022 was the year I was in Dublin for 3.5 months, and I played a lot less video games, especially new video games. When I played games, it was comfort games (because I was already very uncomfortable in a new country) including Rocket League and Fortnite with friends from home. Elden Ring was another one of those picks I had to choose simply because of how badly it shocked the gaming world (in a good way). I’ll admit, I definitely think it was harder than Cuphead and I raged quite a bit, but that’s the fun of the game. Isn’t it?
I wish I played more Pentiment, but I was trying to force myself into a game category I never dabbled in previously. You have this 2D hand-drawn game that breaks a lot of what came out in the same year. I found myself interested in the story, and although I never did it all in one sitting, I put a good number of hours into the game, exploring every dialogue choice.
Album: Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers – Kendrick Lamar
Honorable Mention: no sleep in LA – blackwave.
Who else but Kendrick? There were a lot of albums released that year, and you would probably think an album released earlier in the year (Jan, Feb, March, April) would’ve taken the spot because of being in Dublin, but nope! The album of the summer, MMATBS (as I’ll call it, because simply, I’m lazy), included amazing tracks like United in Grief and N95 and even The Heart Part 5. Kendrick’s lyricism is unmatched to any rapper.
I have to give the last award of honorable mention to one of my favorite groups, blackwave.. If you’ve never heard of them, they’re a Belgian duo that specialize in RnB and Chill Rap. No sleep in LA is a masterpiece from start to finish. I can’t name a single bad song on the album. There’s high praise and always will be for these guys.
That’s it. That’s the end of the show. This definitely took me longer than I had anticipated but I’ll be doing this same process for 2023 within the next hopefully. However, because this took a long time to write up, I’ll probably release a poem or short story, something I’ve already done, just to give my hands a break and prevent carpal tunnel (I’ve had it, it’s horrible). Hopefully tomorrow the site will officially be launched, and I’ll figure out how to organize everything. But for now, stay cool and spay and neuter your animals.
Overall Feelings: Good