Best TV Shows of 2 0

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The Bear (Disney+)

Many of us have grown up with Gordon Ramsay as the frontrunner of the culinary zeitgeist. We have an unnerving ability to rattle off a long repertoire of quotes straight from Hell’s Kitchen. The portrayal of the chef, angry and impatient, is woven throughout the media, and it’s likely that we have become overexposed to the hackney stereotype. The Bear, a story following talented chef Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), who inherits his dead brother’s grimy beef joint and attempts to restore it, plays into these conventions of the chef, and then totally inverts it. Early episodes may be near exhausting with its display of hypermasculinity and ‘Ramsay-esque’ behaviours, but it quickly becomes something much deeper. It quietly depicts the hollowing effects of addiction on a family, the isolation of grief, and the debilitating nature of anxiety with brilliant performances. And if none of that sells it, the seventh episode is twenty minutes of pure chaos. Stress so visceral and stomach churning, it will make exam-season feel like a walk in the park.

Bad Sisters (AppleTV+)

Sisterhood. A theme so commonly portrayed and yet so misrepresented on the small screen. Sharon Horgan comes along to fix this issue, with her trademark sharp wit, and incredibly endearing characters. I have seen very few series that accurately depict the complex relationship between sisters, and the show is so intrinsically Irish, making it difficult not to fall in love with the eponymous ‘bad sisters’. From the coastal shots of Dun Laoghaire and Malahide, to the colloquial quirks of the average Irish man or woman, it’s incredibly easy to relate to more than one aspect of the narrative. But with the context of the plot, this factor is even more impressive. A story that lies on a thin line between totally ridiculous and completely believable, it is Horgan’s talent that keeps the story comical, mysterious, and still compelling. What could have slipped into outlandish tales of blood and gore, instead teeters on the absurd, as these four loving sisters set out on a quest to dispose of their fifth sister’s, abusive and maniacal husband. It’s incredibly good fun, but effortlessly carries the heavier undertones of abuse, misogyny, and the undying love of sisters. The ensemble is spectacular, and are totally convincing as a dysfunctional but adoring family that would go to any lengths to protect the ones they love.

Severance (AppleTV+)

Never has the saying ‘keep work and home life separate’ had such a literal meaning. Severance’s protagonist Mark (Adam Scott), has undergone a procedure that results in a total lack of memory of the outside world when he steps into his work. While in work, he has no idea of the man he is on the outside and the struggles his alternate persona faces, and vice versa. It’s an eerie dystopian drama mixed with enough psychological thriller to give Black Mirror a run for its money. The cinematography is near clinical, with the brutalist, minimal sets of the ‘Lumon’ headquarters lending to the unnerving nature of the show. There’s more than one mystery to be solved within the walls of these offices and the pay off is refreshing and exciting. A common thread between each of these shows is sharp dialogue, well paced plot and tension, which Severance delivers in truck loads. This show hooks you in and quite frankly doesn’t leave you. The distinct ordinariness of the main characters, beautifully contrasts the bizarre nature of the world they live in, and it’s difficult not to devour the show in one sitting. And co-directing beside Ben Stiller is Trinity Alum, Aoife McArdle. What’s not to love?

Honourable mentions:

Andor / House of the Dragon / Minx / Heartstopper / The Staircase

This Is Going to Hurt (PSA to everyone, but especially medical students, it really does hurt)

From the 29th of September to the 16th of October 2022, our fair city hosted its annual theatre festival. Dublin Theatre Festival (both affectionately and humorously referred to as ‘DTF’) immediately follows the Dublin Fringe Festival, resulting in a two month lineup of shows from both Irish and international artists alike. I was lucky enough to see a handful of shows: particularly during the Dublin Theatre Festival, which was greatly helped by the newly introduced scheme of ‘10 for 10’. ‘10 for 10’ allocated 10% of shows tickets to be available for €10 to under 30s, unwaged, freelance artists and arts workers. Hey, us Dublin Creatives need as much help as we can get guys.

A few shows especially grabbed me from the festival. Bros by Italian experimental director Romeo Castellucci was a particularly memorable one. Taking place on the large stage of the O’Reilly Theatre, an intimidating gaggle of men dressed as soldiers fill the stage, and even march into the audience. The piece’s pre-set features a machine gun, pointing at the audience and rotating back and forth, creating a foreboding feeling to say the least. The soldiers then proceed to engage in repetitive activities such as shooting one another, covering themselves in blood, and kneeling by a massive photograph of Samuel Beckett. As an audience member, I felt a lot of discomfort, largely due to the fascist themes the piece was exploring and particularly the onstage ‘torture’. There is a waterboarding scene, as well as a naked actor being dragged across the floor, repeatedly beaten, and having milk poured over him. Both of these events were instances where the audience walked out. This is not the kind of theatre we get to see in Ireland everyday. Which is a shame, as I wish the Dublin scene prioritised experimental work such as Bros.

The large stage of the O’Reilly was also purposely utilised for Franco-Austrian artist Gisèle Vienne’s Crowd. Crowd gave its audience a true audio-visual delight with 15 performers moving across the stage in slow motion to blaring techno music. No, like it was really loud. The performers would occasionally speed up, slow down, and freeze, all while performing their antics of drinking, dancing, kissing, and fighting. What stood out to me in Crowd was the use of the number of its performers and large space, allowing the audience to focus in on a specific performer’s journey throughout the performance as no character would