It’s that time again where, for some reason, I share everything that I’ve been watching! It’s a brand-new year so it feels weird to have a post title with “2021” in it but you understand. I didn’t do any Best Of lists for this past year either. I planned on it but never really got around to it so these roundups are the closest you’ll get to my opinions on what I enjoyed. As per usual, if you want to see the movies I watched, you can feel free to check out my Letterboxd profile.I’m going to switch formats and write out my thoughts with each title as I do for my reading roundup. I’m not sure why I wasn’t doing that to begin with but here we go!
- School of Chocolate S1 – Everyone praised this for being a new wholesome reality series and I didn’t get that vibe. There was a lot of cattiness, competition, and unfriendly rivalry. I did enjoy it but definitely not as the “feel good” series that it was getting reviewed as.
- The Great S2 – This show is a work of art. It is absolutely ridiculous and everyone is bonkers but it is so much fun to watch. It was one of my favourite shows this year and it’s just as good as the first season, if not better.
- Star vs. The Forces of Evil S3 – This was a rewatch for me! Star vs. the Forces of Evil is a fave and part of my morning routine involves watching cartoons with breakfast and this is what I’ve been working my way through again.
- Zumbo’s Just Desserts S2 – I’m always floored when I watch baking and cooking shows. Like how do people just make these things from their minds?! I guess in the way that I can make stories from my mind, they conjure recipes. But it’s all deeply fascinating to me and I love getting to know the contestants as they progress through the competition.
- Great Canadian Baking Show S5 – When someone tries to sell me a new baking or cooking show that’s wholesome, The Great Bake-Off (moreso the British version though) is my bar. If the contestants aren’t taking time out of their bakes to help others or hugging and supporting someone when they have a meltdown, DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT WHOLESOME! These are the wholesome baking shows and they are the definition of a comfort watch.
- The Sex Lives of College Girls S1 – Initially when I started this, I didn’t like it at all. And yet I kept watching it and all of a sudden I had binged the entire season? I won’t say that I loved it but by the end, I was extremely endeared to all of the characters, especially to Bela. Extremely sex-positive (obviously based on the title) and a charming cast.
- Centaurworld S2 – Ummm…I love this show so much? It’s incredibly good and everything from the animation to voice acting to the MUSICAL music is top-notch. I didn’t realize that the show would be wrapping up after this season so I was a little crushed to see it go so soon but I’m happy it did it on its own terms and was able to tell a complete story. An absolute must-watch.
- Canada’s Drag Race S2 – After a disastrous first season that was so cringe-worthy, I couldn’t even get through half of it, I was bracing for the worst. Everyone was so freaking mean?! IN CANADA! But the judges and producers seem to have course-corrected and this season was much more well-balanced and while I think some of the taste of the judges is questionable, I thought this time around was much more in line with the overall Drag Race brand.
- Arcane S1 – Everyone has been posting about Arcane online and I avoided it thinking that it wouldn’t really be my thing. I’m not a League of Legends person and know exactly nothing about it. But I watched anyway and WOW. I was blown away by the animation, story, and everything about it, quite honestly. I was not expecting to get emotionally sucker-punched and now I can’t wait for the second season to arrive. I even drew Jinx fanart? WHO AM I?
- Hawkeye S1 – If anything was going to redeem the most boring Hawkeye to exist, this was going to be it. My opinion on Jeremy Renner has really gone down over the years with his press tour bad takes. Plus he’s not really had much of an interesting arc within the Avengers movies over the years. That being said, Matt Fraction and David Aja’s run was the perfect way to bring him into the MCU in a more prominent way. Casting Hailee Steinfeld as plucky Kate Bishop was a great move too as she really livens up Renner’s pretty otherwise flat performance.With all of that out of the way, while I wanted to love the show, it is so blatantly Fraction and Aja’s book basically page directly to screen—even sometimes shot for shot. The fact that Aja got a meager Special Thanks at the end of the credits and little to no compensation when they ripped his art off for the entire aesthetic of the show? Awful. Fraction landed an Executive Producer credit but it’s still not enough for an entire series that’s based off of what they put into the Marvel Universe. Anyways, I liked it but the parts that were blatantly pulled from the comic always took me out of it knowing that they were done dirty like they were. I should’ve loved that stuff and yet here we are.
- The Sinner S4 – I liked this season of the show, I think it’s the best since Season 1 but nothing has really compared to it. It’s hard when you start off a show so strong to keep that momentum up and while it’s been good, it hasn’t really been great since.
- Wheel of Time S1 – The first couple of episodes I watched of this (with no prior knowledge of the books), I thought I was on crazy pills. There are so many moments that are very clearly pulled directly from Lord of the Rings that I had to stop and text some friends about it. That being said, after I stopped shouting “THAT’S JUST FROM LORD OF THE RINGS!” I wound up really enjoying the ride. The character diversity, interconnected stories, and the fact that the women are badass warriors and magic users really got me. Although I will say that I immediately looked up who the Dragon Reborn was because I have no willpower whatsoever.
- Baking It S1 – This might be my favourite baking show of all-time. I only ever got to watch one or two episodes of its counterpart, Making It (with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman) but this series with Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg hosting was *chefs kiss*. Musical numbers, wholesome baking, loving grandmas giving compliments? ABSOLUTE PERFECT! (take notes, reviewers of School of Chocolate…)
- Succession S2-3 – What can I say about Succession that hasn’t already been said by literally everyone on the internet? It’s fantastic even though I hate absolutely every character.
- The Witcher S2 – Once again, what can I say? The Witcher is exactly what my soul needed to end 2021 and the only thing that made me sad about it was the fact that I now have to wait for more.
WHEW. That was a list. I pondered breaking this bad boy up until two parts but nah. Having time off for the holidays (self-imposed) gave me a lot of time to just enjoy stuff. Not that I don’t watch a lot of stuff regularly but I definitely checked out a few things that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.
What are you looking forward to watching this year?