2. Arrow (The CW)
The Season 5 finale of Arrow, titled “Lian Yu,” was a culmination of five years of storytelling that might have been my absolute favorite hour of TV in all of 2017. The episodes that aired before it, featuring the reveal of Prometheus and the torture he put Oliver (Stephen Amell) through, also made for powerful TV. The first of The CW superhero series proved that it still has a lot of gas in the tank, and the show maintained a good mix of action and suspense.
Season 6, which started in October, has been a little shaky: The first three installments were brilliant, adding new wrinkles and worries to the situation, and the new responsibility of having a son mixed with the coming of the FBI’s Samanda Watson caused a lot of drama. It also was very interesting to see (spoiler alert) John Diggle dealing with being the Green Arrow while facing an injury of his own.
I’m a little worried, with the recent reappearance of Felicity’s parents, that the show might be returning to territory covered in Season 4 (please don’t!), and I’m a little underwhelmed by Michael Emerson’s Cayden James, which is no offense to the actor or the show; it just seems to be a very odd fit. We’ll see where it all goes, though.
1. Riverdale (The CW)
A show so good I am a host on a podcast about it. Out of 22 episodes aired so far, I’ve probably only disliked about one of them. What started as a subversive take on the Archie mythos became a perfectly cast murder mystery that kept me theorizing and wondering every week. The writing on the show is top-notch, and the show keeps its characters likable even when they do very unlikable things. I would have never guessed a TV show about Archie and his pals ‘n’ gals would be this good, but it is.
Season 1’s on Netflix. Season 2 is on The CW app. Watch it. Love it like I do. I sound like a Jingle Jangle pusher here, but you’ll thank me.
