Farewell to the best character on a bad show: Raymond “Red” Reddington (James Spader) from “The Blacklist”…Most of this list are either good characters on great shows or great characters on good shows, but Red stands out as being a truly terrific character let loose on a police procedural dull enough it could’ve been on CBS if not for Spader’s irresistible amorality. The fact that “Blacklist” ended with Red’s ultimate fate (and not a scene more) is a tacit admission that we would’ve had no interest in seeing any of the other characters for another second.
Character I’m most excited to see more of: Ding Chavez (Michael Pena) from “Jack Ryan”…I felt season 4 of “Ryan” wasn’t exactly bad, but might’ve been the least of the series. The bright spot was Chavez’s vengeful efficiency, and I’m hoping the planned spin-off starring him is the long-overdue star vehicle Pena so richly deserves.
12. (tie) Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) from “Ahsoka” and Joe (Zoe Saldana) from “Lioness”…Neither of these shows are great, and stretches aren’t even good, but Dawson and Saldana’s badasses do proper justice to complex, layered action heroines. [Nhung Kate from “The Continental” and Dianne Dohan from “Warrior” were also terrific in a great year for female-characters on action shows.]
11. Bill (Nick Offerman) from “The Last of Us”…This is a great example of how a “one episode wonder” doesn’t have to be a throwaway character. This character is so well-written, I honestly wished we were watching a show centered around him than the two series leads. Put simply: there’s a reason this finally won Nick Offerman his long overdue Emmy.
10. Camille (Fleur Geffrier) from “Drops of God”…Between Camille and “Succession”‘s Ken (who you’ll see further down the list), 2023 television managed to make me actually care about “Nepo Babies,” which is no small feat. Indeed, I was surprised at how much I rooted for Camille to win her father’s wine challenge (tied to a fortune in wine as an inheritance) over a successor who’s worked much harder for it. Part of it is the pitch-perfect casting of Geffrier (who I’ve never seen in anything before), and the rest is the mysterious quality given to Camille in the writing. The visualization of watching her surroundings explode when tasting a rare bottle is a good representation of the delirium most wine snobs must feel when savoring something most of us can’t tell the difference between–which makes Camille’s raw, passionate talent feel like a deserving underdog to the cold calculation of “expertise.”
9. Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and Blackbeard (Taika Wakiki) from “Our Flag Means Death”…Even if season 2 was a little bit of a disappointment overall, the complex, unusual bromance-turned-romance between Stede and the-pirate-sometimes-known-as-“Blackbeard” continued to surprise even in the middle of a show that felt a little stale.
8. Elliot Mantle (Rachel Weisz) from “Dead Ringers”…Weisz pulls off an impressive dual role in this miniseries centered around the codependence of twins, but it’s the exciting, impulsive Elliot that we really miss whenever she’s off-screen too long.
7. Uncle “Baby Bill” (Walton Goggins) from “The Righteous Gemstones”…One of the best recurring characters to always get snubbed at award’s time (although Goggins is no stranger to having excellent work overlooked), Baby Bill is not only one of the funniest characters on TV (just try not to be mesmerized during his season 3 introduction song while he sings in a giant clamshell outfit outside at a Christian-themed waterpark), but manages to be completely believable, as he seethes and strives for a greater piece of the spotlight.
6. Danny Cho (Steven Yeun) and Amy Lau (Ali Wong) from “Beef”…Danny and Amy are wildly different characters with a common thread of barely-suppressed rage who take their singular angry vehicular incident into a major feud. Danny–who escalates the feud initially because he just can’t let it go–isn’t necessarily the most likable character (I sometimes think “Beef” soft peddles just how unlikable he actually is), but everything he does feels completely believable. Some of Amy’s actions aren’t totally as realistic–“Beef” needs her to do certain things more than it feels like she would actually be doing them–but Ali Wong’s subtly depressive, terrifically-layered work makes even the rashest action feel like a common sense solution to unexplainable ennui.
5. Nathan (Robbie Amell) and Nora (Andy Allo) from “Upload”…This is the season that finally let Nathan and Nora become a real couple, and it proved to be almost as satisfying as shippers hoped it would be. Not every great character needs to come from heavy pathos and tragedy, although it is worth nothing that Nathan is technically dead–so there’s at least some heaviness. Is it enough to have two insanely-compatible, likable characters go about their lives and occasional solve conspiracies? I think so, if the overall show is good enough, and this is easily “Upload”‘s best season.
4. Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) from “Schmigadoon”/”Schmicago”…The subtitle for this season might as well be: “Melissa and Josh are right for each other…now what?” Too often, pop culture feeds the subconscious message that if anything is wrong with your life, it’s the fault of your romantic partner, and a simple change of that will solve everything. The second season of this Apple musical does the more difficult work of admitting your life is not over after you’ve found true love, and neither is the quest for lasting happiness. By exploring buried desires of fame and leadership, Melissa and Josh are able to delve into darker fantasies than season 1, and do it while belting out songs.
3. Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) from “Succession”…I’m an unabashed Kendall apologist, because I honestly do think he’s the “likable” character even at his most cringe worthy or borderline-amoral. For me, the primary point of interest in the show’s final season was whether or not Ken would go full Michael Corleone in his battle to become the successor to a family empire, and have a “Godfather II”-style ending where he’s completely alone, but victorious. Well, let’s just say that’s not what happens, but that doesn’t really wreck the emotional whirlwind Ken went on earlier in the season, alternating between devastation (like finding out his sister is his primary betrayer), cunning (his machinations with Hugo are amazingly satisfying), pathos (wondering if his dad crossed out his name or highlighted it), and rising to the challenge to give an appropriate eulogy to the old bastard. So long Ken, may you find a better future far, faaaar away from your truly awful family.
2. Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio) from “Queen Charlotte”…Too often, movies and TV make “Happily Ever After” a binary choice where a beautiful princess either meets her Prince Charming or deconstructs that narrative completely by making him horrible. The series does neither of these things by going the truly original route of having Charlotte and her king actually right for each other, but–tragically–still hostage to problems that are outside their control. Amarteifio’s titular queen (and the older version played by Golda Rosheuvel) must become the de facto ruler of an unfamiliar and hostile place, all while navigating complex longings of her own, and a yearning for a genuine romance that both is and isn’t within her reach.
1. Sgt. Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) from “Happy Valley”…I was truly torn between Charlotte and top-copper Catherine for the number 1 spot, but, really, they’re both equally excellent and commanding in vastly different time periods that may not be all that different given the true obstacles both women are facing.
After all, Catherine is confronted with internalized sexism at almost every turn–illustrated in different plot lines like her grandson falling under the influence of a wife-beating coach or secretly visiting his psychotic biological father–and Lancashire is uniformly terrific, subtly adopting different tactics while questioning everyone from a betraying sister to a battered housewife. In her battle to protect her grandson–whom she’s raised since he was a baby–from the wrong kind-of male role models, Sgt. Cawood is a fiercely maternal presence in her final season.
Great list! Will have to check out “Happy Valley” since it got great reviews from you.