Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

Sunbunny's Best of 2014

2014 was not my best year ever (don’t ask, seriously), but it was a really great year for the shows I love to watch. Find out what my made my ‘Best of’ this year!

Agents of SHIELD
After a less than inspiring 2013, Agents of SHIELD has transformed itself into one of my favorite shows and just keeps getting better. I kept watching initially out of loyalty to the holy Whedon name, but to be honest, it felt like sort of a chore. Now I look forward to every episode with what might be termed psychotic eagerness. And freak out over every little thing that happens. If you follow us on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed. As excited as I am for Agent Carter, I can’t wait for Agents of SHIELD to come back and to find out what’s up next for Coulson and co. Side note: the addition of Bobbi Morse, Lance Hunter, and Mack have been especially welcome. Make them regular cast members already!

Arrow
After watching part of the first season, I gave up on Arrow. I couldn’t connect to any of the characters and Oliver was too broody, even for me. This year, I was encouraged to give it another try because everyone said season two was so much better and I’m so glad I did. The back half of season 2 and the first part of season 3 have been phenomenally fun and entertaining if, at times, extremely stressful. But I’m sure Oliver will be fine. Right? Someone tell me he’ll be fine.

#OlicityForever

Doctor Who
Okay, so maybe I’m a little late to the game here. One of my resolutions for 2014 (and the only one I managed to keep) was to finally sit down and watch the show Tumblr cannot shut up about. I liked it well enough at first, but as I kept going on I found myself enjoying it more and more and more. Season 8, while excellent, wasn’t quite my favorite, but it was, as previously mentioned, excellent. Capaldi’s Doctor, while different than the other Doctors since the show restarted is certainly engaging, but I just can’t keep from missing Matt.

Sherlock
Season three was a long time coming but turned out to be worth the wait. The first two were especially amazing and perfect and wonderful and I’ve definitely not seen them each about a dozen times. The drunk Sherlock scenes were an unbelievable amount of fun. Egg? Chair? Sitty thing? The third episode won’t ever find itself among my favorites but it did provide us with one hell of a cliffhanger. And I did miss him.



Orphan Black
After a stellar first season, I was excited but apprehensive about Orphan Black’s second year. Sophomore slump has defeated more than one show in the past. Fortunately, Orphan Black was able to produce a season that was just as good as its first. I will keep recommending Orphan Black to every person on the planet and don’t think you can stop me. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out! And if you have any sway over the Emmy nominating committee, may I humbly demand the recognition of Tatiana Maslany?

Guardians of the Galaxy
How did they fit so much awesome into one movie? Will we ever know? With its kick ass soundtrack and über dedicated cast (Chris Pratt lost 60 lbs! Karen Gillan shaved her head!) it was definitely this summer’s funnest film. There was a gun toting raccoon and everyone in the theater cried over a tree. It just doesn’t get better than that.


Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Speaking of all things Marvel, may I present the second installment of the Captain America franchise.  It’s a rare superhero movie that lives up to the hype (especially when there’s this much hype) but The Winter Soldier does in every way. It’s more than just your standard popcorn ooh look things are exploding this is fun movie. It’s also emotional and sweet and doesn’t suffer from the failure of having a romantic subplot lazily tacked on at the last minute to appeal to the mythical stereotypical female audience.

The Walking Dead
After seeing The Walking Dead everywhere (and I do mean everywhere) at Comic Con, I was finally inspired to check out the show everyone was talking about constantly. The gore had always held me back, but this time I figured, hey, I can eat during Hannibal, it’ll be fine. And it was more than fine. It was awesome. Now if they could just stop killing my favorite characters… I’m serious. If anything happens to Maggie or Glenn. Or Darryl. Or Michonne. I’ll stop now.


House of Cards
It took me a while to get into House of Cards. The first season starts off rather slowly but by the end I was hooked. Season two features no such slow start. If you’ve seen it, you know exactly what I mean. The second season is thrilling and even darker than the one before it. It’s still slow in some places (I never fully got into the China storyline) but it was definitely twisty and twisted enough to inspire me to watch the whole thing in less than a week, only partially inspired by the fear of being spoiled.

Reign
Hear me out! It’s less than serious, to be sure, but Reign is a fun, soapy historical fiction. It may diverge from the historical record rather magnificently, but when something is this pretty and features a character as awesome as Mary, who cares? I need a silly, soapy, shippy Thursday treat now that Scandal’s gone off the rails and this fits the bill to a t.


Comic Con
Saved the best for last. As I enigmatically suggested above, this hasn’t been a super great year for me, personally. Comic Con was definitely the highlight. Along with my partner in geek crime, Mark Greig, I got to see celebrities including Tatiana Maslany and Natalie Dormer and I even walked right by Supernatural’s Osric Chau on the street. Which, weirdly, would not have impressed me at home in L.A., but seemed very, very awesome in San Diego. Go figure. We also went to the zoo and got to see a cheetah and a dog together which was crazy amazing.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas
and a spectacularly Happy New Year
- sunbunny

12 comments:

  1. I really need to watch The Walking Dead don't I...?!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loved your list, sunbunny. :)

    Juliette, yes, you might want to try The Walking Dead. I was just at a family holiday party and my nephew asked me what my current favorite shows were. When I said one of them was The Walking Dead, he was really surprised. There's something about TWD that transcends the gore. For some of us, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with you completely about Agents of SHIELD and The Winter Soldier, sunbunny. For SHIELD, the husband and I went from "yeah, we'll get to it" for most of the first season, to "we're watching SHIELD tonight, right?!" this season. I'm really, really enjoying that series right now. And Winter Soldier was one of those rare superhero movies that didn't leave me zoning out for most of the action sequences. It had a much more visceral feel and an interesting conflict.

    I slightly disagree with you on Orphan Black, though. For me, the second season started out strong, but then lost the thread a bit. It managed to deliver a rousing finish, and I'm certainly in for Season 3, but I feel like S2 did suffer a bit from the sophomore slump by going in too many directions that felt somewhat aimless at times. But Tatiana Maslany remained great, as ever.

    You know, people make so much fun of "stuff and things" Rick, but in the context of the scene in your GIF he was saying it to Lori sarcastically. She was pestering him about needing to talk about "things" between them, and, since he could barely stand to look at her at that point, he was blowing her off by throwing her own words back in her face. At least when he later told Hershel he was busy in the woods doing "stuff" it sounded way more lame and crazy. :) (Unhealthy obsession, folks.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Reading your list Sunbunny, I realize there is so much TV that I need to catch up on...

    Agents of SHIELD - only watched S1 with S2 on the DVR currently.

    Sherlock - ok so I've seen all of them, but I think I need to re-watch - loved all 3 episodes myself :)

    Orphan Black - the type of show I know I'd like (as would my wife), but I haven't had time yet...

    The Walking Dead - saw the 1st season and then got married and moved to the U.S. so it got lost in transition.

    House of Cards - again need to watch this. Love Kevin Spacey!

    I think once I finish my BSG re-watch I'll start on one of these... Maybe The Walking Dead 1st... we shall see!

    Thanks for the list & I hope your 2015 is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Going to SDCC with you was the highlight of my year too :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great list Sunbunny and not just because we have almost exactly the same list :). I started watching Orphan Black because of you and now it is one of my favourites. I agree that sometimes it goes in too many directions but then I just sit back in amazement at the talent of Tatiana Maslany and her ability to go wherever they send her.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great list, my friend. I wish I could get into TWD, but a scene in the third episode was so gory/gruesome that I turned it off. I can't convince myself to get back to it.

    Hope 2015 is a much better year for you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Reign! Does it count as a guilty pleasure if I'm not all that guilty? There is so much natural history in the story when you add in some CW flair... it's almost too good!

    Hopefully only good things wait for you in 2015!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I find it interesting that TWD has such a following. I've tried a gazillion times. Sometimes I feel I've seen more TWD than the fans have. But I just can't get into the show. For me, the gory stuff just feels unnecessary, and the characters feels superficial and unlikeable.

    Still, the show is a hit. And I like that fact. OK, I'm not on board myself, but I think it's awesome that the show has its followers.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sunbunny:
    Great list -- I always enjoy reading your thoughts on things. I'm so excited you're into TWD! Welcome to the zombie dark side.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love your list. Funny, I forgot Sherlock was this year. It seems so long ago. Sherlock is my favorite by far. Love, love Orphan Black ( but not as much as hubby who is a card carrying Clone Club member). The Walking Dead had had it's tedious moments in the past to me, but this fall season was awesome. I am glad I stayed with Agents of Sheild for Ward and Skye to become interesting. My son has me started on Arrow.

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.