gffa:
qui gon jinn
TV shows that kept me sane in 2022
2022 was the worst year of my life. Sorry. Coming off my tablets caused an apocalyptic mental breakdown and getting back on them took months. Couldn’t work, couldn’t function. For three months all I was able to do was sit around and watch TV.
Luckily there was some good TV to watch. Lemme pay a little tribute to it now.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
I had been looking forward to seeing the missing bits of Obi-Wan’s story on screen for over a decade. God, I wish I’d been better when it finally, finally came to me. I know the show was a little clunky in plot and dialogue but I loved it, I loved seeing other less-celebrated characters like Owen and Beru as well and seeing them gain more layers (and some badass lines.) And then Qui-Gon at the end to top it all off. DAMN that was a moment.
*
The Orville
I was really bad when I started watching this but yet I have nothing but good memories of actually watching it, if that makes sense. When I first had a look at it I wasn’t impressed with the pilot episode, I thought it was dull and unfunny, but then I stumbled across episode 8 of the first season, the one where the kids have to survive on the cannibal planet, and I was like “This is the same show? Holy crap!” So now I’m a fan.
Still cannot BELIEVE Seth MacFarlene of all people created this.
*
Ms Marvel
This show was SO GOOD. I’m so glad Kamala Khan got an adaption that was respectful of her and her fannish personality! I suppose her powers have changed slightly, I wouldn’t have done that but whatever, I can overlook it. It was such a colourful and sweet show AND it had a lot of things to say.
*
My Name Is Earl
Obviously this isn’t a new show, it’s an older one, but I’d never watched the whole thing from the beginning. It was excellent right up until season three, where it took a sudden and drastic nosedive. (This was around the time of the writers’ strike, if I remember rightly.) It probably could have gotten back on its feet after that but nope, it was cancelled on a cliffhanger after season four. Sigh.
*
Raising Hope
However! The My Name is Earl story is sort-of resolved in the first episode of Raising Hope, made by the same people, so I watched that too. I’m glad I did, it’s a very silly show but very sweet and wholesome. (And it got to end without a cliffhanger, hooray.)
*
The Umbrella Academy season 3
A show about the end of the world that somehow still managed to cheer me up in my worst days. It deserves props just for handling Elliot Page’s transition as well as it did, actually… just being totally chill about it and not even making it a particularly big deal, which is totally in-character for everyone. Awful selfish people but come through when it counts! Love those guys.
The reason we could hear all of the Jedi voices in TROS is because Qui-Gon’s been piecing them back together since Order 66 happened.
While he was chatting with Obi-Wan on Tatooine, he was sitting in the metaphorical clover field of the Cosmic Force, patiently picking through it for all the little bits of Mace Windu’s soul, so he could hear his friend sigh with exasperation at him for the rest of eternity. He collected the scattered pieces of Ayla’s soul like eggs in a basket, remembering the way she giggled as Quinlan gave her piggyback rides through the Temple. He used one of those blueberry picking filter things to find Kanan Jarrus, because he had people to watch over.
It was slow going, but it was worth it for his family, to hear them again. And when Obi-Wan and Yoda died, they joined him in his work. That’s why we can hear them. Ki-Adi, Adi, Depa, Luminara, Plo, Kit, Agen, all of them. Qui-Gon. Clover patch. Blueberry picking. Egg hunting.
Awww, I love this.
Tales of the Jedi
PREQUEL JEDI SHOW! Alright!
I really enjoyed Tales of the Jedi. It was so good to see these scenes I always assumed would never be depicted not only being depicted but rendered in gorgeous animation. And although I always appreciated Count Dooku as a character, this show made me all the more interested in him and his relationship with Qui-Gon.
Speaking of Qui-Gon, they got Liam Neeson back again to play him! And his son playing the young version of him! Seeing as how I’ve been a massive Qui-Gon fan since oooh 1999 I was THRILLED to see all that.
This show has also reminded me how much I need to read Master and Apprentice, I still haven’t and I very much should.
