Best scenes of 2017: Part II

Moments of unalloyed brilliance in 2017 from Norwegian teen drama to a comedy about a single mother in Boston

Picking up from where I left in my previous column, here are my favourite scenes from the TV series I binged on this year.

Girls: That moment when Adam (Adam Driver) and Hannah (Lena Dunham) realise that the fancy notion of raising a child together is fading, a pregnant pause appears on this otherwise mega chatty series, which is both subtle and intimate.

Broad City: Ilana (Ilana Glazer) going to a sex therapist to find a cure for her orgasmic dry spell in the post-Trump era and exorcising all the ghosts while yelling “electoral college” and “huge hands” gave me life. She describes the experience to her best friend Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) afterwards as: “She tapped me into this ferocious female current that is constantly zip-zap-zopping around the universe like the speed of light.”

Search Party: John Early throwing a tantrum at his boyfriend for having to write a book while just gazing hard at the empty Word document speaks for every writer on this planet.

Game of Thrones: Jon Snow’s ragtag team of warriors is up against an army of white walkers who are walking on thin ice. This phenomenal scene is so splendidly crafted and spectacularly mounted that I wished there was an IMAX version of it.

Transparent: As Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor) discovers that her father is not only alive but is also in the same town as her (Tel Aviv), she goes through the wormholes of the internet to confirm her suspicions. The urgency of this scene is simply beautiful.

Stranger: Whenever the detective protagonist (Jo Seung-woo as Hwang Shi-mok) plays out the events preceding the murders, I felt a frisson of pleasure, not just for their coruscating brilliance but also for the fact that South Koreans can do whodunits as well as rom coms.

American Vandal: The blink-and-miss references to “Tank Top Todd” made my partner laugh out loud the most this year and that alone makes it the must-watch of this year.

Scandal: A distraught Charlie (George Newbern) looking high and low for his pregnant to-be wife Quinn (Katie Lowes) is both heartbreaking and has #relationshipgoals written all over it.

You’re the Worst: The “divorce party” thrown by Gretchen (Aya Cash) for Lindsay (Kether Donohue) is raucous and has a handful of really delightful divorce puns, including a signature drink called a “Mezcalimony”.

A scene from Netflix TV series Alias Grace.

Mr Robot: Joey Bada$$ was scintillating when scoffing at the “suspension of disbelief” that the 1980s show Frasier demands while Knight Rider went completely under the radar. Cultural criticism that I am sure John Berger, who passed away earlier this year, would have deeply appreciated.

Insecure: Lawrence (Jay Ellis) finds himself having sex with two girls at the same time and their supposedly exacting demands leaves him frustrated and he goes to the front of his ex’s house to experience a welter of emotions. A scene awash with lush despair.

Skam: The innocence of teen romance never seemed as wondrous until I saw Sana and Yousef together in the hit Norwegian TV series. Their hanging out one whole episode is one hell of a joyous ride.

SMILF: This comedy that dares to discuss sexual trauma has a stark scene where the titular character (Frankie Shaw) is practising for her basketball tryouts and she gets robbed. But she kind of accepts it as her way of life, even later when she spots the robber wearing her sneakers at a bodega.

Easy: When Chase (Kiersey Clemons) sees that her girlfriend Jo’s (Jacqueline Toboni) art show is artless, with topless girls prancing around, a brilliantly executed confrontation ensues over double standards about sex, art and feminism, which makes it the best episode of the second season.

Alias Grace: Rebecca Liddiard’s feisty and super-frisky character as Mary Whitney has her soul sucked out due to a botched abortion. The bloodied follow-up is a fevered dream that could have come from Margaret Atwood’s razor-sharp biro.

Big Little Lies: The most popular series of the year kickstarts when Laura Dern’s daughter accuses Shailene Woodley’s son of trying to choke her in front of a massive crowd of parents. It’s a scene for keeps.

jagannath.jamma@bsmail.in