Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Why beat around the bush? This year has sucked. It’s pushed even the most well-adjusted, healthiest people to their breaking points, and why shouldn’t it? Seeing friends and hugging people is awesome, and a world where you can’t do that is proving to be pretty miserable.
Since I’m far from the healthiest person I know, mentally or otherwise, this year has brought me to tears more times than I can count. Here’s a rough list of what’s turned on my personal faucet: banana pudding, my cat winking at me, rain, Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night”, my fudge not setting, The Last of Us Part II’s ending. That last one knocked me out for a solid day and a half. But not all of that crying has been bad. Some of it has been downright joyful and — dare I say — empowering.
In a year full of tears here are the bittersweet moments in TV and film that have comforted me the most, ranked from least to most crying. Some of them shine a brief glimmer of light from a very dark place. Others are so stupid and silly I’m still unsure why I love them. All of them have made me bawl like a child and have helped make this garbage year a little more bearable. Here’s hoping they help you out, too.
Owen surviving 'The Haunting of Bly Manor'
The second I saw The Haunting of Bly Manor‘s Owen, I was in love. I mean, just look at Rahul Kohli. The man is a dreamboat and a half. When Bly Manor paired Kohli’s natural charm with Owen’s intense kindness and love of dad jokes it essentially built the perfect man. And I spent roughly nine hours of television convinced Netflix was going to kill this saint. Mike Flanagan’s final episode revelation was sweet and heartbreaking, yes. But those bittersweet feelings can never compare to the joy I felt seeing Owen surviving all of these ghostly horrors and opening his own restaurant. If you need me, I’ll be in A Batter Place.
'Ted Lasso's biscuits
So much about Ted Lasso is good and pure that it’s hard to pick a favorite moment. But I know exactly the moment that hit me the hardest. During Ted’s (Jason Sudeikis) first day on the job he gives his boss Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) a box of biscuits. It isn’t long before the hardened businesswoman becomes obsessed with the sweet treat that remind her of home. All throughout Episode 2 she sends her second-in-command all across London, trying to find the bakery that produced those biscuits. And at the end of Episode 2 we learn that very bakery is Ted Lasso’s own kitchen. Here is a man struggling through a divorce, an ocean away from his family, surrounded by hostile people who keep calling him a wanker, and how does he spend his free time? He makes cookies to share with his new co-workers. Truly we should all strive to be as kind and selfless as Ted Lasso.
'Onward's parental reunion
Leave it to Pixar to make a grown woman cry. Dan Scanlon’s fusion of fantasy and modern technology basically boiled down to a road trip movie. Two brothers (Chris Pratt and Tom Holland) have to go on a quest to complete a spell that will revive their late father for a day. So far, so kinda-weird kinda-cute. But when the younger brother Ian gave up his turn to meet his dad? Because he realized that his older brother Barley was actually his father figure all along? Big ugly tears all around. That was cold, Disney. I loved it and will be watching it again with a pint of ice cream, but as an older sibling that was c-o-l-d.
'Work in Progress': Chris looking out for himself
It’s odd to watch a show and actively root against the main character. But that’s exactly the position Showtime’s Work in Progress put viewers in during its first season. Abby’s (Abby McEnany) relationship with the effortlessly cool and much younger Chris (Theo Germaine) started as a sweet romance. That slowly changed episode by episode as Abby’s deep-seated anxieties bled into their happy bubble. After emotionally wearing out Chris, dead naming him, and acting cruel, Chris finally stood up for himself in Season 1’s finale and broke things off with Abby. It was a great moment for a character who deserved more than a borderline abusive relationship. Yet this finale also contained two powerful lessons from this deeply smart show: No one’s mental illness excuses them from hurting others and relying on other people for your happiness is a recipe for disaster.
'Steven Universe' taking a road trip
So many stories focus on the excitement of the hero’s quest, but few question what happens next. That’s exactly what Steven Universe Future did over its 11 episodes, and the result was bleak. Rebecca Sugar took a hard look at Steven’s people pleasing ways, his countless near-death experiences, and the numerous times adults relied on this child to save them and constructed an honest narrative about PTSD. Yet after a season spent reliving trauma and flinging himself between desperate major life choices, Steven finally found some peace. The final episode of the spin-off series sees Steven driving away from Beach City to go find himself. After all Steven has given this world, seeing him take some time for himself stands as a deeply important lesson in self-care.
'Central Park's "Own It"
Musicals make me cry. There, I’ve said it. Sometimes when everyone is harmonizing and they’ve all figured out their purposes in life, I can feel the tears creep into my eyes as my heart soars. Clichéd, I know. But that’s exactly how Central Park‘s first big musical number leaves me every time I listen to it. There’s just so much that’s great about Loren Bouchard, Nora Smith, and Josh Gad’s show. You have freaking Leslie Odom Jr. and Tituss Burgess belting out their innermost desires while Daveed Diggs raps as a gold-digging old lady. What are these deep desires, you ask? Loving flowers and keeping a puppy. That’s adorably wholesome but it also speaks to the true magnificence of “Own It.” Putting aside what other people think and truly embracing what you love it hard. If we all just owned it like Owen owns those too high shorts maybe we’d all be a bit happier.
'Hollywood's Oscar night
Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Hollywood wasn’t a work of fiction. It was a work of fantasy. A major film studio being run by a woman in the 1940s? That same studio casting a black romantic lead for one of its awards-bait films? And that movie being written by a black writer and directed by a half-Filipino director? There’s no way that could have ever happened in America’s deeply racist history. But I don’t care.
“A Hollywood Ending” served as a beautiful ode to the importance of representation. Watching Laura Harrier’s Camille accept the Oscar for Best Actress years before a woman of color would be given this honor, it was impossible to brush aside the Oscars as just an awards show or movies as just fluff. Everyone, regardless of their race, gender identity, or sexual orientation, should be allowed to pursue their dreams. Seeing people accomplish these very things matter. As Hollywood’s rewriting of history points out, it should have happened sooner.
'Mythic Quest's quarantine episode
Being a TV critic during a pandemic means I’ve watch a loooot of TV. Most shows this year were a burst of fun in my life before they faded from my memory. That was never the case with Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest. Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Megan Ganz’s comedy brilliantly skewered everything that’s wrong with the gaming industry and the age of the internet while always remaining relatable. But it’s the one episode that dealt with none of those things that showcased the series at its best.
Mythic Quest: Quarantine made all the pandemic jokes we’ve come to expect months before making pandemic jokes was a tired trope. It had the shower-deprived over worker (Charlotte Nicdao’s Poppy), the rich and “relatable” blowhard (McElhenney’s Ian), and even a guy who couldn’t figure out Zoom (F. Murray Abraham’s C.W.). But in its final moments Mythic Quest swapped out silly jokes to focus on something deeper. Poppy and Ian were two of the first fictional characters to acknowledge the truth: quarantine is hard no matter who you are. As the world seemed to burn around us, Mythic Quest offered an intimate human moment in the form of a hug. That’s truly what we all need right now.
'Seduced's vulnerability
Between HBO’s The Vow and STARZ’s Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult, true crime challenged the assumptions we make about cult members. None of that would have been possible if not for the constant transparency and vulnerability of its former members. Yet it’s Seduced‘s final episode that shows this saga at its most powerful.
Led by India Oxenberg, a group of survivors is shown giving a presentation to a law class. As they plead for stricter laws that would prohibit cults, the full strength of these women is revealed. It’s one thing to survive the horrors of a group like NXIVM and an abuser like Keith Raniere. It’s another share your story with the world. But devoting the rest of your life to combating these organizations so no one will ever have to endure the horrors you have? That’s a true testament of strength.
'I'll Be Gone in the Dark's empowering final episode
So often the worst members of our society, our serial killers and rapists, point a finger when it comes to the atrocities they commit. Society’s worst abusers often have a history of abuse themselves. Pain breeds pain; hurt breeds hurt. It’s exactly this cycle of abuse that the survivors of the Golden State Killer, aka the East Area Rapist, have destroyed.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark‘s final episode doesn’t end with Joseph James DeAngelo Jr.’s story or on the pain of his survivors. Instead, it ends with a picnic. As the survivors of these horrific crimes come together they don’t dwell on the horrors that unite them but rather the joys in their lives. These women and men may have been raped and tortured by this monster, but they will always be stronger than him. When faced with the choice of submitting to their pain and continuing his dark cycle, they chose the harder, more admirable path. They chose to live. In I’ll Be Gone in the Dark the late Michelle McNamara repeatedly marveled at the strength of these survivors. It’s not difficult to imagine that she’d be moved to tears as well.
'BoJack Horseman' sitting with Diane
I know myself. I knew no matter what happened, BoJack Horseman‘s finale would make me cry. What I wasn’t prepared for was the waves of emotion and internal contemplation it would inspire. BoJack ends with BoJack (Will Arnett) being temporarily released from jail for Princess Carolyn’s (Amy Sedaris) wedding. Why he’s in jail doesn’t matter. It’s atonement for a billion sins he’s committed throughout his entire life. At the wedding he sees Diane (Alison Brie) for the first time in months.
This Diane is different. She’s less fashionable, the author of a YA detective series, larger, and engaged. For once, she’s happy. As she sits with the friend she once said she couldn’t live without, BoJack asks if they will always be part of each other’s lives. “I think there are people who help you become the person that you end up being,” Diane says. “And you can be grateful to them even if they were never mean to be in your life forever.”
So much on television feels absolute. Friendships end in big screaming matches packed with truth bombs. Relationships explode into infidelity. But in its final moments BoJack focused on the quiet truth that sometimes people just fade. During a year when everyone’s life have been disrupted, a year when I’ve been forced to move away from the city I love and re-examine my priorities as I struggle with my mental health through a never-ending pandemic, this hit home. I don’t know where I’ll be in 2021. Hell, I don’t even know where I’ll be in January. But having my favorite show remind me that not knowing who I’m going to be is OK means the world.
