It is once again time to make your voice heard! Voting for our annual television awards is now open. Here’s what you need to know before you jump into the nominations:
- Nope, we’re not limited by Emmy submission rules. Everything is fake and the points don’t matter, so we’ve combined the drama and limited series categories and put actors in leading or supporting based on our own criteria. Our eligibility area is roughly June to June, completed seasons only. So Loki, for example, will be up for awards in 2022.
- There are tons of spoilers below, so take care.
- If you think that something you don’t see deserves to be here, it probably does! Unfortunately we’re only two people and even we can’t watch everything. We do try.
- You’ll notice that some nominations come to us by our generous Patreon supporters. If you too would like the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the process, check out our benefits.
- Voting will be open until Monday, August 9th at 11 a.m. ET.
With that: Have fun, champion your faves, lead the charge on social media…we’ve done our job and the rest is up to you. Happy voting! —Sage
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Best Comedy
The Flight Attendant
Hacks
Mythic Quest
Saved by the Bell
Ted Lasso
The Unicorn
Sage: To be quite honest, HBO had me at “Jean Smart as a caustic Las Vegas stand-up,” but I’d be remiss not to say that Hacks lives up to that irresistible premise. There’s so much going on in this show besides the old guard/new guard relationship between Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder’s Ava. Sure, there’s the eternally relevant indictment of sexism and ageism in the entertainment industry and the requisite here’s-what’s-funny-and-why crash course by the actual comedy writers behind the show, but it’s the various forms of connection between characters that matters most here, as well as the connection between characters and their passions. It asks why people keep hacking away at the thing that they love, even when it’s demoralizing or no one cares or others are actively trying to keep them from doing it. And contrary to the famously gaudy city in which it’s set, Hacks does all of this with not only a dark wit but also a surprising subtlety.
I’d known that it existed before that, but around the middle of its second season, my Twitter feed was full of praise for Mythic Quest. Coming from some of the minds behind Community and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Apple TV+ show is a little bit of both but also something entirely new. It’s a workplace comedy, but it’s also a comedy about the creative process and about the art of collaboration itself. It loves a sitcom set piece, but also uses nontraditional storytelling to stunning effect. It flips tropes on their heads, giving us not a central will-they-won’t-they but a complicated and fulfilling friendship between two very different colleagues who need each other to be successful. And as someone who hasn’t played a video game since the Sega Genesis, I can tell you that while it’s probably a ton of fun for gamers to watch, it has a universality that makes it accessible to even us n00bs.
Ted Lasso is a gift. Somehow, this continuation of a series of ESPN commercials became a wholesome juggernaut of a comedy, bringing us along with our titular character as he moves from St. Louis to the U.K. to coach what he used to call soccer — a sport he’s barely even played. Jason Sudeikis leads a dreamy ensemble cast of people who very evidently adore being in this sandbox together, many of whom you’ll see throughout the rest of this post. But the most revelatory thing about Ted Lasso is that it manages to be uproariously funny while also demonstrating stuff like how to be an accountable person and how to forgive yourself when you cause someone else harm, because that just comes with the territory of being alive. The joy of it isn’t that everyone is nice, because they’re not. Counter to what a lot of writers and studios seem to think, there is dramatic tension to be found in flawed people who are simply trying to be better.
Kim: Like Trophy Wife and Speechless before it, The Unicorn is a nuanced family comedy that feels like it was made for adults, where it’s about friendship just as much as it’s about family. I think what I appreciate the most about it is how Wade and his crew show that it takes a village but also that none of us know what we’re doing, even when we’re middle-aged. And unfortunately, like Trophy Wife and Speechless, television audiences at large lack appreciation for nuance, so it’s heading to the television afterlife…but hopefully not before getting some Feelie recognition.
The Saved By The Bell reboot is everything we needed it to be: goofy and nostalgic, lovingly poking fun at the original while updating Bayside for a whole new generation. Go Tigers!
The Flight Attendant is an addictively wild ride from start to finish, fueled by stunningly good performances by Kaley Cuoco and past Feelie Winner Michelle Gomez. It’s the batshit crazy show we had no idea we needed in 2020.
Best Drama
The Crown
I May Destroy You
Mare of Easttown
Prodigal Son
Shadow and Bone
This Is Us
The Umbrella Academy
Kim: Season Five of This Is Us pivoted to the world of 2020 with sometimes maddening (the inconsistent mask wearing and quarantining; Kate tracking down Marc in the middle of a pandemic) but often brilliant (weaving in the story of Nasir Ahmed, the man who is responsible for video compression technology, with the birth of the new big three; Kevin and Randall’s reckoning over Randall’s racial identity) results and through it all, it still managed to surprise and move us.
Shadow and Bone had the gargantuan task of not only bringing Leigh Bardugo’s expansive Grishaverse to life but merging two separate series within it that never actually cross paths in the books. It did so with aplomb thanks to pitch-perfect casting from top to bottom and lush production design, and the adaptation even managed to fix some of the flaws that drove us crazy in the books.
We’ve been waiting for The Crown to get to Margaret Thatcher and the Charles and Diana era ever since the series premiered and it did not disappoint. The series has never been more bingeable, and I love how it managed to undo more than 20 years of Prince Charles trying to rehab his image in a matter of 10 episodes.
Sage: I May Destroy You deserves every ounce of praise it’s received. A searing and complex portrayal of exploitation and recovery, this drama resists offering any easy answers or pat resolutions. We’ll talk more about Michaela Coel as a performer later, but as a creator, she’s absolutely one of our most vital.
Mare of Easttown layers human drama, suffering, and hope over what turns out to be a wholly satisfying whodunnit. Add in those Delco accents and regionally appropriate food props and you have the kind of specificity that makes these small-town crime dramas really sing.
Prodigal Son may not have survived Fox’s end-of-season purge, but at least it went out as balls-to-the-wall as it began. From coma dream worlds to Rear Window homages to Catherine Zeta-Jones giving us her best Annie Wilkes, our Murder Show reveled in its extra-ness, giving us huge performances, delightfully bonkers plots, and the serotonin we needed to make it through lockdown.
Season Two of The Umbrella Academy takes our trash children back in time, making the eye-catching adaptation even more aesthetically cool and deepening characters by exposing them to an entirely different reality from what they’re used to. In addition to fixing some missteps from the first season (*cough* Luther *cough*), these episodes leveled up on the fights, the sarcasm, and, of course, the needle drops.
Best Actress in a Comedy
Aidy Bryant, Shrill
Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant
Sutton Foster, Younger
Charlotte Nicdao, Mythic Quest
Alia Shawkat, Search Party
Jean Smart, Hacks
Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso
Sage: Shrill closed out its three-season run with another layered performance by Aidy Bryant. It’s been such a pleasure to watch Aidy become more and more self-assured as a actor throughout the course of the show — as pleasurable as it is painful to watch Annie struggle to process all the dehumanization she’s been subject to as a fat person while also confronting the shittiness in herself.
In the hands of Charlotte Nicdao, Mythic Quest’s Poppy Li provides some much-needed pop culture representation of what it’s like to be a woman in tech (We still don’t see many of them onscreen, unless they’re like, trying to seduce James Bond for a microchip or a hot A.I. created by a man.) without getting bogged down by that label. Poppy is cute as a button and can be charming, but she’s also a hugely difficult person and struggles to make connections with people around her — even people with whom she has a lot in common. While her narcissism isn’t as showy as Ian’s, it’s definitely there, and Charlotte has no fear about playing up her flaws.
Search Party is still one of the most unpredictable shows on television, and Alia Shawkat’s Dory is now one of its biggest monsters. It’s truly astounding to watch Dory put a sheen of innocence and victimization over every terrible thing that she’s done — for her own benefit more than anyone else’s — but Season Four brings her to a point where she has no choice but to accept the role she’s played. While her friends are awful in unsophisticated ways, Dory has emerged from her traumatic ordeal stronger, sharper, and more calculating. Alia has owned this character since day one, and I’m both excited and scared to experience whatever she’s about to unleash in Season Five.
Now that Ted Danson’s Good Place rein is over, we may have to pass his National Treasure title on to Jean Smart. A Feelies winner last year for her work on Watchmen, Jean kept the Jeanassaince going with her leading role on Hacks. Her Deborah Vance is so much more than just a tough, ol’ showbiz broad. She’s sexually vibrant, and still driven by ambition, but Jean really brings the pathos when she lets us in on the lonely life Deborah built for herself and how quickly she can don her armour again as soon as she regrets exposing a sliver of her softer side. It’s one of those “well, duh” marriages of actor and character, and it’s honestly a travesty that it’s taken so long.
Kim: It would have been really easy for Ted Lasso to just make Rebecca Welton a bitch like the character that clearly inspired her. (That would be Major League’s Rachel Phelps.) But in the hands of Amazonian Goddess Hannah Waddingham, Rebecca becomes so much more than the ice queen we meet in the pilot. Beneath that prickly exterior is a vulnerable woman who’s lost her sense of self thanks to a trash man and a woman who’s longing for connection even if she’s not sure how to find it. With the exception of possibly Roy Kent, Rebecca is the most changed by the end of Season One and Hannah makes that journey incredibly rewarding to watch.
Let it never be said that we don’t give credit where credit is due, because long-time nemesis of this website Kaley Cuoco is spectacular in The Flight Attendant. As Cassie, Kaley is just enough of a hot mess to stress you out but not too much of a disaster person to make her unrelatable. She makes you want Cassie to pull her shit together so she can triumph over the bad guys. Plus, she cries and screams beautifully.
Our patron Margaret nominates Younger’s Sutton Foster and The Queer Review certainly agrees with her, stating, “Sutton Foster brings a natural, adorably goofy vulnerability and intelligence to Liza and once again she’s the fallible, unpredictable emotional core of the show, and her friendship with Kelsey is just as important as who she might end up with in her love life.” Sounds Feelie-worthy to me!
Best Actor in a Comedy
Walton Goggins, The Unicorn
Rob McElhenney, Mythic Quest
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Kim: As a society, we don’t deserve Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso, but I sure am glad he decided to give him to us anyway. Ted Lasso, with all its big-hearted optimism and folksy charm, was the perfect antidote to the trash fire that was 2020, and that all comes down to the man anchoring the center. Goofy but never a buffoon. Sentimental but never saccharine. If we could all be a little more like Ted Lasso, the world would be a better place.
Judging by its tragic cancellation, it’s painfully clear that we didn’t deserve Walton Goggins as The Unicorn either. As Wade, a widowed girl dad with a penchant for really good knitwear, Goggins radiates a down-to-earth charm not all that unlike Ted Lasso as he navigates both the dating world and being there for his daughters and his wacky friends. What can we say? We have a type here at Head Over Feels. And that type is HOT DAD.
Sage: Rob McElhenney has been skewering toxic masculinity for years on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Ian Grimm on Mythic Quest is another variation on that theme. Rob’s expertise really lies in making you care about and want to protect these vain, emotionally illiterate meatheads, because he understands that that veneer is always covering what’s childlike and pathetic. Ian is a sendup of all the egomaniacal tech wizards who run our lives, but he’s also a little boy who doesn’t want to be alone in a hospital, which is why we — and Poppy — will keep giving him chances.
Best Actress in a Drama
Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You
Emma Corrin, The Crown
Jessie Mei Li, Shadow and Bone
Elizabeth Olsen, WandaVision
Ellen Pompeo, Grey’s Anatomy
Mj Rodriguez, Pose
Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown
Sage: It’s impossible to take your eyes off of Michaela Coel anytime that she’s onscreen. And she never allows her I May Destroy You character to be flattened into a victim stereotype. At times callous, egocentric, and cruel, Arabella is a flawed person whose trauma brings out her best and worst, and that’s so important and groundbreaking to see.
Speaking of multifaceted individuals, Emma Corrin had the almost impossible job of turning the image of the People’s Princess that’s been plastered on all manner of commemorative china back into a living, breathing human being. Her Princess Diana is the heart of the most recent season of The Crown, and Emma captures her kindness, naivety, and steel backbone without breaking a sweat.
We wouldn’t be half as emotional about Pose ending if Mj Rodriguez had never been a part of that cast. Watching Blanca fight for her family, her health, and her career over the last three seasons has been an honor, and it’s only right that Mj’s performance has finally been recognized by the Television Academy. (Let it be known, however, that HOF has been nominating her this whole time!)
Kim: Watching Elizabeth Olsen in WandaVision makes me absolutely furious at how underused she’s been in the film franchise thus far. She really gives a tour-de-force performance over the course of nine episodes, from nailing the wacky pastiche of ’50s sitcoms to perfectly embodying the harried mom trope of the ’90s. But Elizabeth is truly at her best in the quiet moments where she delves into the depths of Wanda’s trauma and grief. The show may have gotten a little sloppy towards the end, but her performance never wavers.
We already know that Kate Winslet is one of the greatest actresses of her generation, so it’s no surprise that she’s fantastic in Mare of Easttown, down to her highly specific, pitch-perfect regional Pennsylvania accent. I’m loath to use the phrase “vanity-free” in regards to her performance, but it’s apt, and not because of Mare’s makeup-free face, but because of how Winslet isn’t afraid to embrace Mare’s gruff side. She can be a woman of few words, but boy, does she make the words count.
Shadow and Bone really hit the jackpot when they cast Jessie Mei Lei as Alina Starkov. Playing the chosen one in the adaptation of a beloved YA series is a tall order, but Jessie does it with aplomb, perfectly capturing Alina’s awe and naivete while also imbuing her with a steely grit that shows she is not a girl to be trifled with. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for her in Season Two.
Ellen Pompeo has been playing Meredith Grey since 2005 and she doesn’t get enough credit for just how fucking good she is. Meredith might have spent half the season in a COVID-induced coma, but that doesn’t mean Ellen was sleeping on the job. Every scene on Meredith’s gateway to the afterlife beach was a love letter to both Grey’s leading lady and the fans that have stuck with the show through 17 seasons.
Best Actor in a Drama
Ben Barnes, Shadow and Bone
Paul Bettany, WandaVision
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Rege-Jean Page, Bridgerton
Pedro Pascal, The Mandalorian
Tom Payne, Prodigal Son
Billy Porter, Pose
Kim: The success of the first season Bridgerton rested entirely on the (broad) shoulders of Regé-Jean Page as Simon, the Duke of Hastings. Lucky for us, not only is Regé-Jean smoking hot, but he’s a spectacular actor as well. We definitely burn for him.
Similarly, Prodigal Son lives or dies by the titular son, and in Season Two Tom Payne’s performance is both delightfully over-the-top and grounded in reality at the same time. He’s able to flip from unhinged to vulnerable in the span of a millisecond and that makes it such a wonderfully unpredictable performance to watch. Protect Malcolm Bright at all costs!!!
Five seasons into This Is Us, Sterling K. Brown is still delivering an awards-worthy performance every week. Season Five was a JOURNEY for Randall as he reconnected with his identity through learning the story of his birth mother and he embraced therapy, dealing with the trauma of his transracial adoption in the wake of the George Floyd murder. It’s powerful stuff, and it’s truly an honor to watch Sterling work.
Sage: I don’t think there’s a single actor out there who could have had more fun being The Darkling than Shadow and Bone’s Ben Barnes. His General Kirigan may be the villain of the piece, but Ben never plays him that way (notice how he’s on the verge of tears in nearly every scene??), making the Grisha even more seductive and sympathetic than he is in the books.
Across just six episodes of WandaVision, Paul Bettany gets to show us everything from his respectable Dick Van Dyke impersonation to the truly alarming moment when Vision gives up his unnatural new life to escape Wanda’s trauma-motivated fantasy world. He can do sitcom dad, he can make us weep sharing emotional scenes with the equally formidable Elizabeth Olsen, and he can do it all slathered in face and body makeup. We have no choice but to stan.
Grogu may be on all the merchandise, but The Mandalorian lives or dies by Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin — intergalactic nice guy for hire and unlikely single dad. Seeing that he rarely shows his face, it’s a performance that’s almost entirely made up of his line delivery and body language. In just two seasons, Pedro’s given us a new kind of Star Wars hero to root for, and we’ll follow him anywhere.
Billy Porter left it all on the field in the last season of Pose. As Pray Tell’s health deteriorates, his spirit only strengthens, and Billy’s decision to publicly share that he’s also been living with HIV for years only added new shades to this deeply personal and dignified performance.
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
Michelle Gomez, The Flight Attendant
Maya Lynne Robinson, The Unicorn
Juno Temple, Ted Lasso
Josie Totah, Saved by the Bell
Michaela Watkins, The Unicorn
Sage: What a breakout performance Hannah Einbinder gives on Hacks. Far from being a one-note younger millennial joke, her Ava does epitomize the near-constant humiliation of being a young adult. Ava fumbles for any kind of foothold in her career, gets consistently clobbered romantically, and still has one foot in her childhood, but she’s also pissed off enough to tell Deborah Vance what she doesn’t want to hear, and that changes everything for both of them.
The Unicorn’s Maya Lynne Robinson makes it all look effortless. Her Michelle feels like someone you know, or perhaps more accurately, someone you wish you knew because if you did, you’d hang out with her all the time. She’s always been the most laid-back member of the group, certainly when it comes to parenting, but it was so great to see Michelle go after something for herself this season.
With the revival’s self-aware edge, Saved by the Bell needed a Regina George, not another Kelly Kapowski. Enter Josie Totah as Lexi, the queen bee of Bayside. Nobody can sashay into a scene and deliver a punchline (or insult) like Josie, but she’s equally excellent in those moments when Lexi begins to unpack her privilege or be honest about feelings that she’s not sure will be returned. Like the rest of the school, we are obsessed.
Kim: I spent most of The Flight Attendant yelling “STEP ON MY THROAT IT WOULD BE AN HONOR” whenever Michelle Gomez was on screen, if that tells you anything about her performance. As International Assassin Miranda, Michelle gets to lean into her innate bitchiness and she does it all in her natural accent and a variety of power outfits that will make you swoon.
The Unicorn’s Michaela Watkins gives us the spiritual heir to Monica Geller in her performance as Delia. My favorite thing about Delia is that it’s a different type of Type-A neuroticism than TV spouse Rob Corddry and they just…rile each other up. There’s nothing funnier than a control freak who can’t control anything (on TV anyway!) and Michaela pulls it off with pizzazz.
Juno Temple is pure sunshine as Ted Lasso’s Keeley and that’s saying something considering how sunny that show is in general. I love that Keeley isn’t a doormat when it comes to her love life and I love that she’s a girly girl who loves pink and over-the-top flair and I love that she’s a girl who loves other girls. She’s everyone’s best friend and that all comes down to Juno’s natural warmth and sweetness.
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Rob Corddry, The Unicorn
John Early, Search Party
Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso
Brendan Hunt, Ted Lasso
Omar Miller, The Unicorn
Danny Pudi, Mythic Quest
Bowen Yang, Saturday Night Live
Sage: There are few people in this world as consistently hilarious as John Early, and while Search Party makes me feel a whole range of emotions, if Elliott is onscreen, it’s probably one of the good ones. Elliott digs for new levels of self-serving depravity in Season Four — and that’s a real feat for for the guy who already faked cancer — when he agrees to become a right-wing mouthpiece just so he can remain on TV. But John revels in every unattractive quality of Elliott’s and always, always, always makes the funniest possible choice.
Look, it’s not easy to write about Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent in Ted Lasso, because I am genuinely in love with him. But I will try. There are few character types we enjoy more than the lovable misanthrope, and Roy is the dreamiest of them all. In Season One, we watch him open his heart to Ted, become a true leader to his team, fall in love with Keeley, and share the most difficult moment of his life so far with people who care about him. Brett plays him as a guy who wasn’t sure he had the emotional capacity or will to do any of those things, but also as someone whose concept of “being a man” involves being honest and taking care of people. Character like that deserves its own football chant and more.
We’re always thrilled to see Danny Pudi in a new role, and Brad Bakshi from Mythic Quest could not be more of a departure from Abed Nadir. Yet, Danny brings the same control and cool he had in Community to the (seemingly) heartless bastard in charge of the video game studio’s finances. And he clearly relishes playing, for once, not a nice guy. But when you start at “villain,” there’s a lot of room to grow, and Season Two reveals new shades of Brad as his even more evil brother exposes both his weaknesses and where his loyalties lie. Danny gets the big, emotional season finale moment, and he more than earns it.
Kim: I can’t get over the fact that, as of press time, Bowen Yang is still only a featured player on Saturday Night Live. In only his second season, his very niche sense of humor makes him stand out among the bro-ier rest of the male ensemble. From Fliona’s hapless manager Maurice to the Iceberg that sank the Titanic, Bowen consistently delivers memorable performance after memorable performance, making him the MVP of an otherwise bland season.
Rob Corddry and Omar Miller are the ying and yang supporting duo of The Unicorn, perfectly balancing each other out. Rob’s Forrest is the neurotic type-A angel on Wade’s shoulder, while Omar’s Ben is the happy-go-lucky devil (who will also cut you if given the chance). They are a perfect pair, and both performances are delightfully realized.
Our patron KatyBeth nominates Ted Lasso’s Brendan Hunt. In a STACKED ensemble, Coach Beard stands out because he is a man of mystery and a man of very few words…but he always makes those words count.
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
Gillian Anderson, The Crown
Nicola Coughlan, Bridgerton
Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision
Julianne Nicholson, Mare of Easttown
Amita Suman, Shadow and Bone
Susan Kelechi Watson, This Is Us
Bellamy Young, Prodigal Son
Kim: Susan Kelechi Watson delivers season after season on This Is Us, you guys. Season Five saw Beth feeling a bit adrift as the pandemic forced the closure of her dance studio and she and Tess continued to clash in a way that only teenage girls and mothers can. And through it all, she’s a rock for Randall as he makes the pilgrimage to learn about his birth mother. Plus, her comic timing is one of the most unheralded things about her performance. No one delivers a zinger like Beth Pearson, y’all.
I don’t know how Shadow and Bone did it, but Amita Suman is EXACTLY how I pictured Inej Ghafa when I read the books. She captures everything about the Wraith perfectly: her grace, her stoicism, and her devotion to Kaz Brekker and Jesper Fahey. But she’s never better than the moment when she witnesses Alina’s power, tears welling in her eyes as she whispers, “Sankta Alina!” I can’t wait to see more from her.
We’ve loved Bellamy Young since her tour-de-force performance as Mellie Grant on Scandal and it’s been delicious seeing her as Jessica Whitly on Prodigal Son. Few can play tipsy the way Bellamy does, and you KNOW you are in for something when she uses that rich, lower vocal register of hers in a tirade. Plus, she got to go toe-to-toe with Academy Award Winner Catherine Zeta-Jones, and she WON.
Even before the Agatha reveal, Kathryn Hahn was WandaVision’s scene stealer, perfectly nailing every sitcom stereotype thrown at her. She’s been delivering top-notch work for YEARS, so it was amazing to see her seizing her moment in the spotlight.
Sage: Gillian Anderson made a feast of Margaret Thatcher on The Crown. (The voice! That painful, slow-motion curtsy!) The makeup and hair did their bit, but the rest of the transformation into the widely loathed Prime Minister in all of her pinched elitism was pure Gillian.
Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan plays Penelope Featherington as a young woman who’s still only learning just how much power she wields. We root for her crush to notice her, we relate to her first experience being the cause of someone else’s pain, and we also see how calculating she’s capable of being. All teenage girls are terrifying creatures that you want to simultaneously protect and run away from, and Nicola’s Penelope is no different.
The entire supporting cast of Mare of Easttown is incredible, but we wanted to pay special attention to Julianne Nicholson, who we’ve been obsessed with since Masters of Sex was good. As Lori Ross, she expertly portrays the spiky guardedness found in every insular, working class community, which makes it even more astonishing when she explodes into grief. It’s a performance to make anyone sit up and take notice, and Julianne has been deserving of that notice for decades.
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama
Freddy Carter, Shadow and Bone
Aidan Gallagher, The Umbrella Academy
Justin Hartley, This Is Us
Evan Peters, Mare of Easttown
Andrew Scott, His Dark Materials
Michael Sheen, Prodigal Son
Kim: Hello, this is me, once again banging my drum for Justin Hartley, the unsung MVP of This Is Us. Kevin’s storylines don’t often get the same emotional heft as Randall’s but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t reliably deliver every. Single. Time. Season Five was a crucial one for Kevin as he got engaged, became a father, and subsequently called off his wedding all while grappling with the legacy of his father looming over him. Plus, we got the magnificent duet episode with Kevin and Randall as they grappled with a lifetime’s worth of micro- and not-so-micro-aggressions over Randall’s adoption and racial identity. Justin more than holds his own with Sterling, and that should be lauded.
We imprinted on Robert Sheehan’s Klaus in the pilot of The Umbrella Academy and it was great to see him get out a bit from under all of the drug-addled angst in Season Two while still being the hot mess drama queen we know and love. He founds a cult called Destiny’s Children, for fuck’s sake, and he also becomes the Hargreeves sibling who always shows the fuck up. That, my friends, is what we call growth.
I don’t think anyone is having more fun with a role than Prodigal Son’s Michael Sheen. His performance as Dr. Martin Whitly is so delightfully over the top. He chews scenery with pure relish without ever coming off as hammy, and THAT is something only an elite actor is capable of doing.
Sage: Kaz Brekker may not have needed a reason, but he definitely needed Freddy Carter. For so many fans of the Crows, Shadow and Bone hinged entirely on getting the touch-averse, cane-wielding antihero’s casting right, and boy did they ever. So much of Kaz’s backstory is left up to interpretation in the show (at least so far), so it’s up to Freddy to sell all of that trauma and lust for revenge with his piercing gaze, glass-cutting cheekbones, and halting physicality.
Meanwhile, on The Umbrella Academy, Aidan Gallagher plays an old man in a kid’s body so convincingly that we totally forget that we’re watching an actual teenage actor. Our beloved Number Five is a tiny tornado of rage, sarcasm, and a love for his siblings that he just can’t ever seem to walk away from, and we treasure him.
Let Evan Peters play more nice guys! Because when he does, he’s heartbreaking, which is the case with Mare of Easttown’s Detective Colin Zabel. Evan proves himself to be a drunk-acting proficient (“milaaaady”), but more importantly, an incredibly vulnerable scene partner to star Kate Winslet, holding his own opposite her while simultaneously representing the awe we’d all be in if we were so lucky as to be in her presence.
Finally, it’s Andrew Scott as the dashing but dejected explorer John Parry in His Dark Materials. Season Two introduces us to Will’s dad, who’s all but given up on being able to help the family he inadvertently abandoned. Andrew does such typically strong, quiet work as a man who’s been handed a reason to hope again. And can we talk about that chemistry with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Lee Scoresby? Sources say they did more than talk in that hot air balloon.
Best Shipper Moment
Dani proposes to Jami, The Haunting of Bly Manor
AU Malcolm and Dani, Prodigal Son
The war room scene, Shadow and Bone
Inej kills for Kaz, Shadow and Bone
Rollins and Carisi finally kiss, Law & Order: SVU
Amy and Jonah get back together, Superstore
Roy and Keeley in the press room, Ted Lasso
Vanya and Sissy kiss, The Umbrella Academy
Sage: After the meditation on grief that was The Haunting of Hill House, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that The Haunting of Bly Manor would also be going straight for the heartstrings. Sure enough, Bly Manor gradually reveals itself to be a love story — specifically the love story between the Wingrave’s au pair and their gardener. And while there are several sweet moments that they share (including that final, haunting shot), Dani’s proposal to Jamie takes the cake. She knows that she’s been marked by the Lady of the Lake, but she refuses to let that stop her from living whatever life she has left, specifically with the woman who saved her as best she could. “I know we can’t technically get married but I also don’t really care. We can wear the rings and we’ll know and that’s enough for me. If it’s enough for you.” It’s enough for us! Now pass the tissues.
Almost everything that’s between Kaz and Inej on Shadow and Bone remains unsaid — neither of them are big on talking, period, but especially not about this. Well, joke’s on them, we love that shit, because all of the heat and all of the yearning are just simmering under the surface. Both Kaz and Inej adapted to survive the unimaginable traumas they’ve experienced, which unfortunately makes it very difficult for them to acknowledge their feelings for each other, let alone express them. But life-or-death situations lead to snap decisions, and Inej, who had sworn that she would never take a life, doesn’t even hesitate to kill when Kaz is in immediate danger. This leads to a very steamy look shared over a dead body, and if that’s not what YA is for, then I don’t know anything.
Law & Order: SVU isn’t known for giving shippers what they want; in fact, quite the opposite. But after baiting us for years with Amanda Rollins and Sonny Carisi, they finally gave in, making them canon in an unexpectedly romantic season finale. Already their friendship had entered a strange limbo, where they were basically in an unconsummated co-dependent relationship that wasn’t totally satisfying for either of them. But as Sonny reads Amanda the speech he didn’t get to deliver at Fin’s wedding that wasn’t, she realizes that everything he’s written about the lifelong bond of partnership is actually about her — about them — and suddenly, keeping him at arm’s length doesn’t really make sense any more. Rollisi, rise!
I think it says a lot about Ted Lasso that our shipper moment from the show is one that’s all about healthy communication. After the Diamond Dogs (more about them later) convince Roy to get out of his head about his attraction to Keeley and her past with his nemesis, he goes to visit her in the press room/her office. And in true Keeley fashion, she not only requires him to spell out his feelings for her, but to proclaim them to the whole (albeit empty) room. Their Q&A becomes something of a negotiation — a flirty one at that — with Keeley (of The Independent Woman Magazine and other publications) making it clear that she won’t abide any jealousy or posturing about Jamie and Roy giving us some seriously appealing grown-man-not-a-baby-child honesty. Now tell us more about that thing you do with your hips.
Kim: As a shameless Darklina stan (If you didn’t want me to ship it maybe don’t cast Ben Barnes, sorry!!) I was waiting for the scene in the war room with baited breath. Holy hell, Shadow and Bone did not disappoint on that front. To quote the tweet that’s now the header of my Twitter page, “Ben Barnes kisses like he’s being drafted into the army in the morning.” Then you add in a sexy moment where Aleksander checks in for Alina’s consent before hauling her up on the table and an apparently improvised moment where he runs back for one more kiss before he has to leave??? How can I be expected to go on after that?
Our Patron Meghan nominates Amy and Jonah getting back together in the Superstore finale and watching it completely out of context, I can see why. It’s got big Rachel realizing just how long Ross has loved her through watching the prom video vibes, and that’s the highest praise I can give.
I hadn’t been all that invested in the Malcolm x Dani ship on Prodigal Son, but then “Head Case” happened and we were plunged into an AU created by Malcolm’s subconscious. An AU where he and Dani were tooth-rottingly in love and disgustingly domestic. That, my friends, changed everything because all of the sudden it was like “OMG he is in LOVE with her and HAS BEEN for a while.” You’ll never rewatch the earlier episodes the same again.
All of our trash children have been through it on The Umbrella Academy but Vanya’s trauma feels like the rawest deal, from being drugged to suppress her powers to Leonard using her as a pawn in Season One. So it was wonderful to see her come into her own on Sissy’s farm in the ’60s and their slow burn from tentative friendship to lovers was so incredibly satisfying. If you don’t screech when they FINALLY kiss, you’re watching the show wrong.
Best Warm Fuzzy
Cool Uncle Bucky, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Meredith and George on the beach, Grey’s Anatomy
Angel and Papi’s wedding, Pose
Slater apologizes to Jessie, Saved by the Bell
The forming of the Diamond Dogs, Ted Lasso
Dancing in the beauty salon, The Umbrella Academy
Sage: Our dear friend and Patreon sponsor Kortnea nominates the scene in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier when James Buchanan Barnes, formerly The Winter Soldier, also known in some parts of the world as The White Wolf, becomes Cool Uncle Bucky, the kids’ favorite and the most fun guy at the barbecue. IMO, the domestic parts of FATWS were the best parts, and after all the chaos that Bucky has been through, it warms the heart to see him so relaxed and at home with Sam’s family and community.
Pose does not do anything halfway, so obviously Angel and Papi’s wedding was going to be the event of the season. And you’ve gotta respect how they laid the groundwork for it to be as ostentatious as it is by waving a wand and having Elektra become filthy and magnificently rich. In a show about community and found family, a wedding isn’t just about the couple, though Angel and Papi (who’ve been through so much!) do get to have their fairytale moment. Pose focuses on how much a big, white wedding means to their ball family and they invert traditions accordingly, most memorably with each of Angel’s girlfriends getting to wear her own dream wedding gown to the party. Wrap it all up with a big (and era-appropriate) All-4-One singalong, and you have a society affair that blows away anything you’d find in the New York Times wedding section.
The second season of The Umbrella Academy churns through story at a breakneck pace, but when it slows down to let its characters breathe and connect, we get really special moments like Allison, Vanya, and Klaus gossiping and dancing in Allison’s salon. Klaus has always had a special kinship with his sisters, and the three of them have an ease with each other that’s…well, it’s rare in this family. There’s still a world to save and their hopeless love lives (shout out to Klaus for saying what we were all thinking about Allison and Luther, though), but these siblings, who were pitted against each other and robbed of so much of their childhoods, deserve the opportunity to forget it all for a while and twist the afternoon away.
Kim: Anyone who even casually follows this blog knows that we are suckers for men genuinely talking to each other about their feelings. Thus the Diamond Dogs of Ted Lasso are essentially catnip to us. I think what my favorite thing about these scenes is that even though the Dogs are airing their grievances, they get introspective, examining how they can better themselves to better their situations, rather than placing blame on the women in their lives. Heartwarming and sexy…what a combo!
I didn’t expect Saved By The Bell to make me feel SO MANY THINGS about Jessie and Slater. (I was always a Zack and Kelly girl.) Shipping aside, the moment that really touched me was when Slater apologizes to Jessie for giving her such a hard time in high school and he commends her on the job she’s doing at Bayside. “You’re raising a whole new generation of Jessies.” MY HEART.
Considering he was literally thrown under a bus, I never expected to see George O’Malley on Grey’s Anatomy again. But the great thing about Meredith spending half the season suspended between this life and the next was that we got to check in on old friends. It was great seeing Mark and Lexie again, and I’ll talk more about Derek later, but the one that really made me feel all warm inside was George. There was just something about seeing two of our OG interns together again after all these years, ruminating on life and the power of grief, that made me feel all warm inside, and gave me a closure I didn’t realize I needed after 11 seasons.
Best Right in the Feels Moment
DeLuca reunites with his mother, Grey’s Anatomy
Mando and Grogu say goodbye, The Mandalorian
Colin’s fate, Mare of Easttown
Poppy visits Ian in the hospital, Mythic Quest
Ben says goodbye to Vanya, The Umbrella Academy
Wanda says goodbye to her family, WandaVision
Wynonna won’t let Doc leave purgatory, Wynonna Earp
Kim: I was never that big of an Andrew DeLuca fan, so I wasn’t all that upset when Grey’s Anatomy killed him off, and while I thought his goodbye scene with Meredith on her beach was sweet, I was pretty unmoved. HOWEVER, the moment DeLuca’s beloved mother showed up to usher her son into the afterlife, I started bawling. It was almost Pavlovian, and it’s a very special kind of magic that proves why Grey’s Anatomy is still chugging along, 17 seasons in.
Ghost Ben is played for comic effect for most of Season Two of The Umbrella Academy, but they really go for the jugular when Ben saves Vanya from herself in her mind palace. He gives up whatever has been tethering him to this plane to save his sister, waxing poetic about the bonus years he spent with Klaus, and he asks Vanya to hug him as he goes. You’d have to be made of stone to not be moved by it.
And speaking of painful goodbyes, the final minutes of the season two finale of The Mandalorian gave us one hell of one when Mando let Grogu go so Luke Skywalker (!!!!!) could train him in the ways of the Force. Nothing could have prepared us for the feels explosion when Mando takes his helmet off so he can give his son a proper goodbye. The way Grogu strokes his face! Pedro Pascal’s tear-filled eyes! I need to lie down.
Sage: I don’t know a single person who watched Mare of Easttown and didn’t take it hard when Detective Zabel was shockingly killed off halfway through the series. And of course it happens right when Mare is beginning to warm to Colin and even, possibly, considering giving him a chance. One moment, he’s kissing her and asking, “How do you know what I want?,” and the next he’s dead, after a visit to a suspect goes immediately wrong. It’s another death on Mare’s conscience and a tough one for the audience to process, as well. But maybe Colin — a nice, professional, mess of a guy who loved his mother and thought Mare hung the moon — really was too pure for this world.
If you’ve been paying any attention to Mythic Quest up until this happens, then you know that Ian’s “heart attack” is not what it seems. He actually ends up in the hospital because he’s dehydrated after working himself to the bone attempting to outdo Poppy’s idea for the expansion. But Poppy doesn’t find that out until she’s already rushed to the hospital. Their relationship is the richest aspect of the show, which understands that, in artistic pursuits, your colleagues are also your rivals, and that competition will be an undercurrent of everything you do together. But in their case, there’s also a significant amount of affection and understanding, to the point where Ian actually calls Poppy his best friend in this scene. Just like he looked out for her in the quarantine episode, she takes care of him here, coming back to rub his head and sing him to sleep, even after yet another vicious argument.
In the final act of WandaVision, Wanda comes to remember that the whole life that she’s imagined for herself is a complete fabrication — including her family. Even so, they couldn’t be more real to her. And Elizabeth Olsen has never been better than she is in the scenes where she lets go of them. Imagine tucking your children into bed one night, knowing for certain that they’ll never wake up. Imagine having to give up the love of your life who miraculously came back to you after you thought they were already gone forever. That’s what Wanda is up against, and you can see that it takes everything from her in order to see it through.
Our Patreon supporter Will nominates a moment from the Wynonna Earp series finale for this category — specifically one that WynDoc shippers were hoping for. Wynonna and Doc have had a tumultuous relationship, to put it mildly, interrupted by everything from Wynonna waking up from a coma nine months pregnant with his kid to, you know, Doc becoming a vampire. But in the last episode, Wynonna chooses to fight for him one last time, chasing Doc down as he’s driving out of Purgatory to tell him she loves him (“in that bottom-of-a-deep-dark-well way”) and have him hop on the back of her motorcycle so they can literally ride off into the sunset together. Stuff of legend!
Best YAS QUEEN! Moment
Lady Whistledown is revealed, Bridgerton
Luke saves the day, The Mandalorian
“I never needed you,” Shadow and Bone
Rebecca sings “Let It Go,” Ted Lasso
Five slaughters the board, The Umbrella Academy
“Agatha All Along,” WandaVision
Sage: You know you love her. In the season finale, Bridgerton reveals that Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope is the author of the gossip rag that keeps everyone in town on their toes. And for those of us who went into the show without having read the books, it was a shocker. As herself, Penelope has barely any social currency. But by paying attention, cultivating sources, and having a keen sense of what titillates her dirt-hungry readers of every echelon of society, Penelope has made her alter ego, Lady Whistledown, the most powerful person in London. It’s a delicious juxtaposition, and we can’t wait to see how Penelope continues to handle her double life in Season Two.
The whole season had been leading up to it: a Jedi was meant to come and retrieve Grogu from Mando so that he could be kept safe and trained. And somehow Disney+ and Lucasfilm managed to keep the secret that the Jedi with the assignment was none other than Luke motherfuckin’ Skywalker. After successfully rescuing his son from his cell and bringing Moff Gideon to his knees, Mando and the rest of his friends are seemingly still doomed, as the remaining Dark Troopers on the Empire ship close in on them. Hope arrives in the form of an X-Wing, and then a cloaked figure seen on a monitor decimating the enemy with ease (and a green lightsaber). The Mandalorian grabbed onto this opportunity to work fans into a lather with two hands, letting the excitement build and build as the Jedi makes his way to the Child. One gloved hand secures the weapon, then the Jedi pulls back his hood, revealing a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill. He’s Luke Skywalker, bitches, and he’s still here to rescue you.
“Make Rebecca Great Again” is a watershed Ted Lasso episode for several reasons, with Roy, Keeley, Nate, and Ted all going through some major development. But it’s not named after Rebecca Welton for nothing. The arrival of her childhood friend Sassy leads to the revelation that Rebecca wasn’t only a much happier person once, she was also a more gregarious, silly person — something that clearly surprises Keeley, even though she already quite likes Rebecca just as she is. Sassy’s tough love leads to Rebecca taking more responsibility for the ways in which she failed herself and helped Rupert to isolate her. And that, along with the celebratory mood of the whole team after their Liverpool win, allow her to accept Sassy’s karaoke challenge. (It also doesn’t hurt that she’s played by West End legend Hannah Waddingham.) Rebecca dedicates the song to the godchild she hasn’t seen in years and then belts out “Let It Go,” to the whoops and cheers of everyone in the room. Rebecca still has a ways to go, but she returns to herself in that moment, and watching her give something of herself to them only makes the team camaraderie stronger.
Kim: One of my favorite things about Shadow and Bone is that the TV series fixes one of the major flaws of the books by restoring much of Alina Starkov’s agency in regards to her powers. After the grisly body horror of seeing Alina enslaved by The Darkling, Morazova’s stag’s antlers literally melding with her collarbones and piercing her skin, it was SO SATISFYING to see her take that control back, absorbing the antlers and severing the connection between them, declaring that she never needed him to be powerful. YAS QUEEN.
We love seeing a workhorse character actor get their due and boy, did Kathryn Hahn seize her moment in WandaVision or what? Truly, had “Agatha All Along” come out a few months later than it did, it would have been the song of the summer.
Finally, we love a foul-mouth murderous teenager and the only thing better than when The Umbrella Academy’s Five goes on his killing spree, massacring the Board of the Commission in a macabre and spectacular manner, is seeing just how many songs score the moment perfectly in fan vids. (May I suggest this one and this one?)
Best WTF?! Moment
Diana dances for Charles, The Crown
Derek on the beach, Grey’s Anatomy
The Hannah reveal, The Haunting of Bly Manor
Stabler says “I love you,” Law & Order: Organized Crime
It’s Kate’s wedding, This Is Us
The Sparrow Academy reveal, The Umbrella Academy
Kim: Five seasons in, I should know to expect some sort of twist during a This Is Us finale, but somehow they manage to get me EVERY TIME. The reveal that we had jumped three years to Kate’s wedding shook us to the core, not just because of the knowledge that KaToby goes bust but that she ends up falling in love with her current adversary Philip.
I know it happened IRL but knowing it doesn’t lessen the what-the-fuck impact of The Crown’s depiction Princess Diana dancing to Uptown Girl for Charles’ birthday. The desperation and loathing and secondhand embarrassment is PALPABLE.
I had soured a bit on Derek Shepherd by the time he was killed off of Grey’s Anatomy, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t screech “OH MY GOD DEREK!!!” when Patrick Dempsey showed up on Meredith’s beach looking fine as hell. It turns out absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.
Sage: In the grand tradition of “The Bent-Neck Lady” episode of The Haunting of Hill House, “The Altar of the Dead” episode of The Haunting of Bly Manor provides the woeful origin story of one of the ghosts wandering the grounds. Only this one isn’t even aware that she’s dead. Halfway through the series, we learn that the Wingrave’s kind and responsible housekeeper Hannah was shoved into a well by 11-year-old Miles, possessed by the groundskeeper Peter Quint, before Dani even arrived at Bly. But she’s refused to accept it, knowing that the children are still in danger, desiring more life for herself, and refusing to be parted from Owen. The realization explains all of Hannah’s strange behaviors, however: never eating or drinking, subconsciously touching the fatal wound at the back of her skull, and seeing the same crack in several different surfaces — the last sight she saw in the well before she died.
Elliot Stabler (and his dumptruck) returned to the Law & Order universe after 10 years away, and it’s been non-stop angst between him and Olivia Benson ever since. And you know, you gotta give the guy some leeway, because it has to be confusing to be chasing down your dead wife’s killer while also facing the feelings you have for another woman that are so strong, you had to move to Italy to keep yourself from acting on them. Hands down the wildest moment of the Bensler reunion occurs in the middle of the family intervention that his eldest daughter asks Olivia to be present for on Organized Crime. Wracked with PTSD and feeling railroaded and out of control, Elliot does walk out, which is what we all expected, but not before delivering an “I love you” with no preamble straight to Olivia — in front of god and his motherless kids and everyone. I was so shocked, I had to rewind 15 seconds to make sure I heard him right. Between that, the letter, and Wheatley being the new captain of the ship, there’s a lot of Benson x Stabler chaos to resolve across both shows next season.
As avoiding apocalypses go, The Umbrella Academy gang has a mixed record. Just like in the end of Season One, they narrowly manage to stay alive, and even all end up in the same place in space and time using one of the Commission’s briefcases. But the present they return to isn’t the one that they left. The first clue? Dear old dad is still alive. So is Ben (sort of??), and it’s no longer a portrait of Five hanging over the fireplace. In this reality, there is no Umbrella Academy — there’s a Sparrow Academy, and they look mean. And we’re gonna guess that this universe isn’t big enough for the two of them. Bring on Season Three.
Stay tuned for the winners, and thank you for voting for the Feelies!
[…] the winners of our annual television awards, the Feelies! Three weeks ago, we presented you with our nominations and opened the polls. From there, the choice was entirely yours. We watched in suspense and delight […]