Reading/Watching Log #87

Lots of books this month, but only one movie, which surprised me. It’s probably because my weekend viewing has been taken up with my determination to finish several shows that I started a while ago but have yet to finish (Crash Landing on You, The Umbrella Academy, The Crown) and I’ve got at least thirty books out from the library that I’m eager to get through.

As ever, I finished two more Babysitters Club books, as well as two more picture books illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton, two children’s books by A.M. Howell, two characters called Claudia, and three YA graphic novels. I also got back to Joseph Delaney’s Spook series, and (totally coincidentally) rewatched the very first series of the BBC’s Spooks from 2002. The third season of Sailor Moon is in the bag, and the one movie I did watch was so epic that it was pretty much the equivalent of five movies.

Top Twelve Best Film/Television Moments of 2022

Browsing through my reading/watching logs for 2022, I found myself struck by the fact that this year it was remarkably easy to pull together twelve list-worthy moments featured in film and television, even though few of the things I watched this year really enraptured me. Compare this to 2021, in which I had the exact opposite problem: having to shave the list down to only six entries, but which were comprised of scenes and set-pieces that completely blew me away.

This year’s Fear Street trilogy (by which I mean a project I wasn’t expecting much from, only for it to end up living rent-free in my head for a couple of months) was Andor, the latest entry into Disney’s Star Wars canon, which ended up being so good on so many levels that every other Star Wars project that’s come out of the studio since its acquisition should feel embarrassed.

It also had the side-effect of making other shows, which I probably would have enjoyed just fine otherwise, feel clunky and strained in comparison. House of the Dragon, The Rings of Power, even The Sandman simply did not measure up to the absolute mastery of Andor’s world-building, pacing, dialogue, suspense, and characterization. And unlike the Fear Street trilogy, which does come with my caveat that it’s great for what it is (a YA shlock fest with clever twists and weighty underpinnings), I have no qualms about recommending Andor with the most effusive of praise. It really is that good.

So most of what you’ll find below the cut are impressive scenes within projects that were a tad lacklustre... or at least didn’t engender the powerful response in me that I would have liked. But there was still a lot here to enjoy, much of it based on either grand spectacle or emotional torque, and featuring – as you’d expect – a lot of great female characters.

Here, in no particular order, are my personal top twelve film and television moments from 2022:

Woman of the Month: Camille Bordey

Camille Bordey from Death in Paradise

I finally got around to watching the first season of Death in Paradise to find it’s an extremely formulaic police procedural, albeit one set on the Caribbean Island of Saint Marie. But sometimes that’s exactly what the doctor ordered: a chance to switch your brain off (or at least put it on low-power) and enjoy the lovely scenery while some entertaining characters solve a murder.

Annoyingly, the twist regarding Camille Bordey’s character is spoiled in the opening credits of the very first episode: although she’s initially introduced as the major suspect in a murder case, it turns out she’s working undercover in a drug-smuggling ring – something any viewer could easily deduce since she’d hardly feature in the opening credits if she wasn’t going to be a recurring character.

Like everyone else on the show, she’s a fairly stock character: the easy-going cop to contrast the uptight, fish-out-of-water Richard Poole, who struggles to acclimatize to the culture, temperature, wildlife and very different way of doing police work on the island. Camille’s role is largely to provide local context to the newcomer, but for what it’s worth, I think the show mostly side-steps the bad optics of Camille having to play second fiddle to an Englishman, since she’s a talented investigator in her own right and doesn’t suffer fools – particularly Poole – lightly.

It's hardly a deep character study, but Camille is competent, intelligent and quick on her feet – and like I said, sometimes that’s all you need to enjoy a show (or a female character).