2022 In Review

My Most Loved Moments of 2022

Dec 30, 2022

We’re almost ready, officially, to enter the mid-2020s. Perhaps you’ll agree that the first three years of this decade (2020, 2021, and 2022) have been… less than ideal. Somehow, though, the awfulness of the past few years has me feeling optimistic for the first time in a while. But, before looking forward, let’s take a moment to talk a bit about the best parts of 2022.

I want to start by recapping this little newsletter, which celebrated its first anniversary in 2022. Thank you for being here with me. This year, I wrote about My Student Debt, I looked at the serious problems with cars and with public transit1, and I celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of my favorite song of all time. I even got three of the best and brightest (and most entertaining) people in the world to talk all about that 1992 song, exclusively on The Love Letter Podcast. For 2023, I’m working on a lot of newsletter issues, including a new series about tech in schools, and I’m looking to record some exciting new episodes of the podcast. Of course, I’ll keep writing about my own research on innovation in public transportation, too. Let me know what else you’d like to see here in The Love Letter, by writing me a letter of your own or hitting up the comments section, below.

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So, other than The Love Letter (of course), what were your favorite bits of pop culture this year? I’m ready to run down my personal lists for the best TV and music that burst onto the scene this year (with a bonus section on games). As always, these are just my personal lists, and I hope you tell me about all the great stuff that I missed this year. Enough disclaimers, let’s get started!

My Most Loved Television Shows of 2022
(in roughly chronological order)

Better Call Saul (Season 6, AMC)
Kim Wexler (Rhea Seahorn). Image: AMC via Rolling Stone
What happens to Kim Wexler? Perhaps the most fascinating television character of the 2010s, Kim’s plight and power on screen surpassed even the uniquely enigmatic title character of this show, and (at times) even the infamous Walter White of the original Breaking Bad series. Rhea Seahorn, criminally overlooked for most of the past decade, should be at the top of every list of actors to watch in the future (and the word around town is that she’s teaming up with writer Vince Gilligan again for a sci-fi series on the Apple. Sign me up immediately.)
Severance (Season 1, Apple TV+)
Adam Scott as the everyman trapped at work. (Image: Apple)
Speaking of sci-fi series on Apple TV+, how about this perfect little mystery box of a show? Yeah, so I promised myself I would not get sucked into another LOST-style series that slowly reveals more and more inexplicable, visually striking moments about people trying to escape from isolation… but wow did writer Dan Erickson and directors Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle make this concept WORK. Maybe they won’t stick the landing (LOST sure didn’t), but regardless: this first season is a masterpiece. As you’ve probably heard, the finale is one of the most thrilling hours of television in years thanks to a stellar cast and some smart direction.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Season 1, Paramount+)
Image: Paramount
Speaking of sci-fi series that are a lot like flawed, cult-classic shows from decades ago, how about this delightful reboot of Star Trek: The Original Series? Yes, this new show relies on nostalgia a bit too much, and it’s not really doing anything new. But it’s doing Star Trek really well again, and that’s to be celebrated here in 2022. (See: intentional snubs, below.) It helps that this cast—especially Anson Mount, Christina Chong, and Babs Olusanmokun—is just outstanding. One note to the Trekosphere, if I may: this show is good because of good writing, not because it’s episodic. (Seriously: see intentional snubs, below.)
Abbott Elementary (Season 1, ABC / HBO Max)
Janine Teagues (Brunson) in Abbott Elementary (Image: ABC via TheWrap)
Speaking of played out concepts, Quinta Brunson took Ricky Gervais’s Office and put it into an American public school. Brilliant, innit? When I first heard about this show, I assumed that it wouldn’t work: a show that makes fun of teachers? It’s either going to punch down too hard, or it’s going to be too schmaltzy. Somehow every episode of this show manages to thread the needle. The show is endearing without being preachy, and it’s funny without being cliched. It helps that the cast is perfect in every way, but credit to the brilliant writers for not pulling punches.
Atlanta (Seasons 3 and 4, FX)
Lakeith Stanfield, Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz. Image: FX
Speaking of brilliant writing, this show, which aired two seasons in 2022 (after taking the prior four years off), ended on an extremely weird note—and I wouldn’t have it any other way. You might have noticed that this list of my five favorite TV series has a lot of sci-fi/fantasy (Star Trek, etc.)… and I think this one is also sci-fi? Whatever genre you assign to Atlanta, it’s absurdism at its finest. It works mainly because all four of the main actors are brilliant and unlike anyone else on TV (including one another), and they make the high-concept, so-weird-it’s-not-weird material absolutely soar every time. Perhaps the writing in these final two seasons occasionally went over the top (they went after Tyler Perry SO HARD in “Work Ethic!”), but far more often this show served up something sublime. There are too many unforgettable moments to list: partying in Europe, tracking down a smartphone thief, pretending to be French, hunting wild boar, and of course learning the shocking truth about A Goofy Movie. There’s never been a show like this. There never will be again. I’ll miss you, Atlanta.

Didn’t See But Really Want To See: Reservation Dogs (Seasons 1 and 2, Hulu), The Bear (Season 1, Hulu), Bad Sisters (Season 1, Apple TV+).

Honorable Mentions: House of the Dragon (Season 1, HBO), Bluey (Season 3, Disney+), Pachinko (Season 1, Apple TV+), Andor (Season 1, Disney+), Star Trek: Lower Decks (Season 3, Paramount+), Ms. Marvel (Season 1, Disney+), For All Mankind (Season 3, Apple TV+).

Intentional Snubs: Star Trek: Picard (Season 2, Paramount+), and Star Wars: Obi Wan (Season 1: Disney+). Listen, Hollywood: yes, we care about the big names. And here are two of the biggest names in American space opera history: Picard and Obi Wan. Fine. But you can’t just throw words into a script, seemingly at random, and expect to produce a good television series. These kinds of shows are the WORST part of the “late golden age” of TV, and a sign of perhaps terminal decline for these storied pop culture franchises. Please, folks, less of this dreck, and many more like Andor. Please.

Best Show From the Archives: Girls5Eva (Season 1, 2021, Peacock)

My Most Loved Music of 2022

OK, I didn’t listen to a lot of new music this year. Like everyone else (including youngsters), I’m listening to old music the most. Still, I did bop to these 2022 albums really hard.

Utada Hikaru. Bad Mode. (Epic Japan / Sony Japan)
I love Utada Hikaru. Her sensational sophomore album, Distance, is the first CD that I picked up when I arrived in Japan (for a two-year stint as an expat) in 2001. It was by reading the glossy liner notes of that album, as a young twenty-something, that I truly discovered how important production is for pop music. Do you want the story? OK, I’ll tell you. See, I really loved this song on Distance called “Wait & See (Risk).” Before I read the credits of this song, I was oh-so-proud of myself for branching out, broadening my horizons, and discovering Japanese music. Yeah—so that song was produced by none other than the legendary Minnesotan production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (who worked with Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, etc. etc.). So—yes, I had discovered a great Japanese artist, but I hadn’t broadened my horizons by as much as I thought. However—twenty years later, Utada Hikaru has continued to innovate. In my view, this is her best album in many years. “Darenimo Iwanai” is the highlight for me. Don’t miss her impressive live-in-studio performance of this album on Netflix.
Beyonce. Renaissance. (Columbia)
Lemonade is probably a better album, thanks largely to the Warsan Shire poetry, but c’mon, this dance album was perfect for 2022. Early this year, I just wanted someone to tell me it was absolutely OK to get out and dance—even if it wasn’t. As we all celebrated the possibility of renewal, Beyonce was there for us. The track “Cuff It,” with Raphael Saadiq, is my favorite. But I will always remember 2022 as the year that the 1990s fully came back, thanks largely to “Break My Soul,” the jam of the year.
Little Dragon. Opening the Door. (Ninja Tune)
These Swedes keep on keeping on, and this is their best music since their 2014 heat rock Nabuma Rubberband. The only downside to Door is that it’s an EP—a quick three tracks. Any chance we have to hear Yukimi’s voice, though, is worth it. Start with “Frisco” and just keep on going.
Robert Glasper. Black Radio III. (Loma Vista)
We only had to wait nine years after Black Radio II, but it was worth the wait. Glasper brings a roster of all-time greats in on this one: everyone from Esperanza Spalding to Me’Shell, to Q-Tip. “Better than I Imagined” is perhaps the greatest pandemic lockdown song I’ve ever heard (it was originally released in 2020 before showing up on this disc), and H.E.R. makes it work on another level (although Ndegeocello’s spoken-word interlude is the best such interlude since Mike McCary was doing it with Boyz II Men thirty years ago).
Yumi Zouma. Present Tense. (Polyvinyl)
Taking it all the way down, this chill group from New Zealand hit its stride again for the first time in a while. I first fell in love with this group just before heading down to NZ in 2015. They have come a long way, and this disc shows them expanding from their signature sound in some interesting ways. I’m eager to see what they do next.

Honorable Mentions: Blood Orange, Four Songs (RCA). Carly Rae Jepsen, The Loneliest Time (Interscope). Kelela’s three new songs (set for a 2023 album release: finally!), and the Charlie XCX track “New Shapes” (featuring Christine and the Queens, and Caroline Polachek), from Crash (Asylum Records UK).

Haven’t Heard but Really Want to: Taylor Swift, Midnights (Republic).

My Most Loved Games of 2022

I didn’t really watch enough new movies or play enough new games this year to do a full write up, but here are a few games recommendations just in case, for some reason, you’re looking to me for advice on which games to play.

Old World (Windows/Mac, Mohawk Games)