Vada’s Top TV of 2014 – Part 3

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Barry Quinn

Barry Quinn is an English Language and Literature graduate and a Creative Writer MA studier. He is an aspiring creative and professional writer and is currently in the process of writing his first novel. His writing blog can be viewed here: https://barrygjquinn.wordpress.com You can follow him on Twitter at: @mrbarryquinn

Latest posts by Barry Quinn (see all)

• TV Review: Doctor Who – Oxygen - 13 May, 2017
• TV Review: Doctor Who – Knock Knock - 6 May, 2017
• TV Review: Doctor Who – The Pilot - 17 April, 2017

Today I bring you the final part of Vada’s top TV of 2014 – did your favourite show make the cut?

You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.

Game of Thrones – The Lion and the Rose

King Joffrey Baratheon was a character fans loved to hate. He was a complete bastard, in both senses of the word. And yet whilst he was abhorred by the masses, he has been a huge loss since he was sickeningly and brutally offed at the fan-dubbed ‘Purple Wedding’.

What an episode it was though. Penned by George R.R. Martin himself, ‘The Lion and the Rose’ was sensational from its opening shot to its final, eye-popping close. It more that lived up to the pre-airing hype and it was incredible faithful to its source material.

Jack Gleeson was breathtaking. He is missed.

Gotham – Pilot

I need to catch up on this show too, but the ‘Pilot’ of Gotham was everything it needed to be.

Having only ever seen Batman Begins and no other Batman movies, Gotham very much feels cinematic – at least the pilot did, anyway. It introduced us to the beautiful relationship between James Gordon and Bruce Wayne, one of the only genuinely gripping storylines now, along with a host of familiar faces.

I’m still loving Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney too, but by the third episode Robin Lord Taylor had begun to grate upon me substantially. I can see him becoming the Tyrion of Gotham – vastly overused. He’s good, yes, but his mannerisms are annoying me. As are the rushed conclusions of this muster-a-week mode of narration.

A good show lurks beneath here… somewhere.

The Leftovers – The Garveys at Their Best

The second episode of The Leftovers to make the list, ‘The Garveys at Their Best’, was simply stunning.

Once more the parallels between The Leftovers and Lost were explicit here (not that that’s a bad thing) as the entire episode flashed back three years and showed what the characters were going through prior to the Sudden Departure.

All of it was harrowingly devastating: Kevin was cheating on his wife; Nora’s home life wasn’t as tranquil as we had expected it to be (she didn’t get on with her husband, and she had just shouted at her kids, so it’s no wonder she feels immense guilt); and Laurie was pregnant, but the foetus was amongst those taken. Cue the tears.

If you haven’t seen The Leftovers yet, I sincerely urge you to do so.

The Big Bang Theory – The Gorilla Dissolution

Penny and Leonard finally got engaged in this episode, which thankfully brought an end towards their will-they-won’t-they status. There’s no way this coupling will capture the hearts of millions like Ross and Rachel (even people who haven’t seen Friends know who Ross and Rachel are) but this is the second best thing the show runners can do.

Also, Raj finally got some. He seriously needs a stable girlfriend like the rest of the guys – he’s underused.