It’s Homebody’s one year anniversary! Thank you so much for reading, sharing, and putting up with my erratic posting schedule – it’s been a bright spot for me in a very weird year. My personal highlights include romance novels and queerbaiting and two movies that defined my childhood.
Without further ado, here’s 2021 in review (you can look back on 2020’s superlatives here).
Most Regrettable Crush
Chigs from the latest season of Bake Off.
Least Regrettable Crush
Chef Melissa King from seasons 12 and 17 of Top Chef (both technically aired before 2021, but I watched them this year so it counts).
Most Cynical Attempts to Capitalize on Existing IP
Cruella (dir. Craig Gillespie)
He’s All That (dir. Mark Waters)
Cinderella (dir. Kay Cannon)
Best Twitter Protagonists of the Day
Dawn Dorland vs. Sonya Larson: if you’ve ever been through a friend breakup, you know just how much dramatic material there is to mine from the topic. The tale of the Bad Art Friend has it all – private Facebook groups dedicated to kidney donations, white savior discourse, court cases about plagiarism, and two people being shown in their pettiest, least flattering light in the newspaper of record. Winner: every writer who’s not Dawn or Sonya – from Robert Kolker, who reported the piece, to me, who’s still getting mileage out of the mess.
Jessica Chastain vs. Reading Comprehension: a classic case of a Twitter user inventing enemies to strike down when they could just log off instead. Let she who has never been ratioed cast the first stone. Winner: Jeremy Strong, whose honor is being defended across the industry and who just gave a widely praised performance on the latest season of Succession. Somehow, I think he’ll bounce back from a profile that’s really not as mean as his friends seem to think it is.
John Mulaney vs. His Own Public Image: if you didn’t already know that John Mulaney’s relationship status inspires very intense reactions from certain corners of the internet, you do now. Winner: Page Six, which has been breathlessly reporting every detail of the saga it can sink its claws into.
WandaVision Hype vs. Film Twitter: a battle in the never-ending war between stans and skeptics. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the sexual tension between people who praise the MCU as the height of cinematic achievement and people who’ve made hating the MCU their defining personality trait could be resolved with a kiss. Winner: Disney – the House of Mouse only grows stronger with each meme.
Biggest Flop at the Hyon Home Box Office (HHBO)
My dad’s review of Minari, which I loved: “What was that ending? Nothing even happened. Parasite was definitely better.” There’s nothing Korean people like more than pitting other Koreans against each other for no reason.
Best Dianna Agron Update
Most Heartwarming TV Trend
My favorite shows this year, which all explore the giddy, heartbreaking, life-giving potential of friendships, made me want to go full Fleabag and declare straight to camera: this is a love story.
We Are Lady Parts, Nida Manzoor’s Peacock series about a London punk band made up entirely of young Muslim women, is basically a superhero origin story. With great power (Amina’s hidden ability to shred on electric guitar) comes great responsibility (struggling against her debilitating stage fright and reconsidering how a “good Muslim woman” behaves). What a relief she isn’t one of those I-operate-alone vigilante types. I have no notes except to request that lead singer Saira gets a girlfriend next season, please.
The title of Mindy Kaling’s new HBO series, The Sex Lives of College Girls, is kind of a red herring. The characters are preoccupied with and have a ton of sex, sure, but what the show is ultimately most invested in is the slow burn of four very different roommates becoming each other’s home away from home. The series takes its time in allowing the bonds between the girls to develop so that every moment of connection feels as earned as it does unlikely. Bonus points for featuring the first love interest in a Mindy Kaling show that I’ve felt anything for since Danny Castellano – Midori Francis (Lily from Dash & Lily), being aloof in a leather jacket.
Reservation Dogs, created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, tells the story of four Native American teens growing up on a reservation in eastern Oklahoma and trying, with varying degrees of conviction, to leave. It’s the first series I’ve watched since American Vandal (rip) that feels like it really gets what it’s like to be a teenager. The group dynamics are specific and lived in, the rapport speaks to years of shared history, and the absent friend they’re mourning gives this funny, sweet show an underpinning of real pathos.
Friendship is the beating heart of It’s a Sin, a miniseries created by Russell T. Davies about a group of young gay men in 1980s London. In the face of denial and deadly indifference from blood relatives and the government, choosing to fall in love with themselves and their friends anyway is a joyous act of defiance. Chosen family enthusiasts, this one’s for you.
Shallowest Reason for Watching a Movie
I may have read the Arthurian poem that The Green Knight (dir. David Lowery) is based on back in college, but I bought a ticket for one reason and one reason only: Dev Patel in period costume.
Loudest Gasp I Let Out in a Movie Theater
There’s a scene in Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir: Part II where Charlie Heaton’s character (don’t remember his name) eats out Honor Swinton Byrne’s character (don’t remember her name either). She’s on her period, he says it doesn’t matter, and after she comes, he leans up and kisses her. The camera lingers on her face as she watches him retreat, her eyes wide and mouth stained with her own blood. She looks like something out of a horror movie. Under the spill of moonlight creeping in through the window, her skin is colorless except for the shock of crimson shining on the lower half of her face.
Coming in at a close second: the scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home when [redacted] catches [redacted]. A true full circle moment for fans of the oft-maligned [redacted].
Best Use of My Name
I love your eyes
And he has ’em
Or you have his
'Cause he was first
I imagine my thumbs on the irises
Pressing in until they burst
I will still be streaming Thumbs by Lucy Dacus in 2022, and you should too!