With just having finished binge watching an amazing show, and another series I adore is approaching its finale I thought it was about time I share my top 3 favourite TV shows!
I love watching a good TV show, I love leaving reality and joining a new world, immersing myself in the story of the characters and I can get really engrossed! There will be a shit tonne of spoilers in this post so if you plan on watching any of them, read this AFTER you've seen them!
Drum roll to reveal my top 3 favourite everrrrrr! ……. Being Human, Bones, Dexter!
Now without further ado lets get on with it!
I have literally this minute just finished binge watching Being Human on Netflix. The UK version obviously! The US version just doesn't compare! This is a show I have watched over and over again, and is the only British show in my top 3. It starts with Annie, a ghost, haunting her empty home in Bristol, when George, a werewolf, and Mitchell, a vampire move in. This begins the story of their friendship, love, loss and struggles and quest to being a part of humanity. The first season unfolds with Annie finding out the circumstances of her death, Mitchell struggling with the classic vampire blood lust and George learning to live with the wolf inside him. George is by far my favourite character of the whole series! Russell Tovey is a brilliant actor and I love all of Georges little quirks! He is a little socially awkward, can easily embarrass himself, but his personality is endearing and he cares deeply for the people he loves. I can relate to a lot of his traits so this is why I gravitate towards his character.
The first season ends with a huge cliffhanger, involving a new addition to their supernatural trio.
The next couple of seasons involve the threesome, along with Georges girlfriend, Nina, who he accidentally passed on his curse to, in their battle with religious weirdos, psychotic scientists, Mitchell majorly falling off the wagon, a move to Barry in Wales, a werewolf pregnancy, a new love story, a torturing prophecy, ultimately ending in a heartbreaking goodbye to Mitchell.
In the meantime, two new characters were introduced, Tom and McNair, father and son, both werewolves. Tom ends up moving in with Annie at the start of season 4 after it begins with George, a broken vessel of the man he used to be, grieving at the loss of his beloved Nina. Killed by vampires. I still find it a shock that 3 of the 4 main characters between the end of season 3 and the start of season 4 are all killed off. If Mitchell dying doesn't have you an emotional wreck, then Georges ultimate sacrifice to save his daughter will. Little did Annie and Tom know, they were now the carers of the war child, a human baby, born from werewolf parents, destined to wipe out the vampire race and bring a stop to the chaos they bring. This plot introduces another trio, Hal, Leo and Pearl, vampire, werewolf and ghost to visit the war child, and ultimately to add Hal to complete the new trinity after Leo dies and Pearl passes on with him. Just when you think they couldn't change the trio any longer Annie completes her unfinished business, and passes over, with Eve, the war child.
To fill Annie's spot as resident ghost, Alex is introduced. A tomboyish Scottish girl. The main plot in the final season is the rise of the devil, and our new trio learning to live together, and building up friendships. Hal is in effect a 500 year old vampire and struggles more than anyone we've seen on the show before with keeping his bloody cravings in check. The final episode builds to a dramatic conclusion where the 3 of them must sacrifice themselves to kill the devil. But after they've completed the ritual they all awake to find themselves human. The show ends with the 3 of them sharing a cuppa on the sofa guessing the prices of the tat found on Antiques Roadshow! The ending tugs at my heart strings, as it pans across the room to the mantle piece showing an item that represents each friend who has passed over, George, Annie, Mitchell, Nina, Eve, McNair. A fitting reminder of where the story began and a beautiful conclusion to the friendships and loves that were created out of the chaos around them.
I much prefer the first few seasons of the show, I loved the banter between Mitchell, George and Annie, the typical British comedy element, although the storyline was dark and terrible, I felt somehow the last couple of seasons lead themselves more to the drama and darkness and less to the comedy that the first few seasons saw. Also while writing this I realised that explaining all the changes to the cast seemed crazy! But while watching it, it works, you never think bloody hell someone else is gone, now who will they replace them with, the storyline all flows naturally and each character is introduced brilliantly.
With this being a series I return to over and over there is no doubt that this has to be in my top 3 TV shows of all time! I love it! I love the characters, especially George! And I only wish I had a George of my own!
Another show I am obsessed with is Bones. And I'm devastated that it is ending after this season. I feel like I am part of the Jeffersonian team solving crimes along with them and when it ends I genuinely think I will grieve the loss of my favourite show! The basic plot follows Dr Temperance Brennan, aka Bones, along with her expert team, and FBI agent partner solving crimes in Washington DC. The general gist of an episode begins with a gory discovery of a mutilated body, body part, or skeleton, those remains are then analysed on scene, taken back to the lab, where the team get to work discovering who the remains are, how they were killed and who did it. The team changes from time to time with various interns of Dr Brennan but the self proclaimed head of the team is Brennan. She is a dedicated, highly skilled, somewhat big headed forensic anthropologist. She regularly claims she is the expert in her field, and often pushes her interns to be more like her! I love Brennan, she is a strong, confident, intelligent woman and is the ideal role model for any young woman. Her partner, both in work and home is FBI Special Agent Seely Booth. He used to be a sniper for the military, and has the best hand in the land! Throughout the show he has had to put his skilled and steady hand to the test on numerous occasions. He has a heart of gold and would give his life to save the ones he loves. Booth has a few partners throughout the show, including Dr Lance Sweets, an FBI Profiler, and Special Agent James Aubrey, who must have worms, he is always eating and thinking about his stomach!
Back to the lab we have the actual head of the team, Dr Camille Saroyan. An extremely professional coroner who deals with all things flesh and organs! She is often found telling off Dr Jack Hodgens, the resident “bug, slime and dirt” guy for conducting experiments resulting in a lot of mess, noise, or evacuations of the lab! His wife Angela Montenegro, also Brennan's best friend, is actually an artist, but her job is to give the remains a face, and she is also mad skilled with all things technology and computers and is often the one of the team which death and murder regularly affects. She is a warm hearted, spirited woman and I love her!
Along with the usual plot of an episode, there have been various stories ongoing throughout a number of episodes. The most memorable for me are The Grave Digger, who would bury people alive, ask their families for money in exchange for the location of their loved ones, Christopher Pelant, a crazy genius with an obsession for Brennan, and Gormogon, a weird secret society thing I still don't think I understand properly, which kill and eat people and use their bones to make a complete skeleton. Weird right?! One of our beloved interns, Dr Zack Addy got tied up in this and ended up in a secure facility bless him.
Obviously there is so much more to say about Bones. But I’ll be here for days! I honestly think this show is gripping and had inspired me to learn more and sparked an interest in forensics, obviously I know TV and real life are completely different but I really have found it a genuine interest and have been researching different roles for possible career paths within forensics because of this show.
Dexter is a weird show for me. I was instantly hooked from the first episode, I’ve introduced this show to lots of people and most of them can’t get into it at all. Others have taken a while to get into it but once they do they're hooked! Maybe this is because Dexter is such an awkward person, and because we get to explore his internal dialogue while watching the show we get an insight into some of the things people think, but don't say or do. So even though Dexter is a murderer, he is relatable on so many levels! Maybe this is what freaks people out, how can you relate to a murderer?
Dexter is a Blood Spatter Analyst for Miami Metro Homicide. He is also a serial killer. He uses his work to find criminals who have fallen through the cracks of the legal system, does his research to make sure they are guilty of their crimes, prepares his kill room, and then carries out the deed.
Dexter was born into blood, his mother, murdered in a container where he was sat in her blood for days before being found by Harry, a cop, who adopts him into his family. He quickly realises Dexter is not normal, and has this need to kill. Thinking it is the best thing for him, he teaches Dexter a code that will allow him to kill and not get caught. This code is a series of rules he must obey and follow, such as only targeting murderers, child molesters and the like. This code keeps him safe so he can carry on killing. It also tells him to try and blend in with society, having friends, a girlfriend, kids, his sister, colleagues makes him look normal and not suspicious. But he soon realises that he can feel feelings, and he can care for people. He was told his entire life he is basically a psychopath, but he isn't, because he cares for people around him.
There are 8 seasons of Dexter, some better than others, but all pretty damn good! Each season has a running theme through it, whether that be another serial killer drawing Dexter in, Dexter hunting down notorious mass murderers, someone close to him finding out his secret. The plots that stand out to me the most are season 1, The Ice Truck Killer who leaves Dexter body parts in places from his past which ultimately leads to Dexter finding out who this killer is and that he is not the only one who was born in blood.
Season 4, probably the best season, with Dexter hunting the Trinity Killer. He moves all around the county ritualistically killing in 3’s. Dexter attempts to track him down and get him on his table but the Trinity Killer is one step ahead, leading to a shocking and heartbreaking emotional end to the season.
And the final season, despite the worst ending to a series ever, rounded up the show well, I don't want to completely spoil it, but someone we know and love dies, again another emotional goodbye to someone we cant live without. I’m left at the end knowing that everything has been tied up, I know what Dexter will be doing, I know what his family and friends will be doing and although I hate that one of them is missing, life will go on.
Dexter is a character that you hate to love, because everything tells you you cant love a murderer, and yet you do. The internal narration you hear throughout the show is brilliant, because we get to hear what Dexter really thinks, before he actually says the “right” thing. Dexters sister, Deborah, is hilarious with some of the things she comes out with, its almost like she has verbal diarrhoea! And she has a mouth fouler than all the guys in the precinct put together! She also works for Miami Metro homicide, unknowingly at one point, hunting her own brother!
Dexter is also a show I have watched over and over again, some seasons more than others but ultimately I recommend this show to anyone!
So there you have it, my top 3 TV shows ever! Let me know if you share my favourites or can suggest any new shows I may love, I’m always on the look out for new series to get lost in!
Thanks for reading!
Vikky
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