Libretto’s Best of 2022

Neal

This was the year of what I call “the Sam’s Club,” highlighted by two series chronicling the lives of  women named Sam with depth, humor, and poignancy.

Better Things
Pamela Adlon’s Better Things (Hulu) focuses on the travails and small triumphs of Sam Fox, a Los Angeles actor raising three daughters on her own (an arc that mirrors Adlon’s lived experience). While I’ve never been fond of the “linked short stories masquerading as a novel” genre, Adlon deploys a similar technique to impressive (and often unforgettable) effect. Each episode weaves together a handful of vignettes that bring facets of Sam’s life into vivid relief, which feature the sublime and infuriating antics of her daughters, her mother, and her ex, along with assorted friends, relatives, and business associates. Better Things is a brand of comedy I adore (hilarious but never dumb), and the cavalcade of improved sighs, groans, and cartoon voices that pepper Adlon’s dialogue is a sheer delight.

Somebody Somewhere
The Sam of HBO’s Somebody Somewhere is portrayed by the “alt-cabaret provocateur” Bridget Everett, a longtime fixture on the downtown New York scene. Sam 2 returns to her Kansas hometown to care for her troubled sister, Holly. By the time the series begins, Holly has passed away, leaving Sam to (re)construct something resembling a meaningful existence in the company of her (beautifully drawn) parents, her sister (brilliantly played by Mary Catherine Garrison), and her newly minted friend Joel (a perfectly cast Jeff Hiller). In the span of just seven episodes, we experience 1) a delightful slice of queer Midwestern life; 2) a treatise on the nature of art, middle age, and dreams (thwarted and worth pursuing); and 3) the vast and seething mixed bag that characterizes family life everywhere. (I implore you; watch the tornado episode.)

I encountered other female characters not named Sam in 2022 who affected me profoundly. They include Lisa Kudrow’s Valerie Cherish, the cringe-inducing yet affecting protagonist of The Comeback; Mare Sheehan, unforgettably portrayed by Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown; Jean Smart in an epic turn as the comedian Deborah Vance in Hacks: and Edna Kinsella, a central character in Claire Keegan’s powerful novella Foster (which takes just a few hours to read and lingers in the mind long after).

Jason

New Girl
I was quite the early adopter when I was a kid. I had a CB radio as soon as they became popular, and I was the first of my friends to own a CD player. As I’ve gotten older, however, I find I take my time before jumping onto any of the various new media and tech bandwagons that pass by incessantly. One TV series I didn’t watch while it was fresh, but began binging this year, is New Girl, with Zooey Deschanel. I think I was afraid it would be goofy and stupid. I didn’t want it to spoil my image of her (though that is her image). But now that I’m well into it, I love it. Yes, it’s goofy and stupid, but it’s also funny as hell. Zooey doesn’t just act kooky, she puts her all into the role, joining the grand tradition of great comedians who could laugh at themselves, from Gracie to Lucy to Mary—and now Zooey. I had tickets to see her this year with her band She & Him (their latest album is a tribute to Brian Wilson) but the show was canceled.

Regina Spektor
We had some very hot and humid nights in August, and one of them was the night that we had tickets to see Norah Jones and Regina Spektor at Leader Bank Pavilion, an outdoor venue on the water in Boston’s Seaport district. This was a night when you sweated right through your clothes without even moving. As we sat in our moist seats, uncomfortable as could be, Regina Spektor came on and charmed us with her personality and amazed us with her talent. Accompanying herself on piano and guitar, she played one great song after another. I was less familiar with her music than I was with Norah Jones’ but the Ukrainian-born Spektor was the best part of the evening. I like Jones but her set was more elegant and formal, and we needed more energy and personality coming from the stage to make the torturous conditions bearable.

Bully Boy Distillers Tour
To be honest, I only toured one distillery this year (which makes two in my entire life) but it was fun and we came away with a delicious pre-mixed and potent cocktail: The Old Fashioned, by Bully Boy Distillers of Dorchester. Now, I’m the kind of guy who rarely adds anything to whiskey other than an ice cube. Old fashioneds to me are kind of corny, but Bully Boy makes a very tasty one. As their website notes, “The old fashioned is the easiest drink to make and the hardest drink to make well.” That may or may not be true, but it’s certainly a breeze just pouring it from the bottle into a glass, adding a bourbon-soaked cherry, and then tipping it back. Of course, like every Disney ride, the distillery tour ended in a room with products and a cash register, where we made our purchases, but the tour was interesting and we got to taste their gin, whiskey, and amaro. We bought some extra bottles of The Old Fashioned to give as gifts.

Adrian

Horizon
Before the release of the second installment in the Horizon video game franchise this spring, the first game was heavily discounted to try to get new players on the bandwagon. I succumbed. In the world of Horizon, you are Aloy, a headstrong and fiery-haired huntress searching to uncover your mysterious past while navigating a dangerous land of robot dino-monsters. It’s hard to say more about the plot without introducing spoilers; rest assured that the storytelling is top-notch.

Much of the gameplay revolves around exploring the world and fighting robots. The combat mechanics are superficially simple—shoot, dodge, repeat—but the depth of enemy design, the combination of weapon and ammunition types, and the challenge (real and imagined) of destroying a massive foe of metal and lightning using nothing but sticks and stones make for an intense, fast-paced experience that rewards skill and strategy in equal measure.

However, the thing that first captured my attention—and that I believe truly elevates this series—is the immense effort the developers dedicated to animation quality and world-building. You can traverse miles of fully realized terrain, watching your breath mist before you in the mountains and sweat bead on Aloy’s forehead in the desert. The vistas are breathtaking, the environments lush, and the characters uniquely and fully realized. Even if action games aren’t for you, you can set the difficulty to “Story” and still take part in this marvelous world. I highly recommend it.

Love on Tour
I was initially hesitant to tag along with Jacqueline and her girlfriends to see Harry Styles at Madison Square Garden, but how many times is one likely to have such an opportunity? Live music was one of the many industries that came to a halt during the pandemic. To be surrounded by thousands of fans who were screaming, ecstatic, and undeniably alive was a revelation after months of solitude and isolation. And the show was pretty good, too.

Connor

Glass Onion
A great sequel should scratch the same itch as the original, feeling both familiar and novel at the same time. Usually that familiarity comes from established characters, but writer/director Rian Johnson correctly identified that what made audiences resonate so strongly with his 2019 mystery Knives Out wasn’t necessarily those characters and those characters alone, but rather the overall mood and tone: a classic, madcap whodunnit populated by a menagerie of oddballs, almost all of whom are simultaneously eminently hateable and endlessly compelling to watch. Glass Onion—the first of two planned follow-ups produced by Netflix—features only one character from the first film, the genteel (and slightly ridiculous, in a Poirot-esque way) detective Benoit Blanc, played with scenery-devouring perfection by Daniel Craig. The film finds Blanc bizarrely summoned to the private island of billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), along with Bron’s incongruous group of friends, played by Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom, Jr., and the frighteningly multi-talented Janelle Monáe. To summarize more would reveal far too much of the delicately plotted murder mystery; suffice it to say that Glass Onion more than clears the extremely high bar set by Knives Out, opening up exciting possibilities for this burgeoning franchise. Perhaps most importantly, though, Glass Onion is just plain fun to watch. Every member of the cast seems like they’re having the time of their life, which makes for one of the most straight-up entertaining films I’ve seen in years.

Tabletop Roleplaying Games
What could be better than getting together with friends and playing make-believe for several hours? TTRPGs have seen a resurgence in the past several years, attributable to any number of factors from Dungeons & Dragons playing a major role in Stranger Things, to coverage of celebrity D&D groups, to actual play podcasts like Critical Role and The Adventure Zone. At their core, TTRPGs are built on community and escapism—two things I think most of us have been craving more of lately. There is great power in shaping a fantasy world that’s entirely your own through your actions. It’s also fantastically freeing to take part in an activity that doesn’t require screens of any kind (although there are many digital tools that can be used in place of pencil and paper). And while certain recent corporate activities might make you rethink picking up D&D itself, a slew of other, independent games are available to explore. So go ahead. Roll for initiative.

Ian

Sunny’s Nights: Lost and Found at a Bar on the Edge of the World, by Tim Sultan
I’ve always wanted to walk into a bar and experience the old Western trope—faces turn, the music stops, and mustaches quiver. In the opening chapter of Sunny’s Nights, Tim Sultan describes an even stranger phenomenon. After pulling off the wrong exit on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Sultan decides to get a drink at a Red Hook watering hole. A dozen tough-looking men in leather jackets appear as he opens the door, their faces bathed in a smoky light. Instead of staring at him, however, they’re watching a ballet performance being projected onto the wall by the bartender, Sunny Balzano. “This must be the place,” Sultan thinks.

Sunny and Sultan develop a friendship, and Sultan eventually quits his job at a Manhattan magazine to tend bar alongside him. The conversations between the two men are often hilarious, and occasionally poetic—especially as Sunny’s health begins to fail and Sultan accompanies him for doctor’s appointments and hospital visits. What I found most affecting, however, was the sense of place. I live a few miles from Red Hook, and Sultan easily captures the surreal charm of a neighborhood somewhere between post-industrial malaise and hipster heaven, a land of paradoxes that reflect the eccentricities of Sunny, its patron saint.

The Belle Album, Al Green
I started playing bass two years ago. After a decade of focusing exclusively on guitar and failing (repeatedly) to learn the piano, it’s been a blast. And while bass may be the most under-appreciated instrument in popular music, it takes center stage on The Belle Album, Al Green’s 1977 record. I play along with the songs to practice, and it’s pure pleasure—the bounce house rhythm of “I Feel Good” and the chugging pulse of “Georgia Boy” are all supplied by bass licks that can only be described as “dangerous.” Side effects include a temporary case of Bass Face.

Tiffany

Being Funny in a Foreign Language, The 1975
Long awaited is an album that will delight and entertain as much as The 1975’s self-titled debut album back in 2013. Lead singer Matty Healy’s voice has always been a favorite of mine—calming and smooth, easy background listening—but recent albums haven’t had the tempo and instrumentals I needed to stay engaged. From the moment that string ensemble’s melody opened the first single “Part of the Band” on our local public radio station, I was hooked. Quirky lyrics sung in a heavy British accent, and beautiful supporting melodies by string and acoustic instruments signal a triumphant yet updated return to the sound I know and love. When listening to the record, there’s a distinct shift in mood from side A to side B—jubilant and danceable to smooth and soulful—but both have their merits. I find myself able to listen to the album regardless of the day, my mood, or the situation—a rare find.

Andor
Having grown up watching the Star Wars movies (original series first, as required by my father, before he’d ever consider taking me to the prequel films in theaters), I’m quite familiar with the pre-Disney universe. And while I do feel there have been missteps with the series since being acquired by Disney, credit needs to go out to this particular series. Sure, I tuned into The Mandalorian for Grogu (a.k.a. Baby Yoda), and of course I had to watch Ewan McGregor’s reprisal role in Obi-Wan Kenobi, but something about the Andor series was gripping in a way the others weren’t. It’s darker and more mature, with nary a lightsaber to be found. I enjoyed the political-thriller mood of the episodes, as well as the backstory for characters we know from standalone films and the Skywalker Saga. I was most delighted to see Mon Mothma in a larger role—and the actress did not disappoint in her portrayal of the senator-turned-rebel. Andor has that original-series feel that the prequels and sequels just don’t, and feels less “cutesy” than other recent Star Wars series on Disney+. If you, like me, enjoy that original nostalgic feel, Andor might just be for you.