5) Happy Valley
If you had told me six months ago that, in a year stacked with bite-sized crime dramas, a British Netflix series would be the best of the bunch, I wouldn’t have believed you. After all, 2014 was the year that gave us True Detective and Fargo, which were in my Top 10 midway through the year, and continue to be terrific now that they’re out. True Detective had the actors and atmosphere, Fargo had Allison Tolman and a sense of humor as slippery and dark as black ice; the competition was rigor mortis stiff.
Of the three, Happy Valley had the shortest run, the loosest plot, and the least star power, and those qualities are a big part of what put it above such esteemed colleagues. Most crime stories are about making sure all the pieces of the show matter to the mystery, but Happy Valley made every character and twist matter by weaving them into a fully formed world, not just a puzzle.
“I didn’t start this” was the refrain heard often in a story of kidnapping, abuse and grief, and Happy Valley succeeded by adopting The Wire’s philosophy that all the pieces matter. Characters were people instead of suspects and plot tools, and the dozen small human stories told by Happy Valley amounted to far more than just one big mystery.
Published: Dec 8, 2014 08:00 pm