If a democracy is only as strong as its capacity to disambiguate between fact and fiction, it’s revealing that so many of the past year’s TV protagonists have been defined by their ability to call bullshit.

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In telling versions of the same story of anti-authoritarian resistance, then, popular culture in 2025 wasn’t just playing out a fantasy. Instead, it provided much-needed counterprogramming to the downbeat, dystopian imagery that has dominated screens for decades.