This defense-industry conspiracy thriller moved with military efficiency and artistic stealth. Julia Roberts’s first starring role for TV was her best in years, and she turned in an astonishing, finely calibrated performance. Adapting the series from a podcast drama, the director Sam Esmail applied the cinephilic wizardry he honed on “Mr. Robot” to a take on the paranoid thrillers of the ’70s. Best of all, the whole season took a mere 10 half-hour episodes, which flew by but possessed the screen as if they had all the time in the world. (Streaming on Amazon.)

‘Lodge 49’ (AMC)

Every year there’s a show or two for which my honest review is: “I can’t describe this. Just watch it.” “Lodge 49” gets to its story eventually, enfolding real estate, surfing and the arcane secrets of alchemy. But this comic-melancholy hangout is most worth watching for its generous portraits of the strivers and losers at and around a fraternal lodge in down-and-out Southern California. Oddball and amiable, “Lodge 49” looked for meaning in sports-bar restaurants and closing aerospace factories, and it found a peculiar magic. (Streaming on AMC.)

‘Pose’ (FX)

On the demanding floor of New York’s 1980s ballroom competitions, the judging standard was flawlessness. But to me, moments of transcendence matter more than lack of faults. And in those moments, Ryan Murphy’s resplendent series soared like a plumed miracle. “Pose” had clumsy and oversentimental aspects. But it also had an immediate verve, cut-to-the-bone performances and heart to spare. I’ll probably think of “Pose” more than anything else when I think of 2018 TV, and if that’s not the definition of “best,” then it’s something better. (Streaming on FX Plus.)

‘Sharp Objects’ (HBO)

I teetered between this limited series and the excellent “My Brilliant Friend” for what you might call the HBO literary-adaptation slot. “Sharp Objects,” adapted by Marti Noxon from the novel by Gillian Flynn, was the more inventive reimagining for the screen, and thus better TV as TV. Noxon captured the open-wound psyche of Camille Preaker (a wholly committed Amy Adams). The director, Jean-Marc Vallée, created a soundscape and aesthetic that was almost tactile: You could feel the humidity, hear the lazy insects. Few series have done so well at putting you in a protagonist’s mind and in her world. (Streaming on HBO.)