You may have noticed that this year, BSG did not publish our annual guide to the Oscars. After three consecutive years of correctly predicting less than half of the attempted categories, I’ve decided to throw in the towel. Predictions: I’m just not good at them!

Instead, I’ve decided to share some thoughts on the best and worst moments of the night — just in case you aren’t already completely exhausted by everyone on the entire internet having a take.

The Best

3. Jane Campion Wins Best Director

A couple of weeks ago, I might have put this at the top of my ‘best’ category, because I really loved The Power of the Dog and I also love to see a woman win for directing since it’s only happened three times in history. Unfortunately, Jane Campion had to go and say some dumb shit about how she has it harder than Venus and Serena Williams because “unlike them,” she has to “play against the guys.” She’s since apologized, but the fact that she would say this in the first place is indicative of a fundamental misunderstanding of the privilege she has as a white woman.

ANYWAY, I still thought her film was fantastic, and I would love it if we could get to a point where it’s not a huge deal every time a woman wins this award. Also, shout-out to her publicist or whoever it was who convinced her to keep her acceptance speech short and sweet and free of racist commentary!

2. Troy Kotsur Wins Best Supporting Actor

CODA wasn’t my favorite of the nominees this year (more on that later), but Troy Kotsur’s performance was one of the best things about the film, and I was thrilled to see him take this win for Best Supporting Actor. Kotsur is the first ever deaf man to win an acting Oscar, and his speech, delivered in ASL, was one of the best of the night. It was also lovely to see so many in the crowd responding with silent applause, and particularly heartwarming that presenter Youn Yuh-jung signed a special message to Kotsur before she announced his name: “Congrats, I love you.”

1. Ariana DeBose Wins Best Supporting Actress

My favorite moment of the night goes to Ariana DeBose, who won for her portrayal of Anita in West Side Story. DeBose is the first openly queer woman of color AND the first Afro Latina to win an Academy Award for acting, which is frankly depressing, but I am so happy for her and for the communities she is a part of. Her performance was fantastic, packed with both technical skill and emotional resonance, the win well-deserved in addition to being historic.

Her speech was my other favorite of the evening, and she ended on this powerful note: “...Imagine this little girl in the back seat of a white Ford Focus, look into her eyes: You see a queer, openly queer woman of color, an Afro Latina who found her strength in life through art. And that's what I believe we're here to celebrate. Yeah, so, to anybody who has ever questioned your identity ever, ever, ever, or you find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us.”

The Worst

3. CODA Wins Best Picture

I am hesitant to put this here because I did not dislike this movie. Far worse films have won this award, and worse films could have won last night (Don’t Look Up, for example). However, if I were to rank the best picture nominees, CODA would fall somewhere in the middle, and that’s what makes the win disappointing. It’s a film that is tender and heartwarming, and it represents and celebrates a community that we rarely see acknowledged in Hollywood — but it’s also a small film, and a predictable one. It does not feature the sort of prowess or uniqueness in storytelling or visuals that I have come to expect from the “best film of the year,” not when I think about recent past winners like Moonlight or Parasite or even last year’s Nomadland. It’s not even the best film about the Deaf community to be nominated; Sound of Metal, which was up for Best Picture last year, was leagues better (though CODA does get a lot of points for featuring deaf actors in the leading roles).

I would have liked to see Power of the Dog or Drive My Car win this award. I would’ve even settled for West Side Story, because it’s impossible to watch that film without the word CINEMA coming to mind. But CODA… well, it’s perfectly fine.

2. Cutting Craft Awards

One point of controversy during last night’s ceremony was the decision to cut down eight categories, which were filmed in advance and then incorporated, edited down, into the broadcast. Unsurprisingly, the categories were those that honor craft, from editing to hair and makeup to sound, as well as all three awards for the best short films.

In my opinion, it’s a huge mistake to devalue the work of behind-the-scenes artists for any reason, but it was especially insulting to see what made it into the broadcast instead, including completely random film anniversary celebrations (28 years of Pulp Fiction? Why the hell not) and several new and unofficial awards that were supposedly decided via tweet. In this way, I was forced to watch more of the Snyder Cut than I would ever have consented to otherwise, a clear violation of my God-given right to avoid the SnyderVerse at all costs.

1. Will Smith vs Chris Rock

I don’t need to get into this right now, especially because I’m a white woman and what went down is complex for a number of reasons I’m not qualified or entitled to have an opinion on, but I would be remiss not to include it here. If you’re reading this, you know what happened, and you probably already know how you feel about it. At this point, less than 24 hours post-ceremony, every possible take has been tweeted, but that won’t stop the inevitable two weeks of Think Pieces we have ahead of us, so buckle in.

And that is why this moment gets my award for the worst moment of the night. It’s not because of how lazy and boring that joke was, or violence and its normalization, or even the Internet’s overreaction to said violence. No. It’s because nobody is ever going to shut the fuck up about it ever again.

But at least we got some good memes?