On this page
01The take
The Farewell.
Twelve seasons in one chair — the farewell tour the show had to reckon with.
02The shape of the season
A rhythm worth tracking.
Season twenty-three had a built-in narrative the show couldn't ignore: Blake Shelton, the most successful coach in the format's history, coaching his final season. The farewell framing gave every coaching interaction extra weight, and Niall Horan's debut added a fresh angle in the blind auditions. The format ran with the kind of transitional energy a significant departure always generates — watchable, a little elegiac, and conscious of what it was closing.
03Where it sits in the canon
The #16 slot.
Slot #16 of 29 in the The Voice Editor's Canon. The seasons on either side show what I ranked it against.
No spoilers. Every page is reviewed before it goes live.
06Also appears in