This is a tough one and hopefully opens a lot of debate up because there are probably dozen's of best episodes of TV shows that you've watched. This is the episode that just stands out, or reveals something or ties up a story line in a satisfying way, or it might be a stand alone episode that made your jaw drop.
So here are a few of mine
1) Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Hush
I could have gone with quite a few, the body, once more with feelings, but Hush was special because it had a unique premise in that all of the characters in the show had their voices taken away. This lead to some unintentional hand motion comedy, but also some incredibly terrifying silent murders and chases as well. The Gentlemen have to rank up there as the creepiest on screen monsters that I have ever seen.
2) Quantum Leap - MIA
A very poignent and sad episode as Sam leaps into a police man's body in 1969 to prevent a woman from marrying a man because her husband is MIA in Vietnam. It later turns out that the MIA is a younger Al, and the episode ends with Al being able to visit his wife who is alone while "Georgia on my mind plays" and Al begs his wife to wait for him
3) Futurama - The Luck of the Fryish
Very sad episode where Fry learns that his brother stole his lucky clover and his identity, but in the end finds his brothers son's grave who was named Phillip J Fry after his uncle to keep his spirit alive.
4) Star Trek - The City on the Edge of Forever
The definition of a mind bending episode that most of us have seen, it involves a trip to the past, Kirk falling in love with a woman and then having to let her die to preserve the future.
5) Band of Brothers - The Bastogne
Focused on Eugene Roe the Company medic as Easy Company has to hold the Bastogne while running low on medical supplies. One of the best episodes in the series.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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That episode is still one of the funniest things I've ever seen. This scene in particular just kills me every time:
As for other shows, I have to go with "Home" from The X-Files, which still holds up as a pretty graphic and disturbing slice of television, even by today's standards.
And I've never heard Johnny Mathis the same way since.
Last edited by direwolf; 11-19-2017 at 11:18 PM.
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This was one of the first Doctor Who episodes I ever saw and nothing else have ever came close. It's a really good stand alone episode where the Doctor is a minor character and you don't need to know anything about the show.
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This was one of the first Doctor Who episodes I ever saw and nothing else have ever came close. It's a really good stand alone episode where the Doctor is a minor character and you don't need to know anything about the show.
Dammit! You stole one of mine!
As much as people complain about The Walking Dead, the episode Here't Not Here in season six is such a perfect episode. In it, we see Morgan as a crazed psychopath at the start, basically saying he'll kill Eastman the moment he gets a chance, and through his captivity and re-training by Eastman, we see him slowly come back from the brink and be human again. It's also the larger moral compass of the show, and shows that nobody is so far gone that they can't come back.
It really is one of those episodes that needs to be watched from start to end, but here's a little of it to explain what is being learned by Morgan in the episode. It guides his actions moving forward, and influences others around him.
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"You know, that's kinda why I came here, to show that I don't suck that much" ~ Devin Cooley, Professional Goaltender
Also, very few people have watched Homicide: Life on the Street, but it's the precursor to shows like The Wire (same creator).
One episode that always got me is Three Men and Adena. This is an entire episode that takes place in the interrogation room. Following the death of a young girl that becomes a cold case, the investigators think they have a suspect that they can get a confession out of given enough time. What we saw is a protracted interrogation that results in some revealing information, but nothing concrete enough to produce a conviction. It has some of the best performances I've ever seen on television, especially from Andre Braugher who plays Frank Pembleton.
I'll let you all look up that episode, but just to give you a sample of the kind of show Homicide was, I present this clip of Braugher getting a confession in another case. Such an under appreciated show.
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"You know, that's kinda why I came here, to show that I don't suck that much" ~ Devin Cooley, Professional Goaltender
Breaking Bad - "Ozymandias"
Breaking Bad - "Half Measures"
Person of Interest - "Relevance"
Person of Interest - "If-Then-Else"
Homeland - "The Star"
This Is Us - "Memphis"
Community - "Modern Warfare"
I was heavily invested in Homeland's first four seasons; it has now been almost 4 years since "The Star" aired and it still resonates unlike any piece of fiction I've read or watched. I guess by definition that makes it my number 1.
Last edited by Acey; 11-23-2017 at 11:52 PM.
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Came in to post Futurama. Although I was going to go with Jurrasic Bark.
No. It can't be the best episode if nobody actually watches it because they don't want to be reduced to a quivering, sobbing mess by the end.
Arrested Development: Mr F.
So many great storylines here:
George Sr. trying to escape from his ankle-monitor house arrest
Tobias working for the CIA
Maebe and the Tunnel of Love Indubitably
The Japanese investors,
Larry Middleman and Gob building tiny town
George Michael and the jetpack
And all of those plots connecting with a Kaiju battle scene at the end.
The third season wasn't AD's best overall, but everything about this episode was brilliant.
I was a huge Fringe fan through three seasons, and this is still probably my favorite non-comedy episode of TV. One complaint I often have with 'superpower' shows is that they can't help but rush to show of their heroes' powers as a hook for viewers, which feels necessary for TV format, but IMO typically results in very clunky character development arcs. One of the brilliant elements of Fringe was that it was 14 episodes in before you first get an inkling that Dunham is anything more than simply a very good FBI agent, and the way that her power is first revealed here (something very tiny and seemingly useless, but something that a villain goes through great lengths to develop in her) is brilliantly done; this is the moment where you first peak through the monster-of-the-week format of the show and see a massive, sprawling mythology beneath it. This is how sci-fi mythology should be done in a TV format.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
As much as people complain about The Walking Dead, the episode Here't Not Here in season six is such a perfect episode. In it, we see Morgan as a crazed psychopath at the start, basically saying he'll kill Eastman the moment he gets a chance, and through his captivity and re-training by Eastman, we see him slowly come back from the brink and be human again. It's also the larger moral compass of the show, and shows that nobody is so far gone that they can't come back.
It really is one of those episodes that needs to be watched from start to end, but here's a little of it to explain what is being learned by Morgan in the episode. It guides his actions moving forward, and influences others around him.
Agreed, I would even call it the last truly great episode of Walking Dead. I remember coming to work the next day and a bunch of people complaining that it was slow and boring and just shaking my head. I guess those complaints were the loudest and have led to what the show is now...
In coming up with episodes, I realized the way television has evolved, how we watch it, makes this really hard for heavily serialized shows like Game of Thrones, where it would be easier for me to list 'top moments,' or shows dropped on Netflix where you watch the whole thing in one sitting and it feels like one episode. So I'm just going to skip over those.
X-Files: Home. Dark, twisted, gripping episode, and waaay ahead of it's time.
Star Trek: DS9: In the Pale Moonlight. Not only is this the best DS9 episode, probably the best Star Trek episode. And looking back, it was dark, even for DS9, which tended to be darker and edgier.
Star Trek: DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations. This was just so well-done. And I recall it came straight out of left field.
Mad Men: The Suitcase. One of Mad Men's greatest strengths was its ability to get you to care about the characters, which is ironic because it's quite a boring show on the surface - and wow, did this episode pack a wallop.
Battlestar Galactica (2000s): Flight of the Phoenix. Holy #### was this a good episode.
Doctor Who: Blink. It was mentioned above. Easily one of the best Doctor Who episodes.
The Simpsons: Radio Bart. I don't know if its the best Simpsons episode, but it's certainly one of the more memorable ones, highlighting that The Simpsons was quite capable of, well, depth.
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new list - Best Episodes
