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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Best. Episode. Ever.

  
  

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PatrickMM
23:30 / 21.12.03
TV, it's got a lot of problems, but every once in a while it produces something that is simply amazing. So, what are your favorite TV episodes?

For me, it's:

Twin Peaks (The Last Episode): The show produced a lot of surreal and shocking episodes (the original Red Room, the revelation of Laura's killer), but nothing in the history of television can match the last episode for being a completely surreal experience. The red room sequences are completely dazzling, and one of the best examples of purely visual storytelling in any medium. The production is simple, yet still visually compelling. Even the non-Red Room stuff is great (Dr. Hayward's assault on Ben Horne), and the final scene is the greatest cliffhanger never to be resolved in television history. The first time I saw the episode I just sat there for about ten minutes in complete shock. Screw Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr., this is by far Lynch's best work.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Restless": Like the Twin Peaks last episode, this is a completely surreal journey, with very visual and purely emotional storytelling. Giles' song, Willow painting Tara's back, Xander climbing into the rear projection ice cream truck, then getting seduced by Willow and Tara. The whole series is great, but this is the only episode I've seen that really stands out as absolute genius.

The X-Files "Jose Chung's From Outer Space": Hilarious, yet also rather sad. This episode features many of the show's best moments (Scully finding herself on an alien autopsy video, Alex Trebek).

The Prisoner "Fallout": The "All You Need is Love" opening is the highlight of the series (and The Invisibles reference was great as well). The conclusion is surreal, and it still works to provide a fitting conclusion for the series.

The X-Files "Paper Clip": The "mythology" of the show was never better than in this episode. The Smoking Man, the Syndicate, Kryceck, all of the show's villains were at their best, and Mulder and Scully were completely committed to each other. The stakes were never higher.
 
 
hanabius yamamura
08:03 / 22.12.03
Star Trek: Next Generation 'The Inner Light' ... an amazing episode that proves tv sci-fi can be SO good ...

Star Trek: Deep Space 9 'In the Pale Moonlight' ... jaw-droppingly good, esp. Sisko's admission at the end ...
 
 
rizla mission
11:04 / 22.12.03
The X-Files "Jose Chung's From Outer Space": Hilarious, yet also rather sad. This episode features many of the show's best moments (Scully finding herself on an alien autopsy video, Alex Trebek).

I thought of that as soon as I saw this thread.. absolute genius. Just sort of a headfucking, post-modern, meta-fictional blah blah, Twin Peaks-referencing reinterpretation of the standard X-Files formula.. I'd like to shake the hand of whoever was responsible.
 
 
Caleigh
14:52 / 22.12.03
my favourite stand alone X-file was the one with Peter Boyle in it. Where he can see how people will die.
 
 
cusm
19:46 / 22.12.03
Millenium - the finale where the plague gets out, angel girl looses her shit in a failed awakening, and Frank's wife dies. Possibly the single most intense piece of tv I've ever seen.
 
 
The Knights Templar Boogie Machine
19:55 / 22.12.03
Of all time…

Star fleet (the last episode)

Where Captain Macara is finally dispatched by the die – x ….

The Prisoner – many happy returns

For complete frustration………

That X-files episode that’s all cut up and post modern with the abduction scenario(which surely must be the one mentioned above).
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
20:12 / 22.12.03
The final episode of Twin Peaks was god damned stunning indeed. Definitely the most horrifying thing ever aired on television, ("STOP SCREAMING! STOP SCREAMING, THE BOTH OF YOU!" Laura and the LMFAP, both just leaping around and shrieking) and a visual and storytelling marvel. When Jimmy Scott stepped out from behind the curtains and rocked out "Sycamore Trees" I actually stopped breathing until he was done. There's never been anything like it on television.

Buffy: "The Body". Flat out, better than anything ever done on the show, and it's up there with the best hours of television ever.

Six Feet Under: There are so many fantastic moments, but the season finale of Season 2 was probably the most unforgivable infliction of Blue Balls ever acheived by a television network. And Nate's complete emotional collapse in the lap of his mother, his raw and uncovered terror and fear of death, gets me every damn time.

The Office: How can you pick just one? David's dance during Comic Relief was classic but, I think the one where the Technician comes in takes the cake. There's so many fantastic moments in that episode, both funny and human. But, sadly, I recall correctly, it doesn't have either of the two best moments ever:
a) Gareth's reprimanding of Tim's new girlfriend for not picking him("A handjob, for starters.")
or
b) David's revelation of his exact plans on how he'd be fucking the Corrs.

How could we forget The Simpsons, from whence this thread title comes? So many to choose from but I have a soft spot in my heart for the episode when the family moves to some new Silicon Valley type town and Homer ends up working for a Super-Villain. The two inexplicably finest moments in the show, ever (both ruthlessly butchered from the episode in syndication):
a) Hank Scorpio, Homer's boss, offers him sugar for his coffee from his pants pockets. Homer politely declines. He is then offered cream. He slowly backs away.
b) Bart, relegated to a kindergarten for "special" kids, is writing on round paper. The boy next to him is slapping him on the shoulder, repeatedly, each time with increasing strength. It isn't until the fourth slap that the teacher screams, "Warren!" The timing of the slaps and the reprimand should be studied by anyone who ever attempts to be professionally funny.

Futurama: "The Luck Of The Fryrish". The story of Fry's search for the seven leaf clover he had as a child is interwoven with the story of his relationship with his brother. Hilarious, naturally, but it has just the most emotionally resonant ending of a cartoon EVER.
 
 
NotBlue
20:52 / 22.12.03
The last one of Quantumn leap: "Dr Sam Becket never returned home..."

-- Sad cos we love badger stripe boy Sam...

But -- wherever we fall and wherever the univerese conspires to put us wrong, there is always the possibility that he is there trying to help us put it right..., and where our strength fails, the human angel walks among us in unknown ways.

All Hail Sam Beckect and his kin.
 
 
The Falcon
23:14 / 22.12.03
The episode of Oz where Saeed turns down his pardon.
 
 
rakehell
01:48 / 23.12.03
I think it's interesting that I would pick a lot of the same episodes as people above have done. Which either says something about good writing on television or about similar tastes on this board.

For The Office I would nominate the training episode because it features all the main characters doing what they're best at. Gareth's inability to do simple puzzles without going off into a fantasy land, and of course, "two women. Sisters. I'm just watching." David's guitar playing, Dawn and Lee, Tim's ineptitude.

I'm trying to think of an episode of Seinfeld, but I can't really pick a single one I like more than the others. Maybe the one with the Kenny Rogers' Chicken Shack across the road and Jerry and Kramer switch apartments and personalities.
 
 
John Brown
05:21 / 23.12.03
First thing that comes to mind every time the question comes up ...

Homicide: Life on the Street, "Three Men and Adena"
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
06:30 / 23.12.03
Ooh, Seinfeld! I'd have to go with the movie theater episode. Not too early that it's embarrassing and not too late that it's all too aimless.

"Wild hair, face like a horse?"
 
 
hanabius yamamura
08:46 / 23.12.03
The last one of Quantumn leap: "Dr Sam Becket never returned home..."

... definitely ... i can still remember thinking 'cooooooooooool' as the postscripts came up at the end of the episode ...

... The Simpsons ... the halloween house of horror short where homer invents a time-travelling toaster ... priceless
 
 
kid666
09:30 / 23.12.03
Glad someone mentioned Homicide: Life on the Street. If ever a show deserved to get a repeat on terrestrial TV, this is it. My personal fave episode is "A Many Splendored Thing", which is the one with the room full of hanging pens. Ace.

Others: Seinfeld: "The Puffy Shirt" ("But I don't wanna be a pirate!!"); My #1 Buffy ep was "Hush" for ages but that's been superceded by the Anya episode "Selfless" which had everything you want in a TV show - funny, scary and a little bit heartbreaking.

Hey, that was my first Barbelith post! It's not so hard, really.
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
11:42 / 23.12.03
Oh, Homocide. What of "The Subway"?
 
 
Jack The Bodiless
11:43 / 23.12.03
Due South - Victoria's Secret

In which what you thought was a silly comedy odd-partners cop show suddenly becomes taut, gutwrenching tragedy, like the best episodes of Buffy, but without the melodrama. The mountie bumps into the only woman he ever loved, who's life he ruined - and not only watches her rip his life apart, but actually helps her. The big lug gets ripped to shreds, and it's all the more heartbreaking because the rest of the series sets him up as an indestructible innocent. And the image of Ben lying, shot, on the ground in the train station with snow falling around him... oh, God, everything about this two-parter is perfect - direction, acting, script, pace, tension. If you haven't seen it, it's essential viewing - a masterclass in how to make absorbing and affecting television.
 
 
Bed Head
14:56 / 23.12.03
Best episode of Seinfeld: the one that runs backwards, whatever its called. Best episode of Buffy, still is and will always be Hush. Best single episode of anything ever is episode one of Doctor Who: City Of Death, for having wine, romance, and a cliffhanger ending that haunted me all through my childhood. Until, in fact, videos were invented and I saw it again.

X-files, Pah! Don’t make me laugh. David Duchovney isn’t fit to lick pink champagne from Tom Baker’s sozzled cock.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
15:15 / 23.12.03
Ugh. Bed Head, you made me cringe! That episode of Seinfeld with the backwards narrative about the Indian wedding has got to be the worst one they ever made! It's the point in the final season when they finally ran out of ideas and resorted to cheap gimmicks. You've got to be kidding, right?
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
15:21 / 23.12.03
I agree with Rakehell that the "training" episode of the Office (season one, episode four) is the pinnacle of that series. As Rakehell says, it's all of the characters doing what they do best, PLUS it has "Free Love Freeway."
 
 
Bed Head
15:42 / 23.12.03
Matthew- I was very very stoned at the time. I wasn‘t expecting it to run backwards. I thought I was making it run backwards. Blew my mind.

You cringe too easy, man. The Duchovney/Baker image doesn’t raise so much as a murmur, but somebody with different tastes to you makes you cringe? Oddball.

Try this, then: I contend that the Ski-lodge episode of Frasier is the best ever. See, I like cheap gimmicks.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
16:06 / 23.12.03
I cringe because it's probably the only episode of that series that I think of being actively awful. There are some that are brilliant, some that are good, some that are mediocre - you went for the oddball!

That ski chalet episode of Frasier IS the best episode of Frasier! Frasier is at its best as a screwball farce.
 
 
Bed Head
16:20 / 23.12.03
the only episode of that series that I think of being actively awful

Ah, you see. Not on drugs. We agree to disagree then, and then we agree to agree. Sweet. How very Christmassy.

>cringe<

But, am I the only one on this damn board who loves Doctor Who? I’m all warmed up now and ready to argue, with examples, about exactly why Tom’s better than Peter and only the oddballs like Sly...
 
 
cusm
16:23 / 23.12.03
I don't know, picking a best-of from Doctor Who may fill an entire thread on its own...
 
 
diz
17:21 / 23.12.03
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 'In the Pale Moonlight' ... jaw-droppingly good, esp. Sisko's admission at the end ...

best. Star Trek episode. ever.

The episode of Oz where Saeed turns down his pardon.

i don't think i've seen that one. i think my favorite Oz is the one where Keller takes the rap for killing Schillinger's son.

i would have to say that my favorite episodes of Seinfeld are:

1) the one where Kramer is practicing his golf swing down at the beach during the whole episode, while George is dating someone from his high school who thinks he's a marine biologist. George and his date are walking along the beach, and there's a huge crowd gathered, and someone shouts "IS ANYONE HERE A MARINE BIOLOGIST?"

we cut to George recounting the story to the group at Monk's. he tells an epic tale of climbing on top of the "great fish" ("mammal." "whatever."), reaching into the blowhole, and pulling out the obstruction, which he pulls out of his pocket - Kramer's golf ball. i almost DIED laughing when i first saw this episode.

2) the one where Kramer and Mickey are working as Santa and an elf at a department store, while Elaine is dating a communist. Kramer becomes a communist, and starts spouting some gibberish version of Marxism to the kids who sit on his lap. meanwhile, Jerry is dating this girl named Lois and trying to escape defending his high school track record. "I CHOOSE NOT TO RUN!" it all descends into a mass of blacklists and Superman references. classic.

3) "The Contest." it really is that funny, especially when it comes to the temptations they run into. the scene where George is talking to his mom in the hospital while the sexy female nurse gives the sexy female patient a sponge bath in the next bed over is fucking inspired.

there are probably a few more, but those are the ones that leap to mind.

as far as Simpsons episodes go:

1) The Cape Fear episode. Bob's prison tattoos (especially the LUV and HAT on his knuckles - i love any reference to the Simpson's three-fingeredness), the bit where the FBI agents are trying to explain the Witness Protection Program to Homer, the rake gag, the parade, the closing musical number. this is the best Sideshow Bob episode, and most of the Sideshow Bob episodes are really great.

2) the Japan episode. Godzilla-related turbulence. the Osaka Seafood Concern company song.

3) the Flying Hellfish episode. no one else seems to love this one as much as i do.

god, i'm totally blanking on Simpsons stuff.
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
18:37 / 23.12.03
Hmmm...I think the best Seinfeld episode was the one where they were waiting for a table at the Chinese restaurant for the entire episode. It showed everything about the series that worked, and made it different from every other TV sit-com...it's not about a plot, but then again it is.

Buffy? The Body. Excellent job from everyone on the series, and it showed why the series worked, mixing the normal that we all relate to with the supernatural.

Action: A little watched series about a movie producre tryign to get a crappy action movie made, pure black humor with over-the-top satire. If it is re-run on Trio or some other cable network, watch the whole thing, but the best episode is the first day of filming as everything that could go wrong does in increasingly strange ways and ends with the main character having a heart attack and dying. It was the last episode shown on its network run and when seen in that light, was the best last episode ever.

X-Files: The COPS episode. Even non fans like that one.

Simpsons? So many, but to my mind, the best episode they ever did was Mr. Plow. From Adam West at the car show to Homer making the family stay up until 4 am to see his commercial to Barney putting Homer out of business, every joke clicked and it is one of the few re-runs I can watch without thinking, "Wow, I've seen this one a LOT."

The Osbournes: The one where Ozzy acted like he was really messed up and...oh, never mind.

WWE: Bobby Heenan getting fired, and the man who fired him dragging him out of the arena and tossing him on the street. Heenan's suitcase flies open and you can see that it is full of stolen towels, Bibles and other stuff taken from hotel rooms and he begs for his job back.
 
 
The Falcon
18:49 / 23.12.03
Diz - if you'd seen that ep, you'd know. And it would be your favourite.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
18:49 / 23.12.03
1) the one where Kramer is practicing his golf swing down at the beach during the whole episode, while George is dating someone from his high school who thinks he's a marine biologist. George and his date are walking along the beach, and there's a huge crowd gathered, and someone shouts "IS ANYONE HERE A MARINE BIOLOGIST?"

we cut to George recounting the story to the group at Monk's. he tells an epic tale of climbing on top of the "great fish" ("mammal." "whatever."), reaching into the blowhole, and pulling out the obstruction, which he pulls out of his pocket - Kramer's golf ball. i almost DIED laughing when i first saw this episode.

God, how could I have blanked on this one. The most well-crafted episode of the series.

"He was twenty feet tall if he was an inch!"

And just the awe you hear in the audience when George pulls out the golf ball. Immaculately constructed television comedy.
 
 
rakehell
23:31 / 23.12.03
And Kramer's face as the realisation hits.

I should have realised that this thread would have massive spoilers. I've only seen the two seasons of OZ which are on DVD and yeah, Said turning down the pardon is excellent.

I agree with the Simpsons witness protection episode. Homer's "I think he's talking to you" just kills me.

Sopranos. Everyone picks "Pine Barrens" - the episode with Christopher and Paulie in the woods - but I would say the last episode of season 2, "Funhouse" where Tony finally kills Pussy. The whole fever dream with the talking fish and Tony being ill throughout the whole thing lending it a surreal air is just brilliant.

Astroboy: The two-parter. "Contest of Champions" or whatever it's called.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
23:36 / 23.12.03
I agree with the Simpsons witness protection episode. Homer's "I think he's talking to you" just kills me.

Oh, man this is the best thread ever.
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
00:43 / 24.12.03
Star Trek TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise". Nothing like Riker dying and Picard making a fierce last stand in a burning Enterprise to end an episode.
 
 
Keith, like a scientist
00:46 / 24.12.03
X-Files "Memento Mori" - the one where Scully undergoes some therapy for her cancer. the moment when she comes out of the room, and starts crying on Mulder's arm...god, that just kills me every time. so emotionally devastating.

Millennium "Through a Glass, Darkly" - a challenged guy is accused of child murders he didn't commit (his lawyer did). There are so many beautiful moments and sequences in this episode. Super powerful.

West Wing - That one where Barlett swears at God in latin and asks him "what was Josh Lyman? That was my son. That was my son." Then he swears some more, and snuffs a cigarette in the aisle. Good stuff. Then they play "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits at the end, and it feels like some kind of rebellious epic.
 
 
Keith, like a scientist
00:54 / 24.12.03
oh, and as far as the Simpsons goes:

1) The Scorpio/James Bond spoof is the absolute best episode...My god..frickin' Scorpio is just so hilarious.

2) The Helper Monkey episode - "pray for mojo" "look at him, homer, he's wearing a diaper and can barely stand up!" "do your happy dance, mojo, do you happy dance!" "I sure can't wait to eat that monkey!"

3) Yeah, Cape Fear is classic. There is a great bit at the end with the cops, too, but I can't remember what it is.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
01:11 / 24.12.03
3) Yeah, Cape Fear is classic. There is a great bit at the end with the cops, too, but I can't remember what it is.

Bart: "Take him away boys."
Wiggum: "Hey, leave that to me. Er, Bake him away, toys."
Lou: "What, chief?"
Wiggum: "Ah, just do what the kid says."

Which reminds me, although not the best episode, and pot jokes are so 1997, the ending where all the cops are getting high and Wiggum is singing along to "Jammin'".

"Shut up, Lou, I love this song."

Actually, the Lou/Chief Wiggum dynamic is one of the rare examples of something that has never gotten played out, even after 14 years. I wish I could remember more of their moments in recent years. The Twin Peaks riff was classic:

Wiggum: "Did you have the dream with the flaming card and the red curtains too?"
Other Cop Who Is Not Lou: "I'll drive."

Can we just hijack this thread into a classic Wiggum/Cop moments thread?

"Uh, no, you got the wrong number. You want 9-1...2."
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
01:15 / 24.12.03
I forgot all about the treasure trove that is www.snpp.com.

Exact quote:

Bart: Take him away, boys.
Wiggum: Hey, I'm the chief here! Bake him away, toys.
Lou: What'd you say, chief?
Wiggum: [quietly] Do what the kid says.
 
 
PatrickMM
01:23 / 24.12.03
West Wing - That one where Barlett swears at God in latin and asks him "what was Josh Lyman? That was my son. That was my son." Then he swears some more, and snuffs a cigarette in the aisle. Good stuff. Then they play "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits at the end, and it feels like some kind of rebellious epic.

"Two Cathedrals." I forgot that one, but it's definitely one of the best TV episodes ever. As for Seinfeld, it's one of my favorite series, but it's tough to find one episode. Lately, I've been leaning toward "The Summer of George," which is just so accurate in its portrayal of vacation laziness. I feel like my entire vacating life has been based around that episode.
 
  

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