Best Episode EVAR!

Otacon

What is the best episode of a TV show, in your opinion? Where the writing, acting, direction etc. came together to give you a truly great 30 minutes/hour or whatever?

Mine would be Two Cathedrals, the season 2 finale of The West Wing.

The season itself was probably my favourite of the entire show but the finale was superb in every way. Martin Sheen's performance was as good as any of his screen work, exemplified by the speech within the cathedral itself. I will not spoil it for anyone who has not seen it but IMO it was the best episode of TV I have ever seen.

campo

For me it was between the series finale of Prison Break season 1 and Heroes season 1 total edge of the seat stuff

Blikes

Finale of Season 3 of Weeds was very good! loved the song at the end too

NIMAN

Gotta agree with the OP on the West Wing.

I was not a religious follower of the show but seen most of them around Series 1 & 2, and that episode was superb.

The speech to God, unbelieveable.

And the clip when he is rain-soaked and is asked about running for re-election, complete with one of the best songs ever. Yes, best episode ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaUPDYXQUtw

Iang87

I reckon Season 4 Finale of the wire. Its heartbreaking at times but completely sets up season 5. Maybe season 3 finale of the wire also, passing of the torch type episode. Both amazing

The King of Moo

It's tough to choose just one, but 33, the very first "proper" episode of the new Battlestar Galactica immediately came to mind.

It just perfectly set the tone for the series as a whole: showing the real tangible effects on very ordinary people of their dire situation, constant attacks from a more powerful enemy, great tension and action and tangled moral quandaries.
Apart from being a perfect example of the series as a whole, it's a great story in itself.

There are some more obvious episodes like Pegasus, the first four episodes of season three and that season's very last episode (though it has its detractors) that I love that I won't go into detail on.

I'd also like to throw out some praise for some episodes from the generally less-favoured final season. Two completely different episodes followed one after the other, Revelations and Sometimes a Great Notion and I think both are amazing for completely different, spoilerful reasons.

I also love one the last few episodes, Someone to Watch Over Me. It brilliantly managed to bring some of the show's big mysteries down to a very personal, human level, and combines great tension with some heartbreaking and poetic moments, especially the very end.

Finally, I'd like to wish Edward James Olmos a very happy 65th birthday.
So say we all!

Penn

'The Constant', Season 4 of Lost. Just an incredible episode from start to finish. Has everything (mystery, suspense) that all good episodes of Lost has, but it has so much more. The music, the great acting, the story.... Just spectacular.

amacachi

Last episode of The Shield.

Biggins

Otacon wrote: »

What is the best episode of a TV show, in your opinion? Where the writing, acting, direction etc. came together to give you a truly great 30 minutes/hour or whatever?

Mine would be Two Cathedrals, the season 2 finale of The West Wing.

I honestly would have said the very same.
Absolutely brilliant stuff, well written, well acted by all and the background music was just perfect and moving.

Top class!

Richard Dower

The Nine Lives Of Chloe King....the finale was superb, the last 15 minutes was nothing short of gripping and shocking. A rollcoaster of shocks, twists, deaths and general OMG/WTF moments.

It was by far the best season finale i saw last year, every opertunity i get i bleat on about this episode from this cancelled series, they producers said FU to ABC Family and just went for it...you know?, no holding back....the most adult episode, not afraid to kill several main charcters off.

It was a combination of a song and some very slick writing and scenes and a continious flow of shockers and deaths...great stuff!

ricero

season 2 finale of boardwalk empire or the season 4 finale of breaking bad

JaMarcus Hustle

The pinnacle of television imo.

ronnie3585

The finale of Season 4 of Breaking Bad, awesomely awesome.

Riskymove

JaMarcus Hustle wrote: »

The pinnacle of television imo.

"Whenever I'm cold in bed at night, I tell my wife...it could be worse....I could be back in Bastogne"

Fantastic episode

Riskymove

Biggins wrote: »

I honestly would have said the very same.

Me too.

Sheen at his best

gufnork

'buffy the vampire slayer - once more with feeling'. The all-singing, all-dancing episode.

Pure genius.

Auvers

Pine Barrens - The Sopranos



some classic quotes from the episode


Christopher Moltisanti: Russians? They're not all bad.
Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: How 'bout the Cuban Missile Crisis? Cocksuckers flew four nuclear missiles into Cuba, pointed them right at us.
Christopher Moltisanti: That was real? I saw that movie, I thought it was bullsh1t



Tony Soprano: [over the phone] It's a bad connection so I'm gonna talk fast! The guy you're looking for is an ex-commando! He killed sixteen Chechen rebels single-handed!
Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: Get the fcuk outta here.
Tony Soprano: Yeah. Nice, huh? He was with the Interior Ministry. Guy's like a Russian green beret. He can not come back and tell this story. You understand?
Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: I hear you.
[hangs up]
Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: You're not gonna believe this. He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator.
Christopher Moltisanti: His house looked like sh1t.

krudler

Buffy-Hush, one of the best episodes of anything ever.

Battlestar Galactica- Exodus part 2, the Adama maneuver, nuff said.

Band Of Brothers- The Breaking Point. "At first the Germans didn't shoot at him. I think they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing. But that wasn't the really astounding thing. The astounding thing was, after he hooked up with I Company, he came back." - cue the Band of Brothers theme tune, chills,every.fcuking.time.

The season finale to Friday Night Lights season 5, amazing.

Dohnny Jepp

Episode 1 of the walking dead for me is probably the best.

I also loved episode 1 of "suits" but that might just be in my head having only watched it recently.

"3 patients" in the first season of house where he gives a lecture about 3 different leg injuries is another awsome one.

I love the Battle star galactice episode, at the beginning of season 3 maybe, It's a 2 parter were Adama pulls off a great rescue.

Six of One

Have you all forgotten about the last episode of Lost?! What fine scripting, finally tying up all those loose ends.

FortuneChip

3 come to mind. Bastogne really was something else.

Breaking Bad S01E06 - Crazy Handful Of Nothing
Walt teaches his class about Fulminated Mercury, which serves as a metaphor for his development, and means by which he develops in the episode. Badass!

Lost S03E23 - Through The Looking Glass
"That" twist, and Charlie's scene in the Dharma station. Excellent at the time. Miss that show, even for all it's problems, and there were plenty, but man was it compulsive viewing!

kitakyushu

A lot of the 'comedy' X-files episodes still hold up very well on repeat viewing.

The one that immediately comes to mind is 'The Post-Modern Prometheus
'. You'd remember if if you'd seen it as it's shot completely in black and white. It's about this deformed kid who was obsessed with Cher and the movie MASK.

krudler

kitakyushu wrote: »

A lot of the 'comedy' X-files episodes still hold up very well on repeat viewing.

The one that immediately comes to mind is 'The Post-Modern Prometheus
'. You'd remember if if you'd seen it as it's shot completely in black and white. It's about this deformed kid who was obsessed with Cher and the movie MASK.

the one about the crap vampire thats narrated from both Mulder and Scully's differing points of view is hilarious, especially when it makes fun of the location/time/date that used to pop up on screen when they start bickering over the correct time and place things happens and it corrects itself, funny stuff.

BrianJD

The final ever episode of Fraiser. Very emotional.

Bodhidharma

"Homer Badman" Season 6 episode 9. Homer is accused of grabbing a childminder.

This is the greatest tv show ever made at its peak. I loved The Sopranos, The West Wing, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Boardwalk Empire and all the other brilliant shows mentioned, but honestly, no one will remember any of these in 100 years, The Simpsons will last forever and all of us lucky enough to be around when they came out first should remember that. Its a landmark show and even though its crap now, we shouldn't forget that almost every minute of the first (I'd say) nine series was class.

tony1kenobi

The one where Danny Kendall topped himself in Grange Hill.

Penn

JaMarcus Hustle wrote: »

The pinnacle of television imo.

Damn.... Good call...

Adamantium

The King of Moo wrote: »

It's tough to choose just one, but 33, the very first "proper" episode of the new Battlestar Galactica immediately came to mind.

It just perfectly set the tone for the series as a whole: showing the real tangible effects on very ordinary people of their dire situation, constant attacks from a more powerful enemy, great tension and action and tangled moral quandaries.
Apart from being a perfect example of the series as a whole, it's a great story in itself.

There are some more obvious episodes like Pegasus, the first four episodes of season three and that season's very last episode (though it has its detractors) that I love that I won't go into detail on.

I'd also like to throw out some praise for some episodes from the generally less-favoured final season. Two completely different episodes followed one after the other, Revelations and Sometimes a Great Notion and I think both are amazing for completely different, spoilerful reasons.

I also love one the last few episodes, Someone to Watch Over Me. It brilliantly managed to bring some of the show's big mysteries down to a very personal, human level, and combines great tension with some heartbreaking and poetic moments, especially the very end.

Finally, I'd like to wish Edward James Olmos a very happy 65th birthday.
So say we all!

I have to add Lay down your burdens season 2 finale of BSG, the tension over the election, the decision that changed their journey, the time lapse and the portrayal of the characters afterwards, and a real, unexpected quality that this show for me almost exclusively had: what the frak happens next?. Decisions, people, arcs, themes were always provided with certain amount of gravitas(thank you EJO) and realism, that you just don't get in other shows, and it felt somewhat logical always, unlike LOST which went off the rails in its last 2 seasons. BSG was what LOST could have been, questioned their circumstances which adds so much more to the reality of it. Amazing they were able to pull it off tbh!

also the season 3 finale,

what a monolouge and that reveal at the end with the pull out shot of the galaxy and fleet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKqG5NOvAG8

The finale Daybreak was incredibly moving, and felt movie quality, just like the rest of the series

for most intense, godly episode ever:

Through the looking glass season 3 finale of LOST,

the character death ,the communications FINALLY, the furious beating of Ben by Jack, my brother and I were literally on the sofa punching the air as it happened, and that incredibly sad scenes that turned out to be flashforwards, kate stepping out of the car Jack's "Pray it would crash, Sydney to Tokyo", and the incredible realisation for the audience that this was the future, afterwards we were just dumbfounded for about half an hour, really :D so much packed into it

Don't think any TV show will inspire that level of furious passion for a long time,:(

The paintball episodes from Community - in particular, the season two finale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXwr890Pf_A

They were all excellently written, acted, shot superbly and so incredibly memorable.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Really couldn't pick out just one, but episodes that really stand out in my head would be...

Community 03x08: Documentary Filmmaking Redux - Honestly, just one of the greatest 20 minutes of comedy ever... Amazing performance from all the cast, but especially Jim Rash... Great cameo from Luis Guzman (one of the best uses of a cameo appearance in anything... ever)... And among the great lines in the episodes, Fat Neil's "It says here I'm supposed to be a book, reading a book... That doesn't even make sense"

LOST 03x22/03x23: Through the Looking Glass - The season 3 finale was truly epic... Amazing performances all around... Dominic Monaghan and Henry Ian Cusick were amazing and it was a truly edge of your seat episode...

LOST 04x05: The Constant - I really shouldn't add two episodes from the same show, but feck it, I couldn't decide between the two... This one was also brilliant and the phonecall between Desmond and Penny was tearjerking to say the least...

The Wire 04x13: Final Grades - Ok, so every episode of The Wire is epic, but this one truly gave me goosebumps and from start to finish was nailbiting...

Buffy The Vampire Slayer 06x07: Once More With Feeling - One of the first shows to take a stab at doing a musical episode and they did it brilliantly... Kudos to Joss Whedon for writing all the songs as well...

Angel 01x09: Hero - While the first season of Angel was undoubtedly the weakest, this episode is by far the best of the entire series... It's heartwarming from beginning to end, fantastically written and one of the first episodes of a TV show that managed to make me cry...

House 04x15: House's Head - The penultimate episode of the fourth season easily stands out to me as the strongest of the entire season... The infamous bus crash episode... 'Nuff said...

Freaks and Geeks 01x14: Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers - One of the greatest shows ever made, unfortunately only lasted one season, but what an amazing season it was and this is the episode that stood out for me most, because it was a Bill centric episode and Martin Starr is truly amazing in that role...

Goldstein

Here's a few that come to mind:
For benefit of those that mightn't have seen some of them, I'm not gonna say what they are, or what stage of the shows they occur - if you've seen 'em, you'll know.

Smarmy

I would agree with Pine Barrens episode of The Sopranos, just brilliant and very funny television.

Also concur with Season 4 finale of Breaking Bad. Epic from the first moment to that last final shot where we realise how low Walter White has sunk.

Another Breaking Bad episode I love is Half Measures, the penultimate episode of Season 3. The ending was unbelievable

Jesse was, with a lot of justification, about to try and kill the two drug dealers responsible for Tomas' murder. But we knew that he didn't have a chance, he would be killed himself. As he approaches them, they draw their guns and get ready to shoot him. Then from nowhere a car comes and runs both of them over. Walt gets out, runs over to where one of them is still alive, legs mangled, he picks up the guys gun, shoots him in the head. Jesse is shocked at this point and we see a close up of Walt looking up at Jesse and saying "Run", immediately followed by the credits. Terrific television. Also in that episode was the excellent "No more half measures, Walter" monologue from Mike

SirDelboy18

I have a few.

Prison Break - Season 1 - Riots, Drills and the Devil.

Heroes - Season 1 - Company Man

Just two of many that stand out at this point of the night, might pop down a few more in the morning.

Richard Dower

CaptainNegative wrote: »

Buffy The Vampire Slayer 06x07: Once More With Feeling - One of the first shows to take a stab at doing a musical episode and they did it brilliantly... Kudos to Joss Whedon for writing all the songs as well...

+1 million....superb episode, i watched it live on Sky when it first aired over here. Had a huge smile on my face all the way through...oiginal and best!

Richard Dower

SirDelboy18 wrote: »

Heroes - Season 1 - Company Man

+1 again, yup....the best episode of the entire series, really well done and scripted.

Tipsy McSwagger

Marge vs. the Monorail

Must have watched this episode 20 times and it never gets boring.

Cavehill Red

This:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJZsZ0bWTSw

TheEscapist

A lot of good shouts so far. For me it was in season 4 of Mad Men, can't remember episode number but it was called the Suitcase. Favourite episode so far, television doesn't get much better imo.

humanji

One of my favourites was the finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was really well done and instead of going out with a bang or some horrific revelation, it had a warm and fuzzy ending. Plus, it had the kick-ass future Enterprise in it.

The last series of Angel was full of great episodes. One where Angel turns into a Muppet is hilarious, and the finale of that was also excellent.

_blank_

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Marge vs. the Monorail

Must have watched this episode 20 times and it never gets boring.

HAHA!!! Love that episode. "Not on your life my hindu friend":D

Also, Pine Barrens. Quality.

sillo

A lot of my favourites already mentioned but I've got to jump in and nominate the final episode of Six Feet Under - the closing montage is, for me, one of the most powerful sequences in any television show, ever.

McSpud

Curb Tourette episode. The most perfect 1 minute of swearing in any tv show.

Breaking Bad - 2 Mexican gunmen ambush Hank. By making you care so much for the characters it helps to create amazing edge of seat tv. No other show does tension like this.

Southland

detective killed by gang members

mikemac1

Have to agree with the OP

Two Cathedrals from the West Wing, the last few minutes with the Dire Straits song is the best few minutes of TV ever produced imo

Birneybau

Jurassic Bark-Futurama.

Such a heart breaking ending. Totes emosh!

deisedude

So many of my favourite episodes already mentioned but by far the funniest episode of any show i have ever watched has to be Season 2 of the Simpsons and the episode Homer at the Bat. So many fantastic quotes and jokes in 20 minutes of side splittingly funny television

Two of my favourite moments include this quote:

Officer Eddie: (reading Steve Sax's license) Well well, Steve Sax, from New York City.
Officer Lou: I heard some guy got killed in New York City and they never solved the case. But you wouldn't know anything about that now, would you, Steve?
(Lou and Eddie laugh)
Steve Sax: But there are hundreds of unsolved murders in New York City.
Officer Lou: You don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you, Saxxy Boy?

and this bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzpk5dMhVE4

Sudden Valley

Surprised no mention of any of the Star Trek series so I'll go with the next Generation episode on terrorism "the higher ground"- very brave and mature look at the subject (and stupid for mentioning a united ireland)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS6Vc1493QU

also would mention Skins 2x09 "Cassie"- recommended for anyone who believes this is just a show about teenagers acting stupid. funny, wacky and unbelievably sad

Richard Dower

Soooo many memories, some classics in there....that ep. of DS9 was superb....

Goldstein wrote: »

Here's a few that come to mind:
For benefit of those that mightn't have seen some of them, I'm not gonna say what they are, or what stage of the shows they occur - if you've seen 'em, you'll know.

tvercetti

Scrubs -"My Screw Up" Season 03 Episode 14

The one when Brendan Fraser (Jordans Brother, Coxs best friend) Dies

tvercetti

Also would have Lost Season 3 Episode 23 - The Looking Glass

bijapos

"Goodbye, Farewell and Amen." The feature length final episode of M*A*S*H, still one of the most widely watched TV shows in US history. Funny, frightening and very harrowing, I'll never forget the part where Hawkeye remembers the bus incident, still very upsetting today, and an excellent end to a class TV series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYjy7uUn7fc

As someone else said the end of Blackadder was brilliant as was the whole of the last ahow, showed the folly and madness of war like no other drama I've ever scene.

Jack Duckworths death in Coronation Street, I actually cried watching this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4rZLPLfnSk

Colmo52

South Park - Make Love Not Warcraft.
Actually. The entire 10th season. Not a bad ep. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_(season_10)