#10. Out of Gas
Firefly, Season 1, Episode 8 |
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The best episode of one of the
best series in television history features Serenity abandoned and in
trouble with intermittent flashbacks explaining 1) how we got to this
point and 2) how the crew came together. Three different
timeframes are explored, each beautifully, and the episode still
features as much heart and humor as we've become accustomed to.
Wash's mustache is probably the best performance by facial hair in 2002.
Of course, while every flashback ruled, my favorite is the final one
where Mal disregards the ship salesman in favor of the old beat-up
firefly.
River: Day is a vestigial mode of time
measurement based on solar cycles. It's not applicable. I
didn't get you anything. |
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#9. The Cabin Show
Arrested Development, Season 3, Episode 1 |
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Like every episode of Arrested
Development, this one is perfectly full of self-referential jokes
including the return of the Mission Accomplished banner and multiple
blue men. The plot involves Michael trying to find his father in
Reno, thereby freeing Oscar from jail, and spending a day with
George-Michael in the cabin. Of course we get wordplay (musty old
claptrap, this is not a Volvo, pop a tent with Maeby), sight gags
(Tobias Swallows), complex family relations (first mention of GOB's
son), and retrospectively hilarious foreshadowing (Maeby hides in the
crawlspace). Kitty, Barry, and Barry's assistant also mark
triumphant returns in one packed episode.
Narrator: Swallow's was a family-style restaurant
by day, and an anything-goes, pansexual bazaar by night. |
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#8. Hundred Dollar Baby
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 2, Episode 5 |
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The first time Dee struck me as
my possible favorite (in season 3, she's definitely my favorite btw),
this is the episode where Frank tries to settle an old score by bulking
up Dee to box his rival's daughter. Meanwhile, Mac and Dennis
enter Charlie into an underground fighting competition. Needless
to say, the episode involves beating Charlie with chairs, Dee and
Charlie using steroids, and sports movie montages of hilarious
wall-punching. I especially love that my two favorites, Dee and
Charlie, got to be front and center, and even better, we got to see
their personalities on steroids.
Other chick: You look like a Holocaust
victim in pageant makeup.
Dee: I will eat your babies, bitch! |
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#7. Pilot
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Season 1, Episode 1 |
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While the seeds of pomposity
are visible here, the pilot mostly precedes the insufferability of most
of the cast. Judd Hirsch gives an outstandingly tense monologue
that Cal seamlessly rolls into the titles, and then we are introduced,
by act, to the cast. First Jordan and Jack, at a dream of a
network meeting, then Matt and Danny at the Writer's Guild Awards (see
what I mean about the arrogance?), and finally the Big Three, as if
variety show cast members would ever be given a group name.
However, while a long-term version of this would rapidly become
annoying, the first 40 minutes I found captivating, and other highlights
include Matt's confrontation with Harriet, anything with Jack, and the
ending set to "Under Pressure."
Wes: And the two things that have them
scared gutless are the FCC and every pscyho-religious cult that gets
positively horny at the very mention of a boycott. |
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#6. Yesterday's Enterprise
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 3, Episode
15 |
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Without a doubt one of the best
one-off episodes of any Star Trek series, this one features, surprise, a
temporal anomaly, which a former Enterprise entered causing an alternate
future. The only problem is, to set things right, Picard has to
send it back, where it will be destroyed in battle. It's a simple
sci-fi conceit done beautifully, bringing back ex-crewwoman Tasha Yar,
establishing Starfleet as a military organization, and endowing Guinan
with the sole recollection of both timelines. It's one of TNG's
darkest and most poignant episodes (alt-Riker dies violently, the
romance of Yar and Lt. Castillo proves ill-fated), and in the end, it
all comes down to Picard and Guinan. And Worf's prune juice.
Captain Picard: Let us make sure history never forgets the
name Enterprise. |
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#5. Casino Night
The Office, Season 2, Episode 22 |
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A season's worth of flirting
between Jim and Pam built up to one of the greatest comedy season
finales in history. The first supersized episode got great moments
from almost the entire supporting cast, my favorites being Toby's
explanation as to why he did not invite Boy Scouts to Casino Night,
Angela comparing gambling to prostitution, and Darryl teaching Michael
"black" phrases. But obviously, the point of the episode was to
set the stage for Jim's love confession to Pam, which was brilliantly
performed and simultaneously joyous and heart-breaking. Then we
get a fakeout ending with Michael's voiceover about his own subplot, but
it was just to obscure the real ending, the kiss heard 'round the world.
Dwight: Codename Remax is here. No
sign of Lan Jevinson. |
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#4. College
The Sopranos, Season 1, Episode 5 |
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This was my first favorite
episode of the Sopranos, featuring Tony's trip with Meadow to visit
colleges in Maine, while Carmela spends the night not getting dirty with
Father Phil. It takes place during an amazingly symbolic
rainstorm, which Christopher ventures into repeatedly to contact Tony
via payphone. This is because Tony has found a former mafia member
who sold his secrets to the government and got put into witness
protection. Secrets are revealed (Carmela finds out Dr. Melfi's a
woman, Tony comes clean to Meadow and vice versa, Carmela and Father
Phil speak openly about their mutual desires), we get some suspense
(Tony's target stakes out Tony's motel room), Tony
awesomely does his own dirty work (for I think the first time), and the
actors, particularly Tony and Carmela, are amazing.
Meadow: Are you in the mafia? |
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#3. A Trip to the Dentist
Veronica Mars, Season 1, Episode 21 |
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We open in Havana, where Keith
proves his PI chops by finding idiot Duncan, who gives his best
performance later telling Veronica that she's his sister and he
knowingly had sex with her. Backtracking, Veronica solves the rape
mystery in a brilliant Rashomon-style episode that sheds light on many
of the characters. While the main mystery alone would have been a
phenomenal episode, we also get Veronica finally unloading on Wallace,
Logan building up Aaron's ire, and Weevil coming to the rescue one last
time as Veronica discovers the Echolls' creepy camera system.
Veronica: There were 100 people at Shelly
Pomroy's party. 98 of them would walk over my corpse for free gum.
|
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#2. My Occurrence
Scrubs, Season 1, Episode 22 |
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Long my favorite episode of
Scrubs, this is the first appearance of Brendan Fraser as Jordan's
brother and Dr. Cox's best friend. His Polaroid pictures
throughout the episode are very revealing, from that great shot of
Jordan being cranky to the one of Carla and Turk sitting next to each
other looking unhappy. Of course the main dramatic thread is
Brendan Fraser getting leukemia and JD having to tell him, and it is
easily one of the most compelling. Apart from that, the episode is
very well-directed and is the first appearance of JD's celebrity nudity
memory. J.D.: And as for Ms.
Connelly, topless in "Inventing the Abbotts," bottomless in "Requiem for
a Dream," and in "The Hot Spot," you gotta love her: frontal and
tush-tush! |
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#1. 33
Battlestar Galactica, Season 1, Episode 1 |
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One of the greatest series
premieres in history, "33" is the mostly plot-less episode of Battlestar
where the crew just try to survive, escaping the Cylons every 33
minutes. The actors do exhausted incredibly well, and it's the
little things like Adama shaving and Dee catching Tigh giving Adama his
10-minute nap that ground the episode. The two actual plot points
deal with my favorite prop, the white board. Apollo has to destroy
the civilian Olympic Carrier, on top of the rest of the relentlessly
depressing show, but at the end, Roslin gets to add a tally to the white board thanks to a random birth. The disregard of the plot in this
episode beautifully conveys that the characters are the foundation of
this show, and it is one of my all-time favorite episodes of any series.
Chief Tyrol: Cally...shut up. |
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