Favourite TV Episodes

[OldKingClancy]

We've had threads before about favourite shows, characters, moments, etc, but this one is about what is your favourite episodes of television.

They can be any episode from any show, just moments of TV that stand out for you.

My picks:

1: Breaking Bad - Face Off
One of the tensest episodes of TV ever, a fitting end to the season and the full extent of Walt's fall into the dark side.

2: The Wire - Middle Ground
The final moments between Stringer and Avon, two long-time friends who've drifted apart leading up to that final scene in the construction site

3: Lost - The Constant
This is mostly down to the phonecall at the end which is one of the most beautiful moments on TV I've ever seen, but the whole episode is great, mixing time-travel, sci-fi, romance and Lost's ever present mystery and bringing it all together perfectly.

4: Spartacus: War Of The Damned - Victory
Spartacus saved its best for last and went out swinging, a perfect all-out battle episode with plenty of your favourite characters getting killed off and a sombre ending that fits the show's tone to a tee.

5: Game of Thrones - Blackwater
I picked this over Red Wedding because as an episode Blackwater is a more concise and focussed outing. Everything from that epic Ye Olde Nuke to The Hound at his most bad-ass, Tyrion leading the charge and drunk Cersei, it's GoT at it's best.

Honourable mentions go to:
The Sopranos - College
Breaking Bad - Half Measures
Battlestar Gallactica - Crossroads (Part 2)
Lost - The Shape Of Things To Come
Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena - The Bitter End

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

This is probably an odd choice, but the only thing I can think of right now (my memory is fairly poor and I don't follow much at the moment) is a couple of episodes back of New Girl (a past girlfriend forced me to watch it, much to my surprise it's god damned hilarious) called Quick Hardening Caulk.

Spoiler

Aside from being the first proper kiss between Nick and Jess (which has taken forever and is probably one of the best realised sitcom relationships I've seen) it's also the funniest episode. I suppose it's probably because it focuses on Nick a lot and he is, in my opinion, the best character.

Also, fish boobs.

There. I've never heard of anyone anywhere mention the show (except the aforementioned ex) and it's clearly not aimed at straight British males, but I like it. I can't decide if I love or hate Zooey Deschanel though, even her name is unbearably hipster.

 

[Silvanus]

Game of Thrones-- "Blackwater". Have to agree with the OP. It showcased Stannis and Tyrion at their very best. "Stand and fight! Stand and fight!!"

The Walking Dead-- "TS-19" (The first season finale, set in the centre for disease control). Beautiful episode, beautiful pacing, beautiful ending with Dale and Andrea.

Community-- "A Fistful of Paintballs"/ "For A Few Paintballs More". Even outdid the paintball episode from season 1, in my opinion, and Community was best when it bordered the utterly absurd with a straight face.


...I tried to pick one for Lost, but then I just got angry.

 

[SuperFrankieLampard]

All six episodes of Sherlock.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Star Trek: The Next Generation- "The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 & 2" and "Family", a really strong trilogy of episodes that encapsulates the best of Star Trek TNG.

Babylon 5- "Z'ha'dum", "Into The Fire", "Intersections in Real Time", "Endgame" and "Sleeping in Light", pretty much some of the best TV Sci-Fi in existence, though pretty much the entirety of Season 3 and 4 of B5 are pure, unfettered awesomeness.

The Venture Brothers "Escape To The House of The Mummies II", "Viva Los Muertos" and "Showdown at Cremation Creek 2 Parter", damn funny stuff, perfectly captures the best of Venture Bros' utter absurdism.

Justice League: Unlimited "Task Force X", "The Great Brain Robbery" and "Destroyer", Out of these The Great Brain Robbery is just so damn funny, essentially an in-joke about the fact that Michael Rosenbaum played Lex Luthor on Smallville and voiced The Flash in JLU.

Community "Modern Warfare", "Basic Rocket Science", "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design", "Remedial Chaos Theory", "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux", "Regional Holiday Music", "Pillows and Blankets", "The First Chang Dynasty" and "Introduction to Finality". Most of the first 3 Seasons of Community is gold but these are my favorites.

 

[Crispee]

Firefly: "Objects in Space", "Shindig"
The former because it made River my favorite character and said a lot of interesting phiisophies, and the latter because it's one of my favorite setups in the series.

Doctor Who: "The Eleventh Hour", "The Girl in the Fireplace", "Dalek"
The first two because they're the only episodes that utilise time travel in the narrative, and does so in an effective way. The latter because it's the only time I was capable of taking the Daleks seriously.

Sherlock: "A Study in Pink", "The Reichenbach Fall"
First episode is just a really good introduction to all the characters and starts off nice and small. And the last episode had some of my favorite dialogue between Sherlock and Moriarty.

Adventure Time: "I Remember You", "The Lich"/"Finn the Human"/"Jake the Dog"
First one honestly made me burst into tears it was that well written, the latter three was similarly straight faced yet well written. I do like the none silly episodes too, but they help pave way for the serious ones when they sucker punch you and make sure you don't take the happy, lovably silly episodes for granted, which I never did after that.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Community - "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"
Who knew you could make such epic adventure out of people just sitting at a table.

The Sopranos - "Denial, Anger, Acceptance", "Isabella", "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood", "Pine Barrens"

Twin Peaks - The pilot, and the first episode of season 2.

 

[King of Asgaard]

Game of Thrones - Blackwater and Rains of Castamere.

Avatar: The Last Airbender - book 1 and 2 finales.

Legend of Korra - the 2-part finale.

Star Trek TOS - Space Seed, The Trouble with Tribbles.

TNG - Inner Light, Relics, Best of Both Worlds, Sarek, Chain of Command, All Good Things

DS9 - Whispers, Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast, The Way of the Warrior, The Visitor, Trials and Tribble-ations, In Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light, Call to Arms/A Time to Stand, Waltz, In The Pale Moonlight, Hard Time.

Cowboy Bebop - Ballad of Fallen Angels, Jupiter Jazz, Hard Luck Woman, The Real Folk Blues.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

All six episodes of Sherlock.

Agreed except on ep 2 from season 1. It feels like the odd episode out of them all, if you ask me.

 

[Cursed Frogurt]

1. Breaking Bad Season 1 Episode 3 (I forget the name) - this is the one and only time a TV show got me to cry. It plays like a thriller turned on its head. Absolutely brilliant. (honorable mention is Season 2, Episode 2, which plays like a traditional thriller, but an exceptional one).

2. Seinfeld - The Maid, this episode has every joke that you can't remember what episode it's from. The epitome of Seinfeld

3. Simpsons - Marge on the Lamb, see my description of Seinfeld's The Maid.

4. Sherlock - A Study in Pink

5. Breaking Bad - Full Measure (the end of Season 3). In the last five minutes of that episode, you have no idea how it's going to end. There are just so many OH-SHIT and heart-stopping moments in a row, and yet they are all natural and further develop the characters with just a few simple lines of dialogue. Walt will do whatever it takes to survive; Jesse respects and trusts Walt to a fault; Mike truly feels sorry about what he has to do... until he realizes how fucked up Walt is - his face when he tells him Gale's address says it all.

 

[Cursed Frogurt]

Community - "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"
Who knew you could make such epic adventure out of people just sitting at a table.

The Sopranos - "Denial, Anger, Acceptance", "Isabella", "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood", "Pine Barrens"

Twin Peaks - The pilot, and the first episode of season 2.

That episode of Community is genius. "I attack the goblin with my... additional notes."

 

[AliasBot]

1) Stargate: SG-1 - "200"

Possibly the most meta thing I've ever seen, chock full of self-referential stuff and references to other shows, including one that two members of the main cast had previously starred in. SG-1 always knew how to have fun with its milestone episodes.

2) Doctor Who - "Blink"

I wouldn't call it the best nuWho episode (that honor belongs to "The Doctor's Wife"), but that's only because it wasn't your typical Doctor Who story, with both the Doctor and his companion on the sidelines for most of the episode. It's a more general sort of sci-fi/horror-type story, and it works really well.

3) Star Trek: TOS - "The Trouble With Tribbles"

...there are no words.

4) Star Trek: TNG - three-way tie between "Ship in a Bottle," "Rascals," and "All Good Things..."

Couldn't decide between the clever sci-fi premise with a historical bent and a clever resolution, the clever sci-fi premise that turned into the one of the most hilarious Star Trek episodes ever (in close company with the above TOS episode), or the clever sci-fi premise that doubled as probably the best series-ending episode I've seen to date. And there are plenty of others that fell short of that top group - TNG had a bunch of very good episodes.

 

[The Funslinger]

Community - "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"
Who knew you could make such epic adventure out of people just sitting at a table.

Surely everyone who plays DnD habitually?

OT: Community: A Fistful of Paintballs/For a Few Paintballs More.

Modern Doctor Who series 3: Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords. For these, I think it helped that I loved Torchwood, so seeing Jack again with all the references was awesome.

Supernatural series 1: Dead Man's Blood/Salvation. Supernatural gives the best modern interpretation of vampires, in my opinion. And there seems to be s 2-parter theme going on here, so I'll try and break that.

Firefly: The Train Job.

Friends: Whichever episode it was that had that competition for the apartment.

Edit: Actually, for Supernatural, I prefer the season 2 finale episodes.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Oh, I'd have to say the first or second episode of The Legend of Korra. Fleshing out Republic City with all the old automobiles and street gangs and bender technology was just so mindblowingly cool to me. When the metalbenders showed up out of the patrolling zeppelin, I knew it was going to be a good series.

 

[EdwardOrchard]

To the OP, I just want to say I think this is a legit awesome topic. Its making me remember some of my favourite television moments, and also making me want to look into some of the shows I've never watched before.

Anyways, my pick has to be:

Battlestar Galactica: Exodus (part 2). In my opinion, the entirety of the new BSG series was flawless, but this episode really stood out. The Galactica's "hot drop" was probably one of the most pulse-pounding, edge-of-my-seat sci-fi action sequences I've ever seen...

Oddly enough, although this was (I think) somewhere in the beginning or end of the third season, the first time I'd ever seen any of the new series was bits and pieces of this episode. Those bits and pieces are what caused me to go back and check out the show from the beginning, and I was instantly hooked from episode 1.

 

[RicoADF]

*snip*

For me Babylon 5 episode "Severed Dreams" is the best TV episode of my favoriate TV series, here's the battle scene:
<youtube=YYoCvgAAiQ8>

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Yeah, I'm with the Blackwater crowd, that line just cements it "There are some brave men over there...Let's go kill them!"

For the first season though, "You Win or You Die" absolutely wins me over because it features Jorah making the hard choice and remaining loyal to Dany.

Justice League: Unlimited "Task Force X", "The Great Brain Robbery" and "Destroyer", Out of these The Great Brain Robbery is just so damn funny, essentially an in-joke about the fact that Michael Rosenbaum played Lex Luthor on Smallville and voiced The Flash in JLU.

Yeah the Brain Robbery was fantastic, great voice work helps a simple concept go far. I'd also add "The Return" because the presentation was rather cool.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Venture Bros

Powerless in the Face of Death - Season 2 premier. Arguably the best opener of all time.

Operation: P.R.O.M. - Season 4 last episode. My favorite animated TV episode ever. Like much of Venture bros, it veers wildly from hilarious, to absurd, to serious and heart wrenching, to heart warming, and back to absurd and hilarious.

Adventure Time

Holly Jolly Secrets, I Remember You - Another animated series, Adventure time is characterized by the absurdity of fantasy, and the horrible, soul crushing terror of the post-apocalypse you hope your kids don't catch onto. Holly Jolly Secrets and I Remember You stand out because they turn the classic 'dick villain' Ice King into a terrifying allegory of dementia - A just a true man twisted and warped by a power he couldn't control into a monster who can't remember who he is.

Star Gate SG-1

1) Stargate: SG-1 - "200"

Possibly the most meta thing I've ever seen, chock full of self-referential stuff and references to other shows, including one that two members of the main cast had previously starred in. SG-1 always knew how to have fun with its milestone episodes.

The Fifth Race - An otherwise typical episode until the last 5 minutes, when Jack O'Neal makes first physical contact with the Asgard.

Abyss - Jack O'neal is captured by Baal, and proceeds to be murdered over and over again, only to be brought back to life again. Much like Star Trek TNG's 'Chain of Command,' it shows the main lead, a man who's done nothing but prove how unbreakable he is, break, while his best friend, a being of almost god like powers, can do nothing but watch him suffer.

There's more, but looking up episode names is becoming tiresome.

 

[FrozenCones]

Breaking Bad - Salud.
Hannabal - Savoureux
The Walking Dead - Beside the Dying Fire
Sherlock - The Reichenbach Fall
Futurama - Jurassic Bark
Game of Thrones - Actually its not Blackwater of TRoC. I'm giving it to The Bear and the Maiden Fair.

 

[DishonoredElderSouls]

Breaking Bad- "...And The Bag's In The River", "Grilled", "Peekaboo", "One Minute", "Half Measures", "Box Cutter", "Problem Dog", "Crawl Space", "Face-Off", "Gliding Over All", "Blood Money". Really, every single episode of Breaking Bad, but those are some highlights.

Spaced- "Art", "Battles", "Back", "Change", "Gone".

Archer- "Killing Utne", "Skorpio", "Swiss Miss", "Blood Test", "Pipeline Fever", "Placebo Effect", the Heart of Archness Trilogy, "Lo Scandalo". Haven't seen much of the newest season.

Wilfred- "Trust", "Acceptance", "Respect", "Pride", "Identity".

Firefly- "Bushwhacked", "Out of Gas", "Objects in Space".

The Walking Dead (which mostly sucks)- "What Lies Ahead", "Pretty Much Dead Already", "Judge, Jury, Executioner", "Better Angels".

All episodes of Samurai Jack after the first season, which mostly seemed like the animators and writers testing the waters.