What is the single best episode of any TV series that you have ever seen?

[JohnT]

"City on the Edge of Forever" in Star Trek? "The Contest" from Seinfeld? "Abyssinia Henry" from M*A*S*H (one of the few times I cried because of a TV show... and I caught it in reruns!)

What is your favorite TV episode, ever? If you can't think of a "favorite", just tell us about one that you really, really liked.

[JohnT]

Ladies and Gentlemen, the greatest single hour of episodic television:

Once More with Feeling, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It could've gone soooo wrong, this one. Tragically, horribly wrong, the sort of thing that destroys careers and become legendary in its complete awfulness (My Mother the Car, anyone?) Had it just sucked, most would've been relieved. Had it been merely mediocre, most fans would've been overjoyed at having dodged the bullet. Had it been good… well, nobody was expecting that. They were pretty much expecting suckitude.

But… it was fantastic. Spellbinding. Brilliantly written, with songs that were shockingly good coming, as they did, from first time songwriter and wunderkind Joss Whedon. Even more amazing, the songs were not in the same style... pop, hard rock, jazz, and other genres were presented here.

And the greatest thing of all... it wasn't gimmicky. It moved the season's overarching story along, while supplying character development to all the major characters in a logical, consistent manner.

And, unlike other TV shows, BtVS has no problem going dark... there’s no rule about happy endings with this one. This one started dark, and ended darker.

It starts off with Buffy singing about how she has lost all the joy in her life:

I’ve been making shows of trading blows
Just hoping no one knows
That I’ve been
Going through the motions
Walking through the part
Nothing seems to penetrate my heart
...
Will I stay this way forever?
Sleepwalk through my lifes endeavor?
...
I don't wanna be
Going through the motions;
Losing all my drive.
I can't even see
If this is really me.
And I just want to be
Alive

People usually don't sing in the Buffyverse, and while discussing the situation in the song "I've got a Theory" (with possibly the rockingest refrain about bunnies (yes, bunnies) you'll ever hear in your life), they theorize that the entire town of Sunnydale is under some sort of spell that compels people to burst into song expressing their deepest feelings. Buffy, apathetic to her friends and life, closes the song with the words:

It doesn't matter...
What can't we face if we're together?
What's in this place that we can't weather?
Apocalypse?
We've all been there
The same old trips
Why should we care?

The best song (bar one) in the entire episode comes a few minutes later, as the lovers Willow and Tara (yes, a lesbian couple) go for a walk. Actress Amber Benson (Tara) easily has the best voice of the cast which is highlighted in the love ballad "Under Your Spell"

I'm under your spell
Nothing I can do
You just took my soul with you
You worked your charms so well
Finally, I knew
Everything I dreamed was true
You make me complete!

The above words are VERY ironic, as the viewer (and Tara) will find out later in the episode. The song ends with Tara receiving oral sex (you thought you could just skip all this, didn’t you? ) from Willow while singing:

The moon to the tide
I can feel you inside
I'm under your spell
Surging like the sea
Drawn to you so helplessly
I break with every swell
Lost in ecstasy
Spread beneath my Willow tree
You make me complete!
You make me complete
You make me complete
You make me come...

Xander and Anya have a song and dance routine that explores their fears in regards to their upcoming marriage: both (especially Xander) have cold feet. This song strikes me as very reminiscent of the old "**** Van ****" theme, which isn't all that hard to believe as Whedon's father was a writer for the show. Xander has a bit of a courage problem, which is pointed out to him by Anya in perhaps my favorite moment in the entire episode:

When things get rough, he
Just hides behind his Buffy!
Now look, he's getting huffy
Cause he knows that I know.

Because BtVS has more than it's fair share of Soap Opera overtones ( ), and because modern song seemingly exists only for the musical exploration of love and sex, Spike gets to sing how he feels about Buffy though he has no desire to whatsoever.

Then we meet the villain, Sweet, who explains what’s going on in his jazz-tinged number:

All these melodies, they go on too long
Then that energy starts to come on way too strong
All those hearts lie open; that must sting
Plus, some customers just start combustin’
That's the penalty when life is but a song.

He was called to Sunnydale unaware that the Slayer lived there, but once he found out (at the end of his song) his goal was (of course) to kill her.

Giles, Buffy’s “teacher”, realizes that he is no longer needed and is, in fact, hindering her development. In a scene that takes place in his business (a store devoted to magic) he sings:
The cries around you, you don't hear at all
'Cuz you know I'm here to take that call
So you just lie there when you should be standing tall
But I...
I wish I could lay your arms down
And let you rest at last
Wish I could slay your demons
But now that time has passed
Wish I could stay your stalwart, standing fast
But I'm standing in the way
I'm just standing in the way

As he is finishing his song, the camera catches Tara running towards the book section, a small flower in her hand. Flipping through some pages, she sees an illustration of the flower, stops, and reads the caption that states that the flower is used to augment spells of mind control – her own lover is, literally, messing with her mind. In a duet with Giles, they sing how they must leave the one that they love the most – Giles for Buffy’s sake, Tara for her own:

I'm under your spell
God, how can this be?
Playing with my memory.
You know I've been through hell.
Willow, don't you see?
There'll be nothing left of me
You made me believe
…
Wish I could trust that it was just this once
But I must do what I must
I can't adjust to this disgust
We're done and I just
Wish that I could stay

Sweets minions burst in to the magic shop to inform the group that Sweet has Buffy’s sister. Buffy turns to go face Sweet, expecting the group (especially Giles) to follow her. Giles refuses, saying that Buffy doesn’t need him any more and that she needs to take care of this one herself. Buffy, pissed, leaves, starting my favorite song of the musical: the ensemble piece “Walk through the Fire.” I can’t really quote it as there would be no way I could do it justice. Humor, pathos, fear, apathy, irritation, and more are interwoven into the episodes centerpiece song, and while music-wise it isn’t anything to write home about (something about it definitely sounds like somebody from LA wrote it), lyrically and structurally it is a wonder.

Buffy bursts into Sweets lair a few minutes before everybody else (they decided to join her after all during the “Fire” song), kicks his minions ass while she is singing the final full song of the show, one that explains to her friends why she has been so apathetic and listless the past few months. See, Buffy died at the end of season 5 (OMWF was aired during season 6) and Willow, being a witch and Buffy’s best friend, brought her back to life. Usually in fiction this is a good thing, but BtVS pulls no punches: When she died, Buffy went to heaven and, after having come back, is distressed with how painful life is even when it is good, and her resentment at the joy and peace that has been stolen from her is finally beginning to boil over:

There was no pain
No fear, no doubt
Till they pulled me out
Of Heaven
So that's my refrain
I live in Hell
Cause I've been expelled
From Heaven
...
So, give me something to sing about!

Of course, Buffy doesn’t die, and Sweet is (kind of) defeated. As he leaves, he crows to a very sorry-looking band of heroes in a reprise of his earlier song:

What a lot of fun
You guys have been real swell.
And there's not a one who can say this ended well.
All those secrets you've been concealing:
Say you're happy now,
Once more with feeling.
Now I've got to run
See you all in Hell!

Understanding that things will never be the same again, the gang sings the final (very short) song:

Where do we go from here?
The battle's done and we kind of won
So we sound our victory cheer
Where do we go from here?
Why is the path unclear
When we know hope is near?
Understand we'll go hand in hand, but we'll walk alone in fear
Where do we go from here?

And by the way, I wasn’t a fan or even a regular watcher of this show when I first saw this episode. It just made me an instant fan.

You know, when I started this post I had no idea I was going to do a plot synopsis. I was just going to say something along the lines of "this episode rocked!", but things just kept coming to mind. Sorry 'bout that.

[JohnT]

Uh, "Dlck van Dike"?

[DinoDoc]

"God Gambit" in Transformers
"Trouble with Tribbles" in Star Trek

[Ming]

The last show of Newhart... Where Bob Newhart wakes up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette, who played his wife Emily in his first series, The Bob Newhart show... and the whole second series was just a dream.

A classic moment in TV history. I've never laughed harder in my life.

[Frankychan]

One of the best I've seen is the Family Guy episode where they get stuck in an American Indian casino. The main character, Peter, is constantly making fun of American Indians the whole episode until the end of the credits where he says something to the effect of:

"I've learned that American Indians are to be respected and are not like any of the stereotypes portrayed out there............................................. ..................
..................
..................
..................
..................
..................
..................not like those dirty Hawaiians."

When I first heard him say that I did a doubletake of "Did he just say that?!" When I finally realised he said that, I started laughing so hard, I started to cry.


....that episode was one of the best!

[Urban Ranger]

I like the Nightstalker series.

For Star Trek: TNG, the best one is with the aliens that speak in cliches. Such-and-such when the city wall falls down.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
For Star Trek: TNG, the best one is with the aliens that speak in cliches. Such-and-such when the city wall falls down.

Yep, this was a great episode.

Also the DS9 sequel with the tribbles (where theDS9 crew met the TOS crew) I liked very much.

[monkspider]

How about "Cape Fear" from the Simpsons, you know, the one where Sideshow Bob escapes, and all the rakes?

Or the Bizarro World Seinfeld?

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Ming
The last show of Newhart... Where Bob Newhart wakes up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette, who played his wife Emily in his first series, The Bob Newhart show... and the whole second series was just a dream.

A classic moment in TV history. I've never laughed harder in my life.

That show was my first thought. Classic.

I also liked the finale of Dallas. The guy who shows JR what would happen if he had never lived and JR turns to in the end turns out to have burning red eyes and compells JR to pull the trigger... good take off on a movie.

Some of the Law & Orders where characters get written out have been well done. I remember the one where Claire was killed in a broad side by a drunk driver.

However, I think my favorite of all time would be the TNG episode where Picard is connected to a probe made by a long dead race which renders him unconcious. In the space of an hour while he lay comatose, the probe leads him through a life time where he gets married, has children, and sees the end of the the alien race on a dying planet. He plays a flute. When he 'dies' of old age, he wakes up on the bridge of the Enterprise. They get ahold of the probe. They find a flute. Fading scene has Picard alone playing the same haunting tune on that flute.

[MrWhereItsAt]

JohnT - you REALLY like that episode, don't you? I blame the bunnies.


The last episode of Quantum Leap is one that springs to mind. After so many stories following the format, this is one that stops me cold when I see or hear bits of it.

And that last caption has to be, after so many years, one of the saddest (scripted) moments in a TV show's history.

Otherwise undoubtedly something from 24, season 2. I'm still reeling from it, and I have now missed the last 3 episodes. Can't even find one particular one that I know is the best - there are so many good 'uns.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by MrWhereItsAt
The last episode of Quantum Leap is one that springs to mind. After so many stories following the format, this is one that stops me cold when I see or hear bits of it.

And that last caption has to be, after so many years, one of the saddest (scripted) moments in a TV show's history.

He never made it home?

[monkspider]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
He never made it home?

He didn't? What a crummy end to a perfectly good series.

[mindseye]

All in the Family.

Archie's life is saved by a woman who gives him mouth-to-mouth resucitation. Imagine his reponse when he discovers that the woman is in fact a tranny.

The woman goes on to become a close friend of Edith's. Later, Edith is decimated when the woman is murdered in a gay-bashing incident.

Now that boys and girls, was powerful television.

[ixnay]

The Powerpuff Girls - Meet the Beat-Alls

It is absolutely brilliant. An 11 minute episode, filled with references to the Beatles. I loved every second of it.