I was recently rewatching the IT Crowd, which is one of my favourite shows and after finishing Season 2 Episode 1, “The Work Outing” for the hundredth of time I realized this is probably my favourite sitcom episode of all time. I just can’t get bored of the jokes and the delivery. The writing is gold, and the story escalates from funny to absolutely insane hilarious. Makes me laugh every time. Half the dialogue I quote to this day.
There are many good episodes I love, and could put here as close seconds: probably most of the Futurama series, a dozen of episodes of The Office or some classics from the Friends, I could think of.
So I would like to hear what episodes of any TV show is your favourites and why? Doesn’t needs to be necessarily comedy, anything from television is fair game.
Think of it as a “what single item would you bring to a desert island with you” question, just with an episode of a TV show :)
Firefly, Out of Gas
“Fay-yoo? Ah… ah… OK, she won’t be winning any beauty contests anytime soon, but she is solid. Ship like this, be with you till the day you die.”
“Because it’s a death trap.”
Maybe not favorite of all shows but the first that came to mind;
Out of Gas, Firefly
Take my love
Take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care 'cause I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from meA Dark Quiet Death from Mythic Quest.
Nearly totally removed from the rest of the show, it’s about relationships, sacrifice, integrity, compromise. For a comedy show about video games, this episode hit hard and made me reflect on past relationships and really broke me down. A reminder to take responsibility of your actions when you feel like the blame is external.
Then there’s a very brief end scene that puts it in context with the regular cast.
This episode should have won an award.
Monorail monorail monorail
Bo Jack - Free churro.
Always Sunny, “The Gang Hits the Road”.
The entire episode is just them driving around Philly with the intention of going elsewhere, but the plan gets derailed in typical gang fashion when they wind up just switching seats over and over (both in and out of the U-Haul) until they end up back where they started, and with zero interest in continuing the original plan.
The gay episode of The Last of Us. I think it’s the greatest episode of television period.
Honorable mention for my favorite moment in a TV show - Brienne of Tarth a Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. What a shining, glorious moment of satisfaction for a hardworking and truly good character in a season of utter bullshit.
I will always feel that we were robbed of so many satisfying conclusions because of the show rushing to wrap everything up. Not everything had to be tied in a perfect bow, but what we got certainly did not scratch that perfectly placed itch.
It’s an absolute travesty that they threw away nearly every character’s arc in the final season and robbed them of their big moments, purely to subvert expectations. These arcs were predictable because that’s where their stories were fucking heading. But noOoOoo…
Jaime is probably the show’s finest example of an eight-season arc thrown directly into the trash at the last moment. What was even the point?
I understand they wanted some characters to be disappointments, it could have been cool to have Jaime get super close to a satisfying arc and, at the last second fail. But the last few scenes with him completely backpedalling his entire motivation make no sense.
GOT had so much going for it. And yet, in a post like this asking about favorite episodes, no one is even mentioning it’s earlier fantastic episodes - the final season ruined all previous good work.
I really enjoyed the episode Forks from The Bear, particularly after the traumatic gut punch that was Fishes. Hit close to home and didn’t expect a Taylor Swift song to break me, much less in a GOOD way.
Star Trek TNG S6E21 Where Riker gets put through psychological hell in magnificent fashion. It spells out clearly everything that’s terrifying about psychedelics, and mental hospitals commandeering your life with discrediting tactics.
Also I love the wrestling episode of King of the Hill because Bobby and Connie subvert expectations of warring adults in grand fashion!
The circle of life episode of Adventure time is such a blast! Very trippy.
I don’t think this has been mentioned yet and might not be seen but…
The finale of Six Feet Under. It’s my favorite show, and the finale is the only episode of a show (other than maybe Futurama) that made me cry. I can’t even explain why, and there’s so many other episodes of SixFUnder that are incredible, but I’ve never in my life seen a show end that strong, and it’s my favorite show.
The Luck of the Fryrish - Futurama
Fry spent his life thinking his brother was a dick who was stealing his personality, when all he really wanted was to be around him. And by the time he realized it, it was too late. Having a similar relationship with my brother, this hit close to home. I keep telling myself if I ever got a tattoo, it would be a 7 leaf clover.
Love that episode
Scrubs, Where do you think we are?
A perfect misdirection the entire episode, us as the viewer have no idea what is happening or why Dr Cox is losing it, until it all just shatters. We experience his grief firsthand, not understanding and denying it, until the world shatters around us and reality finally forces its way through. It’s perfectly done, and completely gut wrenching
The episode is “My Screw Up” (S3E14) if anyone is wondering.
I might actually prefer “My Lunch” from S5 as an episode, but they are both fantastic.
The epiphany toilet is my fav.
Tied with rabies, ”i know”
Dang, I definitely remember this scene and it’s been ages since I’ve seen this show.
Community, season 3, Pillows and Blankets.
It’s a campus wide pillow fight between two friends / armies done as a Ken Burns Civil War documentary.
Winger’s critics suggest he merely improvised hot-button patriotic dogma in a Ferris Bueller-ian attempt to delay schoolwork. Winger decries the accusation as “A slanderous betrayal akin to 9/11.” Later after the war, he would refer to the theory as “essentially accurate.”
There are people who say: ‘I don’t get it, so it was a pillow fight.’ To which I say: ‘You weren’t there.’
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Hush
The writing for this silent episode is just wonderful, and the whole cast’s chemistry really shines in their non-verbal acting
Hush was so good! Oh my god, when that first came out I was obsessed.
Mine is also from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, but the complete opposite of Hush; mine is Once More, With Feeling. The musical episode.
But I have to admit, the stabby stabby masturbation joke in Hush is one of the best jokes on the show.
Both excellent, but I have to put The Body at the top. I think that’s where I realized how excellent some of the actors in this show were, SMG in particular. Anya’s monologue has stayed with me in a way nothing else from tv or movies ever has. Would I rather enjoy a OMWF singalong? Yes, any day. But The Body felt like a one of a kind thing.
I didn’t recognize the episode title, and had to Google to see which one you meant.
Now I’m crying. Fuck, that episode was powerful.
I applaud both Buffy answers and would like to add “The Body” to the mix.
