Hey everyone, feeling a little list deprived? Well, good news! We’ve got a ton more for you! All this week (and some of next week) we’ll be giving you our Best of 2009, starting with this list of our 15 favorite TV episodes. We didn’t rank this one, but feel free to argue in the comments about how wrong we are or offer your own rankings:
“Racial Sensitivity” – Better Off Ted
Sometimes, all it takes is one great episode for a decent show to jump to must-see, and that’s exactly what Better Off Ted did with “Racial Sensitivity,” an inspired bit of corporate satire that combined all the show’s best elements for 30 exhilarating minutes. Like “Slap Bet” before it, “Racial Sensitivity” announced the arrival of a show with a truly unique comic point of view.
“Come Ye Saints” – Big Love
Big Love started as something of a novelty, a story about a guy with three wives. By the time the show hit “Come Ye Saints” in its third season, all of that was more or less in the past. After Anna divorces Bill, he takes his family on a trip across the country, visiting important Mormon sites. The trip turns into a disaster, most notably after Sarah’s pregnancy comes to light when she has a miscarriage. Not only is the family intensely fractured, but Bill himself questions his faith and decisions more than ever. It’s a powerful episode of a show that was as good, if not better, than the other big dramas in its third season.
“ABQ” – Breaking Bad
You could basically choose from any of the 13 episodes in Breaking Bad’s engrossing second season, but we settled on the finale, which ties up the recurring images of the pink bear and body bags with Aristotlean flair. Walter White’s descent to hell completes itself in showy, fiery fashion, putting an exclamation mark at the end of one of the best seasons of television ever.
“Bad Breaks” – Burn Notice
“Bad Breaks” trucks along for its first ten minutes like every other episode of Burn Notice. Michael Weston starts investigating a case while also working on his larger mission of figuring out who burned him. But then the bank Michael is in gets robbed and, from there, its off to the races. Loaded with cool spy tricks and breakneck pacing, “Bad Breaks” was one of the most exciting and frothy hours of the year.
“Debate 109″ – Community
Community has quickly endeared itself to its fans in a lot of ways, and “Debate 109″ showcases the goofy charm the show has. Jeff gets roped into doing the debate team with Annie where he quickly finds his “lawyer skills” will be of no use. Fueled by an obnoxious rival and the promise of a parking space, Jeff and Annie get tough, and awkward together, and beat rival City College. Meanwhile, Pierce tries hypnotherapy to help Britta quit smoking and Troy and Shirley freak out over Abed’s films that predict the future. When it all comes together, it’s easy to see the quirky sweetness that has made Community one of the best new comedies of the season.
“Seinfeld” – Curb Your Enthusiasm
Larry David folded the comic universe in on itself at the climax of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s seventh season, when he threw on a sweater vest and portrayed George Costanza, the fictionalized version of Larry David from Seinfeld. The series of events that got us there, involving Mocha Joe, a pamphlet sized book on acting (without acting), and respect for wood was as hilarious as the show has ever been.
“Unnatural Love” – Flight of the Conchords
Americans might not fully grasp the never-ending feud between New Zealanders and Australians, but Flight of the Conchords made it one of their central jokes in their two season run. “Unnatural Love” finds Jemaine falling in love with an Australian after a night on the town goes a awry, much to the chagrin of Brett and Murray. Nearly all the jokes in the episode are about Australia, but told through the subtle humor of the show, it’s absolutely hysterical. The episode also features one of the band’s best songs, “Carol Brown.” Though maybe not their funniest or most memorable, it is a really terrific, catchy song with probably the coolest looking sequence the show’s done.
“The Son” – Friday Night Lights
[WARNING: This is an episode that has only aired on DirecTV. If you're waiting to watch on NBC in the spring, do not read further!] “The Son” might be the best episode the show has ever done. Matt Saracen emerged in the first season of FNL as an unlikely hero, a second string quarterback who was never supposed to play or get the girl. Matt was perpetually in an uphill battle, with a grandmother with dementia, a mother that left him, and a father who’d rather fight in Iraq than be at home. The latter comes to a head when Matt’s father is killed in Iraq, sending Matt into a downward spiral he seemed destined to have. Zach Gilford delivers an Emmy-worthy performance in an episode of FNL that will put a lump in the throat of even the most passive viewer. Television writing really doesn’t get much better than this.
“Benefits” – How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother once again showed its ability to take a pretty typical sitcom premise and add some life to it. Here, Ted and Robin become friends-with-benefits to ease the tension of their roommate situation, much to the chagrin of a lovesick Barney. The nimbleness with which the show deals with it, especially during the sequence that goes through the entire sequence of events in about two minutes, makes for another top-notch episode.
“The Incident” – Lost
Lost’s finales aren’t always their strongest episodes, but those looking for resolution from “The Incident” were left with their heads spinning. After a season of mindbending, time-travel weirdness, Lost raised the ante even further, raising questions of fate and predetermination while building to the most painful cliffhanger in the show’s history. Add in our first intriguing glimpses of Jacob (in a series of some of the show’s finest flashbacks ever), the Locke payoff, and the tragic end to the Juliet-Sawyer relationship, and you’ve got a bang-up finale.
“Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency” – Mad Men
There are plenty of memorable moments in television history, but there are few as horrifying as the lawn mower scene Mad Men used in their terrific third season. But really, the shocking scene is only one part of a terrific episode changed the gang at Sterling-Cooper tremendously. Don is teased, first by Cooper’s suggestion that he might be promoted to work in London, and then by the prospect of working for Conrad Hilton. Joan’s departure from Sterling-Coop is hampered when her husband doesn’t get the chief residence position. Betty stays a bad mother. Lane get’s transferred to Bombay, then gets to keep his job. Oh yeah, and Lois ran over a guy’s foot with a riding lawn mower. For a show that likes to keep it’s plot moving slowly, this was an episode that put into action the events that would define the end of another season of Mad Men.
“Fizbo” – Modern Family
Modern Family has been fairly consistently hilarious, but “Fizbo” is super-extra-double hilarious. Featuring a story line that finds a fleet way to make use of the entire ensemble, an interesting structure, and the sight of Cam threatening someone in a clown suit, the episode is an inspired bit of work, as showed by the meticulously built Rube Goldberg device that leads to the episode’s climactic injury.
“The Hunting Trip” – Parks and Recreation
If there’s any episode to show just how much Parks and Rec improved between its first and second season, it would be “The Hunting Trip.” Leslie maneuvers herself, Tom, Donna, and Anne onto a hunting trip previously reserved for Ron, Jerry, and Mark, trying to prove herself to be one of the boys. This would probably have only played out as a decent half hour of television, but when Ron get’s shot in the head, it becomes fantastic. Ron’s instant reaction to take 8 pain pills and down scotch, Tom’s suggestion that the Predator was hunting them, Donna’s distress over her car, and Leslie’s reasons for why being a woman caused her to shoot Ron are priceless. If you didn’t believe in Parks and Rec after its first season, watch this episode right away.
“Kerplunk” – Pushing Daisies
Pushing Daises met it’s too soon demise with “Kerplunk,” an episode not intended to be a finale, but one that functions fairly well as one. The episode finds Ned and Olive working for the Darling Mermaid Darlings on their comeback tour to solve the mystery of who sent a shark after one of their rivals. the mystery wasn’t the best the show did, but it was done with such gusto and with an attempt to tie up loose ends before the show’s end, that the episode is more bittersweet than any others. The brief epilogue tacked on at the end to wrap up the show may have been a bit too quick, but it’s a fitting end to a show that went too soon.
“Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel” – The Venture Bros.
Cartoon Network shows are nothing if not user-friendly. Beyond the show’s basic set-up, you usually don’t need to know too much going in and don’t need to watch that closely to get what’s going on. The Venture Bros’ fourth season premiere, however, tossed all that aside, wallowing in its dense continuity and crafting an episode that made no concessions to linear storytelling, creating as exhilarating and captivating a half hour as Adult Swim has ever aired.
Michael
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