By
The Playlist Staff
|
The Playlist
December 23, 2014 at 1:30PM
It's become muddier thanks to the advent of prestige cable drama and VOD, but in general, the TV season begins after each September's Emmys, and as such, we pick out our best shows of the 'year' in the summer —you can find our last list, which was topped by "True Detective," right here.
But with the lines between the big and small screens becoming ever more blurry, we didn't want to completely exclude television from our year-end extravaganza (catch up on everything here), and we've included shout-outs throughout our Best of 2014 coverage. But we also wanted to do something more TV-centric.
So, as we did last year, we've picked out the finest individual TV episodes of 2014. Some are from shows that made our Best Shows list, others are from ones that didn't or that have debuted since —otherwise, the only firm rule is that we'd go with one episode per show. So with no further ado, to take you into the Christmas break, here are the Playlist's pick of the best TV episodes of the year —let us know your own favorites in the comments section.
It should hopefully go without saying, but MAJOR SPOILERS lie ahead.
15. "Broad City" - Season 1, Episode 8, "Destination Wedding"
“Maybe this is one of those really romantic New York City stories where you meet someone amazing and then —pow!— tragedy happens, and they’re gone and you never see them again” says a character early on in this episode. Then again, this is “Broad City” and maybe this is one of those really stupid, funny New York stories where promising relationships end over the “dealbreaker” of having to go to Penn Station. It’s a mark of how immediately assured the show was (it had a previous life as a web show which clearly knocked off any rough edges before its Comedy Central debut) that already in its first season it attempted something like “Destination Wedding,” a kind of storyline that most shows don’t get to play with till two or three seasons in. There’s no subplot to speak of, the characters are not in any of their familiar haunts, and they are shown in a slightly different configuration than usual —it takes huge confidence in your ensemble to carry this off, but also confidence that your audience are already comfortable enough with the show’s format to be able to take a complete shake-up. Of course it helps that stars and writers Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer pack the episode with so many running jokes (literally: the whole show, everyone’s hoofing it on the streets, bikes, and in the cabs, vans, buses and train stations of New York), callback gags and gorgeous moments of deeply insightful character development. That the gang are trying to get to a Connecticut wedding and are thwarted is essentially the plot line, but there is so much more going on than the “Planes Trains and Automobiles” stuff, as the interpersonal relationships between all of them are scratched away at under the pressure of the ticking clock. It’s so cleverly done that the reunion of the film’s central relationship, between Abbi and Ilana themselves, feels well-earned and satisfying —it may be a classic sitcom set-up, but the writing and characterization is fresh and invested with real stakes. And how can we but love characters who end what should be a day at a fancy wedding party by going together into “Thrusts” Gentleman’s Club?
14. “Girls” - Season 3, Episode 9, “Flo”
There’s rarely a bad episode of “Girls,” but many of the show's finest half-hours feel like little self-contained playlets, often removing the characters from their usual environments —think Hannah’s return to her parents in season one’s “The Return,” or second season episodes “One Man’s Trash” with Patrick Wilson, or the visit to Jessa’s father in “Video Games." The third season, arguably the show’s most consistent, had a few of these, but while the fight-fuelled “Beach House” was terrific, we preferred episode nine, “Flo.” Penned by cartoonist and “Seinfeld” writer Bruce Eric Kaplan, and directed by “Dom Hemingway” helmer Richard Shepard, “Flo” serves as something of a sequel to “The Return,” as Hannah rushes upstate to see her Grandma (“Nebraska” Oscar nominee June Squibb), who’s seemingly dying of pneumonia. The rest of that branch of the family are gathered too, with her mom (Becky Ann Baker) pushing Hannah to tell Flo that she’s engaged to Adam (Adam Driver) so she can die happy, even as she bickers with her siblings (Deirdre Lovejoy and Amy Morton), while Hannah herself fails to bond with her cousin (the always-welcome Sarah Steele). For a show nominally centered on four friends, “Girls” has always been great at capturing family dynamics, and this episode almost ends up feeling like it could be a pilot for a spin-off focused on Baker and her siblings, with Steele and Squibb also delivering top-notch performances, and Lena Dunham happy to take the back seat and let the excellent women around her steal the show. It also moves Hannah and Adam’s relationship forward in a very smart, precipitous way, and includes a painful gut-punch of a stinger that lingered longer than the end of a comedy show normally would.
13. "The Leftovers" Season 1, Episode 6, “Guest”
When we first heard about casting changes for the second season of “The Leftovers,” we were in full panic mode —until we saw that Carrie Coon would be returning. She was the biggest surprise of the freshman season; her character Nora is the epicenter of grief for those left behind. And “Guest” focuses solely on her, spending time in Mapleton before she leaves for a conference in Manhattan. Her pre-trip errands aren’t typical: buying food for her absent family, getting a divorce from her philandering, disappeared husband; and hiring a prostitute to shoot her while she’s wearing Kevlar —she makes jokes when she runs into Kevin (Justin Theroux) at the courthouse, but only the physical pain of being shot in the chest matches her sadness. She lets loose at the conference after discovering someone has stolen her badge, letting her temporarily abandon her celebrity status and public grief. But the episode is at its most interesting when a man asks her “do you want to feel this way?” and leads her to Wayne (Paterson Joseph). The leader has seemed like a sham, but the normally cynical Nora collapses immediately, and experiences her first feelings of relief. With its air of almost uninterrupted melancholy, “The Leftovers” is too much for some viewers, but the “Guest” provides a brief respite for the audience, and even occasionally dares to be funny.
12. "You're The Worst" - Episode 8, "Finish Your Milk"
One of the more unsung exponents of this year's exemplary television season was "You're the Worst," a brittle little sitcom on FX that focused on the blossoming romance between two Los Angeles-based commitment-phobes: hot mess publicist Gretchen (Aya Cash) and equally hot-messy British novelist Jimmy (Chris Geere). In this episode, their relationship, already built on unsteady foundations, reaches its low point —Jimmy uncomfortably yells at Gretchen's WASP-y parents and Gretchen finds an engagement ring in Jimmy's drawer not intended for her. The couple (if that's the right word) even breaks up (again: not sure that's the right term). But all that makes it seem like a trite relationship sitcom when it's much more complicated and emotionally three dimensional, thanks largely to a wonderful script by Eva Anderson and ace direction by Matt Shakman. These characters are damaged goods, and their vulnerability is what makes "You're the Worst" so compelling and what also what makes episodes transcend the time-tested formula of similar comedies. The pain enhances the comedy and vice versa, and the actors pull it off spectacularly.
11. "Gravity Falls" - Season 2, Episode 2, "Into The Bunker"
For those not prone to watching animated series on Disney XD: "Gravity Falls" is the greatest, weirdest, most ambitious animated series currently on television. Yes, the comparisons to "The X-Files" and "Twin Peaks" are totally justified, but it's golden age "The Simpsons" that feels like the more immediate touchstone, particularly during the show's second season, which has become stranger and more complex mythologically. Its singular status is typified by the episode "Into the Bunker," which nestles awkward pre-teen interaction inside a vast conspiracy (and a handful of excellent John Carpenter references). This is the moment when the show's limitless imagination makes you identify squeamishly with your own youth. The show follows twins Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel (Kristen Schaal) who spend a summer away from home with their oddball great uncle Stan (series creator Alex Hirsch), who operates a phony museum of the weird while all sorts of actual fantastical business unwittingly happens around him. In "Into the Bunker," Dipper and Mabel search for the author of a mysterious journal detailing the town's oddness, while trying to look cool in front of Dipper's eternal crush Wendy (Linda Cardellini, one of a number of reasons the show also feels reminiscent of "Freaks and Geeks"). They descend into an old bomb shelter ("Was this place built in the past or the future?"), looking for the author, but instead encounter a shape-shifting beast… all while Dipper's affection is revealed in a super-embarrassing way. This episode encapsulates what makes "Gravity Falls" so wildly underseen, and certainly not just for kids —it's scary and funny and relatable. It's the rare series that, as its mythology continues to deepen, never loses sight of what's really important.