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The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time

Standout installments of ‘Friends,’ ‘Veep,’ ‘Succession,’ ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Black-ish,’ ‘Twilight Zone,’ and more

The 100 best TV episodes of all time

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MATTHEW COOLEY. IMAGES USED IN ILLUSTRATION: URSULA COYOTE/AMC; RUSS MARTIN/FX; AMAZON STUDIOS; DISNEY ENTERTAINMENT/GETTY IMAGES; MICHAEL YARISH/CBS/GETTY IMAGES; FOX; AMC; GUY D'ALEMA/FX

The thing that has always distinguished TV storytelling from its big-screen counterpart is the existence of individual episodes. We consume our series — even the ones that we binge — in distinct chunks, and the medium is at its best when it embraces this. The joy of watching an ongoing series comes as much from the separate steps on the journey as it does from the destination, if not more. Few pop-culture experiences are more satisfying than when your favorite show knocks it out of the park with a single chapter, whether it’s an episode that wildly deviates from the series’ norm, or just an incredibly well-executed version of the familiar formula.

Still, that episodic nature makes TV fundamentally inconsistent. The greatest drama ever made, The Sopranos, was occasionally capable of duds like the Columbus Day episode. And even mediocre shows can churn out a single episode at the level of much stronger overall series.

For this Rolling Stone list of the 100 greatest episodes of all time, we looked at both the peak installments of classic series, as well as examples of lesser shows that managed to briefly punch way above their weight class. We have episodes from the Fifties all the way through this year. We stuck with narrative dramas and comedies only — so, no news, no reality TV, no sketch comedy, talk shows, etc. In a few cases, there are two-part episodes, but we mostly picked solo entries. And while it’s largely made up of American shows (as watched by our American staff), a handful of international entries made the final cut.

1

Breaking Bad, “Ozymandias” (Season 5, Episode 14)

The power of dramatic television, fully realized. The medium’s biggest advantage over film is the sheer amount of time we get to spend with characters and their stories, episode after episode, year after year. Many of the episodes on this list hit as hard as they do because of how well we know the players and the conflicts by that point. None are as devastating, or as painstakingly set up, as “Ozymandias,” the hour in which every terrible thing Walter White (Bryan Cranston) has done over five-plus seasons finally blows up in his face. Uncle Jack (Michael Bowen) and his gang of neo-Nazis murder Hank (Dean Norris) and steal Walt’s money. Skyler (Anna Gunn) and Flynn (RJ Mitte) refuse to go on the run with Walt, and when he sees the terror in their eyes at the monster he’s become — sees the cold, cruel truth of his situation, rather than the lie he’s been telling himself about how he’s done all these terrible things for his family — he kidnaps baby Holly and drives off. Even a long-dormant storyline — would Jesse (Aaron Paul) find out that Walt was responsible for Jane’s death, and if so, how? — gets an incredible payoff when Walt casually tells Jesse about it, solely to twist the knife before leaving his former partner to be killed (or so he thinks) by Jack’s goons. “Ozymandias” (written by Moira Walley-Beckett and directed by Rian Johnson) tops our list not only because of how well it builds on what came before, but for how perfect it is as an individual hour of storytelling, packed with one indelible moment after another: Hank telling Walt that Jack made up his mind to kill him 10 minutes ago; Walt’s errant pants from the series premiere resurfacing at their owner’s lowest moment; a bereft Skyler howling in the street after Walt steals her daughter; and so many more. The GOAT. —A.S.