The 8 Best TV Episodes of 2017
You’ve read my Best & Worst TV Shows of 2017 list, but what of the individual episodes that impressed me over the past 12 months? There were some stunning hours (and half hours) of small-screen filmmaking this year — here’s the very best.
1. TWIN PEAKS: PART 8
There has never been anything like Part 8 of Twin Peaks: The Return, and there may never be again. A phenomenal piece of experimental cinema ripped from the deepest depths of David Lynch’s spiritual soul, we’ll never forget the risk Showtime took by airing this.
See also: Part 11, in which Lynch pays tribute to David Fincher in the most delightful way.
2. BOJACK HORSEMAN: THE OLD SUGARMAN PLACE
Season 4 of Bojack took fascinating liberties with linear time, beginning with the heartbreaking second episode. Bojack returns to his ancestral home, helps an old dragonfly do some repairs, and starts to rebuild himself after tragedy. Incredibly moving.
See also: “Time’s Arrow”, one of the most devastating depictions of the deteriorating mind you’ve ever seen.
3. THE LEFTOVERS: DON’T BE RIDICULOUS
Nora (Carrie Coon) cements her place as the most compelling, complicated character on the show, as she heads to St. Louis to meet a Perfect Strangers actor, confronts some of her demons and ends up jumping on a trampoline while a Wu-Tang Clan track blares. Purgative and cathartic.
See also: “Crazy Whitefella Thinking”: Scott Glenn’s Kevin Sr. gets a focus episode, and threatens to steal the whole show.
4. MASTER OF NONE: AMARSI UN PO
After La La Land, before Call Me By Your Name, there was Aziz Ansari’s lush romance, the hour-long ninth episode of Master’s superb second season. Dev (Ansari) brings his Italian dreamgirl to New York but tries not to fall in love with her, failing spectacularly.
See also: “The Thief”, a worthy tribute to classic Italian cinema.
5. BIG MOUTH: AM I GAY?
Blossoming teenager Andrew gets an erection watching a Dwayne Johnson trailer and goes on a profound journey of sexual questioning. Richly relatable, endearingly executed and featuring a fabulous musical number (ft. The Ghost of Justice Antonin Scalia!).
See also: “Girls Are Horny Too”, as the show turns its attention to the female side of puberty and gives it a rightfully equal share of attention.
6. FEUD: YOU MEAN ALL THIS TIME WE COULD HAVE BEEN FRIENDS?
For seven hours Feud was gossipy and fun, but for its finale it took a darker turn and revealed the true psychological impact of the Hollywood system’s manipulative ways. Joan Crawford and Bette Davis’s decades-long rivalry was relatively anticlimactic, so Ryan Murphy stages their final encounter as a fever dream. Stunningly performed.
See also: “And The Winner Is…”: Murphy and co. stage a grand re-enaction of the 1963 Oscars, and it’s marvellous.
7. FARGO: THE LAW OF NON-CONTRADICTION
Fargo’s third season didn’t have a lot of great ideas, but it did have one: giving Carrie Coon a whole episode to just… be Carrie Coon. This was a distinctly enjoyable Coen homage, beginning with an old-timey Hollywood throwback before following Coon’s character on a science fiction-themed treasure hunt around L.A. There’s also an animated robot, which was both very irritating and kinda charming.
See also: The rest of this season was pretty poor.
8. BETTER CALL SAUL: CHICANERY
An hour-long courtroom drama for people who find courtroom dramas incessantly dull. Michael McKean gives the best performance of his career, and one Breaking Bad supporting character we never expected to see again makes a sneaky, brilliant return.
See also: “Lantern”, a very exciting season finale with a horrifying twist ending.
