Best of the 00s: Favorite Episodes

Alias, "Phase One," 1/26/03

It's always interesting to see how the networks use the post-Super Bowl slot. Some launch new shows, others feature guest-star-packed episodes of already popular shows. Another tactic is to use the slot to try to juice the ratings of a good show that may not be getting the attention it deserves. At the beginning of 2003 Alias was in the middle of its second season, critically beloved but with middling ratings. Blessed by ABC with the post-Super Bowl opportunity, J.J. Abrams and company pulled out a "Go Big or Go Home" episode that functioned as a rare mid-season gamechanger in exploding the show's structure. The elimination of SD-6 and its partners, which erased Sydney's status as a double agent and freed her to finally make out with Vaughn, was an unquestionably bold move for the show and one that paid off, at least until the season-ending time jump. The episode-ending shot of Francie shot through the head by her double remains, for me, one of the most haunting images of the decade in TV.

Arrested Development, "Motherboy XXX," 3/13/05

One of the things that made AD great was the show's offbeat universe. Motherboy is one of the more fantastically weird creations, building on Lucille and Buster's codependent relationship by introducing a creepy mother-son costumed dance. The building insanity that ensues when Lucille decides to kidnap George Michael rather than deal with Buster's recent hand loss features some of the show's funniest situations and images - my personal favorite is Jessica Walter and Michael Cera in costume as Sonny and Cher. What's more, the episode also features the excellent meta reference of having Henry Winkler jump over a shark, which the writers must have found too irresistible to exclude.

Veronica Mars, "A Trip to the Dentist," 5/3/05

I've already written about how much I love this episode, so those points don't really need to be reiterated. Tightly written, evocative of the insularity of high school, fully rooted in the show's universe, features Teddy Dunn's best scenes as Duncan, brilliantly sets up the following season finale. What more could you ask for?

The Office, "The Dundies," 9/20/05

As the show's second-season premiere, "The Dundies" was a big show for The Office. The show's writers needed to prove that they could move out from the shadow of the British original and be more dynamic than the slow-starter first season. The Mindy Kaling-penned episode does all that and more, working to more clearly establish the Dunder Mifflin staff outside of the main credits group and making Michael Scott a noticeably softer character than David Brent.

How I Met Your Mother, "Slap Bet," 11/20/06

HIMYM is a show with writers who love continuity - that is, continued references to people, places and things contained within the show's universe. One of the best things about "Slap Bet" is that the first time you watch it, if you're unspoiled, the ending is impossible to predict. Robin's cagey refusal to go to the mall leads to the rest of the group speculating on her rationale, leading to the infamous titular bet between Barney and Marshall. The ultimate revelation of Robin's past as a Canadian pop star (with hit single "Let's Go to the Mall") makes the episode great. The launching of the running joke of the slap bet, with Marshall ultimately winning the opportunity to slap Barney five times from now until he dies, makes the episode classic.

Battlestar Galactica, "Unfinished Business," 12/1/06

Any show that utilizes a significant jump in time - say, a year or more - ultimately faces the dilemma of how to deal with the lost time afterward. Too much exposition renders the jump essentially pointless, while too little can leave viewers with a surplus of unanswered questions. "Unfinished Business" found the perfect level of revelation - focusing on one hopeful day early in the New Caprica settlement emphasizes the origins of the descent into misery that defined BSG's third season, while still leaving much to the imagination in the time jump. The framing device of military-rank-independent boxing serves the flashbacks so well that it doesn't feel as abruptly introduced as it could have been and allows for great little character moments from Tigh, Cottle and especially Roslin. Truthfully, it's also probably the last time Lee and Kara's relationship (see clip below) didn't seem like it was based on creating needless drama out of thin air.

30 Rock, "Hardball," 2/22/07

30 Rock's stellar first season is full of gems, but this has always been my favorite. One of 30 Rock's best ongoing devices is bringing in real NBC personalities to give the show's universe a semi-fictional air (the best, in my opinion, have been Lester Holt announcing that the Black Crusaders are after Tracy, and any time Brian Williams is on.) This episode's use of Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson, as Jenna appears on Hardball to apologize for an unintended slight against America's troops, results in some of Jane Krakowski's best work as Jenna. The subplots of "Jack loves negotiating" (which culminates in the clip below) and "Kenneth joins Tracy's entourage" (featuring what I believe is the first appearance of "I love x so much I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant." - the first "x" is cornbread, and Jack McBrayer's quiet "Pregnant cornbread...?" is an unbelievably great line reading) make this an example of 30 Rock firing on all cylinders.

Friday Night Lights, "Mud Bowl," 3/28/07

FNL's first season march to the state championship provided a lot of great moments, but "Mud Bowl" was the best. A train accident leads to a chemical spill that disrupts the Panthers' home field advantage, the coach finds a replacement in a cow pasture (with live cows!) and pouring rain turns the field into a mud pit during the climactic game - all fabulously serving FNL's homegrown/verité aesthetic. The show has always used filming in Texas to its advantage, but this is the episode where the show really dug into its non-Hollywood, non-soundstage location and brought up a gem.

Sigh

Once upon a time, this commercial drove me up a wall.

But then came Veronica Mars, and Percy Daggs as Wallace, Veronica's accomplice/BFF, was a delight, so much so that I completely forgave any previous annoying ads. Now, Veronica Mars is cancelled, and Percy's last IMDB credit is in 2008. If you'd told me years ago that I'd be saying this, I would have called you crazy, but: I miss you, Percy. Come back to TV soon.

The Goodwill Index

I'm concerned that my nearly decade-long love of Seth Rogen might be blinding me to the extent of the sexism in Knocked Up, and I don't really know what to do about it. I kept meaning over the summer to write about how freaking excited the popularity of Knocked Up and Superbad made me as someone who has loved the works of Apatow dating back to Freaks and Geeks. I remember trying in vain to find someone else who watched the show when it originally aired when I was in middle school, and I remember the joyous day that I bought my treasured DVD set. No longer having to explain who Seth Rogen is when I talk about him to my friends is a thing of wonder after some eight-odd years. Katherine Heigl's recent remarks on the sexism in Knocked Up, and the resulting reactions to those remarks, have had me thinking as I peruse blog comments. I don't disagree that the male POV is dominant in the movie, which is entirely what I expected as a longtime Apatow/Rogen fan. I just don't see all of the problems that some people find with it. I completely disagree with the idea that the happy ending for Ben and Allison is based upon them ending up together. The wedding is such a noteworthy scene in The Forty-Year-Old Virgin that I firmly believe that if Apatow wanted the audience to think that they got married, he would have shown us that. All the ending really shows us is that they work together as parents, which to me is independent of the outcome of their "romantic" relationship. I just don't know. I mean, I am a feminist. If people who generally hold a similar set of beliefs about the ways that women should be depicted on screen feel so strongly that Knocked Up does a disservice to its female characters, am I missing something?

Anyway, this whole personal crisis had me thinking about what I like to call my "Goodwill Index" - the amount of goodwill for a specific actor or actress that is built up in my mind due to past TV shows or movies. For example, the Wilson brothers have basically an infinite Goodwill Index due to my love of Wes Anderson movies. Where this relates to the above discussion of Knocked Up is when the Goodwill Index comes into conflict with a present-day project that may be completely abhorrent, or at the very least problematic. My sense of Goodwill Indices have given essential free passes to David Anders and Kristen Bell in the past season of Heroes due to their massive stockpiles of Alias and Veronica Mars-related love. Over the past few months, I have been examining and re-examining my feelings about Jason Lee as his predominantly Almost Famous (with some Kevin Smith in there) related Goodwill Index comes in violent conflict with the pure bile that rises within me every time I come in contact with the trailers for Underdog and Alvin and the Chipmunks. I mean, really? Really, Jason Lee? That is a lot of goodwill that's being thrown down the drain. (Alvin and the Chipmunks is a really rough one, because there's also Justin Long (GI from Ed) and Matthew Gray Gubler (GI from being Intern No. 1 in The Life Aquatic) It's like fingernails on a chalkboard, except the chalkboard is MY BRAIN.) I would maybe give Cameron Crowe a call, because I heard that Elizabethtown was not so good, and you both could probably do with an awesomeness-recovering change of pace.