35. Better Call Saul - 'Five-O'
- 1.6
This series is not as good as Breaking Bad, but if we are to be
honest, there are few series in history that were as good. And with each
successive year, it achieves something rather remarkable: it almost makes you
forget that nearly every character we meet will be laid waste to by Walter
White. And the first time this series truly touched greatness was when it gave
a look into the backstory of Mike Ehrmantraut, arguably Bad's most frightening and efficient character. You wouldn't think
it possible that Mike had a soul, but this episode more than demonstrated that
there was blood that could be drawn from a stone. When Mike confessed
(tearfully) to his daughter-n-law what happened to his son, Jonathan Banks gave
what was arguably his finest turn in the Breaking-verse...
so far. It was a revelation that made you feel sympathy for one of the most
cold-blooded characters in the series.
34. The Crown - 'Dear Mrs.
Kennedy' - 2.8
One of the greatest accomplishments
in Netflix's already formidable lineup, there have been many examples of true
excellence in its run so far. One leans towards recognizing any episode in the
first season that focused on John Lithgow's remarkable work as a too old
Winston Churchill, but there was some more superb work in the second season
when Churchill left the stage. Few episodes have been more astonishing that the
one that featured John and Jackie Kennedy's visit to Europe
in 1963. When American royalty met English royalty, one would be surprised how
much the real thing suffered compared to artificial one, and yet you come away
feeling sympathy both for Jackie and Elizabeth, both forced into roles neither
wanted, both being manipulated by forces larger then themselves. Even the
inevitable scene at the end involving JFK's assassination seemed novel, because
it was coming from an angle we hadn't seen before. Claire Foy remains one of
the true talents of the medium. It will be hard to succeed her, but I am
convinced Peter Morgan can.
33. The Big Bang Theory - 'The
Robotic Manipulation' - '4.1'
I'll be honest, it took a lot to
win me over with this sitcom. But something that's happened on that almost
never happens on a series, much less a network comedy. The characters evolved.
At the beginning of the series Sheldon Cooper was so insulated and robotic that
one could hardly imagine him working successfully outside the confines of his
apartment. Now, he's married. To a woman he actually admits he loves! And if
one can calculate the moment when this series went from typical network fare to
work of genius, it is our first true addiction to neurologist Amy
Farrah-Fowler. Mayim Bialik has created
one of the most indelible female characters in the history of comedies, and
turned from 'a female version of Sheldon to someone with her own behaviorism
and quirks. And in her debut episode where she detachedly dissects Penny (the
woman who will become her best friend) sexual history, you knew this was
Sheldon's soulmate. Bialik has been robbed repeatedly by the Emmys, but I guess
when you've got a bioscience degree from Harvard, awards seem trivial.
32. Person of Interest - 'The Crossing' - 3.9
One of the more fascinating
broadcast series of the last decade, it had much more potential than it ended
eventually realizing. That said, it still had some truly extraordinary moment,
and none were more effective than the climactic battle The Machine and the team
had with the sinister police-backed crime organization known as HR. Its biggest
confluence of evil was more satisfying because it was visible, and because there
was no way this war could end without some kind of casualty. What made this was
resonate was the way it set up, as the series would do far so many times, the
death of beloved corrupt cop Fusco. When he managed to get through the war
alive, it seemed that we'd been wrong - which made the final moments when Joss
Carter was gunned down in front of Reese, all the more painful. The fact that
the writers had planned this moment since the Pilot made it more effective. Person would never be quite the same
after Taraj Henson left - but considering she has gone on to even more fame at
the center of Empire, you can't argue
it was a bad career decision for her.
31. Alias - 'Phase One' -2.13
This was a criminally undervalued
series, even considering it helped launch J.J. Abrams and Jennifer Garner into
the stratosphere. It featured a heroine who was as close to the female James
Bond as we will ever get. And the series
was on the cusp of the network television revolution in a way that so many of
its fellow shows were not. Never was this more evident in the episode that
aired just after the Super Bowl, when Abrams decided to take what many might
have considered the series overriding plot - bringing down the Alliance
- and completely end it. With a new head of SD-6 on the scene, it quickly
becomes clear that Sydney Bristow has to save her father. The only way she can
do that is tell her colleague that she's been acting as a double agent all this
time, and then everything he's been working for the last twenty years is a lie.
Abrams manages to mine every bit of tension that he can out of the moment,
before the CIA breaks the doors down. And
the final moment, when Vaughn runs into Syd's arms and kisses her, also
demonstrated a new reliance to resolve sexual tension sooner rather than later.
Alias would make many changes over
its all too brief run, and never more brilliantly than it would here.
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