50 Greatest Episodes, Part 6: 25-21

25. Inside Amy Schumer - 'Twelve Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer' -

Season 3, Episode 3

This is one of the most hysterical sketch comedy series Comedy Central has ever produced - and considering its track record, that's remarkable. But it says a lot about brilliant this series really is that the funniest and most remarkable episode was one where Schumer was almost nonexistent. Put on trial for not be pretty enough to have her own comedy series, Schumer's fate is decided - in black and white - by twelve of the better character actors (read: ugly people) working in Hollywood. With John Hawkes playing Henry Fonda, Paul Giamatti, Nick DiPaolo and Vincent Kartheiser arguing for the oppositions, I'm really not sure what's the most remarkable about this sketch - how  funny, how relevant it is (even three years later) or how very close to the original source material it is. (Though I seriously doubt Reginald Rose would have had the major confrontation involve dildos.) Whatever your personal views on Schumer (and, if anything, she's become more of a flashpoint in the last year), this episode in particular demonstrates that she is as great a hyphenate as many of the other showrunners on this list.

24.  The Sopranos -  'Long Term Parking' - 5.12

I've been all over the map when it comes to this groundbreaking series. At one point, I considered it the most overrated TV show in the history of the medium, but that may have been more due to the fact that I didn't realize what a revolutionary show it was at the time. And my biggest complaint about it - that the characters never really made any attempt to change - now seems ridiculous now that I know that this was one of the bigger points that David Chase was trying to make - that change is hard, and given the opportunity, most people, even wiseguys will take the path of least resistance. So, having reached this conclusion, I realize I would be wrong to not have The Sopranos on the list. But I've decided to go a little different. My choice for the episode that was perhaps its best moment is the episode that sealed the fate of Adrianna. Christopher's fiance started out the series as basically arm candy, but the second she was made by the FBI,  her character became the most gut-wrenching one to watch on the series. We've seen more often than not what being a rat meant on this show, we knew when Christopher found out her fate was sealed. But it is a measure of how truly heartbreaking Drea De Matteo played the role, that when it seemed that she was being driven to her ultimate death, we hoped there was some way out for her. (Hell, some fans lived in denial because we never saw her get killed)  The series was never the same afterwards, and neither was Christopher.

23. Stranger Things -  'Holly, Jolly' - Episode 1.3

One of the full-blown Netflix masterpiece is also that utter streaming rarity - a series young children should definitely be watching. Yes, its a nostalgia piece that brings us back to the 1980s, but it also remembers so well what it was like to be an adolescent or an outsider. This episode marked the point for me when I realized just how special this series really is. The scenes where (Justice for) Barb disappears to an alien landscape. The moments we get to see the really torture that Eleven has been going through before she appeared in Hawkins. (Matthew Modine, evil? Who'd have thunk?) Her slow entering into the party of wonderful boys who make up the landscape. And of course, Winona Ryder's finest (and freakiest) hour, where, trying to communicate with Will, she puts up Christmas light all over her wall, and has a conversation that is incredibly terrifying. Every episode is a joyous flashback, incredibly scary, and remarkable. Picking one episode from it is a hard sell. All I can say is: I can't wait for the Duffer Brothers to bring us Season 3.

22. Sherlock -  'The Sign of Three' - 3.2.

It's very hard to argue that this series wasn't one of the premiere accomplishments in TV history, as it put Sherlock Holmes in a modern setting in a way that no other medium has every done anywhere as effectively. Every element of Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis' remarkable reinvention of the most famous fictional characters was remarkable, particularly in the way it brought its classic stories into the new millennium. Yet I don't think anyone would disagree that the series finest hour (alright, hour and a half) was based on a moment in Holmes and Watson's life that Conan Doyle never showed us - John Watson getting married. Every single second of this episode is perfect - Sherlock calling Lestrade away from a major case to help with his wedding toast, Sherlock's wedding planning in every detail, the 'bachelor party', which actually has a moment so perfectly apt, you'd be astonished it was improvised by Benedict Cumberbatch himself.  And of course, the single greatest wedding toast that has ever been given in the history of matrimonial events.  It's so hysterically funny and well done, it actually comes as a shock when a crime happens, and Sherlock manages to solve it in a way that demonstrates just how much his humanity has come to serve since the arrival of John in his life. Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, and the episode itself were deservedly rewarded with Emmys for one of the great stories of the show that is simultaneously completely atypical for Sherlock and yet somehow sums up the great detective - at least this version of him -perfectly.

21. Glee - 'Preggers' - 1.4.

Say what you will about the mess the series turned into in its second half, the fact remains Ryan Murphy's musical creation  was one of the great accomplishment in TV, particularly in its first couple of seasons. Picking out  a truly perfect moment from that period is difficult, but for me, the most incredible moments came when the series breakout star Kurt Hummel (brilliant portrayed by Chris Colfer) finally came out of the closet to his father. Burt's reaction (Mike O'Malley's finest hour) was so simple and perfect, it no doubt made millions of teenagers across the country wish that he was their father. The series also set up its most well done storyline when high school Cheerio Quinn announces to her boyfriend that she's pregnant - which comes as a shock to Finn because they never actually had sex. The mess would play out far better than any storyline that the series did in its entire run, and led me to think this was one of the great series in the medium. It may never have truly won nationals, but it was a contender that made me feel the title emotion a lot, never so frequently as in this episode

Dietland Review: AMC Triumph?

For much of the last decade, the leader in brilliant drama was AMC. Mad Men and Breaking Bad cemented this era as the New Golden Age, created a new standard for great drama, and led the network to six Best Drama Emmys over a seven year period. But even while both series were on the air, AMC seemed willing to submarine its position with the launching of The Walking Dead. One can't deny it's success - its ratings are among the highest of any TV series on the air today - but it led the network to embrace the more commercial side than critical one. Sure, there have been occasional gems - Better Call Saul and The Son - but for the most part, AMC has been embracing comic book and mindless sci-fi series rather than the great dramas that launched it into the critical stratosphere. One could almost call AMC's series formulaic.

Until, at least potentially, last night. AMC launched a series so different you couldn't imagine any other network doing. From Marni Nixon, the showrunner who unraveled the reality series drama on UnReal comes Dietland,  a series which makes the darkness of the Lifetime series seem  phonier than 'Everlasting'.

The series is centered around Plum Kettle (Joy Nash), a morbidly obese woman who has spent her entire life trying to fit the standards of womanhood that the world seems to employ. Desperate to have surgery that will permanently alter her body, she has subsumed all of her energy into her work as a baker and answering letters for an online magazine 'Ask Kitty', the face of the women's section of Austin Media. (Juliana Marguiles is a revelation, playing dumb for the first time in her career). Her life seems cemented in a routine so ordinary, even the animation involved seems uninterested.

Then she encounters Julia (Tamara Tunie, given a character with depth for the first time in nearly twenty years) the beauty expert of Austin Media, who seems to be at the center of some conspiracy to try and get women out from under the stereotypes that, well, the world seems determined to put them. Plum's decision to help seems to be the first impulsive thing she's ever done. And then  she is brought to the attention of a book called 'Dietland', which seems to be the story of the 'Baptiste Diet', the great plan that revolutionized dieting - but may have been the code for a cult. This leads to an encounter with the heir to the 'Baptiste Diet' (Robin Weigert, who no one will recognize from her work on Deadwood). She offers Plum her own plan - something that angers Julia no end.

But even throughout this darkness, something far worse seems to be going on below the surface. There has been a hack into Austin Media that has alarmed the powers-that-be, if not the police. Men are being kidnapped and murdered by groups of masked vigilantes - men who seem to be sexual predators. And Plum's narration implies that she will get involved - and it will cost her everything

'Dietland' plays like a cross between Ugly Betty and Mr. Robot, and in the era of the #MeToo and #Time's Up movement, seems even more relevant than The Handmaid's Tale. What is not clear yet is what kind of tone the series wants to set. It plays a lot of the time like satire, and other times like a thriller, but the tones don't mesh nearly as well as they should. At this stage, I admire the series far more than I'm entertained by it, but then I'm guessing that its entire purpose is to make anybody with a Y Chromosome squirm - and even some of those with an X. But I do admire its ambition, particularly in its willing to put someone heavyset at the center of any major series these days. Does these series have lasting power? I can't say just yet. But it's far more ambitious than the Walking Dead retreads AMC has been turning out before.

My score: 3.5 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Abduction

Written by Julie Martin and Anya Epstein

Directed by Kenneth Fink

As we learned in passing in the previous episode, in addition to working murders the Homicide unit of Baltimore also investigates extortion, bribery and kidnapping. We have never seen them working one of these cases but ‘Abduction’ shows how the detectives work in kidnapping, when a four-year named Paul Marshall disappears in front of his mother at a merry-go-round near the inner harbor. This episode takes place before  these kinds of cases were supervised by the FBI (pre Amber Alert) so the case is run like a red ball. And at the forefront of this episode, like so many in season 6 Detective Falsone is at the forefront.

The entire squad is called in to work the crime, and we see the same kind of pressure that the detectives go through even when there is no body. If anything, the stress is greater because there is a chance that the victim is alive, and the odds get lower every additional hour the child is missing. It is also interesting to see how the unit behaves in regard to the media. Every time there is a homicide involving a child, the detectives think that the media’s presence hinders the chances of a successful result. When the child is abducted, they rely on the mass media to help them in their efforts to search for the victim.

Indeed, this episode adds a second level by having the detectives use the host of a weekly realty show, ‘This Week’s Wanted’ help them look for Paul Marshall. The host of the show even suggests bringing in a hypnotist to work with a witness (a seven-year old who was also on the merry-go-round) in order to get a lead and are physically in the room when the child is rescued. Obviously, the show is based on America’s Most Wanted, complete with the host modeled after John Walsh (both figures suffered the loss of a child several years ago) and we know that these shows are helpful in aiding  the capture of felons and recovering missing children. Yet despite this, it seems to go against the realism we have come to expect of Homicide that the detectives and the brass are willing to go along with this, and it adds a certain disconnect.

Because the episode  is so focused on the hunt for Paul Marshall, a lot of the character related  stories that we have come to expect from the show also get lost in the shuffle. It is true that we see the focus on Falsone’s character and his own stress when a child around the same age as his son has been taken. In that way, he has a mixture of concern and anger involved in capturing the perpetrator and making sure that his son is safe. He also shares a certain amount of empathy with the abductee’s father, considering the custody arrangements that they both have. Yet this is all too familiar territory that we have been exploring over the past several episodes, and it seems a tad repetitive. We also don’t get a great deal of focus on any of the other detectives and their opinions. The episode shows Ballard and Bayliss both have desires to have children, yet gives no attention to Pembleton and Gharty, who actually have kids and might have this nightmare.

Much in the same way that many of the murders on Homicide  are actually committed by the most likely person, the  investigation kidnapping unfolds the same way. There are false leads as the detectives root out the answers, and the kidnapping turns out to have been committed by the person the evidence leads to---- in this case, to a deluded woman who believed Paul Marshall would be better off in her care than in his parents. This sounds real, yet it also has a very stagy quality to it.  It just seems very false.

There are some intriguing elements to the story that seem to resonate with the passage of two decades. For one thing, it's interesting to see that the host of 'This Week's Wanted' is played by Robert John Burke, a man who would spent much of the next two decades playing hardasses, playing a sympathetic character. And Mrs. Marshall is an early role for Elizabeth Marvel, who would play iron-jawed women in House of Cards and Homeland over twenty years later.

Perhaps the best summary about ‘Abduction’ comes when the case is closed and the people at ‘This Weeks Wanted’ decide to air the Marshall story because of its positive resolution . Falsone jokes that the reason they show life-affirming stories some times  for better ratings. One cannot help but wonder if ‘Abduction’ was written and produced for those exact same reasons--- to give Homicide  a more ‘life-affirming’ story. Well, it doesn’t quite work and after four straight episodes which have not centered on murders, we’re all but looking forward to a stone whodunit. Fortunately, this being Baltimore we’re finally going to get some.

My score:3.25 stars.

50 Greatest Episodes, Part 5: 30-26

30. Veep - 'Kissing Your Sister' - 5.9

I've always had mixed emotions about this series - yes, it can be raucously funny at times, but given our political situation, it's held a mirror up to our time far better than I would like to think. That said, it is a brilliant series, and by far the most entertaining episode came in the middle of an election season only slightly more confused the one just past. An atypical episode, it looked at all of the chaos from the perspective of the one truly nice person on the series - Catherine, Selina's much abused daughter, as she tried to a take candid look at  people who are always putting on a fake face. She got a better look at the electoral process than she probably would've wanted, and yet came closer to getting a happy ending on a show that pretty much avoids endings as much as possible  The Meyer Presidency came to an end (for now), but to see real emotion - or at least as real as it would get - was actually remarkable.

29. Deadwood -  'A Two-Headed Beast' - 3.5

For some reason, this groundbreaking series gets less respect than the other three of the troika of great HBO's dramas (we'll get to the other two in due time, believe me.) But David Milch's radical reinvention of the western was one of the towering achievements in television history. One can argue which moments were among the truly great ones, but in my mind, the most astonishing moment came and involved none of the poetic dialogue the show would be famous for. As the struggle between Al Swearengen and George Hearst continues, its most powerful moment comes when Dority and Capt. Turner, their respective lieutenant,s after episodes of snarling at each other, finally engage in an all out five minute brawl. Filthy and unsparing, it ends with one of the more stunning moments in TV history, when Dan gets the better of Turner by gouging an eye out of Turner's socket, then putting the man out of his misery with a nod from Al.  This grotesquerie is also met with a quieter, but no less painful death, when Bullock, after failing to resolve an issue between two minor characters, reacts when one of them kills himself. It is a matter that shakes Seth so thoroughly, that he jails Hearst that night -and in another way,  makes any reconciliation impossible. At least, that's how it ended before it got canceled. Can we get that movie, HBO?

28. Atlanta - 'Teddy Perkins' - 2.6

Donald Glover has always been a creative giant, and in just two seasons, he's created some of the most incredible moments, both funny and poignant I've seen on TV. But one of the more astonishing pieces of work so far came when Darius went to pick up a piano from a music legend - and ended up in the surreal mansion of 'Teddy Perkins', a Michael Jackson type recluse played (and I didn't learn this til much later) by Donald Glover in white-face. In a bizarre combination of work, we looked inside a vastly disturbed individual caught inside his own past, and so broken that he never seemed to realize, not even til he got shot. It was uncanny, it was frightening, it was funny, it was Donald Glover at his absolute best, both in front of the camera, and on the page. I'll be astonished if this episode isn't the one he submits for Emmy consideration. It just makes me so mad that I may have to wait God knows long for Season 3.

27. Masters of Sex - 'Fallout' - 1.10

In my mind, this is Showtime's greatest and most consistent drama for the past ten years. I know that I'm in a decided minority when it comes to this, but this fictionalized version of the work and lives of groundbreaking sex researchers Masters and Johnson was, at it's peak, as good a period piece as Mad Men, and nearly as good a drama. Never was this better illustrated in what was their finest hour, set against the horror of a nationwide civil defense drill in preparation for a nuclear war.  Simultaneously, almost every major character went through their greatest drama. Bill (the undervalued Michael Sheen) resisted Virginia's (Lizzy Caplan, ditto) desire to help a woman who was pregnant from one of their tests. He got into a fist fight dealing with the pregnancy of his own wife, and worst of all, had to deal with the consequences of Virginia finally retaliating after months of being treating like an inferior, and quitting the study. But even that paled to Margaret Scully (Allison Janney) and her revelation that her husband of nearly thirty years was gay. By the time this episode was finished, everybody on the series had gone through their own personal apocalypse.

26. Dexter - 'The Getaway' - '4.12

Alright, technically this episode is already listed on TV Guide's greatest episode, but I put it on my list eight years ago, so you'll just have to take my word for it. What you don't have to believe is that the season finale in what would be Showtime's signature series (Homeland's taken up the torch now, we'll get to that too) was arguably the finest hour dealing with this series finest monster - the Trinity killer, played to perfection by John Lithgow.  When Trinity finally learned Dexter Morgan's true identity, it seemed like it would end in horror. The final confrontation between Dexter (Michael C. Hall's finest hour, arguably) and Trinity played out incredibly well,  but it was the series greatest fakeout, as Dexter returned to find Rita, his wife and one of the few true innocents in the entire Dexter saga, lying in a bathtub of blood, with Harrison (like his father once had) sitting next to his mother's dead body. This was ranked as one of TV's most shocking character deaths nearly six years ago, and it still has tremendous power even now. It  may not have been the dramatic peak of the series (there were still some great moments to come) but as lasting images go, and demonstrating its lead character's final fate, it worked supremely.

A True Americans Dream

Note: This Review contains spoilers for the final season of The Americans. If you haven't seen it yet - well, what are you waiting for?! Go! For the rest of you:

All through the final season of FX's extraordinary Cold War thriller The Americans, I've been concerned about two things: How will they end it? And will they stick the landing, or leave us, like The Sopranos and Mad Men, stuck in ambiguity hell?  Well, I can say with confidence: they didn't screw it up.

Throughout the final season, Elizabeth and Philip have been at odds. Elizabeth (Keri Russell) has been slowly burning out all year, having been working alone, mostly on work to try and undermine the US position in the famous 1987 summit that helped bring the Cold War to an end. Philip (Matthew Rhys), out of the game for three years, and not doing particularly well in his cover job as a travel agent, has been trying to work against her and for the Glasnost forces under Gorbachev. In the final three episodes, Elizabeth learned from Claudia (Margo Martindale) that she has been manipulated in a plan by the KGB to remove Gorbachev from power. She finally broke, and decided to openly move to stop the attempt.

Meanwhile, Stan Beaman after more than seven years, finally began to wonder if his next door neighbor and the man he has considered his best friend, might actually be the Russian agents that he spent the first five seasons of the show chasing. Simultaneously, the FBI began to move a snare of its own around the Jennings themselves, finally catching up with them, by reaching the priest who married them.

It all came to a head in the final episode. Knowing that they had been compromised, Elizabeth and Philip began to run, making the agonizing decision to leave Henry, their son behind, so that he might have a future in America. Then they went to get Paige, who had finally been indoctrinated into the sleeper agent program that they had been involved in.

All of this led to one of the most magnificent scenes - maybe the greatest single accomplishment in television history since Walter White finally realized in 'Ozymandias' that all of his actions had been a lie. Stan, acting on a hunch, went to Paige's apartment, as Elizabeth and Philip came to pick up their daughter and go on the run. It built, very slowly for nearly two minutes - Stan calmly asking why the Jennings were taking their daughter home, while they tried to parry, before he pulled his gun on Philip and said: "Get on the ground, you f--ing piece of shit!" Realizing that the game that they had played for nearly a decade was over, Philip and Elizabeth confessed. To everything. What they had done. Why they had done it, and now they had never wanted things to go this far. As brilliant as Rhys and Russell have been through the life of this series, this was Noah Emmerich's moment. The genuine anger melting into astonishment, and then listening, first with shock as they told them to take care of Henry, and the final blow: that Renee, the woman who had become Stan's second wife, might be a KGB agent herself. (The series never revealed that in the final moments, but maybe that's just as well. It probably would've come as an anticlimax.)

Emmerich's work in the final episode was extraordinary. Particularly, after letting the Jennings' go, he returned to the stakeout he had left appearing the same, and then when he learned  - this time from the FBI - that the Jennings were KGB - it was a performance worthy of an Emmy nomination.

After this moment, one might consider everything that happened afterwards as falling action, the same way that everything after Walter's confession to Skyler was the real climax of the final episode of Breaking Bad.  But there were still some astonishing moments. The final telephone call the Jennings had with Henry, trying desperately to sound normal. The silent sequence on the train leading to Canada, as the marshal's did one more search through the Jennings' IDs that they passed, and both Jennings as they realized that Paige had gotten off the train. And the final few moments as Elizabeth and Philip, now back in the Soviet Union, discussed what their roles had been like, and whether their children would be alright without them.

Of course, there were a fair amount of questions that were left unanswered. Was Rene really a KGB agent? What will happen to Paige and Henry? And how will Philip and Elizabeth readjust to the Soviet Union that is, for better or worse, about the change dramatically, in spite of everything they did? Of course how things play out historically. Gorbachev came back, the USSR did collapse, and Russia changed. But knowing what lies in the future, I can't help but remember Claudia's final words to Elizabeth. "I'll go back home. We'll adjust. We always have."  One could certainly see Claudia whispering in the ear of Vladimir Putin.

Regardless of one's geo-political persuasion, one can't argue that The Americans was one of the truly great television experiences. It will never have the same reputation as The Sopranos or Mad Men or Breaking Bad - it was often too cerebral even for the new Golden Age. You had too constantly pay attention, if for no other reason then too be aware when there would be a scene done almost entirely in subtitles. And it didn't enjoy either the mass audience of some of the bigger hits or the awards that Mad Men or Homeland got. (Though the Emmys have been more generous to it the last couple years.) But at its peak, The Americans could be as great as any of them. It certainly ranks as one of the great shows of the 2010s, and hopefully, maybe streaming or on DVD, it will someday be considered with the same awe that we consider the others. Das Vadonya.

My Final Score: 5 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Mercy

Written by Eric Overmeyer

Directed by Alan Taylor

Way back in Season 2, ‘See No Evil’ explored the idea of euthanasia as Beau Felton and Meldrick Lewis decided to let what was essentially a mercy killing get written up as a suicide.  In ‘Mercy’, four years later, we find an inverse of the situation, where the sister of a man suffering from terminal colon cancer accuses the assisting physician of delivering an overdose of morphine to her brother, thus prematurely terminating his life.

The division about whether or not this is mercy or murder divides almost everybody involved.  Perhaps not surprisingly, that includes the investigating detectives, Bayliss and Pembleton. Pembleton is his typical ruthless self, sticking firm to his belief that every live ended prematurely is murder. Bayliss, perhaps surprisingly, is far more restrained and far more willing to look the other way. Perhaps it has to do with the treating physician, Dr. Roxanne Turner, played by that most underrated of actresses, Alfre Woodard. If the name sounds familiar, its because this is the same character that Woodard portrayed on  St. Elsewhere,  the show that Tom Fontana created before Homicide. In that show Turner was an OB-GYN; she now  works in a hospice. As she herself puts in, she has come full circle from welcoming patients into the world to helping them leave it.  She makes it very clear that she does not believe in prolonging life at all costs and that she sees what she is doing as easing their deaths, not assisting them.

This is a very grey area and Frank, who has a habit of seeing things in terms of black and white, does not hold with it. The show tries to present an even-handed argument, and for the more part, it does. All of Dr. Turner’s patients are in the end-stages of terminal illnesses, most strikingly in the case of a thirty-four year old woman in the end stages of MS. It is clear that most of them were ready to die. On the other hand, considering the level of pain that they were all feeling, were they in any condition to make those kinds of judgments? Most of them had families to act as their guardian, but in some case the victim died alone, indicating that Dr. Turner was the sole arbiter.

All of this leads to a memorable ‘discussion’ between Pembleton and Turner in the box. (Bayliss begs off, clearly impressed by her reputation) Frank discusses her patients using the argument of the sanctity of life under any conditions. Turner argues just as passionately of the pain and anguish her patients go through in the end stages of their illnesses. How dare he judge her? Frank counters by asking how dare she make decisions for people in their most vulnerable stages. There is no right answer; there is not even an answer, only the futility of the end of a person’s life. Frank swears that he will pursue Dr. Turner until she stops her work but this is never followed up on, probably because Frank is not with the department much longer.

Despite the anguish and pain going on her, there’s more going on in this episode than this. Stivers and Falsone, relative newcomers to the department, catch their first murdered child case --- a sixth grader who catches a stray bullet from a robbery that took place across the street. They seem enthusiastic initially, but as Giardello cautions them, there is little fun in the death of a child--- something that Bayliss and Pembleton could easily attest to. By a stroke of luck, they find the killer but closing the case does not exercise ghosts. As the episode concludes, they go to a memorial where the photographs of murdered children are displayed on walls. The walls are covered with hundreds, if not thousands, of photos---  doubtless the pictures of Janelle Parsons and  Darryl Nawls and Patrick Garrabrek and Adena Watson are up there somewhere. They will run out of room long before they run out of pictures.

We also see Gharty and Ballard chasing down the two ‘city goats’ they like for the last month or so. Though difficult to find, they are easy to apprehend and easier still to indict--- turns out the white trash criminals aren’t any smarter than the black ones. Such are the ways of Baltimore.

But the most critical event occurs when Mike Kellerman, after some work, tracks down Judge Gibbons. Kellerman confronts Gibbons as to being on the Mahoney payroll in regard to Georgia Rae’s unlikely civil suit.  The two of them speak in the ambiguous phrases of people who don’t want to be talking about what they’re talking about, thus the conversation is open to very wide interpretation. Mike surreptitiously tapes it and  plays it for Meldrick (how he tracked down Lewis is never explained) but it can be interpreted in two ways, either Gibbons asked for a bribe, or Kellerman was threatening Gibbons.  Mike, hearing what he wants to hear, thinks it’s the former, and also seems to think that this means their problems with the judge are over. They aren’t even close.

‘Mercy’ is a very complicated and dark episode, mainly because the issues discussed are very ambiguous and have no easy answers. It features some truly fine acting, particularly in the last scene between Braugher and Woodard (who earned an Emmy nod for her performance)  and some strong, even-handed writing for both sides. This is true because of the contradictions we see in the characters. Frank Pembleton  is a Catholic thinks capital punishment is wrong, but as a cop thinks that its necessary. Roxanne Turner is a doctor who believes in the sanctity of life but also believes there should be some dignity in death. There are no easy answers to the issues raised, but the writers know that the questions must be asked.

My score: 4.5 stars

50 Greatest Episodes, Part 4: Nos. 35-31

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.