# Best Written Episodes of a Series you Love **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180 "2009-04-24T03:24:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/81 "2009-04-26T01:43:40Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Star Trek: DS9: “The Wire” The most Garaky of Garak episodes. I love me some Garak. After the series, I imagine that he and Dr. Bashir pledged their undying love for each other. Come on, you know it happened! Bashir seemed to switch off between Garak and O’Brien. I’m sure some fanfic writers have written extensively about this. > [@](#): > > Futurama: The one with the planet of the balls. The double entendres just killed me, juvenile as they were. The newspaper headline “BALLS THOROUGHLY LICKED” just had me rolling on the floor. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/82 "2009-04-26T01:56:22Z")
> [@kasuo](#): > > Bashir seemed to switch off between Garak and O’Brien. I thought he had a thing for the daughter of Gul Dukat or some other Cardassian big wig. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/83 "2009-04-26T02:14:04Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > My favorite will always be the one where he leaped into Lee Harvey Oswald and ended up compelled to fire the shots. Later in the hospital > > Sam: How could it be for the best? I killed JFK. > Al: Sam, that swiss cheese brain of yours drives me crazy. Don’t you remember that the first time Jackie Kennedy was killed too? Close. He leaped just before pulling the trigger, into the Secret Service man at the limo that ended up jumping onto the limo, saving Jackie. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/84 "2009-04-26T02:21:28Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought he had a thing for the daughter of Gul Dukat or some other Cardassian big wig. Tora Ziyal. She was Garak’s girlfriend, not Bashir’s. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/85 "2009-04-26T02:28:27Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Tora Ziyal. She was Garak’s girlfriend, not Bashir’s. I was speaking of Garak, not the wimpy bio engineered doctor with an atrocious accent who cheated at darts. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/86 "2009-04-26T02:31:08Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Tora Ziyal. She was Garak’s girlfriend, not Bashir’s. Bah, she wasn’t his girlfriend, she was his (forgive the term) fag hag! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/87 "2009-04-26T02:47:19Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Bah, she wasn’t his girlfriend, she was his (forgive the term) fag hag! Sir, you diss the guy who delivered my favorite Trek line when he shot Weyoun. Female changling: “That was the last Weyoun clone.” Garak: “I was hoping you would say that.” ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/88 "2009-04-26T02:49:14Z")
The entire second season of \*The Office \*(American) was superb, so it’s hard to pick just one. But \*The Injury \*sticks out in my mind. What other show could make someone burning their foot on a George Foreman Grill actually plausible? And Jim in the van with the water bottle… I could go on… ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/89 "2009-04-26T05:31:39Z")
Buffy: The Season 5 finale. I cried when Buffy jumped off the tower. ST-DS9: In the Pale Moonlight. Also The Visitor. ST-TNG: Tapestry. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/90 "2009-04-26T06:02:29Z")
DS9: the episode with the supposed Cardassian atrocity commiter was amazingly strong for an early first season episode ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/91 "2009-04-26T12:33:46Z")
I’m trying to think of the best Criminal Minds episode, but they have a bunch of really good ones, with really good guest stars. I think my personal favorite is the one where the UNSUB was killing homeless people. Nobody gave a crap that homeless people were disappearing, but the BAU got to take on the case when the killer mailed a letter from Kansas City Kansas while the killings were happing in Kansas City, Missouri, making it a federal case. They caught the guy who was driving the van that got the homeless people to the serial killer’s house of horros, and Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) made this wonderful speech: > [@](#): > > HOTCHNER: And this morning I decided to save your life. You’re gonna tell me where my killer is. You’re gonna give me an address, and you’re gonna tell me how to get inside without raising an alarm. You’re gonna draw me a map if I need one. > > (Steven starts to shake his head.) > > HOTCHNER: And you’re gonna do this because he’s never been nice to you. He constantly insults you and belittles you. He makes you feel ugly and stupid and worthless. Nothing you ever do is right. Never good enough. You hate him, Steven. And you’re also going to tell me because you know you screwed up last night. He told you that your paramount concern was not to attract the attention of the authorities, and you know the punishment will be severe. Nobody knows better than you what he can do to people. I’ve spent a long time studying monsters like your friend, and I can promise you … he’s gonna do things to you that even you can’t imagine. There was also one where DC prostitutes were being slaughtered, and again nobody cared. One cop asked “After all, who are these people” and Hotchner answered “They are someone’s daughers, sisters, nieces. In some cases they are someone’s mothers. They are human beings.” ---
**Author:** ![El\_Perro\_Fumando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e9c0ed/32.png) [@El\_Perro\_Fumando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Perro_Fumando)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/92 "2009-04-26T22:31:46Z")
Forgive me if they’ve already been mentioned: **How I Met Your Mother** - Slapbet (not only the start of slapbet, but our introduction to Robin Sparkles.) **My Name is Earl** - Our Cops is On (the episode that got my husband and I hooked on the show - still holds up as one of our favorites) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/93 "2009-04-27T01:59:35Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I was speaking of Garak, not the wimpy bio engineered doctor with an atrocious accent who cheated at darts. :rolleyes: How did he cheat? By being enhanced? Even when standing further away, he still beat O’Brien. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/94 "2009-04-27T02:11:26Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > How did he cheat? By being enhanced? Even when standing further away, he still beat O’Brien. Sarcasm: It is a difficult concept. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/95 "2009-04-27T03:43:20Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’m trying to think of the best Criminal Minds episode, but they have a bunch of really good ones, with really good guest stars. I don’t watch _Criminal Minds_ all that often, but I really liked the episode called _[True Night](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1122161/)_, guest starring Frankie Muniz. It was an unusual episode of CM, because it’s told mostly from the point of view of the perpetrator and it has a different visual style. It’s about a graphic novel author who has PTSD and a psychotic break after his girlfriend is raped and murdered in front of him. He doesn’t consciously realize that he’s insane and killing people (revenge for his girlfriend) and then drawing the crime scenes into his graphic novel. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/96 "2009-04-27T12:21:24Z")
> [@Waenara](#): > > I don’t watch _Criminal Minds_ all that often, but I really liked the episode called _[True Night](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1122161/)_, guest starring Frankie Muniz. It was an unusual episode of CM, because it’s told mostly from the point of view of the perpetrator and it has a different visual style. It’s about a graphic novel author who has PTSD and a psychotic break after his girlfriend is raped and murdered in front of him. He doesn’t consciously realize that he’s insane and killing people (revenge for his girlfriend) and then drawing the crime scenes into his graphic novel. I agree, that was an excellent episode too. As Prentice said at the end: It’s the first case I’ve had when the UNSUB wasn’t the bad guy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/97 "2009-04-27T18:57:19Z")
\*\*The Outer Limits: Demon with a Glass Hand (Runner-Up: Soldier) The Prisoner: Hammer into Anvil MASH: The One with the Clock in the Corner \*\* Too many Twilight Zones and Dick van Dyke Show episodes to note, and I don’t know all the titles anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180/98 "2009-04-28T06:25:24Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > CSI: The furry episode, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard at a TV show in my life. The final scene of them leading all the furies through the police station in cuffs is classic. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-written-episodes-of-a-series-you-love/494180.md?page=4)