# The Single WORST Episode Of Your Favourite TV Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717 "2009-11-16T01:01:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/21 "2009-11-16T03:24:44Z")
Buffy: _Where the Wild Things Are_, aka “that stupid episode where Buffy and Riley can’t stop having sex because of some spell.” Supernatural: _Route 666_, aka “the racist truck episode”. Racist truck? WTF?! ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/22 "2009-11-16T03:34:53Z")
I’m not super-proud, but I like _Bones_, okay? I _still_ like it. But they lost all my respect when the writer’s strike happened and they yanked our emotions around like a kid with an abused puppy for the first ten minutes and then got onto the business of “solving” the season-long mystery with some made up stupid shit, where the apprentice was somebody it couldn’t really be and the master was nobody at all and they wrapped up what could have gone on for seasons in half an hour flat. A stupid half an hour. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/23 "2009-11-16T03:36:19Z")
“Beer Bad” is also a candidate. For Angel it has to be the muppet episode-I’ve never had my willing suspension of disbelief as smashed, folded, spindled, and mutilated as it was the instant Angel appears on screen as a muppet, and then starts wrestling with Spike. \ As far as Trek goes, [CBS.com](http://CBS.com) finally got all their TOS eps up there, and I tried “The Way to Eden,” on a lark, but unlike “Spock’s Brain” it had no “so bad it’s good” moments. Dr. [del]Cauliflower[/del] [del]Seven[/del] Sevrin was lame and uncompelling as a loony villian, and the space hippies…ackkkk. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/24 "2009-11-16T03:45:17Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Buffy: _Where the Wild Things Are_, aka “that stupid episode where Buffy and Riley can’t stop having sex because of some spell.” I like Beer Bad, and Bad Eggs isn’t horrible, but this is the worst episode related to anything Joss has ever done. Even the movie is better than this. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/25 "2009-11-16T03:52:54Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I like Beer Bad, and Bad Eggs isn’t horrible, but this is the worst episode related to anything Joss has ever done. Even the movie is better than this. I feel like anyone who responds differently has repressed their memory of WTWTA. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/26 "2009-11-16T04:03:32Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > For Angel it has to be the muppet episode-I’ve never had my willing suspension of disbelief as smashed, folded, spindled, and mutilated as it was the instant Angel appears on screen as a muppet, and then starts wrestling with Spike. > \ Wee little puppet man, wee little puppet man! I’ll have your share, that was frigging awesome! For _Angel_, there was something in the first season about neo nazi aliens. Ran away screaming ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/27 "2009-11-16T04:15:26Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > On _The Simpsons,_ the worst is the one where Bart and his friends form a boy band as a recruiting tool for the Navy. Dammit! Now I have “Yvan Eht Nioj” stuck in my head. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/28 "2009-11-16T04:16:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, I’m not going to try to figure out precisely what my “favorite show” is, but _Babylon 5_ has to be high on the list. There’s one episode, “TKO”, where a washed-up human boxer decides to compete in some alien Ultimate Fighting sport from which humans had previously been excluded. After 43 minutes of tribulations and really bad fighting form, he manages to get allowed in the ring with the galactic champion at this sport, and fights until the other guy agrees to a tie and to let humans compete from now on. There’s no broader significance to the episode at all, nor any connection whatsoever to any of the grand overarching storylines that were woven throughout the series. Every single other episode of the show, without any other exception, at least has Kosh show up for a scene and say something cryptic, or something. It had the really good subplot about Ivanova, her unresolved daddy issues and the rabbi which I really liked and there’s one bit of foreshadowing. The boxer tells Garibaldi that Garibaldi’s weakness is that he trusts his friends too much and never watches his back. Which comes into play about 5 episodes later I’d argue that “Grey 17 is Missing” is a much worse episode. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/29 "2009-11-16T04:17:04Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > Nah. _Spock’s Brain_ is golden compared to _Miri_. > > First, you have an exact duplicate of Earth for no reason whatsoever. > > Second, you have annoying brats going **BONK!, BONK!, BONK!** every five minutes. > > Nuke’em from orbit, Captain. It’s the only way to be sure. Are either of those episodes worse than The Way to Eden? With the groovy, singing ‘space hippies’, really, Herbert? ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/30 "2009-11-16T04:37:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, I’m not going to try to figure out precisely what my “favorite show” is, but _Babylon 5_ has to be high on the list. There’s one episode, “TKO”, where a washed-up human boxer decides to compete in some alien Ultimate Fighting sport from which humans had previously been excluded. After 43 minutes of tribulations and really bad fighting form, he manages to get allowed in the ring with the galactic champion at this sport, and fights until the other guy agrees to a tie and to let humans compete from now on. There’s no broader significance to the episode at all, nor any connection whatsoever to any of the grand overarching storylines that were woven throughout the series. Every single other episode of the show, without any other exception, at least has Kosh show up for a scene and say something cryptic, or something. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > **ST:TNG:** [Family](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_%28Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation%29) The show was hated, and, as was usual, the producers took the wrong lesson from that. They thought the problem was that there were no action sequences. But, no, the problem was that it was a mass of third-rate cliches and by-the-book heart-tugging revelations. Not a single moment of it rang true (especially absurd was the Picard vs. his French brother – both with English accents – solving things after a bit of mudwrestling). It seems like sci-fi and wrestling do _not_ go together (I mean, are there any Trekkies who are also UFC fans?). Star Trek: Voyager’s [Tsunkatse](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Tsunkatse_%28episode%29) was a **very** thinly veiled attempt to have “The Rock” guest star on the show. The plot device was as contrived as a standard Gilligan’s Island episode (oh, the Harlem Globetrotters just _happened_ to appear on the island, eh?) but at least Gilligan’s Island is entertaining and you’re more apt to suspend disbelief for that show. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/31 "2009-11-16T05:04:39Z")
As a Simpsons fan, there are (unfortunately) a limitless number of options from seasons 12-21. As bad as Yvan Eht Nioj and Duncan the Race Horse were, there were still some redeeming moments. Lately, it’s been like panning for gold. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/32 "2009-11-16T05:05:34Z")
Hmmmm…The Wire didn’t have a WORST episode. 🙂 Ok, to be fair, pick one at the tail end of the final season. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/33 "2009-11-16T05:16:20Z")
OK, I’ll grant that “Gray 17 is Missing” was pretty awful, too, but I still maintain that the lack of connection to other episodes made “TKO” worse. OK, there was the thing with Ivanova and her dad, but that was introduced as the C plot in a single earlier episode, and never brought up again after TKO, so it’s not really much of a connection. And while “watch your back” might count as foreshadowing if Kosh or someone said it (heck, everything Kosh says counts as foreshadowing, no matter what it is), when some punch-drunk idiot wannabe who only appears in one episode says it, it doesn’t mean anything. Mind you, I can’t actually remember _what_ connection to the plot “Gray 17” had, but I know it had more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/34 "2009-11-16T06:48:24Z")
Well, I don’t know if it’s my favorite series—though it’s gotta be close. How couldn’t it be?—but I’ve got another ST:TNG nomination: [“Emergence”](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Emergence_%28episode%29). That was the one from the seventh season where the ship got nicked by a space-storm (offscreen, apparently) which apparently mutated it so it starts evolving into an intelligent lifeform, and you could see the elements of it’s subconscious incarnated as characters on a train in the Holodeck, and it built a really mediocre CGI effect “offspring” which flew off into space in the end and then everything went back to normal. Or some damn thing like that. The whole sorry thing was just an indication that the series _really_ wrapped up _just_ in time, instead of trying to plow on for more seasons. It felt like a Voyager episode more than anything else—but at least it had Picard discussing _The Tempest_, in-character, which was neat _and_ actually tied in with the episode. Voyager probably would have had Paris tinkering with an Edsel or someone mooning over their annoying love life or practicing being self-righteous or something. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/35 "2009-11-16T07:03:52Z")
[Anime geek] The Davyback arc in One Piece. It read like filler in the manga, and wasn’t any better in the anime. Stupid, pointless episodes. I hope that the Foxy pirates don’t play some sort of key role later, because they were such worthless villains. I also wasn’t a fan of Thriller Bark, though the anime portrayed it slightly better than the manga, I think. [/Anime geek] ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/36 "2009-11-16T07:06:49Z")
There’s two episodes of Futurama that stick out to me. The first one is That’s Lobstertainment. There’s a lot of funny jokes in the episode, but I just can’t buy there being another silent movie era in black and white. The next one is the one where Bender becomes joins All My Circuits. As with That’s Lobstertainment, I just can’t stand episodes of shows where a non-famous group of people suddenly gets famous, then in the next episode they act like it never happened. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/37 "2009-11-16T07:21:01Z")
Buffy’s “Bad Eggs” gave us Cordelia in a black leather miniskirt, vest and boots. The plot was bad you say? Didn’t actually notice. For my money the worst is either S1’s “Nightmares” or S6’s “Doublemeat Palace”. Angel didn’t have a lot of really bad episodes per se but “She” is only barely redeemed by the hilarious dancing scene at the beginning. “Why We Fight” brought the season 5 story to a grinding halt so we could have Angel on a submarine in WWII. How anyone cannot love “Smile Time” is a mystery to me. The Shield was another show that had very few bad episodes but one I really didn’t like was where Vic gets played by the hooker that was friends with Connie. 24: in the first season, Elisha Cuthbert’s girlfriend has survived being beaten and tortured by the bad guys and being hit by a car. She goes through a long surgery and just as we’re starting to think she’s going to be ok, a bad guy comes in and suffocates her. That was friggin’ harsh. Also on 24, in the seventh season a dozen commandos from Africa take over the White House in about five minutes. This is because 1) there is a nice easy access underground tunnel to a White House broom closet that the terrorists can access 2) they have sophisticated equipment to bypass the puny photoelectric beams and cameras that protect the White House and 3) no one responsible for White House security packs anything more powerful than a pistol. The President has a panic room but it’s nowhere near the Oval Office, does not have any means of communicating with the outside world and has no weapons or body armor in it but does have several canisters of explosive gas. I know 24 requires extensive suspension of disbelief but this was going way too far. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/38 "2009-11-16T10:45:18Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > For **Doctor Who,** I’d go with “Kinda.” Really awful pseudopsychological mumbo jumbo, with a solution that is just plain stupid. Worse than “The Unicorn and The Wasp”? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/39 "2009-11-16T11:00:31Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > It seems like sci-fi and wrestling do _not_ go together (I mean, are there any Trekkies who are also UFC fans?). Star Trek: Voyager’s [Tsunkatse](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Tsunkatse_%28episode%29) was a **very** thinly veiled attempt to have “The Rock” guest star on the show. The plot device was as contrived as a standard Gilligan’s Island episode (oh, the Harlem Globetrotters just _happened_ to appear on the island, eh?) but at least Gilligan’s Island is entertaining and you’re more apt to suspend disbelief for that show. Not MMA, but professional wrestling and Star Trek were my two passions as a pre-teen and teen, and though I’m not a huge fan of either nowadays, I still follow both to some degree. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717/40 "2009-11-16T12:22:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Mind you, I can’t actually remember _what_ connection to the plot “Gray 17” had, but I know it had more than that. The B plot involved Delenn going through a ceremony to officially become “The One,” and Neroon was Hell bent on stopping it (by murdering her, if necessary) because he believed someone from the Warrior Caste should lead the Rangers. Marcus stops him by challenging him to a fight to the death. He almost kills Marcus, but stops himself because he realizes that even if he were The One, none of the Rangers would care about him the way they do about Delenn, so he sacrifices his honor by not killing Marcus and confessing to Delenn. This DOES come up later, too, as when the civil war break out among the Mibari, Neroon sacrifices himself to save Delenn, saying that his true calling was religion, not warrior. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-single-worst-episode-of-your-favourite-tv-series/517717.md?page=3)