# Worst Single Episodes Of Otherwise Well Written Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014 "2009-04-22T20:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/21 "2009-04-23T02:16:56Z")
I’m not saying it was Shakespeare or anything, but in its early seasons _Xena: Warrior Princess_ was a fairly well written fantasy/action series. After a couple of years it started to become increasingly weird and inconsistent, and I eventually stopped watching. But while I could name a number of weak episodes, only one left me wondering how on earth anyone could ever have thought it might possibly be a good, or even coherent, idea: the season five episode “Married, With Fishsticks”. Thinking back, this may actually have been the episode that made me decide the show was not worth my time anymore. At the beginning of the show Gabrielle, Xena’s common-law sidekick, is feeling uncertain about dealing with Xena’s new baby. Gabrielle then gets hit on the head and falls in the water. Most of the rest of the episode is a dream sequence that is basically the Goldie Hawn movie _Overboard_ (woman has amnesia after head injury, man convinces her she’s his wife and has her take care of his kids) only for some reason Gabrielle is now a mermaid and one of the supporting characters is impersonating Fran Drescher. There are also a lot of awful fish puns. Gabrielle eventually regains her memory (in her own dream! She’s having a dream where she’s a mermaid with amnesia, and then while still in the dream remembers who she really is), tells her phony husband to go find his real wife and patch things up with her, and then wakes up. Now she likes babies more or something. Gabrielle is told she was unconscious only briefly, but the episode ends on a predictable but nonsensical “It was only a dream…OR WAS IT?” note when we see that Gabrielle still has a ring that was given to her in the dream. The whole thing was incredibly stupid, annoying, unfunny, and aside from the actors had no resemblance to any other episode of the show ever. Looking on the Web now, I see that _Xena_ executive producer Rob Tapert has since admitted that idea for this episode really _didn’t_ have anything to do with _Xena_. It was his way of trying out a concept he’d had for a new show, a sort of under-the-sea family sitcom. After seeing how badly this idea worked in practice, he abandoned it. I think it should have been an obvious no-go before the script was even finished, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/22 "2009-04-23T03:37:45Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > the fourth episode of Cowboy Bebop… it’s hard to explain, but it was so totally out of the blue, and pointless, and just utterly ridiculous in a way the show wasn’t (it _was_ utterly ridiculous, but in other ways and other times). I saw it without that episode by someone who admanantly hated it, then again later, and had to agree. The entire series would have been better off without it. I really disagree with this. I like this episode, mainly for the sequence right after the title credits. The music and the zoom in to the space station is, to me a wonderful scene. The episode also at least advances the overall story of the series since it starts with Faye being out of fuel after scamming Spike and Jet in the previous episode. I’ll admit that it didn’t advance the overall story line a great deal but it did more so than did ‘Mushroom Samba’ or ‘Pierrot le Fou’, two of my favourites. ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/23 "2009-04-23T04:06:06Z")
That _Cowboy Bebop_ episode is the one with the monkey virus, right? The only thing I remember about it is the great music playing while Spike and Faye are trying to shoot down the missiles in hyperspace. That along made it a good episode. Wow, no one has mentioned BSG’s “Black Market”? That was truly an awful episode. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/24 "2009-04-23T04:14:22Z")
I came in here to say Isaac and Ishmael of the West Wing. What? Make a very special episode only days after Sept. 11? Did you ever think that people might want something different than even more Sept. 11 stuff? ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/25 "2009-04-23T07:04:57Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Likewise, you can make a case for the last episode. The series was cut late, and they knew there wasn’t going to be another, so they basically ended it in the worst possible way short of “Rocks fall, everybody dies.” But it was close, because (and even the characters sorta recognized this, perhaps as a shout-out to the audience to say, “yeah, we know, but we got no choice”) the series was clearly not meant to go that way. The characters had changed and grown a bit - subtley, but definiteively, and the ending shoved them back into the boxes they were in at the start of it. Disagreed, I actually think it’s a worthy ending. It puts a meaning to the Spike subplot episodes while being pretty epic and atmospheric. Actually. Yes, now that I concider it, it would have been nice to have one “final” adventure, but I like that the series gets a closure. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/26 "2009-04-23T08:00:42Z")
I came in to say “Grey 17 is missing”. But another prime candidate is the devolution episode of TNG. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/27 "2009-04-23T08:19:10Z")
Also the 2001 Christmas Special of “Only Fools And Horses”. Not only did it ruin the 1996 “real” ending for no reason it was, as a stand alone episode rather dull and laugh free. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/28 "2009-04-23T08:21:47Z")
_Starsky and Hutch_ had lots of episodes like this. Oh wait, you said “single episodes.” Seriously though I think that there are four or five _Starsky and Hutch_ episodes that literally consist of sixty minutes of guys in tweed suits and aviator-style eyeglasses sitting around in rooms with wood paneling, green carpeting and ceiling fans, smoking cigarettes and talking. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/29 "2009-04-23T08:22:10Z")
I vote for the entire last season of Buffy. What a let down. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/30 "2009-04-23T08:30:36Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > TNG, Wes goes on spirit quests and eventually evolves into a Traveller. I’ve managed to miss that one. So I have to nominate that pathetic stitched together episode where Riker got the mysterious space disease/poison/infectation and Polanski and Troi spend the whole episode in sickbay poking at his brain and making him remember past episodes. In the end, they discover that hitting bad memories drives back the msd/p/i, so the do their best to dredge up all the past tragic moments they can. It was a sloppy piece of nearly nothing. ---
**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 23, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/31 "2009-04-23T12:11:06Z")
The VSE of Family Ties where Alex’s best friend, who we never saw before, was killed and Alex went off the deep end and had to go to a shrink. The VSE of Growing Pains were Mike were to a party and the people were doing coke, so he goes home and talks to his father about it. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/32 "2009-04-23T12:50:50Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > “TKO” and “Infection” from Babylon 5. Both of them advance the overall plot arc in no way, have little to no character development, and are also pretty shitty on their own. TKO actually does advance the overall plot…slightly. The boxer dude tells Garibaldi at least twice that he’s too trusting and doesn’t watch his own back and it’ll be his downfall–several episodes later, Garibaldi is shot in the back by one of his own men. Plus, TKO has the good subplot with Ivanova. The eps would be in my bottom 10 B5 eps, but at least TKO isn’t totally without merit. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/33 "2009-04-23T12:57:36Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I came in here to say Isaac and Ishmael of the West Wing. What? Make a very special episode only days after Sept. 11? Did you ever think that people might want something different than even more Sept. 11 stuff? I’m going to disagree with this. It aired on October 3, 2001, and networks had put so many shows on hiatus. Remember when Letterman and Leno just ran reruns for a few weeks? It wasn’t a great episode, but it wasn’t the worst (anything with Zoey being kidnapped can fill in nicely for that distinction). The episode had a decent discussion, and was several levels of discourse above the “kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out!” mentality that was building across the country. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/34 "2009-04-23T13:19:27Z")
Re: Futurama – I really didn’t like the episode with the rampaging Robot Santa. It felt very off, at least at the time that I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Nom\_de\_Plume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85f322/32.png) [@Nom\_de\_Plume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nom_de_Plume)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/35 "2009-04-23T13:34:01Z")
The show _Heroes_ had a couple of hit or miss seasons. I almost gave up on it. This year, however, it become good once again… and then there was _1961_. Ugggh. Makes me want to reconsider my decision to stick with the show. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/36 "2009-04-23T13:55:11Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I’ve managed to miss that one. So I have to nominate that pathetic stitched together episode where Riker got the mysterious space disease/poison/infectation and Polanski and Troi spend the whole episode in sickbay poking at his brain and making him remember past episodes. Pulaski, not Polanski. > [@](#): > > In the end, they discover that hitting bad memories drives back the msd/p/i, so the do their best to dredge up all the past tragic moments they can. It was a sloppy piece of nearly nothing. Well, to be fair, this episode was made during the writers’ strike. They didn’t really have any new material, so they had to run a clip show. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/37 "2009-04-23T13:57:00Z")
> [@Garula](#): > > Wow, no one has mentioned BSG’s “Black Market”? That was truly an awful episode. I’m currently watching BSG for the first time and just finished up season 3. I agree that “Black Market” was goofy, but at least the concept behind it was cool and made sense. Instead I’d nominate any episode that’s primarily about Starbuck and Apollo being in love or whatever. Blargh. But then, I thought season 3 was pretty shitty overall. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Shroud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@The\_Shroud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Shroud)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/38 "2009-04-23T13:59:59Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > … Remember when Letterman and Leno just ran reruns for a few weeks? Just to be a pedant, Letterman came back on September 17th. [Roll it, Hal](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As6fZtz5oC4). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/39 "2009-04-23T14:28:06Z")
X-Files had a lot of lemons during its run, but I was particularly unimpressed by “The Field Where I Died”. Boring, pointless, and shamelessly piggy backing on the Waco debacle. Oh, and there was the Fluke Man one, which remained a kind of running joke for the duration of the show, in a “did we really shoot such a ridiculous episode ?!” way. ---
**Author:** ![Morgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Morgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgis)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014/40 "2009-04-23T14:45:57Z")
I actually like the Fluke Man episode. You can’t say that you didn’t feel a little uneasy about using a port-a-john after that. Speaking of _The X-Files_, I need to mention the episode “Home.” I guess it accomplished something by being memorable and shocking. The thing is, this seems to be the only episode that _X-Files_ haters have ever seen or heard about. This is the one they always bring up when you ask them what they didn’t like about the show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-single-episodes-of-otherwise-well-written-series/494014.md?page=3)