I wrote about some of the best episodes of television in 2025.

Feel free to share, comment and let me know what you think I missed.

South Park – “Sermon On the Mount”

Full disclosure…I thought this episode, overall, was kinda meh. Fuller discloser. I think South Park is, in general, kinda meh.

That being said the cultural significance it represented can’t be ignored. Slapping the Trump Administration across the face and essentially asking to be sued by it takes planet sized balls. You realize in times of discourse that there are leaders and there are followers. The South Park creators have never shied away from taking the lead against censorship. There was never any chance they were ever going to fall in line, but taking a gamble like this to remind the world that they’re willing to be the quarterback of the resistence was pretty damn impressive…even if the actual content was pretty damn stupid. 

The Last of Us – “Through the Valley”

I watched “Through the Valley” on an airplane…and I screamed “NO!” out loud…with my mouth and face on an airplane. The episode was that shocking. 

It remains to be seen which way is a better viewing experience with regards to The Last Of Us. You’ve got what seems like an even split of the audience comprised of mega-fans of the game and those of us who know nothing. I wasn’t prepare for this, and I’m sure that the gamers weren’t either back in the day. The shock of this episode doesn’t feel like it will ever wear off.

Say what you will about the second season of The Last of Us, but as far as impossibly terrific episodes of television go, this was easily one of them.

Pluribus – “The Gap”

You gotta love a good Vince Gilligan episode that pisses a significantly high percentage of his audience off because its pacing doesn’t conform to the societal ideologies of traditional storytelling.

Watching it a day late, I was pretty confident when I received a handful of text messgaes from friends who hated the episode that I was going to love it. Excluding the series premiere it was probably my favorite episode of the series so far. A slow-moving character inquiry with out-of-this-world cinematography that reminded me of everything I love about Gilligan’s filmmaking.

Why people don’t just stop getting mad at him for how he paces his series when you’ve got examples of how strong they come around in both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is kind of insane to me. It’s not just trust in the process; it’s identifying that the process is part of the perfection. 

The Rehearsal – “My Controls”

In reality, The Rehearsal had two of the best TV episodes of the year. I struggled between picking this or “Pilot’s Code.” Ultimately the finale, “My Controls” has a reveal even more unbelievable than the weirdness of “Pilot’s Code” (which Fielder actually tells you is “a little weird”…and coming from him says a lot). My Controls refused to live inside the confines of conventional television. Fielder went above and beyond the expectations of a content creator and did something markedly different and wonderful. 

Adolescence – “Episode 3”

This was my favorite episode of my favorite show of the year. The compelling mental tennis match between its young star, Owen Cooper, and quite frankly one of the best performances ever turned in by anyone from Erin Doherty was gripping, disturbing and impossible to look away from.

Textbook perfection in acting and directing. 

The Pitt – “6:00P.M.”

There was always the unsettling feeling about where The Pitt was meandering toward when it foreshadowed society’s darkest day right from its outset. When it finally gets there in its twelth episode it does in epic fashion; but with a much appreciated humility for the viewer. You get the true sense that this was exactly what The Pitt wanted to be when it was just an idea in Noah Wyle and R. Scott Gemmill’s brains. The entire series lived on the cusp of a nervous breakdown, but 6:00PM was its finest moment where it proved that it could control chaos in a symphony like fashion. 

Task – “Vagrants”

Task’s cat-and-mouse game episode was by far its best. In some ways the series peaked in this episode and had to come crashing down to earth in its denoument. The scene where the two leads, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphry are locked in a car together for what feels like an eternity bottled the series tension to an explosive point.

The Lowdown – “This Land?”

In what sort of felt like a classic Sterlin Harjo one-off side story that exists more to vindicate the message of the overall tone of his project than it did to move the mystery-plot along, Peter Dinklage gives a Peter Dinklage-y brilliant guest performane alongside an equally as brilliant Ethan Hawke. 

Severance – “Woe’s Hollow”

Woe’s Hollow felt like the defining episode of the second season of Severance. Ben Stiller flexes his directing muscles and takes the story out of the office and into the frozen tundra. It’s clearly a lynchpin for the series’ ever expanding story where characters’ fates were met and others were just realizing their purpose. It was also a visually stunning episode that stands out for that reason alone….and when the majority of them are visually stunning, that’s a particularly impressive accomplishment. 

Paradise – “The Day”

Paradise shocks you from the get-go, and then makes you frustratingly wait around for any sort of an explanation. “The Day” finally puts all of “how we get here?” puzzle pieces together; and still does it in a shocking manner.