This article originally posted in July, and we are bringing it back to the forefront to pair with ourBest Episodes of the Year Part 2, coming up tomorrow.
It’s difficult enough to make a list of the best TV shows currently on the air, but an even more excruciating task is to pick out the bestepisodes. And then to cull them down to the best of the best? Nigh impossible, but Chris Cabin and I have attempted it with our list of the Best TV Episodes of 2015 (so far – we set our cutoff in early June). By the time December rolls around (Edit: here we are!) and we are finalizing our year-end lists, some of the earliest episodes of 2015 end up forgotten or lost to time. So this year, we wanted to make sure that we gave credit in due time.
Our (unranked) list is below. You’ll also find a robust inclusion of Honorable Mentions at the bottom. But mostly, this list is about episodes that really stood out, not just within their series, but within the early 2015 TV landscape at large. Check it out below, and click on the episode title links to find the corresponding recap. And of course, don’t forget to add your thoughts and additional suggestions for your favorite episodes so far in the comments.
Hannibal Season 3: “Antipasto”
Writers: Bryan Fuller and Steve Lightfoot
Director: Vincenzo Natali
“Aesthetics become ethics,” says the titular gentleman-cannibal in the fiery, fantastic season premiere ofHannibalSeason 3, and that ultimately is the whole game with Bryan Fuller’s magnificent adaptation ofThomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter novels. And unlike almost any other show in the history of NBC, which recently (idiotically) cancelled the program due to low ratings,Hannibalis a show dedicated not only to the details of framing and composition but to imagistic rhythms and the power of expressive editing. “Antipasto” unravels like a fever dream, lush in its use of slow motion, dissolves, montages, and a variety of precise camera movements. Seeing as the episode is entirely devoted to Hannibal and Bedelia’s doings in Florence, the stylistically furious excesses perfectly mirror our anti-hero, liberated from the empathy and law of Will Graham, but as we’ve seen, that doesn’t last for too long.– CC
The Americans Season 3: “Salang Pass”
Writers: Stephen Schiff
Director: Kevin Dowling
Matthew Rhyshad an exceptional season onThe Americansas the Russian spy Philip Jennings, but he was never more nuanced than in “Salang Pass.” Deftly juggling multiple personalities and relationships in order to complete his spy missions, viewers finally got to see how it all began, with a series of harrowing flashbacks to Philip’s training. That, coupled with Philip’s interactions with his wife Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and others, allowedThe Americansto reach new heights and tragic depths of honesty. It also perfectly encapsulated Philip’s arc throughout the season, and proved single-handily whyThe Americansis one of the year’s best shows.– AK
Marvel’s Daredevil Season 1: “Stick”
Writer: Douglas Petrie
Director: Brad Turner
Among the slew of great fight scenes that litter Marvel’s superbDaredevil, my favorite scenes continue to be the titular superhero’s interactions with his mentor, Stick, played with cynical charm and odd grace by the greatScott Glenn, who was introduced about halfway through the first season. The character of Stick is, in several ways, a refraction of Matt Murdock, played by the tremendously talentedCharlie Cox, and he gives a sense of the more enticing demons that Murdock has been grappling with in his path to becoming Daredevil. Where Murdock believes in punishment, Stick believes in biblical retribution and death, and both their fights and discussions outline the moral concepts that back their separate beliefs. There are better action sequences in other episodes but this was the episode that confirmed that Netflix had indeed succeeded where several major studios have failed spectacularly, as far as comic book adaptations go.– CC
Writer: Angela Kang
Director: Michael Edison Satrazemis
By the time our heroes arrived at the Alexandria Safe-Zone, the fifth season ofThe Walking Deadhad already ascended to new heights of humanistic and political complexity that belied its roots in lo-fi, brazenly liberal horror, which the show continues to indulge in. The show’s fascination with societal strife and the moral indiscretions inherent in warfare hit a boiling point in “Try” and it doesn’t settle down until the devastating final seconds of “Conquer.” As Rick (Andrew Lincoln) ponders taking the Safe-Zone for his people, the underlying question is how much one can excuse moral principals when at war, and exactly how these principals are meant to be rebuilt when they can be so easily compromised or tossed aside. The episode ends with a brutal fistfight in the middle of the town, and in relation to the social tension in the zone, the bloody combat feels simultaneously cathartic and quietly damning.– CC
The Flash Season One Finale: “Fast Enough”
Writers:Gabrielle Stanton, Andrew Kreisberg
Director:Dermott Downs
The Flashcapped off its fantastic inaugural season with an episode that was the perfect culmination of what made it good all year: “Fast Enough” was full of crazy things like the multi-verse of time travel, and yet, it was still fully grounded in human emotion. StarGrant Gustinwas a stand-out as he wrestled with the potential consequences of going back to stop his mother’s death, while still having to relive that horror all over again. Across the cast, new superpowers were revealed, sacrifices were made, romances were started, father issues were sorted out, and the show ended on an immense cliffhanger that threatened to destroy everything — all in a frenetic hour that still made plenty of time for its biggest emotional moments. One of the year’s most engrossing hours of television by a mile.–AK
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 2: “Surveillance”
The question begged by “Surveillance,” only the most remarkable episode ofLast Week Tonight’s groundbreaking second season, is really simple: Why didEdward SnowdentrustJohn Oliverwith this interview? The kicker is that Oliver even asks this question to his crew when Snowden is late for their lengthy, uproarious, and insightful discussion about the surveillance state that Snowden helped out. Oliver, as always, is near surgical with the way he excises the bullshit from any debate, while also developing comic excursions to highlight the inherent absurdity of the institutions he so regularly disassembles with irrepressible fascination, empathy, and, yes, fury. “Surveillance” felt so prescient in the weirdly anti-climatic dissolution of what I’m sure will only be the first round of such pro-data collection arguments and laws, but the way Oliver reconsiders the surveillance arguments in terms of dick pics, or how he grills Snowden on the very real dangers of his actions, is timeless comic curiosity and certainty, which Oliver has honed into a sharp point.– CC
Wolf Hall Miniseries Finale: “Master of Phantoms”
Writer: Peter Straughan
Director: Peter Kosminsky
Wolf Hallwas fantastic on every level, but its finale, “Master of Phantoms,” was positively haunting. It saw Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy) liberated from her head in an emotional and excruciatingly drawn-out sequence that essentially made the ax man’s blade a welcomed relief. It also solidified Thomas Cromwell’s (Mark Rylance) place in King Henry VIII’s (Damian Lewis) court, and proved that Cromwell was willing to do whatever necessary to make sure he stayed in the King’s good graces. And yet, Cromwell’s connection with Anne was strong, and Rylance silently conveyed the pain of his necessary choice, particularly as the episode came to a close and Henry exuberantly embraced him. (It was a feeling Cromwell did not share, as he knows he was dangerously close to having been in Anne’s place on the gallows). “Master of Phantoms” was a difficult and outstanding hour of television (that I wrote even more extensively abouthere).– AK
Game of Thrones Season 5: “Hardhome”
Writers: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
In aGame of Thronesseason that started off exceptionally strong and then became confused and mired in a lot of sexual abuse as it continued, “Hardhome” was a stand-out episode that brought things back to the magical (even though it was dark magic). Though there were many great scenes throughout the episode (including our first chance to seePeter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister andEmilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen paired up in conversation), the hour concluded with an outstanding scene neither book readers nor fans of the show were expecting, which made it electric in its energy. The use of most of the show’s CG budget was worth it, as it allowed for a stunningly rendered and chilling attack by frost-bitten zombies, with a leader whose show-stopping war tactic is to reanimate the slain into his army of the dead. The manic, occasionally heart-wrenching fight sequences (and also glorious, like whenKit Harington’s Jon Snow wielded Longclaw in slow motion), were balanced beautifully by the silence at the end. The remaining men of the Night’s Watch and the surviving Willings floated out on boats onto the icy river, watching as their dead rose again, ready to kill. It reminded us that in this world, anything is possible.– AK
The Daily Show: “19-06-2025” & “17-06-2025”
We’re still a few weeks off fromJon Stewart’s final bow onThe Daily Show, the end of one of the great host runs in the history of television, but these past weeks have offered visceral reminders of what we’ll be missing in his absence. In the roll up to the “cup of hot sadness” that will be his exit, Stewart has had at least two episodes that would qualify as canonical, and these two episodes highlight the breadth of Stewart’s influence. In the “White House Don” segmenton June 16th, his sardonic joy overDonald Trump’s presidential announcement proved irrepressible, picking apart the more ludicrous bits of Trump’s speech following his announcement, capped by fake orgasms and an inspired bit by Jessica Williams. And onthe June 18thepisode, the host gave a stark and sincere reaction to the Charleston shootings that felt unerringly sober and appropriately angry, only to then cede the stage to Pakistani activistMalala Yousafzaito discuss the true worth of peace-keeping and political activism. In these two very different episodes, it became staggeringly clear how tough the jobTrevor Noahjust signed up for is going to be when he actually takes the desk this summer.– CC
Man Seeking Woman: Season 1: “Woman Seeking Man: ‘Teacup’”
Writer: Sofia Alvarez
Director: Tim Kirby
Somewhat hidden away on FX’s comedy sister channel FXX,Simon Rich’s surreal, dating-focused seriesMan Seeking Woman— starringJay Baruchelas the hapless Jay Greenberg — ended up being one of the year’s most innovative and perceptive shows. But it may have reached its zenith with its gender-swapped episode “Woman Seeing Man,” which not only played on typical female-centric dating tropes, but also subverted the series’ own style. By taking a break from the singular focus on Jay’s dating life, it allowed his sister Liz, played byBritt Lower, the ability to take the reins and really shine. It shifted to a similarly structured, yet entirely different kind of feel for the series — one that focused more specifically on Liz’s fears and insecurities — and in doing so, ultimately created a sincere portrait of modern dating for both genders.– AK
