For the 104 episodes before “Mindy Lahiri Is a White Man”, Mindy is established as a strong independent doctor who just happens to be a single mom. “…White Man” comes late in Season 5, just after some other mind-bending episodes. With only a dozen episodes after it, many shows would have been jumping the shark. As the episode starts loading, I realize that we are nearing the end of the run. And I’m already thinking about what show I will stream-binge next in the background.
All tagged One Perfect Episode
This is the fifth episode of the entire show, though if I had seen it out of order my only clue that it wasn’t one of Nicholas Colasanto’s last episodes would be Diane’s clothes and the lack of Frasier. How immediately cohesive this show was from its origin: George Wendt is greeted with a rambunctious “Norm!”, Diane’s trill of “Norman” quick behind. Sam wiggles in overture at Diane, who flits him away, only for her to lose her balance in the flit and land on her face.
ONE PERFECT EPISODE / So Many Stars: Better Call Saul—"Winner" / Diddle Knabb
The season four finale plays out over two devastating storylines. In one thread, Jimmy (refuses to) grapple with the death of his brother Chuck. This exploration of grief leads Jimmy to officially adopt the moniker Saul Goodman. Until this point, we have only known the main protagonist as the charming fuckup Jimmy McGill.
ONE PERFECT EPISODE / Succession: "Connor's Wedding" / Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner
“Connor's Wedding” (S4 E3) starts off exactly as it sounds: the gang gears up for their elder half-brother's wedding to the (incredible!) Willa, who none of them respect. Connor has essentially purchased his bride to be; she was a call girl when they started “dating”, and the previous episode centered around his being in his feels, as Willa had run away from their rehearsal dinner.
This episode might be the one in which Sally is at her strongest, in her willingness to put her safety before her desire to please others. She had spent months laboring over her new TV show, creating and starring in this series oriented around abuse. After only twelve hours on the streaming site, the producers defer to the algorithm and something called taste clusters and decide to pull the entire show.
Doakes is what you’d want your personal trainer to look like or your local bar’s bouncer assigned to remove an unruly patron. I imagine he’d make a great boyfriend. He’d kick any guy's ass that looked at me the wrong way. No offense to my wife, I’m sure she would try her best, but you know - she’s just not Doakes. So, when Doakes walked into a crime scene and damn near shit his pants, it was clear season 1, episode 10 of Dexter was only beginning.
Part of the reason why the finale works so well is because we see the characters escape patterns of self destruction that had been eloquently described decades before its airing. Firstly, through the Freudian concept of death drive, the Fishers appear to want to find their own finalities within what they learn.
There’s a scene where Lucy and Ethel stare at the old-fashioned (even for them, yes) lawn mower that they borrow from the Ramseys, trying to figure out how it works. Once atop the mower, and once the engine is “cranked up” thanks to Ethel, Lucy’s comedic prowess does the rest. The mower runs amuck, and unless you’re dead inside, you laugh for real. Lucille Ball utilized every fiber of her body for comedy.
The pizza delivery arrives with no way to get it inside. Can you see where we’re headed? Jez has the carrier slide the slices through the letterbox, which is now laced with Jez's pee. This doesn't bother Jez but certainly disgusts Mark, for obvious reasons. It continues downhill from there, as one might expect.
The most perfect touch of this episode comes at the end. The wedding that an entire nation has been waiting for isn’t shown. Instead, we get Diana’s back, and that impossibly long train, and for all of us who know the long, sad history, it almost feels like an ending.
Up until this episode, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn’t yet found their own voice. The characters and plot were still heavily reliant on the timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the relationships developing between the main characters aboard “The Bus” seemed either too shallow or too slow-paced. But with “FZZT,” we started to glean histories that deepened the way we view these characters and how they value each other in turn.
But with true British phlegm, Toast continues his work, meeting with his agent Jane Plough (pronounced pluff) who assigns him to do voice over work (no job is too small for him). At the studio, Toast discovers he’ll be working opposite his archnemesis and raging homophobe, Ray “Fucking” Purchase.
But it’s not just kids versus the world that makes this show special—and this episode in particular. The drama is also internal, but I guess after being born into a climate crisis and post-capitalist society, who kissed who and how are we going to overcome a surprise pregnancy sorta just seems easy. Or they make it look that way.
And yet, his youngest son Kevin (Fred Savage), curious and mystified by his father's line of work, seeks answers. The problem is: no one in his family seems to know.
Seeing “cool guy” Daniel accept an invitation to play Dungeons & Dragons, Sam, who has been trying to shed his “geek” identity, realizes he alone can define what is cool or not. Meanwhile, Nick has gone full disco.
The final line of the episode, given in voiceover and with an uncertain tone mentions that on this walk, she gets her period. But even though this episode ends on a finality, the reality is that she clearly leaves her quandary even more confused than when it began.
Arguably, “Thanksgiving” is the best episode of television to come along in quite some time. And surprisingly, main character Dev is merely a supporting player. It's also something to watch if you don't like sports and have had enough of Charlie Brown!
At the end, BoJack opens up to Hollyhock, explaining that his shittiness has nothing to do with her. She’s upset, but her desire to build a relationship with BoJack is at the forefront. Like Mr. Peanutbutter, Hollyhock cares about BoJack, but his mental illness doesn’t allow him to accept her love no matter how much he wants to.
Reality TV was just starting to enter popular culture and a fair bit of it was absolute trash. When people say “trashy” in reference to reality TV you think of dating shows with fighting and screaming and crying. These are guilty pleasure, junk food shows.
He chugs a beer, slaps his own face to psych himself up, and takes the stage in slow motion, his anxiety palpable, his eyes wide and focused. To the tune of “Swamp Thing” by The Grid, he gets on stage, and immediately, something is wrong. His dance moves are jerky, out of sync with the music, and he gets visibly frustrated with himself.