SMALL SCREEN, BIG DREAMS
The shows of the 2010s that captured our imagination like no others
When we look at the best television of the decade, a pattern emerges. It includes creative world-building, absurdist humour and great emotional nuance. These are the elements that elevated television through the last 10 years and, for the first time in history, made the medium more surprising and promising than anything film could offer.
Spoilers ahead!
10
Community; season 3, episode 4; Remedial Chaos Theory
For a very long time, it was rare that a sitcom could compare to television drama. In the last few years that’s begun to change, but Community was a standout from the start. With a plethora of innovative storytelling to choose from, it’s Remedial Chaos Theory that captures why Community was so singular. Following Troy and Abed’s housewarming party, we watch as Jeff decides to roll the dice to decide who picks up the pizza, which leads to six different timelines. We watch each one play out to different dramatics between different characters (leading, most notably, to the first time Jeff and Annie get close), some resulting in far greater chaos (an actual fire) than others (Jeff hits his head on the ceiling fan every time). It’s effortlessly funny, but also gives every actor a chance to flex their comedy chops.
9
Breaking Bad; season 5, episode 14; Ozymandias
“What is wrong with you? We’re a family!” Walt shouts as his wife and son watch him from the ground in fear, and dial 911. In that harrowing moment, the entire course of Walt’s journey flips as he realizes he is what’s wrong. As he questions his own motives, the audience is left to question why they are rooting for him — if they still are. It’s a master class in acting and direction (by the great Rian Johnson) that carefully pulls off a narrative to which the entire series was building. It’s why Ozymandias still rests at a rare perfect 10 on IMDB.
8
Real Housewives of New York; season 3, episode 12;
Sun, Sand and Psychosis
Like a child turns to a blanket for comfort, I turn to the long list of Real Housewives episodes that built the landmark reality franchise, but none compare to the hellish trip to the Virgin Islands. The chasm between Bethenny and Kelly grows, as the latter insists she feels the former is “channelling the devil” and is out to kill her. Kelly grows increasingly unhinged, ranting about everything from jelly beans to Al Sharpton to “Gwyneth, my friend Gwyneth” (Paltrow, as it happens). Bethenny famously screams for her to “Go to sleep! Go to sleep!” As Kelly snipes, the rest of the women are “in a horror film,” but she is “in a Disney movie.” Incomprehensible and yet iconic.
7
Broad City; season 1, episode 6; Stolen Phone
There is no such thing as a bad Broad City episode. A comedy of errors at its finest, it has one of the series greatest openers, as the show’s pair hunt for boys on Facebook, and then bar crawl to find hookups “in real life.” After Ilana has the best and most hilariously feminist sex of her life, the two go on a hunt through the city for Abbi’s lost phone — which contains the number of her supposed dream guy. I haven’t laughed harder this decade.
6
Girls; season 2, episode 5; One Man’s Trash
Lena Dunham said she wrote
One Man’s Trash — in which the typically insufferable Hannah is never more endearing as she spends two days shacked up with Joshua (Patrick Wilson), a handsome, successful, stable man — in a “fever dream.” She described it as “Hannah getting lost in a version of what could be her life.” The episode feels universal from a series that tended to offer an otherwise privileged perspective. This is a bottle episode, which means we get to see characters connect in isolation, their insecurities and desires exposed, making them more relatable than ever.
5
Friday Night Lights; season 4, episode 5; The Son
More than any other series, Friday Night Lights offered a level of sincerity that may never be in fashion again. It had this most in The Son, when backup QB Matt Saracen discovers his father — a verbally abusive man who avoided his family by re-enlisting four times, leaving his only child at home to take care of his ill grandmother — has died in the Iraq war. Zach Gilford delivers an emotionally searing performance from the moment he sees his father’s faceless corpse at the funeral home to when he bursts into tears at the Taylors’ kitchen table, realizing, “I hated him. I don’t like hating people. I put all my hate on him so I don’t have to hate anyone else, so I can be a good person.” The end delivers the heaviest emotional wallop, as he says goodbye and buries his father until his shovel is smeared with the blood from his hands.
4
Succession; season 2, episode 10; This is Not For Tears
An unparalleled mix of gut-busting comedy and heart-wrenching drama, only Shakespeare could compete with the cocktail that is Succession. Its second season finale — with its wild (though inevitable, in hindsight) twist and triumph for its long-suffering lead jerk-turned-anti-hero — is the best of the series only because it is the rare show that somehow improves upon itself with each episode. 3
Fleabag; season 2, episode 4
It would be easy to say that this episode can be summed up in one word: “kneel.” But so much of Phoebe Waller-bridge’s groundbreaking writing happens in and around that fiery moment in the church confessional. We discover that Hot Priest can see Fleabag breaking the fourth wall, which means he sees her, he understands her, and he might love her.
2
The Leftovers; season 2, episode 8; International Assassin
It’s an incredibly difficult task to choose one episode out of
The Leftovers and call it “best,” so consistently creative and profound was this three-season series about what happens after two per cent of the population disappears. In International Assassin, one of the most polarizing and innovative episodes, we watch Justin Theroux’s Kevin awake in a seemingly alternate reality where he’s been hired to take down Patty who, in this world, is running a presidential campaign. If he completes his mission, he can return to his regular life. It threw logic to the wind more than the series already had, twisted audience perception, and took everything to a new existential level.
1
Mad Men; season 4, episode 7; The Suitcase
Don and Peggy’s platonic bond is never better explored than in this episode. Despite the fact that the episode centres around only the pair, a lot happens: Peggy’s boyfriend breaks up with her; Don almost punches Duck on her behalf; the pair discuss her baby and his past; she cries; he cries; he falls asleep with his head in her lap and wakes up to the news that Anna, the only person who ever knew him, has died. In the morning, they settle on a new pitch, and he takes her hand — so much is said in this moment, most of it love, all of it intimate.