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5 Best Television Episodes

Noah Camarena |
February 5, 2015 | 3:15 p.m. PST

Staff Reporter

"Stress Relief" (Twitter, @drainier5)
"Stress Relief" (Twitter, @drainier5)
With every great television show comes a great, iconic episode. Here are a handful of some of the best episodes to ever air on TV.

“The Office” Season 5 Episode 14: “Stress Relief”

This episode starts off with the funniest opening scene ever watched. Dwight (Rainn Wilson) is annoyed at the fact that no one has taken his fire drills seriously and this leads him to starting a real fire to teach his coworkers a lesson. Everyone in the office freaks out and runs around trying to figure out how to escape. While everyone else continues to panic, Dwight calmly goes through the office procedures as a way to emphasize the lack of preparation by everyone else. Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) smashes the vending machine and takes all of the food, Oscar (Oscar Nunez) tries to make his way out through the vents and Angela (Angela Kinsey) takes her cat out of her office drawer and throws it through the ceiling for Oscar to save. After all of this chaos, Stanley suffers a heart attack, leading Michael to burst into this borderline racist spiel about how Stanley needs to wake up because Obama is president now. 

Due to all the damage that Dwight caused, both physically and emotionally, he is stripped of his position as safety officer. Stanley is eventually okay after his heart attack, but he is warned to keep his stress levels down, which proves to be hard in the presence of his boss. 

One last element of this episode that makes it so great is when Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinski) have an argument about Pam’s parents while watching a movie with Andy (Ed Helms). Andy assumes that the couple’s argument is purely commentary for the film, where in fact, the two could have no idea what is even happening in the movie. 

“Community” Season 3 Episode 4: “Remedial Chaos Theory”

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you did one thing differently? Would the whole world change? Would society cease to exist? Would nothing change at all? This episode of “Community” explores how one change in decision could potentially have a significant outcome on entire lives. 

Best friends Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi) invite the study group over for a housewarming party, and once everyone arrives, they start playing Yahtzee as they wait for pizza. When the pizza finally arrives, no one wants to get up and actually pick up the pizza. The gang agrees to Jeff’s (Joel McHale) plan of rolling a die to determine who has to get the food. Abed believes that each outcome will lead to a different timeline, of which the episode outlines.

In the first timeline, Annie (Alison Brie) is sent to get the pizza and while she is gone, Troy discovers that she has a gun in her purse. Pierce (Chevy Chase) tries to give him a housewarming gift, but he is too distracted by the weapon to open the present. Britta (Gillian Jacobs) goes to the bathroom to smoke and Abed confronts her about the smell of marijuana. 

In the second timeline, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) is asked to get the food but before she leaves, she reminds everyone to keep watch over her pies that are baking in the oven. Troy opens Pierce’s gift of a Norwegian troll, and is understandably freaked out. Shirley returns from downstairs and gets mad at the group because they let her pies burn.

In the third timeline, Pierce gets the pizza. Jeff makes fun of Troy, causing him to join Britta in the bathroom, where they make a romantic connection, and Annie tends to Jeff after he hit his head on the ceiling fan. Pierce brings up the food and everyone appears to be happy.

In the fourth timeline, it is Britta’s task to get the pizza. Annie tends to Jeff in the bathroom and they are about to kiss when they hear Troy screaming after being terrorized by Pierce and the troll doll. Britta returns with the pizza and the pizza delivery man to announce that the two of them are now engaged. 

In the fifth timeline, Troy gets the pizza and all Hell breaks loose. Annie trips and falls, which causes Pierce’s bottle of rum to shatter on the ground. This causes Pierce to jump up out of his chair and then Annie purse falls to the ground and the gun goes off, shooting Pierce in the thigh. Abed helps Annie with Pierce and Britta comes out of the bathroom, shocked at the scene, and drops her joint into the puddle of rum. The rum ignites and Jeff tries to put it out with his shirt only to get it stuck wrapped around his arm. Troy returns with the pizza, only to see the creepy troll sitting amongst the flames staring back at him.

The sixth timeline sends Abed to get the pizza. Britta and Shirley argue with each other about their personality traits, Pierce and Troy struggle over the gift, and Annie and Jeff kiss. Nothing is resolved when Abed returns.

The final, actual timeline ends with Abed realizing that Jeff rigged the game so that he would never have to get the pizza. They then send Jeff to get the food and everyone ends the night happy.

While the real timeline proves to be harmless, the end of the episode alludes to the fifth timeline, otherwise known as the darkest timeline. In this timeline, Pierce is dead, Annie is in a mental hospital, Shirley is an alcoholic, Troy has an artificial voice box because he tried to eat the burning troll, Jeff is missing an arm, Britta has a blue streak in her hair, and Abed tells the group that they must take over the ideal timeline to rule the world.

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“Breaking Bad” Season 5 Episode 14: “Ozymandias”

In one of the most emotional episodes of the series, Walt (Bryan Cranston) realizes his actions and how they have affected everyone he cares about.

The episode starts off with Walt begging gang leader Jack (Michael Bowen) to spare the life of his brother in law Hank (Dean Norris). Jack kills Hank and Walt breaks down in tears when he realizes that it is his fault that his family member now lies dead on the ground. 

Walt, apparently over the death of Hank, points out Jesse’s (Aaron Paul) hiding place to Jack’s gang and the gang nearly kills Walt’s former accomplice. In one of his most villainous moments, Walt reveals to Jesse that he could have saved the life of Jane, Jesse’s girlfriend, but he instead chose to watch her die. The gang decides to spare Jesse’s life and instead will use him to help them cook meth. 

Marie (Betsy Brandt) and Skyler (Anna Gunn) are under the impression that Walt has been arrested and that the long struggle has finally come to an end. Skyler decides to tell Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte) about his father, but young Walt is more mad than anything when told the truth. He is first in disbelief and then he tells his mother that she is just as bad as Walt because she knew and refused to do anything. 

Walt returns home and tells his family to start packing up their things so that they can leave. Walt will not tell them what happened to Hank which causes his family to believe that he killed Hank himself. Skyler pulls a kitchen knife on Walt and tells him to leave the family,but Walt fights back and Skyler ends up cutting Walt with the knife. Walt Jr. pulls his father off of his mother and calls the police on his dad. Walt grabs his baby daughter and drives away. 

The police tap into the Whites’ home phone system when Walt calls. He attempts to get Skyler cleared of any involvement with the criminal activity. He leaves Holly at a fire station with a note of his home address so that she can be returned home safely. He then hops into a van and starts his new identity.

“Parks and Recreation” Season 2 Episode 10 “Hunting Trip”

Being the independent woman that she is, Leslie (Amy Poehler) attempts to join in on the annual men’s hunting trip in the department.

Ron (Nick Offerman), Mark (Paul Schneider) and Jerry (Jim O'Heir) prepare for their secret hunting trip. The men usually use this trip as a way to get away from their work and just be men. Leslie insists that the women of the office be invited this year as well as Tom (Aziz Ansari), who has never been invited in the past.

Ron reluctantly agrees to allow the others to join the trip, leaving April (Aubrey Plaza) and Andy (Chris Pratt) alone in the office. April is asked to check on some budget information but she is left on hold for a long time. She bonds with Andy over the hold music and they play games to pass the time. It is obvious that April starts to develop a crush on her coworker and when Andy starts to complain about his ex-girlfriend Ann (Rashida Jones), April offers to give him a hickey in order to make Ann jealous.

Back on the hunting trail, Leslie is surprisingly good at hunting and actually kills the first bird of the trip. This frustrates Ron and he challenges Leslie to see who can kill the most birds. During the contest, Ron wails in pain and it is discovered that he was shot in the head. While it is not serious at all, Ron is extremely upset and wants to find out who shot him. 

Even though Leslie did not do it, she takes the blame for the shooting so that people will stop worrying. Ron is upset with Leslie and continues to take shots at her abilities until Tom admits that it was indeed he who shot Ron. Leslie was simply covering for him because Tom does not have a hunting license. Ron is so impressed with Leslie that she took the blame that he even calls her a “stand-up guy,” essentially welcoming her into the group of men. 

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“Rick and Morty” Season 1 Episode 5: “Meeseeks and Destroy”

Meeseeks (Twitter/ @HebiLee)
Meeseeks (Twitter/ @HebiLee)

“Rick and Morty” is easily one of the best cartoons on television that you probably have never heard of. It follows the adventures of a young boy and his grandpa, as the two constantly get into sticky situations.

After a lot of traumatic adventures led by Rick (Justin Roiland), Morty (Justin Roiland) wants to quit adventuring altogether. Rick will not allow this plan to unfold and he agrees to let Morty lead the adventure for once. Before the two leave for Morty’s adventure, the rest of the family asks Rick if he can solve their problems. Rick gives them a gadget called the Meeseeks Box. This box, when pressed, will summon a creature named Mr. Meeseeks. Once called upon, Mr. Meeseeks makes it his sole purpose in life to solve the problem you have. Once the problem is solved, he disappears, but he will not go away until the problem has been fixed.

Morty takes Rick to a fantasy world where they instantly are called upon to save a village from giants. Rick and Morty climb a beanstalk to the world of giants and, once there, they accidentally kill one of the giants and are brought to court for murder. The two are not convicted of anything but Rick still views it as a failed mission. Morty refuses to give up and the two charge ahead in search of another adventure. The two stumble upon a tavern and Morty confronts his grandpa about his negative attitude towards the adventure. Morty goes to the bathroom and meets Mr. Jellybean. Mr. Jellybean consoles Morty about his problems and then attempts to rape him (yes, this was a heavy subject to watch unfold in a cartoon). Morty is able to beat up Mr. Jellybean but is still scarred from the experience and asks Rick if they can go home. 

Back at home, the rest of the family utilizes Mr. Meeseeks to solve their problems. Summer (Spencer Grammer) is able to become popular at school, Beth (Sarah Chalke) solves her marital problems, but Jerry cannot fix his golf swing. The Meeseeks start calling up other Meeseeks to help Jerry (Chris Parnell), but they realize it is hopeless and that they are better off killing Jerry to solve their problems. 

Beth and Jerry go out to dinner but are met by an army of Meeseeks who are looking to kill Jerry. The couple hides in the restaurant’s freezer and Jerry is forced to fix his golf swing in order to stay alive. Eventually he figures it out, and the Meeseeks disappear for good. 

Rick and Morty return to the village and Rick congratulates his grandson on a successful adventure. Just before they leave, the villagers introduce the two heroes to their king, who ends up being Mr. Jellybean himself. Morty quickly convinces Rick to open a portal home and the two leave after Rick shoots and kills the king.

Reach Staff Reporter Noah Camarena here and follow him on Twitter here.



 

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