Top Ten Episodes: The Dramas

So I picked six great television dramas and wrote down my ten favourite episodes of each. I’m sure people will agree and disagree with me. That’s why I like lists. If you haven’t seen any of these series before and you’re curious, why not download an episode or two from the top of each list and give it a shot. You can thank me later.






Basic Plot: Buffy and her friends fight evil in a Califonia town
Seasons: 7 (not counting the current eighth season in comic form)
Creator: Joss Whedon (wrote Toy Story, Speed, and Serenity)
Why so great?: It mixes action, fantasy, drama and humour seemlessly with monsters representing real life struggles.
Top Ten Episodes
1. Once More with Feeling (Season 6, Episode 7)
Sunnydale breaks out into song and dance to the point of spontaneous combustion. All the songs are original and propel the storyline while using the traditional musical format.
2. Hush (Season 4, Episode 10)
Demons have taken all the voices in Sunnydale. All the various conflicts need to be resolved with other forms of communication.
3. The Body (Season 5, Episode 16)
Buffy and her friends deal with a death in the family. The point of views and realistic reactions make this episode stand apart from anything else on TV.
4. Restless (Season 4, Episode 22)
The Scooby Gang has some trippy dreams that reveal many aspects of their character as well as the future
5. Storyteller (Season 7, Episode 16)
Andrew documents the life and history of the vampire slayer is his own unique way
6. Doppelgangland (Season 3, Episode 16)
An evil Willow from another dimension causes problems for Willow and her friends by taking The Bronze hostage
7. Something Blue (Season 4, Episode 9)
Willow’s wish causes Giles to go blind, Xander to be a demon magnet and Buffy to marry her nemesis Spike
8. Surprise/Innocence (Season 2, Episodes 13 & 14)
Buffy loses her virginity to Angel causing him to become evil while Willow finds out about Xander and Cordelia
9. Selfless (Season 7, Episode 5)
The history of Anya is revealed after she kills group of frat boys
10. Earshot (Season 3, Episode 18)
Buffy can hear people’s thoughts, including someone who is going to take out his anger on the school.






Basic Plot: Angel is a private detective/vampire who fights evil
Seasons: 5 (yanked by the WB for no good reason)
Creators: Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt (currently running the similarly themed Moonlight)
Why so great?: It's like Buffy but is intended for older audiences
Top Ten Episodes
1. Waiting in the Wings (Season 3, Episode 13)
The ballet causes Angel and Cordelia to lust and Wesley to get his heart broken by Fred and Gunn
2. Smile Time (Season 5, Episode 14)
Angel gets turned into a puppet when a kids program starts killing children
3. Guise Will be Guise (Season 2, Episode 6)
Wesley has to pretend to be Angel for a protection job while Angel visits a swami to clear his head
4. A Hole in the World/Shells (Season 5, Episodes 15 & 16)
The men try to keep Fred from turning into Illyria and try to find out who caused it
5. Five By Five/Sanctuary (Season 1, Episodes 18 & 19)
Faith returns to kill Angel but Wesley want to save her instead
6. Spin the Bottle (Season 4, Episode 6)
A memory spell goes bad causing everyone to revert back to their highschool personas
7. Through the Looking Glass (Season 2,Episode 21)
The gang tries to rescue Cordelia from Pylea, where Angel has different abilities and meets Fred
8. Soul Purpose (Season 5, Episode 10)
Angel has disturbing nightmares while Spike becomes an Angel-like hero
9. Orpheus (Season 4, Episode 15)
Willow returns to restore Angel’s soul while Faith invades Angel’s memories
10. Not Fade Away (Season 5, Episode 22)
The gang spends the day as if it were their last, just before a climactic battle






Basic Plot: Sydney is a double agent fighting counter-governement cells
Seasons: 5
Creator: JJ Abrams (created Lost, Felicity and directed MI:III)
Why so great?: Great spy action mixed with humour and dramatic character development
Top Ten Episodes
1. Phase One (Season 2, Episode 13)
Sidney is able to take down SD-6 with a special password but she must rely on Dixon to verify
2. The Telling (Season 2, Episode 22)
Will figures out who set him up leading to Sidney trashing her apartment as she fights the real enemy
3. Truth Be Told (Season 1, Episode 1)
Sidney’s fiancée is murdered so she threatens to leave SD-6 but instead becomes a CIA mole
4. There’s Only One Sidney Bristow (Season 5, Episode 12)
Will is kidnapped so Sidney returns to work and finds herself confronting Anna again
5. After Six (Season 3, Episode 13)
Sark works with Lauren and Sidney works with Weiss to convince a security installer to betray her clients
6. Tuesday (Season 4, Episode 13)
Dixon is infected shutting down APO, so only Marshall can save Sidney who is buried alive
7. The Abduction (Season 2, Episode 10)
Marshall goes on his first mission while Jack is being interrogated
8. Bob (Season 5, Episode 8)
Rachel accidentally hooks up with Sark, then must work with him to stop a bomb from going off
9. Reprisal/All the Time in the World (Season 5, Episodes 16 & 17)
Marshall & Rachel are taken hostage, so the gang must works together to rescue them and stop Sloane & Irina
10. S.O.S. (Season 5, Episode 10)
Weiss helps the gang break into the CIA to get some important information on Sydney's whereabouts






Basic Plot: Scully, the skeptic, and Mulder, the believe, try to solve supernatural events
Seasons: 9 (they wanted to end after Season 7 but Fox kept it going)
Creator: Chris Carter (currently planning the second movie)
Why so great?: The middle seasons are filled with funny and creative cases
Top Ten Episodes
1. Hollywood A.D. (Season 7, Episode 19)
The movie based on Mulder and Scully’s life makes a mockery of their work
2. Triangle (Season 6, Episode 3)
In the Bermuda triangle, Mulder transports back in time where the Nazis control his boat
3. Bad Blood (Season 5, Episode 12)
Mulder and Scully have varying accounts of a vampire attack in a small town
4. Arcadia (Season 6, Episode 15)
Mulder and Scully go undercover in a gated suburb community where neatness is vital
5. Humbug (Season 2, Episode 20)
Residents of a circus freak show are all suspects in the murder of The Alligator Man
6. Je Souhaite (Season 7, Episode 21)
A genie grants any wish to a couple of trailer folk who don’t know exactly what to wish for
7. Monday (Season 6, Episode 14)
Mulder is caught in a continuous loop that features a leaky waterbed and a bank robbery gone bad
8. First Person Shooter (Season 7, Episode 13)
Scully must come to Mulder’s rescue when he is caught in the middle of a deadly video game
9. Dreamland (Season 6, Episodes 4 & 5)
Fox Mulder and Morris Fletcher switch bodies after a paranormal wave hits Area 51
10. Home (Season 4, Episode 2)
A tiny community is rattled by three inbred brothers






Basic Plot: Follow the lives of the President and his staff
Seasons: 7
Creator: Aaron Sorkin (created Sports Night, Studio 60 and wrote A Few Good Men and The American President)
Why so great?: The fast talking comedy mixed with powerful drama
Top Ten Episodes
1.In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2)
While Bartlet & Josh cling to life, we see how the staff got hired
2. Two Cathedrals (Season 2, Episode 22)
Bartlet has a hard time dealing with Mrs Landingham’s death, MS and the impending reelection
3. Twenty-Five (Season 4, Episode 23)
Bartlet relieves his post when his daughter is kidnapped and he’s linked to an assassination
4. Here Today (Season 7, Episode 5)
Toby confesses to being the leak; Josh has to fire a bunch of Santo’s staff
5. Noel (Season 2, Episode 10)
Josh sees a therapist to deal with the shooting when he identifies with a dead pilot
6. Bad Moon Rising (Season 2, Episode 19)
Babish questions the president and Leo concerning the MS cover-up
7. Game On (Season 4, Episode 6)
Bartlet proves that intelligence is not such a bad thing in a debate
8. Evidence of Things Not Seen (Season 4, Episode 20)
Josh interviews Joe Quincy while the staff plays poker
9. Bartlet for America (Season 3, Episode 9)
As Leo testifies, we see how Leo and Jed started working together
10. Five Votes Down (Season 1, Episode 4)
Josh kicks some butt, Toby is rich and the Presidents takes too much back medication






Basic Plot: A group of friends in a smalltown learn about life and love
Seasons: 6
Creator: Kevin Williamson (wrote Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty)
Why so great?: The self-referential dialgoue and drama is a much needed guilty pleasure
Top Ten Episodes
1. The Longest Day (Season 3, Episode 20)
The day is stuck on repeat as Pacey and Joey try to tell Dawson about their new relationship
2. Appetite For Destruction (Season 5, Episode 10)
Jen and Dawson’s new relationship is put under the microscope during a friendly dinner
3. Joey Potter & the Capeside Redemption (Season 6, Episode 22)
Joey gets everyone together to help Dawson shoot his independent movie about their lives
4. Guerilla Filmmaking (Season 5, Episode 14)
Dawson needs a new leading man and new ending as Audrey falls for Pacey during rehearsal
5. The Unusual Suspects (Season 4, Episode 8)
Jack, Dawson and Pacey are interrogated for a grad prank in film noir style
6. Coda (Season 4, Episode 23)
History repeats itself, as Dawson has to say goodbye to Joey and Capeside before heading to LA
7. Breakfast Club (Season 1, Episode 7)
In Saturday detention, the insecurities of the group come out thanks to Abby Morgan
8. To Be Or Not To Be/That Is the Question
(Season 2, Episodes 14 & 15)
Jack’s poem about a guy causes Pacey to spit at a teacher and Joey to question Jack’s sexuality
9. True Love (Season 3, Episode 23)
Joey has to make a decision between to the two boys before Pacey leaves town on his boat
10. All Good Things/Must Come To an End
(Season 6, Episodes 23 & 24)
It’s five years later. One of the friends is dying and Joey has to make her ultimate decision

So there you go. Did I miss your favourite episode? Do you agree with my selections? Are you still wondering why I covered Dawson's Creek? Feel free to let me know. I love to get feedback.The comedies are on their way. I'll be listing some favourite epsiodes from Cheers, Friends and Seinfeld to name a few. Stay tuned.