The 10 Best Episodes of Television Ever, Ranked

Before you yell at me: Sopranos and Mad Men aren't on here because I still haven't seen Sopranos *ducks* and kinda think Mad Men is overrated *stays down*.

Hello Cappers! We just had one of those rare, breezy weather days in Brooklyn where if you squint really hard and look at a body of water, you can pretend you’re on vacation. And between that and just having endured days of the worst men on the internet reacting to my egg-freezing post—which, yes, I brought upon myself—I am simply not in the mood to write about politics today! So here’s some lighter fare as a little Monday evening treat for my ride-or-die paid subscribers.

Yesterday, I was texting with a friend who’d just started watching The Last of Us after I’d emphatically (aggressively) recommended it to him at party the night before. I gave him a bit of a heads up about the emotional devastation coming for him in Episode 3, the Bill and Frank episode, which got us started on other GOAT episodes of television, which prompted me to do a full ranking of my personal favorites. A couple of these, obviously, are primarily sentimental picks; I understand that comparing Friends to The Wire is absurd. But sentimentality should matter in ranking an episode of TV, right?

Also, I will just say ahead of time that I deeply, profusely apologize for not yet having seen The Sopranos. I don’t know why it’s taking me so long to start it, but I swear I will get my shit together soon. (I briefly considered just googling “best episode of Sopranos” and dropping it at like #8 just to get everyone off my back, but reader, I just can’t lie to you.)

Ok, off to the races! Ranked last to first: