You favourite episodes of your favourite TV shows

Probably my favourite TV show would be Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the great episodes are brilliant.

The Best of Both Worlds: The Borg show up,Picard gets assimilated, Riker's thinking of leaving, it's all going wrong, isn't it?

Lower Decks: While enduring the Enterprise's promotion evaluation process, four junior officers find themselves involved in a top-secret mission. The main cast play little part in this episode, but, in the end, it becomes one of the most moving pieces of television I've ever seen.

So, what're your favourite episodes of your favourite TV shows? Use spoiler tags where appropriate.

Let's start with some Whedonverse stuff.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2x14 - "Innocence"
The slayer/vampire 'forbidden romance' that was part of the hook for the first three seasons of the show has its most important turning point in this episode, when Angel and Buffy sleep together and Angel loses his soul, turning him back into evil vampire mode. It's our first look at Angelus, and sets him up to be one of the most terrifying villains in the series' run. Despite the fact that he becomes the hero of his own show, its impossible to look at the character the same way again.

2x17 - "Passion"
In the works of Joss Whedon, one of the things that most people learn quickly is that nobody is really safe. This is really the first instance of that happening, and it is quite shocking to see. While Angelus has been terrorizing Buffy and her friends, he hasn't killed anyone other than some innocent extras. But here we have him brutally kill regular guest Jenny Calendar, love interest of Buffy's mentor, Giles. To top that, he then breaks into Giles' apartment, sets it up to look like a romantic evening, and leaves the corpse of Jenny on his bed as a nice surprise. This really shows not only how dangerous Angelus is, but just how warped he is, the delight he takes in the torture of not just his victims, but their loved ones.

3x09 - "The Wish"
This is one of those fun "alternate reality" episodes. Following a break-up which is blamed on Buffy, a wish is made by one character to the wrong person that Buffy should never have come to the town of Sunnydale. Wish is made reality, and darkness ensues. Vampires rule the town, many of the main characters are all vampy and evil, and Buffy is a tough-living lady with a badass scar. There's a final climactic fight scene at the end where the viewer sees many characters that in the actual reality of the show really love and care for one another killing each other instead, and it is downright unsettling. Also noteworthy for introducing Dark Willow (who would return later in the season) and Anya the vengeance demon, who would become a series regular (and one of my favourite characters) later on.

4x08 - "Pangs"
The Thanksgiving episode. This doesn't have much to do with the overall arc of the season, but it is one of my favourites because it really demonstrates the humour of the show. My favourite bit coming from Spike (while tied to a chair), dropping knowledge on Willow about why they shouldn't be nice to the angry spirits of the Native Americans who got their land stolen:

"You won. All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That's what conquering nations do. That's what Caesar did, and he's not going around saying, 'I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it.' The history of the world is not people making friends. You had better weapons, and you massacred them. End of story."

And later on, still tied to a chair, the immortal exchange:

Spike: A BEAR! YOU MADE A BEAR!
Buffy: I didn't mean to.
Spike: UNDO IT! UNDO IT!

4x10 - "Hush"
The vast majority of the episode was done with no dialog. That is just impressive. Also, the monsters of the week for this episode are perhaps the most terrifying in the history of the show.

4x22 - "Restless"
Most shows, including this one, have the season finales be about beating the big monster or overcoming the conflict or whatever. In season four, that was reserved for the episode before the finale, as the finale was one of the most mind-bendingly interesting and intriguing episodes of television I have ever seen. It takes place within the dreams of the four main characters, and not only explores their past and present insecurities and issues, but also foreshadows a lot of their story arcs for the future. An episode you could watch over and over and still not catch everything. Just really interesting television.

5x16 - "The Body"
One of the most shocking, heart-wrenching, realistic and best episodes of television to ever air.

5x17 - "Once More, With Feeling"
The musical episode. 'Nuff said.

5x18 - "Tabula Rasa"
Another fun 'alternate reality'-ish type episode, this one involves the characters accidentally getting their memories erased. Despite this and mistakingly making assumptions about who they are and their relationships to one another, their true personalities still shine through and make for a very interesting (and hilarious) viewing. Of course, like all of season six, there are some serious dark undertones to the whole thing, and some rather dire consequences once it is all over.

7x05 - "Selfless"
I said before that Anya was one of my favourite characters. This is one of the handful of Anya-centric episodes following her addition to the main cast. After being left at the alter in season six, Anya regains her vengeance demon powers and distances herself from the group. In this episode we see that despite feigning that she is back doing what she loves, Anya knows she isn't the same person anymore. At its core, this is an episode about a character who has always lived according to everyone else's ideas of who she is realizing she needs to define who she is by herself.

7x07 - "Conversations with Dead People"
This is literally an episode where all the main characters who appear in it are seemingly having conversations with characters who have been or are dead. More than anything this episode finally sheds some light on just how dangerous things are getting for the heroes of the show, as they are up against the most powerful and most evil force they have encountered thus far. But it is also just an interesting episode to watch, as different writers worked on different parts of the show (mainly being split into four sections).

So those are my favourite Buffy episodes. Of course, I love most of the episodes, but those are ones that stand out enough for me to feel like I can write about them.

My favourite show is definately Dexter.
My favourite episode was the last episode of season one.

First off, Rudy has Deb all packaged up for Dexter. When it finally comes down to it, he stops Rudy just in time to save her. Just as she wakes up no less. Then, finally by the end of the episode, Dexter decides he has to kill Rudy. For the first time, you really see Dexter show any emotion at all.
Micheal C Hall did a fantastic job in that episode too. I thought that it was a really high pace episode. And a great ending for the show.

We talked Buffy, now lets talk Angel.

1xo1 - "City Of"
The first season of Angel is probably its weakest (according to popular opinion at least), but its pilot does a solid job of setting it up as a distinct show from Buffy, which is spun-off from. The tone, atmosphere and style were all presented really effectively here. Plus, it has one of those fist-pumping awesome moments at the end that can really hook you into a show.

Russell Winters: But you’re a civilized man. We don’t have to go around attacking each other. Look at me: I pay my taxes. I keep my name out of the paper, and I don’t make waves. And in return I can so anything I want!
Angel: Really. Hmm. Can you fly?
*Winters is kicked out of the top floor of a sky-scraper.*

1x09 - "Hero"
Like I said in my last post, nobody in Joss' shows are really safe. But its still a really ballsy move to kill off a main character within the first ten episodes. Or at least it was back when Angel was first airing.

Doyle was a character that probably would have ended up being a greatly loved character if he hadn't been killed off in this episode, heaven knows I loved him enough after only seeing him for these nine. Its a credit to Joss and his writers that they could develop a character well enough that he has a strong arc in just that amount of time, and can get the audience attached to him, just to take him away. This is one of the most poignant death scenes in any of his shows, and his death is something that reverberates late into the series.

It is made that much sadder to watch now due to the fact that Glenn Quinn, who played the character, passed away himself in 2003.

2x10 - "Reunion"
This episode just shows how dark Angel can get, even though he is one of the 'good guys.' Like I said before, knowing that somewhere inside of Angel is the evil Angelus makes you wary of the character at the best of times. You know he'd never hurt his friends, the people he cares about, but it doesn't mean he won't cross lines that maybe your typical hero wouldn't. This episode shows (and the few following it, as well as several others in the series) demonstrates that perfectly.

3x13 - "Waiting in the Wings"
Buffy had a musical episode, Angel got a ballet episode. Ok, so none of the characters actually did ballet (except for in a deleted scene), but it does feature Summer Glau in her first television appearance as a ballerina, and the story is centered around the ballet.

This episode is clearly marked as the episode where things take a turn for the WOW DARK for the next season and a half. This is the last time we see the gang all together and happy for pretty much the entire series. Its interesting that you can actually see the shift happen by the end of the episode.

4x15 - "Orpheus"
In this episode, we quite literally get to see Angel actually go battle with his dark side. Throw in appearances from Faith and Willow, and you have a great episode as the very serial-styled season starts drawing to its climax.

4x22 and 5x01 - "Home" and "Conviction"
These episodes serve as introducing the viewer to what will be the new status quo in the series. Its a fairly large shift, and these two episodes that bridge that change do so perfectly. The fifth (and final) season of the show is almost universally accepted as its best, and these two episodes really help in demonstrating the good that is to come.

5x15 - "A Hole in the World"
This can largely be seen as the beginning of the end for the story being told in the series. Its a heart-breaking episode that is a huge game-changer right towards the end of the series.

5x22 - "Not Fade Away"
Simply put, one of the greatest series finales for a show I have ever seen. It perfectly captures the theme and the message of the show. It has big laughs and huge tearjerkers. Its final scene and final line are ones that just stick with you, it is in every way iconic.

While we're talking about Buffy and Angel, lets talk about Firefly, the Joss Whedon TV show that was 10 times better than both the aforementioned ones (not that they weren't good), but got canceled after only 11 episodes.

I doubt any of you have even watched it, but you can find it here. Honestly, you could put the entire show here, but I think the pilot episode is definitely the best.

1x01 "Serenity" This is by far the greatest pilot episode ever made. I really can't explain it, suffice to say that is is more epic and better written than many feature length movies I've seen.

Moving on, Star Trek Voyager
3x8 and 3x9 "Future's End Part 1" and "Futures End Part 2"
In this two part episode, the crew of Voyager are sucked back in time to Earth in (then) present day 1996. It has epic moments where they try keep a 20th century computer company CEO from using the time traveling ship to cause a disaster in the future, and there are also funny bits of them interacting with life in our time.

3x26 and 4x01 "Scorpion Part 1" and "Scorpion Part 2"
In this two part, a new race declares war on the Borg...and wins. Voyager makes a deal with the Borg, providing them with specialized weapons to use against this new thread in exchange from passage through Borg space. The character Seven of Nine is also introduced here.

4x18 and 2x19 "The Killing Game part 1" and "The Killing Game Part 2"
In this episode, aliens implant the crew with devices that make them think they are holodeck characters, and hunt them through various scenarios. It features a WWII setting, with the aliens playing Nazis and the crew playing as French Resistance.

5x06 "Timeless"
Harry Kim and Chakotay go back in time to save Voyager from destruction by an error they made 15 years before

5x12 "Bride of Chaotica!"
Aliens who exist as light stumble upon a holodeck program modeled after 30's sci-fi movies. The crew has to play through the program to make contact with the aliens.

6x11 "Fair Haven"
Tom Paris creates a holographic town called Fair Haven modeled after a 19 century Irish village. Captain Janeway falls in love with one of the characters.

6x17 "Spirit Folk"
A malfunction causes the people of the holographic village introduced in "Fair Haven" become self aware. They notice the abilities the crew ahs and believes them to be witches, and tries to burn them at the stake.

7x11 "Shattered"
Due to an accident, different parts of the ship become locked in different time periods.