Best TV Episodes, April 2013

10. Supernatural, Season 8 Episode 20 – "Pac-Man Fever"

I've discussed a couple times now how, despite its season and series-spanning arcs growing stale over the years, Supernatural is still capable of busting out a thunderously entertaining case-of-the-week, and that stands true up to its eighth season's last standalone episode, "Pac-Man Fever." Marking the third appearance of Felicia Day's geek hacker chick Charlie Bradbury but the first that has told a primarily dramatic rather than comedic story about her (outside of an Inception–esque trip into a zombie shoot 'em up game in her mind, anyway), the episode's final scene between Charlie and her comatose mother made my heart hurt in a way that only TV at its best does so well these days.

9. Community, Season 4 Episode 11 – "Basic Human Anatomy"

Though I enjoyed bits and pieces of its documentary and puppet episodes (the balloon song from "Intro to Felt Surrogacy" has been stuck in my head for weeks), it is, of all things, its body swap episode (!!) that comes closest to capturing how insanely well Community executed its "gimmick" episodes under the reign of Harmon. It was emotional and tied deeply into characterization and character development, but was also quite funny (Exhibit A: The Dean's Jeff Winger impression), and Jeff flicking the lights on and off during the final "body swap" scene reminded of him picking up the imaginary hats in "Pillows and Blankets," one of the sweetest scenes of the entire series.

8. Bob's Burgers, Season 3 Episode 20 – "The Kids Run the Restaurant"

I don't know that Bob's Burgers is ever funnier than when Tina, Gene and Louise are all allowed to share a single storyline isolated from their parents, so when they teamed up to build an underground casino in the restaurant's basement – spearheaded by Louise – it was unsurprisingly funny as hell from beginning to end. Bob and Linda's story was hilarious too, with Bob's Burgers coming closer to "dark" humor than it usually gets in Bob's hand injury spraying blood all over Linda and everything else. As I've said before, this show is the sitcom to beat in 2013, and I doubt any show will.

7. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 5 – "Kissed By Fire"

"Kissed By Fire" was, after the awesome and fiery opening sword fight with the Hound, one of Game of Thrones' lower-action episodes, but I loved it. I can't guess about or speak to how people who haven't read A Song of Ice and Fire might feel about it, but as a fan of Martin's books for years before the show came along this episode contained a shitload of scenes I've been waiting to see for a long time, from the Hound's fight to Robb dealing with the Karstark situation to Jon and Ygritte's cave tryst to the shocking, slightly hilarious wedding reveals of the final scene (and while leaving out this season's more redundant Bran and Theon stories). Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's monologue in the Jaime/Brienne bath scene was Emmy-worthy. The whole hour was a treat for book fans.

6. Justified, Season 4 Episode 13 – "Ghosts"

While I had my issues with Justified season 4's Drew Thompson story arc in its early going, once it revealed Thompson's true identity the season almost immediately buckled down and delivered a lot of solid entertainment. Its season finale was structured in an interesting, almost defiantly backwards way, kicking off nearly immediately with its most tense, thrilling and bloody sequence, then actually winding the action down through the hour to a contemplative ending that, while not sad or "bad guys win" or even necessarily dark, has been haunting me since in a way the quippy and fun Justified doesn't usually aim for. Looking forward to season 5 already.

5. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 2 – "Amuse-Bouche"

I don't think I've seen five shows this decade kick off as immediately spectacularly as Bryan Fuller's Hannibal. It's my favorite horror show in years by an astronomical margin, one of my favorite shows of 2013 and (feel free to declare this blasphemy) has probably already trumped 1991's Silence of the Lambs as the definitive screen depiction of Hannibal Lecter for me. I really, really love it. Though I could have found room for several of its first five hours on this list, episode 2 gets the nod because its case-of-the-week, involving a killer who turns his victims into living mushroom fertilizer for months while they're kept alive via IV, has been swimming in my nightmares for weeks.

4. Community, Season 4 Episode 8 – "Herstory of Dance"

I already wrote a full review of Community season 4's crowning achievement, but I'll just quickly reiterate here that it was a massively warm, pleasant half-hour of television that just made me feel happy. If I could travel into the brightest timeline alternate dimension where Dan Harmon was never fired from Community's 22-episode fourth season, this episode and "Basic Human Anatomy" are the two I would want to take with me unchanged to air as part of that season (though I would also want to take the Greendale Babies cartoon from the premiere and the trout farmer from "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking").

3. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 4 – "And Now His Watch Is Ended"

2. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 9 – "The Dead and the Dying"

It was several years ago that I read about how the real historical Spartacus held his own gladiatorial games to honor one of his fallen brothers, using captured Roman soldiers as gladiators, and I've spent all of Spartacus: War of the Damned nervously eyeing the ticking-down episode count, wondering whether or not Steven DeKnight had just decided to skip this particularly juicy historical nugget. But it turns out, nope, he was just delaying our pleasure, saving one of the show's best episodes for its penultimate episode.

DeKnight tweaked history to bring our heroes into the action (rather than having the Romans fight each other, in the show they fight the former slave/gladiator main characters), and, to be blunt, it was deliriously fucking awesome. In a show that (despite what TV critics who hate thinking may claim) is normally one of most thoughtful and contemplative and consequence-heavy on television in its depiction of violence, it was a enormous fun to see an episode just kick back and let it rip with an hour of pure pump-your-fist-and-cheer-out-loud bloody spectacle for perhaps the first time since Gods of the Arena. Just awesome.

1. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 10 – "Victory"

I've already written and talked about 2013's finest television achievement at arguably excessive length and have little more to add on the subject. But I'll emphasize one more time that Spartacus' finale really had its cake and ate it too, providing a rich emotional feast and the conclusions to years of thoughtful character work and tying a totally satisfying thematic bow on everything while also remembering to give us a final battle sequence that made Game of Thrones' "Blackwater" look like the skirmish at the end of a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys episode. It's one of the best series finales and one of the best episodes of television I've ever seen.

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 2: Spartacus Finale Commentary

Here's the second episode of my podcast and the first recorded with a higher-quality mic, so hopefully this one will lead to more enjoyment and less bleeding from your earholes. It's a full hour-long audio commentary for the series finale of Spartacus, "Victory." I let the listener know at the beginning of the podcast when I'm hitting play and when the episode title appears, so syncing up the audio with the episode should be no problem. Full spoilers for the entire series of Spartacus should be assumed, of course, and may our cocks rage on!

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 2: Spartacus Finale Commentary

Parenthood renewed for season 5!

It's not my intention to do news updates here on a regular basis, but there was no way I couldn't mention today's renewal of NBC's Parenthood for a fifth season of 22 episodes. The show is one of my favorite on television and it's arguably gotten better every season, so I'm happy. In fact, barring Dan Harmon being rehired on Community, a premiere date for Steven DeKnight's Incursion or a time traveler from the future telling me that George R.R. Martin finishes his books in time to end Game of Thrones properly, there's probably no piece of television news that could've made me happier right now.

It's no surprise, of course, with Parenthood rising to the surface amidst NBC's ratings apocalypse – it's actually capable of hitting a 2.0 in the 18-49 demo without a lead-in from The Voice, which on NBC in 2013 pretty much makes it a hit by default – but what is a pleasant surprise is it being given a full 22 episodes for the first time since season 2 (season 3 had 18 episodes, season 4 had 15). This makes business sense, seeing as NBC shortened this last season to allow the much higher-budgeted Smash to take its place, only for that show to come back to catastrophic ratings before getting shunted to Saturdays and unceremoniously canned. Someone at NBC seems to have finally woken up and said, hey, maybe we should stick with this thing that, by our standards, actually works!

But it also makes creative sense. I'm normally in favor of shorter TV seasons – especially for shows that rely on fast pacing and life-or-death stakes – but Parenthood boss (and former Friday Night Lights boss) Jason Katims is one of the few drama showrunners I trust to make any length work. Parenthood's relatively low stakes make it the perfect show to take things at a leisurely pace and explore various subplots and secondary characters (and there's a lot of characters, as you can see pictured above).

So, yeah. I'm deeply pleased. And if you're uninitiated, now's the perfect time for you to hop onto Netflix and watch all the Parenthood they have available (unless you still haven't seen Katims' last show Friday Night Lights, in which case you should watch that first, then Parenthood).

Late to the Party: Veronica Mars, Season 1 Disc 1

(I've never seen Veronica Mars. Though I watched a few episodes out of context during its initial 2004-2007 run, the vast majority of the series remains unseen by me and I have little to no knowledge of where any of the major mysteries or character arcs are going. With the film continuation coming next year, I figure now is the perfect time to watch the show, and I'm going to chronicle my journey with mini-reviews written immediately after watching each episode.)

Season 1 Episode 1 - "Pilot"

The thing that leaps most immediately out about Veronica Mars is how very, very Buffy it is. I mean, it's a UPN-aired teen drama about the genre adventures of a badass blonde teenaged girl at a California high school, its dialogue peppered with quips and wisecracks. Only difference is that in Buffy the genre in question involved vampires and magic, here it's noir-style mysteries.

But Buffy is one of the best shows ever, so it's not like I'm complaining. And this is a good pilot – I'd go so far as to say that had it aired in September 2012 I might have considered it the best network pilot of last fall (give or take a Last Resort, though that show almost immediately collapsed starting with episode 2). It certainly doesn't feel as cheap as Buffy's pilot did.

The case-of-the-week with Veronica swiping a convenience store surveillance tape is fun but nothing special – mostly just a way to introduce Wallace and Weevil, it seems – but I found the way the pilot introduced the backstory of Lilly Kane's murder and the Mars family's downfall in Neptune to be stylish and engaging. Kristen Bell is doing a fine job, as is Enrico Colantoni as her father. Weevil standing up for Veronica and Wallace at the end was a great scene. But that new sheriff guy, what a dick, right? Looking forward to more.

Season 1 Episode 2 - "Credit Where Credit's Due"

Well, this episode guest starred Paris Hilton, so that's weird, right? I mean, I guess if I didn't know who Paris Hilton was it would have just seemed like a mediocre-to-poor actress with a small role as a generic mean girl, but still, in every scene featuring her character Catlin Ford all I could think was "ParisHiltonParisHiltonParisHiltonParisHilton!" It was... distracting, to say the least.

Other than that, I thought the episode was fine, but nothing special. I liked the case-of-the-week a smidge more than the pilot's (they buried the real culprit in the credit card theft – Weevil's cousin – deep enough that I didn't guess it until the reveal), but the character work definitely wasn't as strong.

Season 1 Episode 3 - "Meet John Smith"

And, one episode after our featured guest star was Paris Hilton, our featured guest star is Melissa fucking Leo. That's the acting equivalent of leaving Taco Bell and walking across the street into Chipotle right there. And she's playing a male-to-female transexual, to boot! That's some hardcore circa-2004 UPN edginess right there!

Truth be told, outside of the "Damn, that's Melissa Leo!" factor (which in its own way I suppose was as distracting as Paris Hilton, but this was a good kind of distracting, you know?), the case-of-the-week wasn't too impressive on the story or thrill level, though I did think it did a nice job building the theme of missing parental figures as it relates to Veronica. As I've said, I have no idea how this series is going to play out – for all I know, Veronica is never going to see her mother again or she'll see her in the next five episodes – but I was genuinely hopeful Veronica had found her mom and felt the pain when it turned out she hadn't.

In our B-plot, Duncan Kane gives a remarkably dull performance. Seriously, every time this kid steps on the screen, I spend a few seconds squinting, trying to figure out if that's Duncan Kane or just some random extra. What a block of wood!

Season 1 Episode 4 - "The Wrath of Con"

Oof. I'm definitely torn on this episode. It represents perhaps the best and worst of Veronica Mars so far. Let's start with the worst: The case-of-the-week this time out suu-uu-uuccked. I mean, really? These two college dorks are conning a few thousand bucks to make a game that, quote, "makes Quake look like Asteroids"? Is this shit for real? Watching an episode like this reminds of how incredibly stupid, backwards and ignorant the depiction of video games and gamer culture was onscreen less than a decade ago. It still often sucks today, of course, but "Digital Estate Planning" sure as hell couldn't have existed until the last year or two, that's for sure.

On the other hand, the character work here was great. Though I know little of Veronica Mars, one thing I have been exposed to simply by being a person who reads about TV on the internet is that Veronica Mars fans love them some Logan Echolls (and by extension the actor playing him, Jason Dohring). And after a few episodes of him being a generic jerkwad, "The Wrath of Con" made me finally start to understand why, as Logan struggles to make a video memorial of Lilly. He sure pops off the screen more than Teddy Dunn as Duncan Kane. (And, as a side note, Amanda Seyfried gives her best performance so far as Lilly here, though, with her long-dead, I dunno how much she'll even be seen from here on out.)

Everything with the flashbacks to Veronica and Lilly and Logan and Duncan at the beach was good stuff, and, as it did Weevil, I'll admit that Logan's video memorial got to me a little too. What's interesting is that Lilly's father seemed to be bona fide grieving for his dead daughter, so either he's innocent after all or that character is just a damn fine actor.

Awkward launches its third season with bizarre pro-life moralizing

Season 3 Episode 1 - "Cha-cha-cha-changes"


First off, because much of the rest of what I'm about to type might make it seem otherwise, I'll stress that I generally really enjoy MTV's high school sitcom Awkward. I'd go so far as to label it one of the ten best live-action comedies on television. It's funny and massively energetic, with stronger characterization and continuity than all but a handful of other sitcoms, and creator/showrunner Lauren Iungerich writes with TV's most charmingly and authentically youthful voice. It's a very good show.

But all that said, its (again, otherwise really funny, with an awesome guest starring turn from Anthony Michael Hall) third season premiere... got weird. You see, protagonist Jenna Hamilton has her a bit of a pregnancy scare. Which is a typical enough plot for television, that's not the weird part. But before the end of the episode when she and her mom get up the guts to look at the pregnancy test together – which is negative – the option of abortion (which is never mentioned by name, it being too ghastly to even say out loud, I guess?) is twice referred to as "choosing death," and when Jenna's mom tells Jenna that she'll support her decision, Jenna looks at her mother and says "There is no decision, mom," and that if she is pregnant she has to have the baby.

Perhaps the weirdest part is that nothing else about Awkward has ever struck me as being politically conservative in the least. It's completely sympathetic to its gay characters and totally apathetic about teen girls having and enjoying sex (hell, it may even be in favor of it), and the very next episode after this premiere had Jenna going on birth control, when all true Republicans know that birth control pills are but little pieces of Satan. But in this case, it, perhaps befitting the network of Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant, leaned hard right.

It was jarring and pretty weird and it made me uncomfortable, and I'd be lying if I said that I don't now think about it at least for a second every time I think of the show. I still think Awkward is funny, plan to keep watching until it ends or is canceled, and I think almost every live-action sitcom could learn a thing or two from its insanely high energy and snappy pacing. But, on some small level, it may always be the show that suddenly started reciting a pro-life pamphlet at me.

Spartacus delivers one of the greatest series finales of all time

Spartacus: War of the Damned, Episode 10 - "Victory"


From day one, Spartacus defied the rules.

We all know the rules of television, even if we don't know we know them. For example, we know that arcs move slowly, with maybe one major change of status quo per season (having two means people will call you "fast-paced"). Spartacus said "That's okay, we'd like our show to move with ferocity and purpose and cataclysmically shatter the status quo about every two or three episodes," and did just that.

We know an "epic" battle by TV standards means about twenty guys on each side (or maybe fifty in the case of Game of Thrones' $12 million extravaganza "Blackwater"). Spartacus decided that wasn't good enough and that they'd like battles that rival those in Lord of the Rings or Braveheart and that, defying finances, logic and maybe even simple physics, they'd like to do them on a shoestring budget with more than one a season, and so it was.

We all know there's supposed to be a couple major character deaths in a TV season at most. Spartacus decided it would like to slaughter over half the cast every season, and slaughter they did.

We all know that a successful show – much less the highest-rated on an entire network, which Spartacus was – is supposed to run on and on until it's squeezed bone-dry and the fire in its belly is but embers. Spartacus decided three main seasons was just right (plus the prequel miniseries Gods of the Arena), because they'd like every season to be completely different from the others and for each to tell a whole and satisfying story with a thunderous climax that leaves you wanting more.

Spartacus excelled above where it was expected and frankly where it was allowed to from day one. Stuck on a third-tier premium cable channel, it said "Fuck it, this is an opportunity!" and became that channel's highest-rated show and flagship property. It attempted and powerfully pulled off a grand, sweeping war epic on a small budget with little star power. It never got 1% the respect it demanded, its passion and energy and sheer, intense visceral pleasure baffling TV critics used to thinking of cable dramas as being something dry and grim and antiheroic.

Where other shows added to or, in the ballsiest cases, bent the unwritten but unmistakably felt and omnipresent TV Drama Rulebook, Spartacus took that damn rulebook and fed it into a shredder.

Where other shows were content to tell stories, Spartacus seared a legend across our TV screens.

So perhaps the only course left for a show that lived to break the rules – a show that lived to shatter expectations and deliver one crazy "HOLY SHIT!" twist after another after another – to break the rules one final time was by breaking its own rules and choosing to more or less align with history in its final hour. For a show that constantly went directions I couldn't have predicted, it's interesting that Spartacus pretty much ends how I figured it would since the beginning of War of the Damned, if not since the beginning of the series.

And this predictable – even predestined – hour was one of the most stirring, marvelous, thrilling, emotional, heart-pounding and heartrending episodes of television I've ever witnessed and easily one of the two or three best series finales in television history.

In this sense it reminds me of Friday Night Lights' "Always," the best series finale ever (and perhaps the only one I've seen that trumps "Victory"), which put an abrupt halt to the plot-heavy nature of the episodes leading into it and let pure, stirring emotion carry it home. Twists are awesome, and Spartacus had dozens, but "Victory" cements the idea that a truly great series finale doesn't need a mind-bending twist and perhaps even actively shouldn't have one. When you reach the end of a terrific story, what counts isn't exploding expectations, but taking it home. And Spartacus took it home masterfully, bloodily and beautifully.

Spartacus Power Rankings, Vol. 10

Spartacus: War of the Damned, Episode 10 - "Victory"

Spartacus Power Rankings, Vol. 9

Spartacus: War of the Damned, Episode 9 - "The Dead and the Dying"

Community season 4 produces its first bona fide great episode

Season 4 Episode 8 - "Herstory of Dance"

Watching the sweet, simple and almost shockingly enjoyable eighth episode of nuCommunity – not only easily the best of Guarascio and Port's Community but one I'd rank over a solid dozen or so episodes of Dan Harmon's Community – it occurred to me that the best thing Community's new guard can do (or rather should have done, since this whole season's been in the can for months) is stick to the sitcom basics. Be funny, be nice, draw story from character. It's simple, and, as "Herstory of Dance" shows, it works.

Now, don't get me wrong – I'm in no way advocating that Community morph itself into According to Jim. Or, to be less hyperbolic, even into Scrubs or Ben and Kate. Community should absolutely and always maintain its pop culture-infused tone and vibe, something that's been with it since Abed launched into a Breakfast Club monologue fifteen minutes into the pilot, and "Herstory of Dance" absolutely does. Abed's story, where he's not aggrieved but delighted to find himself reenacting a classic trope when he finds himself on two dates at once, is pure sitcom self-commentary, and Britta's whole Sophie B. Hawkins story is basically one long music reference.

But what made it work in a way that surpassed the Doctor Who/Inspector Spacetime jokes from "Conventions of Space and Time" or the Shawshank jokes from "Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations" or the Changnesia documentary from "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking" is just how strongly every inch of it was rooted in character. Abed's internal fight between maturing and falling back on his love of sitcom tropes really let both the character work and pop culture references roll, and Britta's stubborn refusal to acknowledge that she'd accidentally said "Sophie B. Hawkins" rather than "Susan B. Anthony" even as things began to get out of hand was such a great distillation of Britta down to her sweet, clumsy and well-meaning if overly out-to-prove-something best.

Props should also go to Brie Larson's guest spot as Abed's new love interest Rachel. She was great in Scott Pilgrim and 21 Jump Street and I've heard good things about her in the upcoming dramas The Spectacular Now and Short Term 12, and in this episode she demonstrated within seconds the immediate, can't-take-your-eyes-off-her charisma of a rapidly rising movie star. In her hands, Rachel was a real character as opposed to walking romcom trope.

Also, can I just say that this episode's deeply warm, humane ending was just a couple minutes of great, great television? Community has of course always been a show of happy endings. In sharp contrast to, say, Arrested Development or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, one of its signature elements is that it pretty much always brings episodes to some form of sweet, victorious resolution for our heroes, and in the few cases where it doesn't ("For a Few Paintballs More," "Digital Exploration of Interior Design") it's pretty much always part of the plot and continued on into the next episode, which then resolves last's episode's downer ending sweetly.

But even in that context, the final minutes of "Herstory of Dance," where Abed reconnects with Rachel and especially where Jeff sends his text redefining what it means to "Britta" it, evoked shades of some of the show's all-time best episode endings and were up there with bits of Bunheads and Parenthood as being among the most sincere, heartfelt and genuine TV of 2013. They weren't really "funny," per se, but when TV makes you feel so unreservedly good, that's ok. Tears damn near came to my eyes.

But there were some solid laughs, too, from the Dean's black and white costume to Troy's fake mustache and longing for wacky ice to YouTube celebrity Wendy McColm as Abed's manic pixie dream girl date. Granted, it wasn't as nearly funny as Community as its Dungeons-&-Dragoning, guard-chloroforming, insane-asylum-cutawaying very best, but not many things ever committed to screen are, so that's a ludicrous standard to hold it to. It was a damn funny episode that made me laugh a lot, and, even more importantly, made me feel content and happy, and I'd say that gets the job done.

Kudos to Gillian Jacobs and Danny Pudi and Brie Larson, kudos to episode writer Jack Kukoda (a former scribe for The Onion's videos, new to Community season 4) and kudos to the new guard for producing what is, ignoring Bob's Burgers and the ending stretch of 30 Rock, 2013's best half-hour of TV comedy to date.

Best TV Episodes, March 2013

10. Community, Season 4 Episode 6 – "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking"

While neither me or anyone else (certainly not anyone else, since according to most of the rest of the TV blogosphere we're now supposed to hate Community unreservedly) would argue Community's fourth documentary episode measures up to "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking," "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux," or "Pillows and Blankets," it was a fun, energetic little episode with Donald Glover delivering comedic gold once again via Troy's quest to disagree with Annie on everything. I especially loved the show bringing back Chang's wife, last seen in "Environmental Science" two and a half years and 67 episodes ago. They may lack Harmon, but someone on Community's writing staff clearly knows their Greendale history.

9. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 1 – "Valar Dohaeris"

No one will mistake Game of Thrones' setup-centric third season premiere as being among the show's finest hours, but I just love this world and these characters and, frankly, having a fantasy series on television operating at this level so much that I richly enjoyed it all the same. The final reveal of Barristan Selmy just oozed cool.

8. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 7 – "Mors Indecepta"

Spartacus: War of the Damned's second-weakest episode (after episode 3, "Men of Honor," the season's only hour I would describe as merely good instead of explosively fantastic) was still a huge, action-packed spectacle with an ending that had me literally cheering out loud on my couch like a fucking crazy person. That War of the Damned's relative low points make almost all of the rest of TV look so fucking boring in comparison speaks to the searing power of what this season is in the midst of accomplishing.

7. Bob's Burgers, Season 3 Episode 17 – "Two for Tina"

I've reiterated multiple times that (despite H. Jon Benjamin's vocal greatness) Bob's Burgers' title character and his wife Linda are but supplementary to the show's true comedic superstars: Tina, Gene and Louise Belcher. And even amongst that trio – currently, if anyone's keeping track, the greatest sitcom characters on television – Tina stands alone, with "Bad Tina" and "Tina-Rannosaurus Wrecks" being two of my favorite sitcom episodes last year, and now "Two for Tina," which contains a dance contest that may just put Silver Linings Playbook to shame. I also love that this episode continued Tina's character arc from last month's also-hysterical "Lindapendent Woman," again establishing Bob's Burgers as having a continuity leg up on almost all other animated sitcoms.

6. Justified, Season 4 Episode 11 – "Decoy"

Justified is so much sheer goddamned fun that I'm honestly kind of shocked that it's accepted as a "great" show by the "serious TV drama must be grim and bleak and relentlessly unpleasant"-pushing voices of the TV blogosphere. But it's somehow slipped through the cracks, and a show capable of putting out an episode this insanely high-energy, complete with shootouts, standoffs, torture, a blood-pumping fight where I really wasn't sure who was gonna live, a psychotic evil henchman named "YOLO" and a literal goddamned exploding car can not only exist but also be critically lauded. Justified is just cool as hell, baby.

5. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 5 – "Blood Brothers"

A mere three episodes after launching his plan to sack and take over a Roman city (itself an epic set piece 99% of other TV dramas would have saved for their season finale, which Spartacus casually tossed out as episode 2 like it weren't no thang), Spartacus' dominion of Sinuessa en Valle goes up in literal, spectacular flames in yet another insane midseason hour that, again, virtually any other show would have considered season finale material. Have I mentioned lately how Spartacus makes basically every other action show ever made look like dogshit?

4. Bob's Burgers, Season 3 Episode 16 – "Topsy"

ELECTRIC LOOoooOOooOVE!!!

3. Switched at Birth, Season 2 Episode 9 – "Uprising"

I mostly just think of ABC Family's Switched at Birth as a teen drama – a well above-average one, but just a teen drama regardless – so it was a pleasant shock to see them produce this formally and emotionally ambitious hour. The students of Carlton School for the Deaf rise up in an occupation protest when the city moves to shut their school down, which is, except for a few spoken lines at the episode's beginning and one more at its end, depicted entirely in silence with nothing but subtitled sign language to better reflect the viewpoint of the deaf characters. It was unique and ballsy, but more importantly than having a great gimmick, it had a great gimmick rooted entirely in character, thematically relevant and tied to a strong emotional throughline.

2. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 8 – "Separate Paths"

Though I doubt anyone would describe Spartacus: War of the Damned episodes 4 through 7 as slow-paced, they nevertheless kicked it up another notch with this sweeping, tragic and epic antepenultimate episode, whose show-shattering climactic events made it clear that we're now locked firmly into endgame mode. It wasn't even technically a "final battle" (which will presumably be coming in the actual series finale airing April 12th), but it nonetheless delivered a massive and spectacular final battle set piece that effortlessly kicks the ass of most other TV battles I've seen. It was certainly, without hyperbole, hundreds of times bigger and more exciting than The Walking Dead's finale. And though I know I sound a broken record at this point, it was yet another midseason episode any other drama on television would have saved for season finale time.

1. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 6 – "Spoils of War"

I've already done a full review for Spartacus: War of the Damned's endlessly clever, simultaneously thoughtful and thunderously exciting sixth episode, so I won't go too in depth here. But it's my favorite episode of what is my favorite TV season of the year so far, which may just make it my favorite TV episode of 2013 (give or take a Fringe series finale, perhaps). It was smaller in scope and more intimate than other episodes, but, as a hardcore Spartacus fan going way back, I found its self-reflective nature thrilling and even moving. A fun tour back through four years of an amazing series.

Top Thirty TV Shows of Q1 2013

As a means to publicly organize my thoughts, here are, ranked mostly without commentary, my thirty favorite shows of the year so far based solely on episodes aired between January 1st and March 31st, 2013. I don't even like the first few shows on the list that much, so if anything didn't make the cut you can safely assume that either, one, I haven't seen it (Enlightened falls in this category), two, it hasn't premiered yet (Breaking Bad, etc.), or three, I don't like it. I've seen at least a little of pretty much everything, so most missing shows fall into category three (fuck you, The Following!).

30. The Americans (new)
29. Glee
28. The Office
27. Revolution
26. Archer
25. The Walking Dead
24. Nashville
23. Vikings (new)
22. Gravity Falls
21. Revenge
20. Hart of Dixie
19. Parks and Recreation
18. Happy Endings
17. Arrow
16. American Dad!
15. Game of Thrones *
14. Scandal
13. Switched at Birth
12. 30 Rock
11. Supernatural
10. The Vampire Diaries
9. New Girl
8. Community
7. Banshee (new)
6. Justified
5. Fringe
4. Parenthood
3. Bunheads
2. Bob's Burgers
1. Spartacus: War of the Damned

* I love Game of Thrones and give it a 99% chance of being higher than this on my eventual best of 2013 list. But its ranking here is predicated on a single episode consisting mostly of setup, which, considering, I think actually makes being at #15 pretty impressive.

The Walking Dead wimps out spectacularly in its wet fart of a finale

Season 3 Episode 16 - "Welcome to the Tombs"

At one point, very early on before they got their second season's budget hiked by HBO, the producers of Game of Thrones discussed having the Battle of the Blackwater take place offscreen, seen briefly through Sansa's viewpoint out a window far away. But budget issues were sorted, money was allocated, and we got the outstanding episode "Blackwater," replete with wildfire explosion, ships on fire, clashing armies, a battering ram and fighting on the battlements. And good thing, too – can you imagine how frustrating it would be to have an epic battle foreshadowed, discussed, planned, built up to and generally hyped all season long only to see but a few seconds of actual battling?

Well imagine no more, my friend. Just watch The Walking Dead season 3.

TV Obituaries, Vol. 3: March 2013

March was a fucking TV character bloodbath!

Spoilers follow for Banshee, The Following, Justified, New Girl, Revenge, Revolution, Scandal, Spartacus, Supernatural, Vikings and The Walking Dead.

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 1: Talkin' Spartacus

Hey all. As everyone who writes about stuff on the internet is required by law to do at some point, I've decided to take a stab at podcasting. That's right, Tim's TV Talk can now be enjoyed with your ears. Give them eyeballs a rest, baby!

This is my first real attempt at this, so please pardon, one, the relatively low sound quality (the podcast was recorded right into the mic on my laptop), two, my habits of "uh," "well," "you know," and other idiotic stammering, and, three, the fact that it's not up on iTunes' podcast directory or anything yet. You can right click the link below to download and bring it into your iTunes/iPhone if you'd like, of course. If I decide to do more of these in the future, I'll try to get a real mic, get it on iTunes' podcast page, and learn how to speak. So without further ado:

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 1: Talkin' Spartacus (spoilers from the beginning of Spartacus through season 3 episode 8, "Separate Paths")

Spartacus Power Rankings, Vol. 8

Spartacus: War of the Damned, Episode 8 - "Separate Paths"

Spartacus Power Rankings, Vol. 7

Spartacus: War of the Damned, Episode 7 - "Mors Indecepta"

Spartacus goes meta

Spartacus: War of the Damned, Episode 6 - "Spoils of War"

I've reached a point where I feel comfortable calling Spartacus one of my favorite series of all time. But while I've repeatedly explained the many facets of the show's greatness – its pacing, its structure, its depth, its character development, its sheer visceral awesomeness – one thing I've never really called it is clever. Smart, yes, even verging on brilliant in the way it's throwing out all the rules governing TV pacing with a devilish grin on its face. But not clever in the way of a brilliant Harmon-era Community or golden-era Simpsons episode, or some of the more ambitious hours of Buffy or Fringe. Spartacus is for the most part content to be straightforward meat-and-potatoes action-adventure TV storytelling honed to perfection.

But in "Spoils of War," the sixth episode of War of the Damned and fifth-to-last of the series, Spartacus has finally put out a fiendishly clever episode worthy of Steven DeKnight's Buffy roots. Though it never comes right out and announces its meta-ness (there's no Jeff Winger declaring "We're doing a bottle episode!"), make no mistake, this is Spartacus's meta episode, in the way it takes us on a whirlwind backwards tour through the entire series, right back to the beginning.

Spartacus Power Rankings, Vol. 6

Spartacus: War of the Damned, Episode 6 - "Spoils of War"

Best TV Episodes, February 2013

10. Community, Season 4 Episode 3 – "Conventions of Space and Time"

As I've discussed, my feelings on Community (which, mind you, was for a time my favorite show on television) have been both complicated and simplified by the ousting of Dan Harmon. Complicated in that I'm always watching going "Is something off? Would Harmon have done it like this?", simplified in that I spend a lot less time rewatching and analyzing episodes, content to just go "That was fun. Ok, moving on with my life." None of season 4's efforts so far have been anywhere near the upper tier of Community classics, but they've all been enjoyable enough removed from outside context. I could've gone with any of them for this #10 slot, and landed on "Conventions of Space and Time" because, hey, why not.

9. Revenge, Season 2 Episode 14 – "Sacrifice"

I honestly didn't expect to ever be putting Revenge on one of these lists again, as the show has stalled and lost focus in its second season, but they pulled one hell of a tragic, surprising, climactic hour out of their hat in February, with secrets coming out and battle lines being drawn and not one but two prominent character deaths. "Sacrifice" is the kind of TV episode that makes you nod with appreciation and say, yeah, that's soap done right.

8. Justified, Season 4 Episode 8 – "Outlaw"

I'll level with you guys: I'm not sure how I feel about Justified season 4's serialized season arc. The idea of the team cracking a decades-old cold case is potentially intriguing, but in practice has amounted to the characters doing a whole lot of running around Harlan asking people if they've seen Drew Thompson. But Justified can still have a lot of good pulpy crime fiction fun on an episode-by-episode basis and even deliver just a hint of emotion, as this episode does via the relationship between lawman Raylan Givens and his criminal father Arlo. (But don't worry, people get shot too. This ain't no touchy feely show!)

7. Bob's Burgers, Season 3 Episode 13 – "My Fuzzy Valentine"

One of the main things separating Bob's Burgers from most other animated sitcoms at the moment is how unreservedly charming and sweet and mild-mannered it's content to be for long stretches at a time without feeling the need to undercut it and tell you, pfft, you shouldn't actually care about any of this. No, Bob's Burgers can be a truly nice show, one that is just pleasant to watch, and that carries over into its first Valentine's Day episode as Bob goes on a townwide journey to find a piece of memorabilia from he and Linda's first date as the perfect Valentine's present.

6. Bunheads, Season 1 Episode 18 – "Next!"

Bunheads' first season finale was a really wonderful episode of television in every way except one: It did not feel – narratively, thematically, or in terms of the show's character arcs – in any way like a season finale. It didn't conclude, wrap up, or put a bow on anything. In fact, it ended on a pretty grim note for this generally fun series, and, not knowing whether there will even be a second season, that makes me nervous. But outside of that it was great. Protagonist Michelle's journey to Hollywood to audition for a musical was an exhilarating fifteen-minute sequence that had more energy and excitement and genuine filmmaking verve to it than, well, most feature films, and the episode also did very well by the show's younger cast. If only it was episode 18 of a 20-to-22-episode season, I'd probably consider it one of the five best TV episodes of the year so far.

5. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 2 – "Wolves at the Gate"

As Spartacus (the character) makes good on his plan to attack and take over a Roman city the very episode after hatching it, Spartacus (the show) continues to deliver monumental, climactic episodes every other drama on television would save for their season finales week after week like it's the most natural thing in the world for a TV show to be operating at this level. An awesome episode and another successful chapter in the exhilarating highwire act that is War of the Damned.

4. Bunheads, Season 1 Episode 16 – "There's Nothing Worse Than a Pantsuit"

I thoroughly enjoyed 2012's ten-episode run of Bunheads, but the one big complaint I had was that two of the show's supposed main teen characters, Ginny and Melanie, felt continually underserved, always shoved in the background to let Boo and Sasha shine. The show's 2013 run has fixed that completely. "There's Nothing Worse Than a Pantsuit" dedicated much of itself to developing blonde bunhead Ginny's theatrical ambitions, and didn't just do right by the character but arguably made her the singular highlight of Bunheads' teen cast. It's the show's best episode this year.

3. Bob's Burgers, Season 3 Episode 14 – "Lindapendent Woman"

Linda leaves the burger restaurant and takes a job at a grocery store, and hilarity ensues. (Literally, I mean, not in the snarky way.) I love this show so much that I sometimes wonder if this might be how animation fans felt watching The Simpsons' golden years back in the early and mid 90s. It's just great. It's so fucking funny and just so much fun to watch, week in and week out. There's no other comedy on the air right now that's even close.

2. The Vampire Diaries, Season 4 Episode 15 – "Stand By Me"

I know, right?! What the hell is The Vampire Diaries doing this high?? I'm the one putting it here, and I myself am looking at it going, "Huh?" But "Stand By Me" was a hugely affecting hour of television any way you cut it, following up on the death of a very major character at the end of the previous episode in a way that even had me thinking just a little of Buffy's "The Body." Of course it's not nearly as good as "The Body" – literally a handful of episodes of television ever made are – but the fact that it even had me drawing mental comparisons speaks highly of it. It also kept the season's greater arcs moving along, even busting out a couple pretty big twists, but what makes this one of The Vampire Diaries' finest hours lies primarily in its exploration of loss and grief.

1. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 4 – "Decimation"

Beyond its insane pacing and beyond-the-pale awesomeness, one of the big things separating Spartacus from most other cable dramas – especially those involving life-or-death stakes – is that it's not and never has been centered around a morally ambiguous antihero. Spartacus is a hero and he's noble and we like him and root for him and want him to succeed, and that's pretty much that.

But, in "Decimation," Spartacus came around to cable antiheroism through an interesting roundabout method: Spartacus himself may be a hero, but his army of thousands contains every shade of morality across the spectrum. Some, as Spartacus, fight for the freedom of all slaves, willing to give their lives to shake the foundations of Rome. Many simply follow Spartacus' orders to the letter. Others seek vengeance. And a few are, unbeknownst to Spartacus, in it for plunder and murder and rape.

Thus was the subject of one of Spartacus' darkest episodes to date, as Spartacus' occupation of the Roman city Sinuessa en Valle began to go really, really bad for the Roman prisoners under Spartacus' protection, spurred along by Julius Caesar – posing as a rebel slave and acting as Marcus Crassus' man on the inside – and a particularly nasty soldier in Spartacus' army by the name of Nemetes.

"Decimation" was some dark, ugly, crazy, thrilling, heart-pounding, next-level television. And it was yet another example of how thoroughly Spartacus is schooling everything else on TV right now in everything from pacing to excitement to narrative complexity to moral difficulty to even the baser pleasures like crazy twists and action scenes. It packs more into every hour than certain other shows (*cough* Walking Dead *cough*) do into entire seasons, and does so with style to spare. TV don't get much better than this.

Spartacus Power Rankings, Vol. 5

Spartacus: War of the Damned, Episode 5 - "Blood Brothers"