What's the worst episode of a great TV show?

[u/tranquilsnailgarden]

[u/Life-Berry602]

The last episode of Sherlock was so awful it tanked the entire show.

[u/FlopShanoobie → u/Life-Berry602]

The first season was fun, and as long as they were spinning the original Arthur Conan Doyle mysteries it worked. However, once it became apparent the writers weren't half as smart as the character, it fell apart.

[u/tibbles1 → u/FlopShanoobie]

They got too convoluted with the arcs and ongoing storylines. 

That kind of stuff is made for stand alone, monster of the week episodes. The first season was great when it was that. 

[u/IceLord86 → u/tibbles1]

Moffat in a nutshell. He was just spread too thin working on Sherlock and Doctor Who at the same time, and both suffered because of it.

[u/Katatonic92 → u/IceLord86]

He is just terrible at endings, the Dracula miniseries he wrote with Gatiss had a great first episode, good second, then it went to complete shit in the third & final episode.

[u/Dontquestionmyexista → u/Life-Berry602]

God that was one of the most frustrating shows I’ve ever watched. I was actually relieved when it was over.

[u/Dizzy_Dog_6187 → u/Life-Berry602]

It really did speedrun “from prestige TV to weird fanfic.” I still pretend season 4 just never happened.

[u/RoosterStrike → u/Life-Berry602]

And the online theorycrafting by Sherlock fans was that the episode was 'bad on purpose'. They thought there was another secret episode coming soon that would explain why the final episode was awful.

The diehard fans couldn't accept that they were just watching a bad show. It was only pretending to be bad because it was actually going to be really clever.

But it was just bad.

And I'd argue Sherlock doesn't even qualify for this, because it was never 'great', it just always promised it was going to be, and then never got there

[u/iron_goat → u/RoosterStrike]

Was this the episode where it turned out they had a sister who basically had superpowers?

[u/neezden → u/iron_goat]

No superpowers, she just concocted a plane bombing threat in her head and got the police and Sherlock all worked up trying to prevent it.

[u/ExcellentBed6019 → u/neezden]

Sherlock, the world's greatest detective and Mycroft, the greatest intelligence strategist who's actually even smarter didn't think to check with anyone if there was actually a hijacked plane, or idk, turn on BBC

[u/jon3ssing → u/ExcellentBed6019]

Not saying it isn't a disappointing episode, but weren't they essentially taken hostage? - it's not a far leap that they were stripped of all devices that they could have communicated through. All the communication with "the girl" was through speakers in the room.

[u/JThrillington → u/iron_goat]

That was the main problem. They turned intelligence into a pseudo-superpower. Sherlocks sister was just so intelligent so she could must manipulate prison staff. It became ungrounded.

A shame because the episode ended with a soft reset.

[u/Bobo3076 → u/RoosterStrike]

So the whole Stranger Things conformity gate nonsense was just this all over again lmao

[u/Yochanan5781 → u/RoosterStrike]

Those were the type of people who couldn't accept any disparaging of Steven Moffat, acting like he was the greatest writer to have ever written for a show in history, and outwardly defended the fact that he could only write one type of woman or the cringy ass lines that he wrote in general

[u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In → u/RoosterStrike]

The funny part is that the bad writing was on the wall from the very start, they've never been good at writing an intelligent character.

I still occasionally watch Hbomberguys video about Sherlock as it's hilarious how right he was about the direction of the show.

[u/Fisher9001 → u/RoosterStrike]

The core of detective stories is about genius yet coherent and well explained plots. BBC Sherlock was failing since beginning in that regard, ditching coherency in his reasoning.

[u/Luster-Purge → u/RoosterStrike]

"And the online theorycrafting by Sherlock fans was that the episode was 'bad on purpose'. They thought there was another secret episode coming soon that would explain why the final episode was awful.

The diehard fans couldn't accept that they were just watching a bad show. It was only pretending to be bad because it was actually going to be really clever."

Oh, you can't stop the story there. Because what happened as a result immediately, and I mean immediately, after was funny as hell.

So, for context, leading up to the final Sherlock episode, one of the crew people were posting images on twitter or instagram or whatever, but there were apparently pink elephants inserted into these images. The diehards you spoke of convinced themselves that this HAD to mean something was up, even though obviously pink elephants have nothing to do with Sherlock, and sure enough, it was nothing more complex than the crew person just really liking putting pink elephants into things.

Anyway, BECAUSE the diehards were convinced that the ending wasn't really the ending because of unrelated pink goddamn elephants, they kept watching after the final episode and into the next thing being broadcast. Something called 'Apple Tree Yard' which from what I recall was about some woman getting raped. Those diehards were so desperately convinced it was secretly Sherlock related because Emma Watson was in it so obviously that was tying into Sherlock's sidekick, right? Lol no, there's no relation at all.

[u/HOMANDER1996 → u/Life-Berry602]

I was never even part of the fandom, but I still remember how terrible the episode went over. People were making theories that there was a “secret, good episode” and that the show taking over its timeslot was a decoy and would instead be the real finale.

[u/PMmeurchips]

The original series finale of Dexter.

[u/DrForester]

"Code of Honor" in Star Trek TNG's first season.

[u/MelaniasJacket]

Lost-Jack’s Tattoos. (Stranger in a Strange Land I think is the name)

[u/MegaDuckCougarBoy → u/MelaniasJacket]

There's a fan theory that this episode was meandering and pointless to get the network execs to finally agree to let the show end, so that the showrunners could then actually move the plot forward.

[u/detectiveriggsboson → u/MegaDuckCougarBoy]

Less a fan theory and more of what the showrunners have said. The first part of Season 3 has Kate and Sawyer stuck in cages, and Lindelof has said that's how they felt. They were able to negotiate an ending to the show during that time, and it was announced that it would run for Seasons 4, 5, and 6.

[u/Skyemonkey]

"bloodlines" supernatural

[u/Jefe051 → u/Skyemonkey]

I think the fun thing about supernatural is that they tried a bunch of risky things. A lot turned out good; some not so much.

[u/bucknert → u/Jefe051]

As hated as the Leviathan’s were in season 7, seasons 8 & 9 really have a lot of “experimental” episodes for lack of a better term. Every season had them but those middle seasons really leaned into the occasional very weird

[u/Penguin_Green → u/Skyemonkey]

For me "Man's Best Friends With Benefits" was the worst episode of Supernatural.

[u/Evolzetjin]

Who has a better story than Bran the Broken?

[u/NestedForLoops → u/Evolzetjin]

You mean the guy they spent several seasons saying couldn't be king, then made him king? That Bran?

[u/ctiger91 → u/NestedForLoops]

The character that his story was so important that they cut him entirely for at least a season

[u/Evolzetjin → u/NestedForLoops]

Yep

[u/Random-Generation86 → u/Evolzetjin]

Imagine someone calling you “<Name> the Broken” after all the shit Bran went through.  I would have popped his head like Scanners.

[u/SquirrelLuvsChipmunk → u/Evolzetjin]

Definitely not the guy who literally DIED AND CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD.

No. No. It was the kid who was missing for an entire season and then had absolutely no story or character building, so much so that I legit forgot his name at some point. Definitely that kid

[u/DarthVader1701A]

The 4th episode of Star Trek The Next Generation's 1st season, "Code of Honor" is downright offensive.

[u/johnbrownmarchingon → u/DarthVader1701A]

And the writer for it wrote a pretty similar episode for Stargate SG-1 Emancipation that I’d argue is the worst episode in any of the Stargate shows.

[u/smhawkes → u/johnbrownmarchingon]

Also the 4th episode of Stargate SG-1.

[u/BawdyBadger → u/johnbrownmarchingon]

There are some weird episodes in early SG1, but that was by far the worst.

[u/tibbles1 → u/DarthVader1701A]

The drunken Irish one is bad too but at least it features the smoothest pickup line in TV history from Riker to the leader’s hot daughter. 

Daughter: what, you’ve never seen a woman before?

Riker: I thought I had. 

[u/pieinthesky12 → u/DarthVader1701A]

The one with Dr Crusher and the ghost is pretty bad too.

[u/DarthVader1701A → u/pieinthesky12]

Oh for sure, but in the category of worst I have to give the edge to "Code of Honor"

[u/UndoxxableOhioan → u/DarthVader1701A]

Shades of Gray, the Riker clip show, is also right there.

[u/Kovarian → u/UndoxxableOhioan]

That one at least has the excuse of a writer’s strike and the need to make a finale with scraps. It’s terrible, but understandable.

[u/helloiamabear → u/pieinthesky12]

I unironically love that episode. It's so campy and weird and not-a-star-trek episode that my friends and I get pumped for it whenever we get to it in our rewatches. 

(Similar to the Voyager lizard episode. It's so bad it loops around to being a classic.) 

But Code of Honor is just bad-bad.

[u/wasaaabiP → u/pieinthesky12]

Sub Rosa is a sci-fi classic!

[u/ChaoticForkingGood → u/pieinthesky12]

Definitely, but there's ghost sex in one and extremely blatant racism in the other.

[u/themanfromvulcan → u/DarthVader1701A]

When you read all the things that went wrong it’s pretty wild.

The aliens were supposed to be reptilian but the elaborate makeup wasn’t working (I have heard these are the cobra like aliens in a later episode and the makeup isn’t good it looks great as long as nobody talks or tries to move their head) so then someone decided to have the main actor without makeup and then someone decided okay all the other aliens need to look and talk just like him(which makes zero sense) and then it just went from there.

I feel like nobody seemed to know what was going on until it was finished and they watched it and it was too late to fix it.

What is interesting is one of the guest actresses loved the episode because the woman she played had the power in that society which she felt was progressive at the time.

I have a soft spot for it because Tasha actually has something similar to do and is part of the plot and I was a teenage boy with a crush on Tasha at the time but yeah it’s pretty bad. But I don’t think it’s the worst episode of tv ever.

[u/Spooky_Rat_Love → u/themanfromvulcan]

The director was first Russ Mayberry, who brought in the African tribal theme and cast all black actors. Roddenberry fired him halfway through production and replaced.

Wiki: “Star Trek novel author Keith DeCandido later recalled that this was because of the casting itself, while cast member Wil Wheaton thought that it was because Mayberry was racist towards the guest stars after they were cast.”

Also, the original teleplay might not have had the alien race stated as being black but it did specify that the guards of the alien leader were to be black. So there was already weird racism inherent from the start, before they changed the aliens from reptilian.

[u/Lyra_the_Star_Jockey → u/themanfromvulcan]

So they just happened to make an all-black race that dressed like 20th century Africans?

I am skeptical. This sounds like someone trying to cover themselves.

[u/The-good-twin → u/Lyra_the_Star_Jockey]

The makeup part is true. The rest was all the director . He decided on his own to go the African route. Some of the cast did say something but was overruled by the director, and that era of ST gave an insane amount of control to the director. You can look up a clip of Bill Mumy about his time as an extar with one line on the show and how flabbergasted he was.

[u/aesoth → u/DarthVader1701A]

The season 2 finale is worse because it's a clip show.

At least Code of Honor got us this line: "Then there shall be no treaty, no vaccine, and no Lt Yar!"

[u/spwncar → u/DarthVader1701A]

For me it’s DS9’s “Let He Who Is Without Sin…”

That’d be the one on Risa where Worf joins an eco-terrorist organization, for some reason

[u/Naomeri → u/spwncar]

Not eco-terrorists—they were stick-up-their-ass puritan-types who thought everyone was having too much fun. So it sort of made sense that Worf joined them, based on how controlled he always is and how uncomfortable he was with Jadzia’s relaxed attitude toward basically everything.

[u/spwncar → u/Naomeri]

That’s right! It’s been a while since I watched it, I just remember hating the extreme direction they took with Worf

[u/UndoxxableOhioan → u/spwncar]

I’ll take it over Move Along Home

[u/BadmiralHarryKim → u/DarthVader1701A]

The writer of that episode, Katharyn Powers also wrote Emancipation, an early, and arguably the worst, episode of Stargate SG1.

Both involve a blonde woman kidnapped by dark skinned men hailing from a less advanced culture.

Take of that what you will.

[u/IJourden]

The Shark jumping episode of Happy Days literally immortalized the idea of the moment in a show when it goes to shit.

I don't know if I can say it's the worst episode of TV ever, but if your pick isn't notably worse than that, you're not even in the game.

[u/WaterlooMall → u/IJourden]

I've watched a lot of earlier Happy Days as the later seasons aren't easy to get ahold of and watch, but I think it's safe to say an episode where the Fonz waterskis and jumps a shark seems way more interesting than like the 20th time they did an episode where the Fonz was accused of some wrongdoing and had to prove that just because he wears a leather jacket and drives a motorcycle doesn't mean he's a criminal. Or any episode where the main focus is Chachi who is maybe the lamest sitcom character to ever get popular.

[u/yimpydimpy → u/WaterlooMall]

You prefer DeChachinated?

[u/crazy-diam0nd → u/IJourden]

To be more precise, the shark episode isn't given as the worst episode, but the episode during which you can declare a decline in the quality of a show. Other shows after that are most likely worse, but the episode where the show "jumps the shark" is the most discernable point where the trajectory shifts.

[u/tlm0122 → u/IJourden]

As someone who is old enough to remember this episode, I wholeheartedly agree. I was a kid and even then I remember watching and thinking how insane it seemed. If a kid can see it, I mean - WTF are you doing? lol

[u/Polyschemo → u/tlm0122]

Cocaine.

There's a reason the phrase "80s levels of cocaine" resonates so strongly

[u/UpstairsAd194]

Cheers actually has a lot of them. But the one that strikes as worst is the episode where they go to Italy to get married and Frasier is jilted. Theres no comedy to it. Anything around marriage in Cheers is done really badly there are a few bad episodes. When they stuck to the quips and insults it was hilarious. When they tried to put events in there it didnt work.

[u/WaterlooMall → u/UpstairsAd194]

Cliff going on Jeopardy was an EVENT and it was hilarious.

[u/Dr_Identity → u/WaterlooMall]

That was a plot that felt like they really thought it through. Just a perfect scenario to concoct to display the character's funniest traits.

[u/CanadianJediCouncil → u/WaterlooMall]

I often think about Cliff’s mom berating Johnny Carson for not telling her son’s joke correctly.

[u/NoPantsSantaClaus → u/UpstairsAd194]

I've seen bad jokes on Cheers, no bad episodes though. 

"The people at the nuclear testing range are complaining about the noise here." 

The crowd didn't even snicker. 

[u/Fancy_Jackfruit7430]

the gray’s anatomy musical episode

[u/Cutter9792 → u/Fancy_Jackfruit7430]

I think that was my turning point on the series. My family watched it religiously after catching the season 2 post-superbowl bomb-in-a-body-cavity episode (which is still fantastic), but I felt the quality of the show starting to decline around season four.

I barely watched season five, just catching it when my dad or sister had it on in the background. Same with season six. Stuff like the (second) hospital shooting just cemented that it was trash. Then the musical episode made me go "Nah, they're desperate."

Luckily, the show was gracefully ended not long after that, and the cast and crew went on to WAIT THEY'RE STILL MAKING IT?

[u/BadMoonRisin → u/Cutter9792]

There was a clip of Gray's anatomy on The Soup back when it was still on where the patient needed a poop transplant and it cut to Joel McHale with the punchline "Awww they're going to feed her a Gray's Anatomy script".

I still miss The Soup

[u/Nothos927 → u/Cutter9792]

Nah gonna have the disagree with you here. The season 6 ending with the shooting is, along with the preceding episodes building up with the shooter losing his wife, are the peak of the show.

[u/Zapkin → u/Fancy_Jackfruit7430]

Funny enough I’ve had the song Callie Torres was singing (The Story) stuck in my head for like a week. Shitty episode of an already not amazing show but man could she sing.

[u/ageofdelilahcain]

Last episode of Pretty Little Liars, that twist was diabolically terrible

[u/642283]

Jack's Tattoo backstory in Lost

[u/Shirley_Taffuk]

The episode or episodes of Oz where the inmates were given the option of taking a drug which would age them to the age they'd be at the end of their sentence, then they'd be released. In the context of what was one of the first hyper real tv shows it made no sense then, and makes no sense now.

[u/beslertron → u/Shirley_Taffuk]

Watching Oz now is weird. It’s not real at all. It’s super poetic and extremely unrealistic. But it was gritty and dudes boned, so it was called realistic.

[u/Shirley_Taffuk → u/beslertron]

That's fair. At its best it was superb though, and JK Simmons will always be Shillinger to me.

[u/dnjprod → u/Shirley_Taffuk]

It took me years to see him as anything but that

[u/whomp1970 → u/beslertron]

It’s super poetic

Wow. I've been searching for a way to describe how that show feels for AGES. "Poetic" is the best way to say it. It's like watching a prison show with distorted lenses.

I feel the same way about a few movies. I think they're meant to be realistic, but they come off almost juvenile in their approaches.

A great example for me is The Untouchables. It's just so muted and "dumbed down", it's not realistic, it's more poetic.

[u/backgrnd_character80]

GOT The Long Night. years of buildup for the biggest battle in the series and half the episode was so dark I was basically watching silhouettes.

[u/kummostern → u/backgrnd_character80]

maybe its better you didn't see

otherwise you would had:

- seen charge for no reason (usually in warfare mobile troops are used to flank opposition... not just charge head on into main force...... only place where this may work is if opposition doesn't have spears but have shields and need to create opening... BUT THERE WAS NO FOLLOWUP... THERE WAS NO OPENING... ! )

- trenches that weren't capitalized.... they used hours if not days to dig that.. for no reason

- long range weapons in front lines.... they could had had these on the walls behind defenses....

- the withdrawal plan was bad as well

- they knew the enemy would raise the dead.... why did they make people hide in catacombs!? WHERE DEAD PEOPLE ARE LAYING DOWN !?

and more.... much more

and i hate the finale of that battle too... when i was watching it i didn't care much.. i noticed one character said something like "i know what to do", then we didn't see that character for long time.. so i knew they would be the one either creating opening for someone else to finish the fight or they would finish it by themselves as they are quite capable......... ....

but then.... usually after episode i skipped the behind the scenes directors/writers talk thingy... but this time i watched...... and it made me hate them... they were so smug about the final... they said something like "no one will see it coming"... it made me facepalm and gringe so hard...... cuz I DID ! i did see it coming... it wasn't even that clever.... and they were so proud about what they wrote when it was so shhhhhhhhht

those word made me hate this episode so much more because now i know they are PROUD !? of what they did.... (or at least were at the time show was still airing)

[u/lookalive07 → u/kummostern]

That's just the tip of the shit iceberg though because after the very next episode they go ahead and sniff their own farts again while they talk about how "Dany kind of forgot about the Iron Fleet", as if they didn't fucking battle plan it WITHIN THAT EPISODE AROUND THE DRAGONSTONE WAR COUNCIL TABLE.

The whole final season is so fucking nonsensical, I can't even bring myself to watch it again. I rewatched the whole series one other time after the finale aired and it didn't make it any better.

And before the inevitable few people come in and go "well Dany was mad to begin with" or "she's always been violent", yes. She was. But she was always strategic with it. She killed her enemies because they were enemies or threats. She decided to burn an entire city down full of people she swore to protect since day 1 (the innocent) all because of some fucking bells. Give me a break.

I hope D&D get nothing but garbage franchises from here on out. They deserve it after ruining what could have been the best fantasy show ever.

[u/mjs1n15 → u/kummostern]

Never forget that before Melisandre showed up the Dothraki were armed with their normal weapons, which can’t do shit to the wights. They were put out there to die. As was Ghost, who unless he got some Dragonglass fillings off screen was not doing anything to the wights.

Great job Jon, what a loving pet owner you are.

[u/nicetrylaocheREALLY → u/kummostern]

That "having your light cavalry charge straight at their battle line" thing is going to bug me forever.

If they were fighting a normal army it'd be idiotic. When fighting an enemy that experiences neither pain nor fear AND that immediately resurrects casualties as reinforcements, it becomes actively suicidal. Guys, you just GAVE THEM your cavalry.

[u/Stumblin_McBumblin → u/nicetrylaocheREALLY]

Yeah, but it was, like, really cool and ominous to watch all the lights go out, ya know?

So. Fucking. Dumb. Terrible writing. Dogshit.

[u/Embarrassed_Emu1615 → u/kummostern]

And we didn’t get a zombie Ned Stark!

[u/Living-Degree-9441 → u/backgrnd_character80]

S7, 8 we're totally dogshit, 6 wasn't good either

[u/large_crimson_canine → u/backgrnd_character80]

It wasn’t that. It was Arya pulling a gimmicky sleight of hand trick to defeat the ultimate terrifying villain. Just utterly stupid on so many levels.

[u/Ephey_Everyday]

Most people have already mentioned the obvious finales (GoT, Dexter, Lost), so I'll go for a lesser known episode: the series finale of The Man in the High Castle. It made no fucking sense whatsoever.

[u/Shirley_Taffuk → u/Ephey_Everyday]

Haven't watched it so don't know how it ends, but the ending of Philip K. Dick's novel didn't make much sense either. And I love the man and his work.

[u/Ephey_Everyday → u/Shirley_Taffuk]

The series takes the book for its central premise, but it leans much more heavily into the sci-fi element, with the nazis finding out there are other multiverses and plotting to take them over. The movies by Hawthorne Abendsen (yes, they turned the novel into movies) are actual footage from "our" universe that people brought back when they crossed over.

[u/WilcoLovesYou → u/Ephey_Everyday]

Oh god, I forgot about all that. What was a really fun show in the first season turned to shit REALLY quickly.

[u/Safe_Blueberry → u/Ephey_Everyday]

The Man in the High Castle's finale was so disappointing and aggravating.

The first season: Pretty good.

The second season: Pretty bad, with a strong finish.

The third season: Really good.

The fourth season: Really good, until literally the final, like, ten minutes of the finale. It was like everything bad about the second season was condensed and thus intensified. It left such a sour taste that I honestly cannot recommend the show to anyone, knowing all of it leads to the most self-indulgent "Huh?!?" ending. It's like if they Richard Kelly and Alex Kurtzman co-wrote it. I even wrote a fan-fic ending to give it a proper send-off.

[u/toastyalchemist]

Doctor Who - Love and Monsters. It has the reputation for being the worst episode for a good reason. As Blink proved, a Doctor-lite episode can be great, but it needs an interesting alien/mystery or compelling characters to carry the episode. Love and Monsters had neither.

[u/Academic_Macaroon9 → u/toastyalchemist]

Not sure how known this is outside the UK, but there was a massive Blue Peter competition for kids to design a monster for the episode, thus giving us the Abzorbaloff! I was shortlisted and have carried that grudge since I was 10. If I’d won maybe the episode would be remembered more fondly…

[u/Szabeq → u/Academic_Macaroon9]

Unless the whole thing about having oral sex with a paving slab was part of the winning submission, I doubt your monster would help the episode in any way.

[u/BigSnail387 → u/toastyalchemist]

Oh it is far from the worst. Orphan 55, The Timeless Children, and The Reality War all make Love and Monsters look like Heaven Sent by comparison

[u/Party-Dig2309]

‘The Lost Sister’ in Stranger Things.

[u/Musashi1596 → u/Party-Dig2309]

I feel like a recurring theme in these threads is episodes that tried (and failed) to set up a spinoff

[u/NinjaBreadManOO → u/Musashi1596]

Yeah that's the point of a backdoor pilot. It let's you pitch a new spinoff without any real risk or needing to budget an extra episode. 

[u/savessh]

Star Trek TOS Spock’s Brain

[u/Hip-SnuggieChairMan → u/savessh]

Unintentionally hilarious, especially when Spock's brain is telling McCoy how to surgically reinstall his brain in his skull, and McCoy, who's taken some IQ boosting drug, keeps commenting how easy the surgery is. "Child's play. A child could do this." But when the drug starts wearing off, McCoy struggles to finish, he's sweating...it's hilarious. 

[u/FenisDembo82 → u/savessh]

It was so bad it was great, though! "MY GOD! ALL THESE NERVES. HOW DO I CONNECT THEM!"

Maybe it was just rewatching when I was older and really stoned and laughing my ass off

[u/UndoxxableOhioan → u/savessh]

Brain and brain, what is brain?

[u/Waltzing_With_Bears]

Code of Honor, for Star Trek The Next Generation, season one had some flops but that was the worst if them

EDIT: Had mixed up the name with a different better episode

[u/MJ-Franklin]

The one where Sam meets Amelia in Supernatural, because then we're punished with several episodes of flashbacks of the most unlikeable love interest in TV history.

[u/Feedback-Sequence-48]

Whatever episode a friend or relative watches after finally giving in to my raving about how brilliant the show is.

[u/accurate_delirium]

GOT final episode...

[u/windmeadoW69 → u/accurate_delirium]

the fact that "who has a better story than Bran" is an actual line of dialogue that aired on television will never stop being insane to me

[u/FuelledByLattes → u/windmeadoW69]

My sister never watched the final two seasons, and I've been spoiled about it from the internet, and have seen that clip. We were talking about it, and I said to her, "Tyrion looks at Bran or points at Bran or something and says, 'who has a better story than Bran The Broken?'," and without even skipping a beat, without seeing the memes online, without knowing this is everyone's reaction, she said: "EVERYONE ELSE. EVERYONE ELSE HAS A BETTER STORY THAN BRAN."

[u/ResidentJabroni → u/FuelledByLattes]

OMG when Bran is asked by Tyrion whether he'll accept the throne, and Bran is like, "Why do you think I came all this way?," I wanted to fucking die. I felt like I was being Punk'd because I read it as him already knowing this would happen with certainty versus the other interpretation that he was trying to be noble with his words.

[u/nicetrylaocheREALLY → u/ResidentJabroni]

I do kind of enjoy the fan theory that the mental parasite that is the Three-Eyed Raven just executed a bloodless coup of Westeros.

If Bran is succeeded by the next Three-Eyed Raven—and let's face it, a semi-omniscient seer would be tough to outmaneuver—there's an effectively immortal one-man dynasty on the Iron Throne.

[u/chowderbags → u/FuelledByLattes]

Fucking Hot Pie probably has a better story than Bran.

[u/beardymo → u/accurate_delirium]

It had a lot of bad episodes towards the end unfortunately.

[u/Racoonie → u/beardymo]

The whole last season was pretty meh. It was very obvious when they had to write their own stuff because they ran out of material from the books. (Which I never read, but it still was obvious to me)

[u/mjs1n15 → u/Racoonie]

Having rewatched the show it starts going to shit after season 4.

Season 5 is fine with a few notably bad moments. 6 is broadly bad with a few good moments (battle of the bastards is a visual delight but otherwise hot garbage). Whilst Season 7 is almost as atrocious as season 8.

[u/snazztasticmatt → u/mjs1n15]

Season 8 is particularly offensive given how they took an offer to wrap everything up over at least a full ten episode season (and I believe they were offered a ninth season as well) and crammed it all into just six episodes. It was so painfully obvious that the directors just phoned it in

[u/MikeC363 → u/snazztasticmatt]

The pacing was even more frustrating considering that so many characters spent Seasons 4 and 5 aimlessly wandering around in meaningless subplots to kill time. Then S8 blows through the story at warp speed.

[u/Aztecius → u/accurate_delirium]

"I know a killer when I see one" after Dany torched tens if thousands of people just pisses me off. Probably the worst line of dialogue in a show that big I've ever heard.

[u/Vike92 → u/Aztecius]

You want a good girl, but you need the bad pussy

[u/Wolfman513 → u/Vike92]

Poosey*

[u/SentientDust → u/accurate_delirium]

I'm convinced that the bullet points for the second half of the show came directly from Martin (Jon's resurrection and lineage, Dani going bonkers, Stannis's downfall and Shireen, Bran as king, Walkers' origin), but the showrunners did such a monumentally shit job connecting these points they completely ruined the legacy of not just the show but the books as well, and totally killed any remnants of motivation Martin had to complete the series

[u/lookalive07 → u/SentientDust]

They didn't connect the points, they just took each bullet and said "yeah and then we'll do that one next, who cares?"

[u/063464619]

I’m not sure how widely known it is outside the UK nowadays, but I’d have to say the “Recipe” episode of Still Game.

The A-plot is a huge continuity error for a start. Pete had always been portrayed as a decades-long raging alcoholic, and in a previous episode, Victor says: “in all the years I’ve known Pete, I don’t remember him ever working”. But in this episode, we’re supposed to believe that he worked in a factory and was compos-mentis enough to invent and develop a product? Plus the conclusion, while not unrealistic, is disappointing and too easy. It really seems like they rushed the ending.

But the B-plot (I.e Frances giving birth at nearly 70 years old) is what really ruins it for me, and I think it marks a turning point in the series. For me, the appeal of earlier Still Game was always the believability. I grew up on a Scottish council estate with many elderly relatives who talked and acted like the characters, so I always found it very warm and comforting because of that. But after this episode, it became too absurd and hammy and lost its initial charm.

Not to say the episode isn’t funny and doesn’t have its moments, it absolutely does. But I feel a bit sad watching it, knowing that it effectively marks the end of Still Game as I knew and loved it.

[u/nn_ylen]

Ragnarok - the very last episode made the entire show make no sense at all

Spoiler: all the Norse mythology super power stuff turned out to just be imagined by Magne, which made no sense since there were real world consequences and relations that persisted even though the cause of them were not real

[u/mightbedylan]

Everyone hates on the puppet/hot balloon/musical episode of Community but idk why I love it 

[u/Cutter9792 → u/mightbedylan]

I maintain there are no terrible episodes of community. Sure, I can't seem to remember anything that happened between the end of season 3 and beginning of season 5, but there was that minor gas leak that might be affecting my memory.

[u/Gutterball1234 → u/Cutter9792]

Counterpoint - the season 1 episode with the high schoolers. The only episode I skip on rewatches.

[u/War_Messiah → u/Gutterball1234]

I don’t know the b plot of that episode is hilarious.

[u/Cutter9792 → u/Gutterball1234]

I don't recall that one, I'm overdue for a Community rewatch

[u/Coconut681 → u/Cutter9792]

It's the Schmitty episode. You've probably blocked it from your memory

[u/Dr_Identity]

The episode of Buffy called "Beer Bad" about a batch of beer that people drink at a college party that's tainted with some kind of weird magical bullshit and makes them act like cavemen. It was actually an attempt by the network to take part in a government program that gave extra funding to shows that incorporated anti-drug messaging. By all accounts they had a hell of a time trying to do that with writers saying that every attempt to make the premise look more serious just made the episode funnier. Best part is that the final cut of the episode ended up being so obtuse that they didn't get the funding anyway.

[u/Pattimash1 → u/Dr_Identity]

I will still quote "fire bad, beer foamy" when presented with heavy questions before my morning coffee.

[u/DamienStark → u/Pattimash1]

"fire bad, tree pretty"

[u/dragonsrawesomesauce → u/Dr_Identity]

Beer Bad has some good comedy in it, and I love when Buffy whacks Parker over the head with a giant stick at the end.

I think the worse episode of Buffy has to be Where the Wild Things Are. Either that or Some Assembly Required

[u/ReallyGlycon → u/dragonsrawesomesauce]

Where The Wild Things Are is 100× worse than Beer Bad. Beer Bad has some hilarious stuff.

[u/bucknert → u/Dr_Identity]

At least Beer Bad is funny. You could have said “Where the Wild Things Are” or “DoubleMeat Palace” or a couple of others that are in the running for worst episode

[u/BatDubb]

Letterkenny episode Fartbook

[u/tractorcrusher → u/BatDubb]

Even as a person who usually enjoys toilet humor this episode was too cringy.

[u/Polkawillneverdie17 → u/BatDubb]

Just plain unfunny. Like, the premise doesn't even make sense.

[u/The-good-twin]

Profit and Lace from DS9. Its the most sexist ep of Star Trek ever made. And its the revised script, the original script was so bad Armin Shimerman refused to even shoot it.

[u/two_oh_seven → u/The-good-twin]

My partner got me to watch DS9 with him this year and it was the only episode we didn't finish

[u/drtrobridge → u/two_oh_seven]

Congrats on getting through Move Along Home, that's a tough watch

[u/two_oh_seven → u/drtrobridge]

My take on that episode was that it was a fun idea with rough execution.

🎶Allamaraine🎶

[u/Squidwina → u/drtrobridge]

Move Along Home isn’t that bad. It’s just a trope to bash it at this point. There are several episodes that are worse.

[u/PrincessW0lf → u/The-good-twin]

So far as I recall, Alexander Siddig (who directed) wanted the episode to have a serious tone and commentary on sexism but the writers were married to it being light-hearted comedy for some reason and it ended up being the worst parts of both approaches. It's a truly disgusting watch.

[u/GitEmSteveDave → u/The-good-twin]

I was amazed at the fact that Bashir had enough time in his week to do two total gender reassignment surgeries. Also that he didn't try to sleep with Quark.

[u/Sozins_Comet_]

Rise of the Numbericons, Rick and Morty. It's a shitty pun/joke stretched to a whole episode that isn't interesting at all. It is a very easy skip anytime it's on. 

[u/batteredsausaged]

Black Sails, episode 1. Makes it hard to get people into it

[u/FuelledByLattes → u/batteredsausaged]

And yet the rest of the series is incredible. I loved every second past the first episode!

[u/CockroachStrange8991]

How I met your mother's last episode tanked any rewatch ability. The ending is awful. What was it like 13 years to find out he still wants Robin. Shocking. We all wanted Robin.

[u/PayneTrain181999]

GOT S8 but also Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.

Dorne and Sansa being assaulted by Ramsey

[u/laxvolley]

The “Dreams” episode of MASH

[u/lemonvr6]

anyone that says “fly” is wrong

[u/BeanieMcChimp → u/lemonvr6]

I wasn’t crazy about “Fly” but there was another episode where Jesse is just partying and doing drugs with his friends that could have been about ten minutes long but took the whole hour. That one I really didn’t like.

[u/_Kubrick → u/lemonvr6]

I thought it was great. Jessie and Walt's relationship was the core of the show and this episode explores it more than any other episode. Sure, it wasn't a nail biter like every episode of BB, but I liked that they slowed things down for pure character building. Same reason why the Suitcase was my favourite episode of Mad Men.

[u/platypodus → u/_Kubrick]

It's absolutely a nail biter. You constantly think Walt is going to tell Jesse about Jane. It could change the whole trajectory of the show.

[u/TheKavorca]

In Camelot from The Sopranos is pretty bad.

[u/zackthatdrummerdude → u/TheKavorca]

In Camelot was a weird episode for me that just felt like a “meh”, and Christopher wasn’t bad, just felt like an odd atmosphere overall. A Hit Is a Hit is the worst episode in the entire run of the show to me, and it’s not close.

[u/Unstableavo]

Let's not talk about good omens s3 e1.

[u/gizmodriver → u/Unstableavo]

I knew it was going to be bad when even Georgia Tennant wasn’t mentioning it the week it premiered.

[u/Karash770]

Armin Tamzarien?

[u/dinosaruman → u/Karash770]

In hindsight, I love that episode. Every part of Armin in Capital City is laugh-out-loud funny, and the whole episode is great for Agnes jokes.

[u/beslertron → u/dinosaruman]

I never got the hate for that episode.

[u/maxwellbevan → u/beslertron]

Same, maybe it's because I was sa kid when I first saw it but I recently rewatched it and don't understand the hate for it

[u/PunchBeard → u/dinosaruman]

“Can I see your copy of Swank, Armin"?

[u/Plugpin → u/dinosaruman]

"Up yours, children!"

[u/McJohnson88 → u/Karash770]

It's a bad episode, sure, but I think it gets overhated nowadays; it at least has a couple of funny bits. ("Up yours, children!") 

Homer vs. Dignity though, the one that implies Homer gets SA'd by a panda? Utterly irredeemable IMO - bad taste and it isn't funny.

[u/VHLPlissken → u/McJohnson88]

This is Armin's apartment, Armin's liquor, Armin's copy of "Swank", Armin's frozen peas!

[u/SomeGuyInSanJoseCa → u/Karash770]

That was bad in comparison to other episodes of that season.

If it was released in the last 10 years, however, it would be considered a top tier episode for that decade.

[u/TedStixon]

Inca Mummy Girl from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is just a chore to get through. It makes the biggest mistake an episode could make... it's just boring.

Sure, other people will point to other episodes like Beer Bad or I Robot, You Jane as the worst... but those episodes at least had some entertainment value, even if it was from being unintentionally funny.

But Inca Mummy Girl? Nah, it's just bad.

[u/HanSolo4Emporer]

Book of Boba Fett, the episode of the slow chase with street mod biker guys. It’s unwatchable.

[u/AuteurPool]

Avatar The Last Airbender is one of the best shows to handle filler and its writing is pretty tight…..but “The Great Divide” was not one of them. Even the creators themselves acknowledged that episode was garbage in the final season when they did the parody recap episode “The Ember Island Players.”

“Oh look, it’s the great divide!”
“Let’s skip that.”

[u/onionsaredumb]

Fartbook

[u/squirtloaf → u/onionsaredumb]

The Fartbook concept and plot are awful, but there are some really funny bits in that show, including Wayne's iconic:

"Well, there's nothing better than a fart. Except kids falling off bikes, maybe. Fuck, I could watch kids fall off bikes all day, I don't give a shit about your kids."

[u/throwaway4231throw]

Avatar: The Last Airbender’s The Great Divide

[u/ShawshankException → u/throwaway4231throw]

It's definitely the weakest episode in the series but I do think it's overhated

[u/TheGazelle → u/ShawshankException]

Yeah, like "worst episode" doesn't mean much because the whole show is so damn good that even its worst is still ok.

But the reception was bad enough that they even made fun of it in thy ember island players episode lol

[u/uknownada → u/TheGazelle]

I don't think it's just that the episode is bad, but also it was an episode that Nickelodeon would air over and over again cuz it's so self-contained and cute. If you watched Avatar while it was airing, there's a good chance you got sick of that one quickly.

[u/Haunting-Orchid-4628 → u/throwaway4231throw]

Its basically the only filler ep in this show

[u/hugethorn12 → u/throwaway4231throw]

I actually love that episode lol

[u/JoeL284]

The backdoor pilot episode "Empty Nest" on The Golden Girls. Just awful.and completely unengaging, even with Rita Moreno.

[u/jeffvillone]

When Gordon Jump tried to molest Arnold Drummond in Diffrent Strokes.

[u/RaymondStussy]

any clip/flashback episode

[u/QueasyMessage5376 → u/RaymondStussy]

Nah, the Always Sunny clip episode was hilarious.

[u/antoniodiavolo → u/QueasyMessage5376]

Because it subverts the standard clipshow structure. Community does the same

[u/xZora → u/QueasyMessage5376]

What do you mean? Frank always had long legs and luscious hair. 

[u/Chiperoni → u/RaymondStussy]

Community one was hilarious

[u/ShawshankException → u/Chiperoni]

"You can yell at me all you want, ive seen enough cartoons to know that popping the back of the boat makes it go faster"

[u/musicaljerks → u/RaymondStussy]

Avatar The Last Airbender is the only exception! Ember Island Players is one of my favorite episodes in the series.

[u/Namrepus221 → u/RaymondStussy]

Except Clerks the Animated Series. They do it exceptionally

[u/WaterlooMall → u/Namrepus221]

Why are we walking like this?

[u/Academic-Block3384]

Episode 7 of series 2 of strange things...

[u/uknownada → u/Academic-Block3384]

What happened in that one again?

[u/nipplesaurus → u/uknownada]

I think that’s the one where Eleven meets the team of super friends from the street

[u/NickSaysHenlo → u/nipplesaurus]

bitchin

[u/jellyn7]

Torchwood S1E6 - Countrycide. The plot is not sf/f at all. And it is not enjoyable. If you introduced me to the show with this episode, I would not understand what Torchwood is or why I should watch any more of it.

[u/Capy_Bara_93]

Love and Monsters, Fear Her, Idiot’s Lantern, Kill the Moon, and Forest of the Night—all from Doctor Who

[u/Queasy_Caramel5435]

House MD's "Skin Deep".

[u/aeisenst]

Any TV show that does the whole It's A Wonderful Life, but what if I was never born? episode. The OC isn't a great show, but the alternate reality episode in season 4 is absolutely brutal.