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Battlefield Friendship Through Violence of World War II

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By Nicolas Rapold

• April 19, 2012

“My Way” is a lot of war movie. This corny globe-trotting melodrama about a friendship strained by World War II is Kang Je-kyu’s lavish follow-up effort to his domestic hit “Tae Guk Gi.” The friendship story line acts mostly to tie together enthusiastically shot battlefield set pieces, innumerable episodes of intra-army abuse, and generally demonstrations of heroic endurance amid wretchedness.

Before the bullets and bodies start flying, a Korean boy named Jun-shik and his Japanese pal Tatsuo, whose grandfather employs Jun-shik’s father, bond over their love of running during Japan’s occupation of Korea. Some years later Jun-shik’s violent objection to a rigged Olympic qualifying race wins him conscription in the Japanese Army, where he runs into Tatsuo, now a colonel (played by Joe Odagiri).

Life in the Japanese Army for Jun-shik (Jang Dong-gun) is filled with beatings, raw deals and humiliation. Then a Soviet victory sends the two friends on a brutal involuntary tour of prisoner-of-war purgatory, which includes more conscription, capture by the Nazis and reunion at Normandy on D-Day.

The battle scenes by land and sea — in China, the Soviet Union and France — are of the throw-everything-on-screen-and-see-what-sticks school of war filmmaking, with scenarios cribbed from “Saving Private Ryan” and other Western genre films. The bloody chaos can be suitably overwhelming, but you’re too aware of the whizzing camerawork, helter-skelter editing and bombastic score. “My Way” is billed as the most expensive Korean film ever, but at around $23 million — compared with the reported $140 million cost of “Pearl Harbor” — Mr. Kang’s assaultive picture seems a bargain.

As for people, whose inner lives occasionally figure into the experience of strife, Mr. Odagiri and Mr. Jang’s characters come into focus, against a mostly mugging cast, as handsome symbols of brotherhood in arms against all odds in a world where war is hell.

“My Way” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Graphic violence.

Opens on Friday in New York and Los Angeles. Directed by Kang Je-kyu In Korean, Japanese, Russian and German, with English subtitles 2 hours 24 minutes

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‘my way’: film review.

The documentary from Dominique Mollee and Vinny Sisson chronicles a cross-country road trip undertaken by a pair of ambitious female rockers.

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My Way - P 2014

Most rock performers wait until they become famous before making a behind-the-scenes documentary. Not so the Rebekah Starr Band, largely comprising the eponymous lead singer and her tambourine-playing, Estonian BFF,  Annika Alliksoo ,   whose cross-country trip to Los Angeles to perform on the legendary Sunset Strip and make a music video is chronicled in My Way . The documentary directed by Dominique Mollee and Vinny Sisson was recently featured at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Sound + Vision series.

The two central figures are certainly camera-ready subjects. Starr , originally Rebekah Snyder , got an MBA and embarked on a business career before facing sexism because, as she puts it, she was “tall and blonde.” She decided to pursue her dream of becoming a rock star, much to the consternation of her husband, Mike .

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Realizing that they’re not going to make it anywhere in the small Pennsylvania town of Kittanning (population: under 6,000), the comely duo sets off on a road trip with a video crew in tow. Losing their crew halfway through the journey, the women promptly get a video camera at Best Buy and continue on their way. Stopping in such cities as Louisville and Nashville, they perform gigs at local clubs and hawk their CDs, drinking and partying heavily and making new friends — not difficult to do when you look like that — who enable them to get by on minimal resources.

“We could survive off the generosity of others,” Starr observes, even while ignoring the increasingly plaintive voicemail messages from her bereft husband.

Enjoyment of this home movie-style exercise is largely dependent on rooting for the spunky duo as they pursue their goal. Unfortunately, their charms wear thin rather quickly, and the film’s attempts at adding drama, such as when Annika storms offstage in a huff when they’re finally performing at Los Angeles’ Cat Club after Rebekah invites audience members to jump onstage and bang on tambourines, aren’t exactly earthshaking. At least adding to the authenticity are onscreen comments by the likes of such rockers as Steven Adler (Guns N’ Roses), Rikki Rocket (Poison) and Chip Z’Nuff (Enuff Z’Nuff), as well as, for some reason, porn legend Ron Jeremy .

Starr is not without talent, and since the film was made her band has achieved some success with their singles and videos. But despite its effort to double as a sincerely impassioned message about female empowerment, My Way mainly comes across as a relentlessly self-serving promotional vehicle.  

Production: RSB Project, Nine22Ideas

Directors/directors of photography: Dominique Mollee, Vinny Sisson

Producer/executive producer: Rebekah Snyder-Starr

Editors: Logan Boettcher, Vinny Sisson

Composer: Diego Tovar

No rating, 93 minutes

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The Way, My Way

Based on the best selling Camino memoir, The Way, My Way, written by Bill Bennett, the film documents one man's journey along the Camino de Santiago, searching for meaning, not realizing it ... Read all Based on the best selling Camino memoir, The Way, My Way, written by Bill Bennett, the film documents one man's journey along the Camino de Santiago, searching for meaning, not realizing it was right in front of him, one step at a time. Based on the best selling Camino memoir, The Way, My Way, written by Bill Bennett, the film documents one man's journey along the Camino de Santiago, searching for meaning, not realizing it was right in front of him, one step at a time.

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Directed by Kang Je-kyu

They met as enemies, but fate brought them together.

During the invasion of Normandy the photograph of a slim Korean man in German uniform was found. It transpired that the man had served as a soldier in the Japanese, Russian and German armies. His incredible story inspired director Kang Je-Gyu to create this epic war drama.

Jang Dong-gun Joe Odagiri Fan Bingbing Kim In-kwon Lee Yeon-hee Kim Hee-won Oh Tae-kyung Kwak Jung-wook Kim Si-hoo Cheon Ho-jin Taro Yamamoto Manabu Hamada Shingo Tsurumi Isao Natsuyagi Shirō Sano Kumi Nakamura Kim In-woo Do Ji-han Yūkichi Kobayashi Go Ju-yeon Kim Soo-ro Jo Min-ah Hakuryu Nicole Jung

Director Director

Kang Je-kyu

Producers Producers

Song Min-gyu Kang Je-kyu Park Kyoung-won

Writers Writers

Kim Byung-In Kang Je-kyu Na Hyun Hwang In-ho

Casting Casting

Takefumi Yoshikawa

Editor Editor

Park Gok-ji

Cinematography Cinematography

Assistant directors asst. directors.

Chang Joo Yang Yoon Jin yul

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Miky Lee Kim Yong-hwa

Lighting Lighting

Oh Seung-chul

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Lee Jong-woo

Production Design Production Design

Cho Keun-hyun

Art Direction Art Direction

Kim Kyung-ho Kim Min-jeong

Special Effects Special Effects

Kyung-soo Park

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Young-woo Han Seung-hyun Son Kang Jong-ik Son Seung-hyeon

Stunts Stunts

Oleg Botin Park Ju-chun Hwang Jin-mo Yoon Jin-yul

Composer Composer

Lee Dong-jun

Sound Sound

Kim Chang-sub Chul-hee Han Kim Suk-won Han Cheol-hui

Costume Design Costume Design

Kim Jung-won

Makeup Makeup

Lee Seo-jin Kwak Tae-yong Hwang Hyo-kyun Lee Hee-eun

CJ Entertainment Directors SK Planet

South Korea

Primary language, spoken languages.

Korean Japanese Russian German Chinese English

Releases by Date

10 feb 2012, 01 apr 2012, 09 jul 2012, 23 sep 2012, 21 dec 2011, 14 jan 2012, 20 apr 2012, 14 jun 2012, 25 oct 2012, 05 mar 2015, 31 jul 2012, 24 sep 2012, 27 sep 2012, 15 may 2013, 11 jan 2018, releases by country.

• Physical DVD & Blu-ray
• Physical TP DVD
• Premiere 16 Berlin International Film Festival
• Theatrical IIB
• Theatrical PG12

Netherlands

• Physical 16 DVD, Blu ray
• Theatrical 15
• Premiere Lund Fantastisk Film Festival

Switzerland

• Premiere 16 Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival
• Physical 18 DVD
• Premiere Newport Beach International Film Festival
• Theatrical R

137 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Adrian Oli ★★★★ 1

Director Kang Je-kyu made three memorable korean war film one is Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War, another is Shiri and this one My Way. All of them prove his direction quality. My Way is an epic war film inspired by a true story regarding world war two and focused on an unconventional friendship story but im not sure how much of this is true. Especially Joe Odagiri's role as Japanese colonel felt a bit degraded toward the second half. Although to me its his best performance yet still im doubtful about his character's historical accuracy. Jang Dong-gun gave another memorable performance along with his Tae Guk Gi role. Although its a well made war film and the setpiece is great too, but its over dramactic at times and also im doubtful about this films accuracy.

Review by Geoffrey Broomer ★★★

The story of Yang Kyoungjong forms the loose bases for Kang Je-gyu's follow-up to his blockbuster Korean War hit, Taegukgi (2004). Childhood athletic rivals turned bitter enemies - one Korean (Jang Dong-gun) the other Japanese (Joe Odagiri) - find themselves forced into a series of armies during the second World War. The competitive running portion of the film is compelling but sadly used as bookends for the war. The bulk of My Way is POW degradation scenes and graphic combat, perforated by bullets and melodrama. From director Kang Je-gyu (Shiri) the action was never going to be anything less than riveting, but the plotting does seem counter intuitive.

Worth checking out for Kim In-kwon fans, as the actor does his…

Review by BilboBallin ★★★★★

a legendary war epic masterpiece bar none one of the best films to come out of Korea in the 10s seeing world war ii from the side opposite of the western victors is endlessly refreshing beginning to end it's a thrilling, brutal, and robust story

Review by Gozu ★★★★ 2

Seoultember No.6

Ein genialer Anti-Kriegsfilm, der durch einen überraschenden Moment, nach dem anderen, bereichert wird. Man sollte am besten so wenig wie möglich über den Film bescheid wissen. Dass es sich um einen Kriegsfilm handelt, ist eigentlich schon zu viel Info. Aber das Covermotiv kann man ja schlecht ausklammern. Der Film ist übrigens von keinem geringeren als Kang Je-gyu, der zuvor den ebenfalls sehr imposanten Brotherhood inzeniert hat. Mit Prisoners of War, so der deutsche Titel, konnte er sich aber sogar noch etwas steigern. Wirklich beeindruckend.

Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★★½ 2

Think we can run home from here? -Tatsuo Hasegawa

I thought that Kang Je-kyu 's 2004 Korean War film Tae Guk Gi was a major accomplishment and questioned why the director would follow that up with another war film. The simple answer I think, is that it's a story that demanded to be told so that the rest of the world might understand how Korea was involved in World War II and what some Koreans went through.

The story is "inspired by true events". Some quick research shows that while the characters are fictitious, the major beats of the plot actually did happen. These events would never be invented by a screenwriter because he would believe them too unbelievable for a…

Review by Danny ★★★★ 3

My Way is inspired by a true story rather than based on a true story. The true story being of Yang Kyoungjong from 1938 - 1945 as he was forced into allegiance to the Empire of Japan, then the Soviet Union and then eventually Nazi Germany. These facts are established although not on paper quite early. We are told a Korean man on D-day was found in a German uniform.

However obviously Kang Je-gyu wanted to create a story around these facts are thankfully does not rely on the unbelievable story, instead although altering the facts ever so slightly creates an interesting dynamic between two runners Kim Jun-shik (Korean - Dong-gun Jang) and Tatsuo Hasegawa (Japanese - Jô Odagiri) whose…

Review by River ★★ 5

What otherwise would have been a decent war movie, aside from a couple of outright bad scenes, is absolutely butchered by the worst camerawork/editing I’ve ever had the misfortune to see. These bozo directors are incapable of holding a shot for more than three seconds. There are more jump cuts in this movie than in the entirety of Naruto Shippuden . But other than that I liked My Way , insane story and set pieces

Review by KaleisaWaffle ★★½

I swear I thought they were gonna kiss.

Review by JaseAussieGos ★★★★½

Wow totally blown away by this film. One of the best war movies i have ever seen. Raw, Gritty, Realistic, Captivating and down right Heartbreaking. This really demonstrates the power and imagination of Korean cienma. Recommend this one to all, well worth you time....

Review by Kane Le-Petit ★

This is a terrible, TERRIBLE film. It's edited with about 4 cuts every second and it causes an extremely overwhelming feeling of disorientating dizziness which almost deems the film unwatchable, all this is not helped by the fact that the camera work is below average and quite frankly ugly in every single way. This film makes no effort to stay with a consistent tone or give any possible development to any of the characters so as viewer you really do not care or know ANYTHING about them. I truly hate this film, even after watching it a second time today I despise it. Even most of the war sequences feel so staged they fail to produce any excitement and just become a complete bore except from the final battle at Normandy Beach which is genuinely pretty good.

Its boring and devoid of any excitement. Terrible in almost every single way. Avoid this.

Review by MrJago ★★★½ 1

Strongly overdoes it with the soundtrack at times, but man the battle scenes... Korean War films don't mess around.

And then there's the running scenes and... my emotions, my emotions!

Review by Richard ★★★★★ 5

Director Kang Je-gyu has done it again! His previous film, Taegukgi (also a war film), is my second favorite South Korean film of all time. My Way may not be quite as good, but it still blew me away. It definitely met my (extremely high) expectations... and then some. My Way is epic in every sense of the word and contains some of the most amazing battle sequences I've ever seen. A must-see for fans of war films and Korean cinema.

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My way – the review.

Review by David Henry

The Korean film MY WAY is an ambitious, continents-sprawling epic set against the backdrop of World War II, and simultaneously an intimate drama about two men who find themselves swept up in the tsunami of history, with their destinies intertwined. In some ways it is not unlike Ben Hur, minus the Christian elements. Filmmaker Kang Je-kyu, known in his native land as a top-notch director of action films, demonstrates an uncanny ability to juggle both of these normally disparate elements in a way that seems effortless, so that the movie feels big and small at the same time. In a way, it almost feels like three or four films playing back-to-back, or even an epic miniseries. Kang is telling a very episodic story here, one that eschews the traditional Western 3-act model of filmmaking and adapts a 4-act structure which makes the film seem longer than its 143 minute running time, but in the best way possible. My Way is always compelling and always engaging, and I honestly wouldn’t have minded if this had been 3-4 hours long.

As a Westerner, I found it fascinating to see World War II depicted from the ‘other side’, as it were, although My Way is really not about the war at all, but rather about the experiences of its two main characters, Korean marathon runner Kim Jun-shik and Japanese aristocrat and soldier Tatsuo Hasegawa. We follow them from Korea to Russia to Europe, seeing the war from the perspectives of a Japanese base, a Russian POW camp, and the German encampment at Normandy Beach.

Kang Je-kyu’s reputation as one of Korea’s top-acclaimed filmmakers is well-earned. He shows off his skills quite well with this film, assisted by a terrific ensemble of artists that have come together to communicate his vision. Cinematographer Lee Mo-gae has photographed a gorgeous-looking film that is always breathtaking to look at. At $23 million dollars, My Way is the most expensive movie ever made in Korea, and it looks like it cost twice as much. The battle scenes (of which there are plenty) look amazing, and Kang manages to communicate the chaotic nature of modern warfare while never confusing the viewer. You feel the claustrophobic bedlam of every surrounding battle and yet you never lose track of what is happening. The special effects are also top-notch, and I found that I was so immersed in the action that I couldn’t tell where the practical effects ended and the CG began. Kang wisely doesn’t dwell on his effects as if they are the story, but rather uses them to tell the story, a lesson that a few Western filmmakers could certainly stand to learn.

One Western filmmaker Kang may draw comparisons to with this film is Steven Spielberg. I expect that the battle sequences in My Way will certainly remind people of Spielberg’s own WW2 opus, Saving Private Ryan, especially as both films feature an epic depiction of the storming of Normandy Beach on D-Day (interestingly enough, while Saving Private Ryan begins with that battle, My Way ends with it). If so, the comparison will be well-earned, because Kang echoes Spielberg’s instinct for camera placement and the cause-and-effect structuring of action scenes that draw the viewer in rather than distancing or confusing them as so much of today’s films that pass for “action” are guilty of.

Kang is also helped along here by a fantastic cast. Korean leading man Jang Dong-gun plays the leading role of Kim Jun-shik, and reminds me of a young Chow Yun-Fat, bringing a similar type of brooding intensity to the role. Curiously enough, the role of Jun-shik is an anomalous one in My Way, as he is the only character who stays relatively the same throughout the war while everyone around him changes. My Way never shies away from the horrors of war, and demonstrates in a very real way how those horrors can change people, both for worse and for better. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends. There is some powerful character development going on in this movie, particularly in the character of Hasegawa Tatsuo, played by Joe Odagiri, who is the other main character of My Way. Oddly enough though, while everyone else is represented in various shades of grey, Jun-shik is consistently depicted as more or less heroic. His decent humanity never really falters, unlike the other characters in the film. Could this be because he is the Korean hero in a Korean film? I admit I don’t know about Korean filmmaking to hazard a guess, but I can’t help but wonder about it, especially when the film deals with such difficult and sensitive topics of Korean history such as the Japanese occupation during World War II that serves as the setting of the film. I wonder if Kang Je-kyu (who also produced the film and co-wrote the script) felt the need to feature a consistently noble Korean hero whose dignity always remains intact?

It’s a minor complaint, though, in what turns out be a terrific film; one of the best I’ve seen in 2012. MY WAY deserves to earn a place in the pantheon of great WW2 films alongside modern classics like Saving Private Ryan. And it certainly deserves your patronage as a great movie.

4 of 5 Stars

MY WAY opens wide today, May 4th, though not in St. Louis

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Review: my way.

Many films are saved in the editing room, but how many are ruined there?

Many films are saved in the editing room, but how many are ruined there? With an average shot length of something like 0.04 seconds, Kang Je-kyu’s war story, My Way , was clearly torpedoed by overzealous slicing and dicing, and what might have been a competent blockbuster is now borderline unwatchable. No, really: It’s literally difficult to keep your eyes fixed on the screen for even five minutes without feeling nauseous. That it clocks in at just under two-and-a-half hours makes it a veritable endurance test. The film’s press kit boasts that the film’s DP, Lee Mo-gae, utilized “five different cameras and ten different shooting techniques,” which is to say four cameras and nine techniques more than was really necessary. My Way is a traditional WWII epic inexplicably reimagined as chaos cinema, like Neveldine/Taylor taking on the Pacific Front. It’s the most expensive South Korean film production of all time, and, to paraphrase the old adage, you can see the money being bandied about needlessly right up there on screen. This film looks expensive, but it also looks terrible.

Occasionally it looks bad in a way that’s narrowly satisfying: In the midst of a manic, F/X-powered battle sequence you might get an insert of a soldier shot and spiraling to the ground with a body cam fixed to his helmet, which looks very cool in a way that war movies probably shouldn’t, given that an audience gets sort of uncomfortable hooting about splatter. Had My Way followed this impulse through to its logical conclusion (and had it been leaner, faster, and lighter on melodrama), it might have made a tidy little exploitation flick, since at times it ditches tact so deftly. But instead it heads in the other direction, hamming up the human drama and making national pride its de facto agenda.

Which makes it like any other WWI blockbuster, except for the novel perspective of South Koreans forced to fight for the occupying Japanese army, who are portrayed as ruthless, weak-willed, and just generally evil. Even the Nazi soldiers in this film come off as likeable and well-meaning (hey, they’re just following orders!), while the Japanese soldiers all seem to want to be there and all seem to want to hate and be cruel to the Koreans. Except for the most ruthless Japanese soldier of them all, one of the film’s two leads; he happens to enjoy long-distance running and is therefore allowed to be humanized and, ultimately, to be redeemed. The dozens of nameless soldiers he kills mercilessly over the course of the film, of course, we don’t need to worry about. I guess they didn’t have hobbies.

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Review: my way (south korea, 2011).

During the D-Day landings in 1944, American paratroopers captured an Asian man in Wehrmacht uniform. This man was Yang Kyoungjong, a Korean who had…

By Anthony Kao , 20 Jan 16 09:54 GMT

During the D-Day landings in 1944, American paratroopers captured an Asian man in Wehrmacht uniform. This man was Yang Kyoungjong , a Korean who had the misfortune of being conscripted by the Japanese (Korea was a Japanese colony at the time), captured and then pressed into service by the Soviets, and captured and pressed into service again by the Germans. Seventy years later, Yang’s unfortunate — but highly intriguing — story became the inspiration for a 2011 South Korean film titled My Way .

My Way is only loosely based on Yang’s experience; its main character is named Kim Jun-shik. The movie starts in Kim’s childhood, during which he, his sister, and his father live with and serve a prominent Japanese family in Seoul. Jun-shik becomes acquainted with the family’s young son, Hasegawa Tatsuo, as both of them enjoy running and become racing buddies. However, when a Korean independence activist assassinates Tatsuo’s grandfather, he becomes an ardent Japanese nationalist and Jun-shik’s family is banished onto the streets.

Several years later, Jun-shik and Tatsuo bump into each other again while competing to represent Japan as runners in the Olympics. During tryouts, Jun-shik finishes before Tatsuo but is denied recognition because he is Korean — triggering a riot. In the riot’s aftermath, Jun-shik and his fellow Koreans are sentenced to service in the Imperial Japanese Army.

In Manchuria, Jun-shik and Tatsuo meet yet again when Tatsuo is brought in to replace the old unit commander after a defeat. With his nationalistic sentiments, Tatsuo introduces a strict reign and assigns Koreans to a special suicide unit, threatening to shoot anyone who disobeys orders or retreats in battle. When the Soviets surprise-attack, both Jun-shik and Tatsuo find themselves POWs — and proceed to endure the same repeated conscriptions that Yang Kyoungjong did in real life.

The introduction of a Japanese character alongside the Korean lead is a blatantly practical choice. It helps My Way manufacture dramatic tension and makes the story more accessible to those who may not be familiar with the intricacies of Soviet/German conscription practices during WWII. While the real-life story of Yang Kyoungjong is a product of total war’s moral shades of gray, My Way rests upon more black and white, emotionally intuitive concepts like the “brotherhood of war” and sports rivalries. This is a film clearly intended to be a mass-market blockbuster (also evidenced by its $24 million USD budget — one of the most expensive in Korean film history).

Unsurprisingly, outside of its novel premise,  My Way feels and looks like other war films that have come before it. Roughly put, it’s a mix between Taegukgi (one of Korea’s most popular films) and Enemy at the Gates (both have uncomfortable scenes of Soviet officers gunning down retreating soldiers). There are lots of big explosions, sweeping  shots (of questionable necessity to the plot) across snowy mountains, a cameo by Chinese starlet Fan Bingbing, and other formulaic but entertaining pieces to a cinematic IKEA desk.

My Way  is action-packed and accessible, but not particularly novel in its telling of a highly unique premise. The experience of Yang Kyoungjong could’ve inspired a far more introspective and evocative film, but something was lost in translation between the past and profit-driven present.

My Way (Korean:마이 웨이) — Directed by Kang Je-gyu. First released December 2011. Running time 1hr 59min. Starring Jang Dong-gun, Joe Odagiri, and Fan Bingbing. 

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Five snapshots of south korean history from "ode to my father", by anthony kao, review: northern limit line (south korea, 2015), review: gangnam blues (south korea, 2015), review: yamato (japan, 2005).

Cast & Crew

Joe Odagiri

Tatsuo Hasegawa

Jang Dong-gun

Jun-shik Kim

Fan Bingbing

Kang Je-Gyu

Kim Yong-hwa

• Average 4.7

Information

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The Way, My Way Reviews

This is a quiet, gentle, uplifting film about freeing oneself from the everyday and discovering the comfort of strangers - though not in the way Ian McEwan imagines.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 28, 2024

The Way, My Way is a film that delivers exactly what the marketing is promising. This is a cheerful, modest and good-hearted movie – and I hope it finds the audience it deserves.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 26, 2024

The journey appears as a ramble but slowly takes form as Bill nears his destination and brings new meaning to that lovely old cliche about how every ending is really a new beginning...a modest, finely etched, uplifting Australian film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 17, 2024

The Way, My Way is hardly riveting viewing -- but its softly inquisitive, life-affirming spirit is hard to hate.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 16, 2024

Life…one big adventure

Explore. Dream. Discover.

How to Truly Understand Walking a Camino. Movie Review: The Way, My Way

Movie Title: The Way, My Way

If you have ever wanted to know what all the fuss is about walking the Camino Frances in Spain, then this movie is for you. The photography is gorgeous – truly capturing the beauty of Spain, plus the personalities are real and the friendships are warm.

While The Way movie, starring Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez, captured some of the feel of the path and kickstarted a massive influx of pilgrims, it was a Hollywood movie. This film is based on a true story.

But first, a little background…

Background & Connections:

I stumbled across Bill Bennett and his book , The Way, My Way , back in 2021. A few people had suggested that I should read his book as I was a dyed-in-the-wool camino addict and he lived in my own home town.

As you can imagine, his book really resonated with me (Camino Addicts of the World Unite! 😊) and I shared a review of the book with you here . Since that time, I have met Bill and his partner Jennifer in person, and we have formed a small camino group to share all things camino with pilgrims and would-be pilgrims. All the reminiscing is a lot of fun. Did someone say camino bore?

Bill walked the Camino Frances back in the Spring of 2013. Unbeknownst to us, we followed in his footsteps in the Autumn. He wrote a blog and generated a book out of his experience, while I kept a private journal and generated an impressive range of blisters and missing toenails due to poorly fitting footwear. I also collected some fantastic memories.

Unlike myself, Bill and Jennifer have had long careers in the film and television industries, and perhaps it was a natural progression for Bill to turn his book into a film . After a true labour of love, this film had its World premiere at the historic Mt Vic Flicks cinema on 16 April 2024.

I have never attended a World premiere before and we were exceptionally pleased and proud to be part of the sell-out audience. The audience was chockful of fellow camino addicts with a strong representation from the Blue Mountains Camino Supporters group and the Australian Friends of the Camino Inc . En masse, we all laughed at the appropriate parts of the film as so many of us had had similar experiences to Bill. Who hasn’t weighed their underpants in an effort to reduce the weight of their backpack?

As the credits rolled, Bill, Jennifer and Johnnie Walker (genuine camino royalty) took to the stage and the audience had the opportunity to participate in a Q&A. It was a great way to understand the mechanics of film making and what it took to bring it to life up on the big screen. One of the most interesting facts was that only four professional actors appeared in the entire film . Many of the ‘extras’ were actual pilgrims who just happened to be walking past the film set at the right time.

But, how does the Promotional Blurb describe The Way, My Way ?

Synopsis: The Way, My Way is the charming and captivating true story of a stubborn and amusingly self-centred Australian man who decides to walk the 800 kilometre-long Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through Spain. He doesn’t know why he’s doing it, but one step at a time it will change him and his outlook on life forever. Based on Bill Bennett’s best-selling memoir of the same name, The Way, My Way has been described by Camino elder statesman Johnnie Walker as the most authentic film ever made about the Camino . Source

My Thoughts:

This is a wonderfully gentle movie . Don’t watch this movie expecting an action-packed blockbuster with twisting plots and suspenseful interludes. Likewise, don’t go to the cinema expecting sex, drugs, violence and excessive bad language. It is a joy just to sit and be slowly swept along on Bill’s journey.

At the World premiere this movie was definitely preaching to the converted and for me, it was a wonderful trip down memory lane. I loved seeing all the sweeping vistas and beautiful scenery. Many times I nudged The Husband whispering “ remember this?”.

I suspect that like many other pilgrims, I have watched almost every camino movie and documentary ever made. The beauty of The Way, My Way is that it is based on a true story and delivers an authentic, honest and true representation of what it is like to walk a camino in Spain. In particular, the film nails the human element of walking a camino – the friendships, the ebb and flow of connection with other walkers, as well as a small handful of people that it wouldn’t matter if you never met again.

I loved that many of the people in the film were real pilgrims who happened to walk through the film set, as well as many of Bill’s long-standing camino friends returning from all over Europe to star as themselves in the film. These are true camino friendships.

I highly recommend this film if you:

• Have walked a camino in the past and are in need of a camino fix. I guarantee it will give you itchy feet!
• Are thinking about walking a camino one day and would like to see what is ahead of you, or
• Would like a feel-good movie experience with breathtaking scenery and likeable characters. And Yes, there is a happy ending.

So, what are you waiting for? The movie opens across Australia in Hoyts cinemas on May 16, 2024. Keep your eye out for it in International cinemas too.

Buen Camino to you.

Filmmaker Bio: The filmmakers are Bill Bennett and Jennifer Cluff, one of Australia’s most experienced and respected producing teams, having made 17 feature films and numerous documentaries over a forty-year period. Bill has received Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Film and Best Director, he’s had two films in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, four films in Toronto, and had three major international retrospectives.

Bill first walked the Camino de Santiago in 2013, then wrote a book about his experiences -  The Way, My Way  - which became a best seller. He’s since walked four more Caminos.

Jennifer Cluff is not only a producer but an actress, having starred in the classic ABC series Seven Little Australians. She’s since worked in theatre, television and film. She’s also a dramaturge and script editor, working on screenplays and novels for major publishing houses. She´s walked four Caminos . Source

Filmakers Blog or Website: https://www.billbennett.com.au/

Movie Website: https://thewaymywaymovie.com

Run Time: 1hr38minutes

Film Distribution: Maslow Entertainment

Released Nationally (Australia) : 16 May 2024

Book Available from: Amazon

#travelreads #longdistancewalking #travelinspo #thegreatoutdoors #armchairtravel #moviereview #walkinginspain #spain #epicadventure #caminodesantiago #thewaymywaymovie #caminofrances #onfootinspain #pilgrims #buencamino

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24 thoughts on “ how to truly understand walking a camino. movie review: the way, my way ”.

I thought Martin Sheen’s movie was also based on a true story.

As far as I know it wasn’t based on a true story although there are strong Spanish connections with Sheen and Estevez’s heritage. I think they walked through the region that their family came from.

Like Liked by 1 person

yes it is and it is a far better movie than this mashup from a narcissist that rehashes elements of The Way. 770 kms in 30 days with a dicky knee? I call BS…the lead actor is not very good and frankly we end up with an unrelateable unengaging film. I was on the Camino a month ago.

I think it’s great that we all like different things otherwise life would be very boring. Buen Camino to you.

Thanks for your review. Right place, right time to see a world premiere. Karen and I hope to see this movie. Trickily we will be in the SW of the USA doing lots of walks when it opens in Melbourne. Hope it has a long release. Cheers, Mark

Happy walking to you, Mark. I follow quite a few American bloggers and they have some fabulous countryside to walk in over there. Safe travels, Mel

I recently read about the movie and can’t wait to see it! After reading about Bill’s book on your blog, I ordered it on Amazon and really enjoyed it. We were last in a theater in 2017 to watch a movie and “The Way, My Way” will be the perfect return to the theater.

I like the synchronicity of that! Maybe you will be planning another camino soon? 🙂

I don’t wish to walk a camino, but I’m interested in watching others do it and seeing what it’s like. I’ll keep an eye out for its release in the States.

Definitely a great way to walk a camino in the comfort of your own home! 🙂

Like Liked by 2 people

Thanks for the review. I hope this movie will play in my region. I live in Pennsylvania USA. If not, I’ll eventually watch it on TV. Take care.

Fingers crossed it does reach your shores. I am not sure who/which distributor will pick it up internationally. Maybe it is country specific. Have a good weekend, Mel

I loved ‘The Way’ with Martin Sheen. While there’s definitely an element of ‘Hollywood’ about the film (it’s definitely not a documentary!), it is surprising that so many of the meaningful moments, e.g. the moving self-discovery, the forming of unlikely friendships, the tough sections of the trail leading to fond memories; are actually common experiences felt by all those who walk the Camino de Santiago. I’ll keep an eye out for The Way, My Way as it looks like a brilliant movie. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx

Thanks for reading, Aiva and I agree with your comments on The Way. There is warmth in that movie and I could identify with many of its sentiments. I like The Way, My Way better because it features real pilgrims and it was shot sequentially. That appealed to my brain! 🙂

I enjoyed the film The Way so perhaps I will look out for this if it ever streams in the UK.

Do that. It will transport you to Spain…

You can say ‘been there, bought the t-shirt’, Mel. More than many can do. I was happy with your version.

The t-shirt, cap, socks, bandana and…. 🙂

Interesting thanks for this recommendation.

My pleasure. I hope you enjoy it if it comes to a cinema near you.

This sounds really fascinating, I must book in to watch this 🤗

I hope you enjoy it. It is a lovely piece of escapism. Have a great day.

This year I did the Camino de Santiago after watching this movie. A truly incredible experience. We visited the last 6 stages, the last 120 km before arriving in Santiago. (Sarria, Portomarin, Palas del Rey, Arzua and Santiago de Compostela). Totally recommended.

PS: this actor did the Camino with his son at the same time as they were filming the movie. They are from Galicia.

Yes, it is a truly memorable and life changing experience. I have more caminos planned over the next couple of years. Buen camino to you.

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This is the first film Kang Je-gyu directed after taking a 7-year hiatus. Kang first received the original screenplay by writer Kim Byung-in (also known as Justin Kim) the working title D-Day in 2007 and then after watching a Korean documentary on the subject decided to turn the script into a film in 2008. The production lasted eight months from October 2010 to June 2011, with locations in Latvia and Korea (Hapcheon, Cheongoksan National Park in Gangwon Province, Saemangeum Seawall). The Soviet BT-5 and BT-7 tanks in the film were copies built on the chassis of British FV432 APCs.

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[Director Kang Je-kyu] engineers one long pummel session of elaborate CGI effects, shaky battle cinematography and trial-by-fire heroics, but the n...

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The Way, My Way – REVIEW

For alternative viewing Aussie flick The Way, My Way is perfect for movie goers who are tired of all the blockbusters and desire a good simple human story to fill the void.

Based on the best-selling memoir by Bill Bennet, the story delves on an elderly man named Bill who one day awakens and decides to attempt the 800 km month-long Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through Spain.

“I can’t think of anything ghastlier!” his wife of 41 years responds when he asks her to accompany him.

He has no idea why at his age he’s partaking such an exhausting challenge. He has no religious affiliations so why is he taking the walk? Perhaps to find himself or is it a male ego thing to prove that he’s not old?

Along the walk he meets many people and close friendships are formed. He discovers that people reveal their most inner fears to strangers – “What you’d never tell anyone and then you walk away having released something that has been bottled up inside you forever.”

Audiences travel alongside him in the comfort of the cinema and tune into their conversations as they discuss why they are doing the walk. Some stories are humorous, while others are tearful and dark secrets are also revealed.

The walk becomes a compulsion for Bill which quickly transforms into an obsession, but ultimately, it’s a life changing experience which he believes has transformed him into a better person.

What is interesting is that the author who wrote the memoir also wrote and directed the film. This should ensure that authenticity is maintained throughout with little if any dramatization.

There’s plenty of humour and playfulness in this light-hearted movie which at times seems like a mockumentary. There’s also an ongoing gag that should constantly arouse  laughter.

If audiences don’t recognize Aussie actor Chris Haywood portraying the pivotal character of Bill, they would be excused for believing that this wasn’t a conventionally scripted film, as it feels like a camera is simply following and filming random people along the walk.

The dialogue is also cleverly written so it appears that conversations are being spoken by real people and not actors.

Picturesque Spanish landscapes, vintage towns and cities are exquisitely captured on film, the cinematography being one of the selling points of this movie.

The Way, My Way is joyful viewing with laughter aplenty, but there will also be tears as we travel alongside Bill and discover why people take this therapeutic walk on the Camino, its healing powers and the miracles that may occur.

Last word: This is a rewarding cinematic experience. Support Aussie Cinema!

In Cinemas May 16

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I Did It My Way

You might enjoy the Hong Kong undercover cop drama “I Did It My Way” if you approach it with well-adjusted expectations. It’s not a hard movie to like, given its well-polished action filmmaking and strong ensemble cast, led by co-stars Andy Lau and Gordon Lam, and featuring beloved character actors like Kent Cheng , Lam Suet , and Simon Yam . “I Did It My Way” exemplifies the current state of mass-oriented Hong Kong genre cinema, leaning hard on its seasoned cast to both remind viewers of better movies and carry this one around the bases fast enough that you still get your money’s worth.

Like a few other contemporary Hong Kong policers, “I Did It My Way” pits sweat-soaked Hong Kong cops against a respectable-looking crook and his vast criminal organization. Lau plays the crook, George Lam, a taciturn barrister who’s suspected of dealing all kinds of drugs on the “dark web.” George peddles Super Molly and other illegal substances under the watchful eyes of Officer Fong Hing ( Eddie Peng ), the baby-faced Super-Intendent of the Hong Kong police’s cyber-crimes unit. Fong’s determined to stop the drugs, but his secret weapon is actually a double agent: Sau Ho, Lam’s all-purpose “cleaner,” played by Gordon Lam.

The melodramatic stakes are set high enough in some ancillary scenes, like when George Lam asks his pregnant wife Vivian (Yase Liu) to marry him. “I’ll think about it,” she says. These brief moments don’t change how conventional the rest of the plot tends to be, between Sau Ho’s unclear motivation—he either wants to emigrate with his family, or to beat Lam and remain a cop (first choice)—and the ultimate fate of Vivian’s pregnancy.

“I Did It My Way” helmer Jason Kwan doesn’t always focus on his actors; more often than not he’s advancing a formulaic cops-and-crooks plot. Still, Kwan (co-director of both “Chasing the Dragon” and its in-name-only sequel) delivers a superior programmer whenever he slows down long enough to highlight Lau and Lam’s work. As Sau Ho, the prolific Lam nails suggests a lot with his usual hyper-tense physicality. Lau still sweeps him and everyone else off the screen, whether he’s smiling broadly at the cops, brooding quietly in his car, or texting his guys to “eliminate” various enemies. Lau single-handedly knocks the movie into a higher gear when Lam snarls, “Let’s see if you can escape” from behind the wheel of his Rolls Royce and prepares to run over Sau Ho and his family.

Then again, the best scene in “I Did It My Way” doesn’t feature Lau at all. Peng’s stern superintendent briefly grabs the spotlight long enough to rescue Sau Ho from a young-ish looking killer. Fong valiantly body-slams through various plates of glass and shelves of bottles in a private wine cellar. It might be the first great action scene of year, and while anybody could’ve filled Fong’s shoes, Peng commits at least as much as the adrenalized scene requires.

“I Did It My Way” may still leave you wanting more if you don’t want to adjust your expectations so much. Maybe you expect more from a movie that features several supporting cast members who can and sometimes did out-do Lau in their earlier collaborations. Like, why isn’t there more of Simon Yam, who plays a constipated-looking cop, and mostly leans on empty chairs and/or puts his hands on his hips? And what’s the deal with Super Molly, a synthetic drug that’s apparently too strong for its users, as we see in a to-the-bone cutaway scene? Any way you slice it, you’ll likely forget most of “I Did It My Way” soon after watching it; there’s only so much to see between dark web hacking and police raid shoot-outs.

Lau’s the biggest draw here, which simultaneously is and isn’t surprising. When I asked for this review assignment, I predicted that Kwan would get a great character actor performance from whoever plays the movie’s villain, just like he and co-director Wong Jing did with Donnie Yen in “Chasing the Dragon,” a superior recent Hong Kong crime drama, and Tony Leung Ka Fai in “Chasing the Dragon II: The Wild Bunch.” I didn’t expect Lau to be the one in “I Did It My Way,” though he’s defied narrow expectations for decades now, especially in his collaborations with great Hong Kong filmmakers like Ann Hui and Johnnie To .

A real star, Lau has taught himself how to do a lot with a little. It shows whenever Lam placidly smiles at his enemies, or when he tells a glowering Peng to “nail me if you have the evidence.” You might even feel scared for tough-looking Sau Ho when Lau, in character, stares him down and says: “You’ve seen something that you shouldn’t have.” That’s acting, baby. 

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

• Andy Lau as George Lam
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• Eddie Peng as Eddie
• Liu Yase as Vivian
• Simon Yam as 钟锦明
• Lam Suet as
• Kent Cheng Jak-Si as
• Philip Keung Ho-Man as 陈潮生
• Hedwig Tam Sin-Yin as Maggie
• Kevin Chu as 阿南
• Terrance Lau as Davis
• Qinghua Xie

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The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time

By Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

The thing that has always distinguished TV storytelling from its big-screen counterpart is the existence of individual episodes. We consume our series — even the ones that we binge — in distinct chunks, and the medium is at its best when it embraces this. The joy of watching an ongoing series comes as much from the separate steps on the journey as it does from the destination, if not more. Few pop-culture experiences are more satisfying than when your favorite show knocks it out of the park with a single chapter, whether it’s an episode that wildly deviates from the series’ norm, or just an incredibly well-executed version of the familiar formula.  

Still, that episodic nature makes TV fundamentally inconsistent. The greatest drama ever made , The Sopranos , was occasionally capable of duds like the Columbus Day episode. And even mediocre shows can churn out a single episode at the level of much stronger overall series.   For this Rolling Stone list of the 100 greatest episodes of all time, we looked at both the peak installments of classic series, as well as examples of lesser shows that managed to briefly punch way above their weight class. We have episodes from the Fifties all the way through this year. We stuck with narrative dramas and comedies only — so, no news, no reality TV, no sketch comedy, talk shows, etc. In a few cases, there are two-part episodes, but we mostly picked solo entries. And while it’s largely made up of American shows (as watched by our American staff), a handful of international entries made the final cut.

Fargo, “Bisquik” (Season 5, Episode 10)

Our list of classic episodes starts with its most recent entry, from a January 2024 installment of the great FX anthology drama inspired by the work of the Coen brothers. Fargo Season Five dealt with the growing sense of polarization in America, and the debts — both literal and figurative — that everyone feels they’re owed from everyone else. It all culminates in a long, surprising, utterly gorgeous scene where our firecracker of a heroine, Dot Lyon (Juno Temple) finds herself face-to-face with immortal sin-eater Ole Munch (Sam Spruell), who has come for a rematch of their clash in the season premiere. With her husband and daughter in the house with her, Dot declines to fight this terrifying man, and instead explains, patiently and with palpable kindness, that perhaps Ole Munch might prefer a world focused less on resentment and more on love. — Alan Sepinwall

The Cosby Show, “Theo’s Holiday” (Season 2, Episode 22)

There’s a temptation with these lists to immediately disqualify anything associated with the true monsters like Bill Cosby. But his crimes shouldn’t erase from the history books the wonderful work of everyone else involved in “Theo’s Holiday,” in which the Huxtables get together for an elaborate role-playing exercise to teach Theo (Malcolm Jamal-Warner) a lesson about the economics of life in, as he puts it, “the real world.” All the actors throws themselves into these larger-than-life characters, like Clair (Phylicia Rashad) as a cheery restaurant owner as well as a fast-talking furniture saleslady, or little Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam) as a powerful businesswoman. The idea of the whole clan teaming up to both mock Theo and help him out is so intoxicating that even his best friend Cockroach (Carl Anthony Payne II) admits, “I wish they did this kind of stuff at my house!” — A.S.  

South Park, “Scott Tenorman Must Die” (Season 5, Episode 4)

A show that features an anthropomorphized turd in a Christmas hat and at least one projectile vomit scene per episode, South Park has never been known as highbrow. Yet there are elements of “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” a Season Five episode focused on Cartman’s elaborate revenge plot against a high schooler who scammed him by selling his pubes, that are nothing less than virtuosic. There’s the plot itself, a retelling of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, which culminates (spoiler alert, I guess) with the protagonist forcing a woman to unwittingly eat her own children. There’s the exquisite cameo appearance by Radiohead, the culmination of Scott Tenorman’s debasement. And there’s Cartman’s classic taunt, “Charade you are, Scott Tenorman,” a reference to an obscure track of Pink Floyd’s Animals. Co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have often referred to “Scott Tenorman Must Die” as the apex of Cartman’s villainy, marking the character’s transition from obnoxious troll to next-level sociopath. But really, the episode marks another transition entirely: that of Stone and Parker from poop joke purveyors to dark-comedy masters. — Ej Dickson

You’re the Worst, “There Is Not Currently a Problem” (Season 2, Episode 7)

Here’s an odd but welcome trend: FX not only has an excellent track record with extremely niche half-hour comedies (some of which you’ll find higher on this list), but many of them manage to weave thoughtful, even dramatic, material about mental health issues into their usual humor. The hip-hop comedy Dave did it with a terrific episode where we learn that Lil Dicky’s hype man GaTa struggles with bipolar disorder. The final Reservation Dogs season revolved around a character who’d spent much of his life institutionalized. And You’re the Worst — a romantic comedy about two selfish, immature people who would be horrified to learn they were the main characters in a romantic comedy — found a new level with an episode revealing that Gretchen (Aya Cash) suffers from clinical depression. Much of “There Is Not Currently a Problem” is fairly comedic: a bottle episode where the gang is stuck together with Gretchen and Jimmy (Chris Geere) because a local marathon has caused a traffic jam in their neighborhood. But this forced closeness comes while Gretchen is trapped in her latest depressive episode, with no choice but to finally reveal her condition to Jimmy — and to admit that she’s less worried that he’ll reject her for it than that he’ll become the latest man convinced he can “fix” her. Cash conveys every bit of the pain and fear Gretchen is experiencing, in a way that enriches the laughter rather than undercutting it. — A.S.  

In Treatment, “Alex: Week Eight” (Season 1, Episode 37)

Most episodes of this drama were presented as real-time therapy sessions between Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) and one of his patients, or Paul visiting his own shrink. Occasionally, though, outsiders found their way into Paul’s office, like Alex Prince, Sr. (Glynn Turman), the father of one of Paul’s patients, seeking answers as to why his son committed suicide. Alex Jr. had spent most of his sessions to that point painting his dad as such a monster, it should have been impossible for any actor to both live up to those stories and not seem like a cartoon. Turman, in one of the best dramatic performances you will ever see on television, somehow did it, channeling both the bogeyman and the grieving father, in a riveting two-hander with Byrne. — A.S.   

Bob’s Burgers, “Tina-rannosaurus Wrecks” (Season 3, Episode 7)

Bob’s Burgers loves puns, but “Tina-rannosaurus Wrecks” is a groaner of a title even for them. No matter, because the episode so expertly combines many of the series’ hallmarks into one tight, funny, awkward package. Once again, a well-meaning parenting gesture by Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) goes awry, when he lets Tina (Dan Mintz) drive the family station wagon in a nearly empty parking lot, and she somehow crashes into the only other car there. Once again, the Belchers find themselves on the verge of financial calamity, when the other car turns out to belong to Bob’s ruthless rival, Jimmy Pesto (Jay Johnston). Once again, the family gets mixed up in the plans of a lunatic, when insurance adjuster Chase (Bob Odenkirk) forces them to aid him in an insurance fraud scheme in order to get out of the mess with Jimmy. And, once again, Bob’s lovable but terrible children somehow prove surprisingly useful, when Tina uses her brother’s Casio keyboard to get incriminating evidence that frees them from Chase’s clutches. All’s well that ends… not necessarily well, but at least not substantially worse than usual. — A.S.

Enlightened, “Consider Helen” (Season 1, Episode 9)

Today, it seems almost obligatory for cable and streaming shows to devote one or two episodes a season to presenting the POV of a minor character. When future White Lotus creator Mike White did it with his first HBO series, Enlightened , it was still relatively rare. And in this case, the shifts in perspective came as a welcome, even necessary, relief from all the time spent in the head of the show’s fascinating but maddening main character, Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern), a toxically narcissistic former executive trying to rebuild her life after a nervous breakdown. With “Consider Helen,” White moved the focus to Amy’s mother Helen (played by Dern’s real-life mom, the great Diane Ladd), to present a day in her life, to show what a chore it is to have to deal with such a pathologically needy child, and to make clear that Enlightened itself understood exactly how its audience would respond to Amy. — A.S.

Maude, “Maude’s Dilemma” (Season 1, Episodes 9 & 10)

This two-parter, in which Maude (Bea Arthur) is shocked to discover that she’s pregnant again at 47, and has to decide whether she wants to get an abortion, was so ahead of its time, even the original Supreme Court verdict on Roe v. Wade was two months away. Well after Maude decided to end her pregnancy, the rest of television shied away from the subject, often having pregnant characters suffer conveniently-timed miscarriages before they could make up their minds and potentially alienate viewers and sponsors. But “Maude’s Dilemma,” with a teleplay by future Golden Girls creator Susan Harris, ran toward the thorny subject, and handled it with both humor and grace. — A.S.

Scrubs, “My Screw Up” (Season 3, Episode 14)

There are plenty of shows we call dramedies, even though they’re really just half-hour dramas, as well as lots of alleged comedies that aren’t particularly interested in making the audience laugh. The hospital show Scrubs , though, was remarkably comfortable at balancing silliness and sadness throughout its run, especially in “My Screw Up.” Brendan Fraser reprises his role as Ben, wisecracking brother-in-law to John C. McGinley’s bitterly sarcastic Dr. Cox. Ben’s leukemia appeared to be in remission when last we saw him, so there’s room for him to relentlessly tease J.D. (Zach Braff) about having made out with both of Ben’s sisters, as well as a lighthearted subplot where Turk (Donald Faison) tries to convince Carla (Judy Reyes) to take his name when they’re married, in exchange for having a mole she hates removed. But things also get plausibly serious, even before we get to the Sixth Sense -style twist: Ben was the patient whose death earlier in the episode caused a rift between Cox and J.D., and Cox has been in denial about it ever since. Even the revelation that Cox has been imagining conversations with his dead friend is reflective of the show’s juggling of comedy and drama — it’s the dark mirror of how Scrubs generates so much humor from taking us inside the highly-distractible mind of J.D. — A.S.    

Watchmen, “This Extraordinary Being” (Episode 6)

Even for a series as sophisticated and layered as Watchmen , this episode is an acrobatic feat. In the most dramatic departure from the show’s source material, the 1980s comic of the same name, “This Extraordinary Being” tells the origin story of one of this world’s seminal vigilante superheroes, Hooded Justice (a man lionized in a modern-day TV show-within-the-show that kicks off the episode). Told almost entirely in black and white, it sees our current-day heroine Angela Abar (Regina King) — herself a vigilante who goes by Sister Night, when she’s not working her day job as a cop — sucked into the memories of her grandfather, Will Reeves, after swallowing a bottle of his “nostalgia pills.” Transported to 1930s New York, we watch Will (played as a young man by Jovan Adepo), and sometimes Angela-as-Will, join the NYPD, where he encounters racism so virulent, his fellow cops stage a near-lynching, covering him with a hood and briefly hanging him from a tree as a warning to stand down. The message he takes away, though, is that there is plenty of evil to fight in the world, even in his own precinct. He just has to do it undercover — appropriating for his costume the very hood and noose that had been used to terrorize him. With balletic camerawork, a period soundtrack of big band standards, and visceral performances from King and Adepo, the episode is a sweeping achievement that inverts a fundamental truth of the series’ world — this revered hero that everyone assumed was white is Black — and underscores one about ours: Justice often comes at a steep price. — Maria Fontoura

The Golden Girls, “Mrs. George Devereaux” (Season 6, Episode 9)

The Golden Girls experienced so many adventures together, as Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), and Sophia (Estelle Getty) lived together as pals and confidantes. But “Mrs. George Devereaux” is a truly touching treatment of grief and loss. Blanche, the most frivolous of the Girls (and the funniest), opens the door and beholds a strange sight: her late husband George, telling her that he faked his death and now wants her back. The episode explores how all the characters live with their different kinds of grief — and how that grief is what brought them here together in the first place. It has the most emotional resonance of any Golden Girls episode, but it’s also the funniest in terms of pure farcical comedy, as Dorothy gets swept up in a bizarre love triangle with two 1970s heartthrobs, guest stars Sonny Bono and Lyle Waggoner. As usual, Blanche gets the best line, when she confronts Cher’s ex-husband with the command, “Sonny Bono, get off my lanai!” — Rob Sheffield

SpongeBob SquarePants, “Pizza Delivery” (Season 1, Episode 5)

The absurdist humor that made SpongeBob SquarePants beloved across multiple generations is already at full strength in this early episode. At the end of another shift at the Krusty Krab, a customer calls in to order a pizza to be delivered to his home. Never mind that the restaurant doesn’t make pizzas: Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) sees a few bucks to be earned, and somehow turns a Krabby Patty burger into a pizza, complete with box, then orders SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) and Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) to take it to its destination. Instead, SpongeBob’s usual difficulty with driving strands the odd couple far from Bikini Bottom, trying various bizarre methods to get home — all of them borrowed from the “pioneers,” like the idea of riding on giant rocks. In the end, we get one last, great punchline: The customer lives right next door to the Krusty Krab, and they could have just walked the pizza over to him. — A.S.

Roseanne, “War and Peace” (Season 5, Episode 14)

Both in its Nineties heyday and its modern reinvention as The Conners , Roseanne had a real knack for blending domestic comedy with candid material about poverty, addiction, sexuality, and more. In this terrific conclusion of a two-part story, Dan (John Goodman) gets hauled off to jail after beating up Fisher, the abusive boyfriend of Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), while Roseanne tends to her sister, and Darlene (Sara Gilbert) gets to briefly relish the sight of her disciplinarian father behind bars. “War and Peace” doesn’t hide from the horror of Jackie’s experience, but even its dark moments are flavored with sass, like when Roseanne warns Fisher, “If you ever come near her again, you’re gonna have to deal with me, and I am way more dangerous than Dan. I got a loose-meat restaurant. I know what to do with the body!”  — A.S.

The Dick Van Dyke Show, “Never Bathe on Saturday” (Season 4, Episode 27)

Somehow, the best showcase for Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore as one of TV’s all-time couples is in an episode where Moore is frequently off-camera. A romantic getaway for Rob and Laura goes horribly awry when Laura’s big toe gets stuck in a hotel bathtub faucet, the bathroom door gets locked, and Rob makes the ill-timed decision to draw a fake mustache on his upper lip that he can’t wipe off — leading every hotel worker who arrives to help assuming he’s up to no good. Written by Dick Van Dyke Show creator Carl Reiner, this installment keeps finding new and amusing ways to escalate the sticky situation, and to push the outer edge of the envelope of censorship circa 1965, with a story about the risk of other people seeing Laura naked. By this point in the series’ run, Reiner knew exactly how to use his leading man’s fluency with physical comedy, and how his leading lady’s voice on the other side of that locked door was all that was needed to sell Laura’s dismay at being trapped in such an embarrassing position. — A.S.

Black Mirror, “San Junipero” (Season 3, Episode 4)

What would your ideal afterlife look like? Black Mirror — the British dystopian anthology series with a nihilistic approach to rapidly-developing technology — is known for being a show that doesn’t only answer questions about the future but depicts the worst possible alternative you’ve never even considered. Maybe that’s why, when fans were introduced to the couple at the heart of “San Junipero,” and found the answer of the ideal afterlife to be an Eighties beach town party that never ends, they responded so fondly. Yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) and Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) meet on a night out and quickly fall into a romantic entanglement. But what begins as a love story about two lesbians finding each other in a heaven on earth is quickly revealed to be a virtual reality — one where the elderly and those who have died can be uploaded and then live on forever as their younger selves. The two — both dying in real life — must deal with whether or not the love they’ve found in pixels is enough for both of their forevers. It’s a touching love story that embodies Black Mirror at its very best. — CT Jones

Sex and the City, “My Motherboard, My Self” (Season 4, Episode 8)

Family is, arguably, everywhere in Sex and the City — from those the core four start with their partners to the ones they marry into (have there ever been more terrifying mothers-in-law than Frances Sternhagen or Anne Meara?) and the one they build just among themselves. But when it comes to the blood relations of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Samantha (Kim Cattrall), the show is surprisingly thin, which is what makes “My Motherboard, My Self” stand out so much. It’s not that the other subplots aren’t memorable — the endless physical comedy of Samantha losing her orgasm; Carrie’s Macintosh meltdown and trip to Manhattan 1990s mainstay Tekserve (R.I.P.), where technician Dmitri (a brilliantly dry Aasif Mandvi) rags on her for not “backing up” — but Miranda’s turn here feels different. As she attends her mother’s funeral in Philadelphia (where she is, apparently, from, and where she has, apparently, multiple siblings), we see a more human side of a character who until this point has largely maintained her station as “the analytical one.” (Though it’s notable that the most intimate moment she has in the City of Brotherly Love isn’t with a direct relation, but the fitting room attendant trying to sell her a bra.) While the show has been criticized for celebrating solipsistic behavior, this episode is a prime example of the four women grappling with their ability to be vulnerable. — Elisabeth Garber-Paul

Broad City, “Knockoffs” (Season 2, Episode 4)

Both stories in the stoner comedy’s most laugh-out-loud installment involve imitation products. In one, Ilana (Ilana Glazer) and her mother Bobbi (Susie Essman) travel into the sewers of Manhattan to obtain counterfeit designer purses. In the other, Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) is shocked when her boyfriend Jeremy (Stephen Schneider) asks her to peg him with a strap-on — a development that so thrills Ilana, she does an upside-down twerk on her friend’s behalf — then has to scramble to find a reasonable facsimile after her dishwasher melts Jeremy’s custom-made dildo. In the end, the replacements prove shoddier than the real thing, but “Knockoffs” is so perfectly constructed, and so memorable, that when the friends met Hillary Clinton in a later episode later, among the first things a flustered Abbi can think to tell her is, “I pegged!” — A.S.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Excuse” (Season 4, Episode 24)

When The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air went on the air in 1990, Will Smith was such an inexperienced actor that he literally mouthed the lines of his co-stars while they spoke. But it didn’t take long for Smith to learn his craft and land roles in dramatic movies like Six Degrees of Separation . That’s why the creative team behind this series knew he was ready for a Season Four episode where Will reunites with his father (played by Ben Vereen) 14 years after he walked out on the family, only to see him leave once again after they reconciled. “I’ll be a better father than he ever was, and I sure as hell don’t need him for that, ’cause ain’t a damn thing he could ever teach me about how to love my kids!” Smith roars, before breaking down in the arms of Uncle Phil. “How come he don’t want me, man?” For anyone who grew up without a father, the moment cut deep. “I shed a tear til this day every time I see this episode,” LeBron James wrote on Instagram in 2015. “This hit home for me growing up and I couldn’t hold my tears in. Til this day they still coming out when this episode come on.” — Andy Greene

Doctor Who, “Blink” (Season 3, Episode 10)

The scariest, cleverest episode of the British sci-fi institution Doctor Who features monsters who are elegant in their simplicity: the Weeping Angels, predatory aliens who resemble stone statues of angels, and who can only move when you’re not looking at them. Writer Steven Moffat places these disturbing creatures in service of a story that barely features the Doctor (David Tennant) and his then-companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), instead focusing on a young Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow, a woman who keeps running afoul of the Weeping Angels. Her only hope of surviving the ordeal comes in the form of a DVD Easter Egg that creates the illusion of the Doctor having a conversation with her, and even the Time Lord himself struggles to adequately explain all the seeming paradoxes contained within Moffat’s tale. “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect,” he tells Sally, “but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.” Yet it all makes exciting sense by the end. — A.S.

Alias, “Truth Be Told” (Season 1, Episode 1)

Throughout his career, J.J. Abrams has struggled with endings, as anyone who sat through The Rise of Skywalker can tell you. Few, though, are better at beginnings, and the pilot episode of his spy drama Alias is so fantastic that it bought years of goodwill from viewers, no matter how nonsensical the plots grew as the show went along. While undercover agent Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is in Taiwan being interrogated by a torture expert, we flash back through the events that led her here, starting with her double life as a grad student by day, CIA agent by night. This turns out to be a triple life when Sydney discovers that she’s been tricked into working for a terrorist organization called SD-6, and that her father, Jack (Victor Garber), is secretly her co-worker. Oh, and Sydney’s fiancé gets murdered on the order of SD-6 boss Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), plus a half-dozen other characters have to be introduced, Sydney has to try on multiple hair colors and accents, and more. Between the fractured timeline and the multiple lies Sydney has to live at once, “Truth Be Told” should be absolute gibberish. But Abrams, in one of his earliest efforts as director as well as writer, keeps everything coherent and thrilling in an episode that made him into a star just as much as it did Jennifer Garner. — A.S.  

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “Mac Bangs Dennis’ Mom” (Season 2, Episode 4)

Most of the time, the Paddy’s Pub gang aim to screw over other people but really just end up screwing themselves, and that’s just what happens in this crude, tangled adventure. When Frank (Danny DeVito) promotes Charlie (Charlie Day) from a sleazy janitor to manager of the bar, he sets in motion a dizzying sequence of events that puts each character’s Achilles’ heels on full display: Mac’s (Rob McElhenny) sensitivity, Frank’s lost youth, Dennis’ (Glenn Howerton) pride, Charlie’s unrequited love, and Dee’s (Kaitlin Olson) conniving impulses. In order to get out of the grunt work Charlie left behind, Dennis goes on a mission to sleep with the unnamed character the Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), but ends up setting his sights on Mac’s mom (and later Charlie’s) when he finds out Mac banged his mom (and Frank’s ex-wife). Meanwhile, Charlie draws up a plan to finally bang the Waitress; Dennis’ sister Dee isn’t looking for sex, just power, as she plays the henchman to Charlie’s mastermind; and Frank just wants to bang any “young broad” who will give him the time of day. “That doesn’t make any sense,” Mac says to Charlie after encouraging Mac to sleep with Dennis’ mom. Charlie’s response pretty much sums up the entire FX sitcom: “It doesn’t have to.” — Maya Georgi

Grey’s Anatomy, “It’s the End of the World/As We Know It” (Season 2, Episodes 16 & 17)

Hearing main character Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) refuse to get out of bed for fear that she’ll die at work should have been a clue that it wouldn’t be a good week. But viewers were still terrified when the series seemingly tried its hardest to make every main character (plus guest stars Christina Ricci and Kyle Chandler) have near-death experiences in this two-parter, which began airing after Super Bowl XL. Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is in labor at the hospital waiting for her husband, who won’t answer his phone. Derek (Patrick Dempsey) can’t concentrate on saving his patient’s life while the man’s cell keeps going off (put two and two together here). And when a newbie paramedic shoves her hands into the chest cavity of a patient who’s bleeding out, it’s Meredith who learns that what’s currently killing him is unexploded ammunition that could go off at any minute, taking her and the entire O.R. with it. The bomb squad evacuates the floor, but if Derek leaves, Bailey’s husband dies. Meredith steps in for the paramedic, who’s had a panic attack, so now, if Meredith moves, she and Derek and Bailey’s husband die. Richard (James Pickens, Jr.) has a heart attack from the stress of the evacuation. Izzy (Katherine Heigl) and Alex (Justin Chambers) are off hooking up in a closet, which is also life-threatening if you consider Alex’s numerous confirmed STDs. And if Bailey, who is refusing to push without her husband being present, doesn’t give birth, she and the baby will die. It’s an all-in, melodramatic pivot for a series that has since become known for putting its main characters in life-threatening situations. And yet, in the midst of these increasingly heightened stakes, the standout scene remains George’s (T.J. Knight) gentle cajoling that finally convinces Bailey to push — and to name her son after him. “You’re Doctor Bailey,” he says, in a scene that remains one of the most tender of the entire series. “You don’t hide from a fight.”  — CTJ

Girls, “American Bitch” (Season 6, Episode 3)

If ever Hannah Horvath was a voice of a generation, this was it. Airing just a few months before the #MeToo movement exploded in 2017, this quiet cri de coeur — in which famous author Chuck Palmer (Matthew Rhys, nimble as ever) confronts Hannah (Lena Dunham) about a blog post she wrote slamming his alleged misconduct with several college girls — taps into every conversation we’re still having about power and consent. Chuck summons Hannah to his stately apartment, where she attempts to explain why taking advantage of his literary stature to hook up with young women is predatory, while he hurls every trick in the Bad Men Handbook at her: flattery (“You’re very bright”); faux honesty (“I’m a horny motherfucker with the impulse control of a toddler”); defensiveness (“These girls throw themselves at me!”); casual intimacy (“You’re more to me than just a pretty face”). With astonishing precision and economy, Dunham turns the tables such that by the end of the episode — that is, by the time Chuck and Hannah are lying clothed atop his bed, and he takes out his dick and flops it onto her thigh — Hannah has fallen prey to the very manipulations she was calling out. A hallmark moment in a show that will only age better with time. — M.F.

Everybody Loves Raymond, “Baggage” (Season 7, Episode 22)

Like Carl Reiner once did with The Dick Van Dyke Show , Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal liked to come up with stories by asking his writers what they’d been up to with their families lately. More often than not, there was a conflict that mapped pretty easily onto the Barone family, like an argument that writer Tucker Cawley had with his wife about who would put away the last suitcase left over from a recent vacation. The fictionalized version of it becomes a cold war of sorts between Ray (Ray Romano) and Debra (Patricia Heaton), even as Marie (Doris Roberts) compares the stalemate to a fight that once almost wrecked her marriage to Frank (Peter Boyle). (This leads to one of the great sitcom lines that makes zero sense out of context and seems absolutely logical in context: “Don’t let a suitcase filled with cheese be your big fork and spoon.”) The whole thing culminates in a slapstick battle between the spouses, demonstrating the impressive physical-comedy chops that Romano and Heaton developed over the series’ run. — A.S.  

King of the Hill, “Bobby Goes Nuts” (Season 6, Episode 1)

Some episodes made this list because they do innovative things with episodic structure, or because they have something deep to say about the human condition. This one’s here because Bobby Hill (Pamela Adlon) kicks a bunch of guys in the groin. Well, no. This one’s here because he learns to do this from taking a women’s self-defense class at the Y — at the unwitting urging of Hank (Mike Judge), who just wants his son to learn how to stand up to bullies — and incorporates not only the crotch attacks, but a high-pitched screech of, “THAT’S MY PURSE! I DON’T KNOW YOU!” every time he does it, just like he and his middle-aged, female classmates were taught. Sometimes, you just have to cherish the little things, you know? — A.S.  

Insecure, “High-Like” (Season 3, Episode 5)

The struggling women of Insecure can’t even catch a break when they head to Coachella to see Beyoncé headline. Newly unemployed Issa (Rae) needs everything to go perfectly for the group’s last hurrah before Tiffany (Amanda Seales) gives birth, while Molly (Yvonne Orji) is preoccupied with work, and Keli (Natasha Rothwell) just wants to have a good time. The girls (minus Tiffany, or so we thought…) take edibles and pop so much MDMA they are forced to miss Bey, instead finding themselves in a drug-fueled frenzy that makes the chaos and humor feel like they’re seeping through the screen. Keli takes “Beyoncé or bust” too far and pisses herself after getting Tasered by festival security. Tiffany cries in a closet and tells her husband, “It’s our weed, baby” after admitting to “one bite” of a pot brownie. Molly bugs out and types nonsense on her work laptop, while Issa insists the mess of the night is all her fault. For an episode that starts with a silly Thug Yoda appearance and ends with the abrupt, emotionally-charged return of Issa’s ex-boyfriend, Lawrence (Jay Ellis), it packs in one hell of a trip. — M.G.

Game of Thrones, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”  (Season 8, Episode 2)

Because Game of Thrones presented spectacle on a scale never before seen on television, it’s easy to forget that the series first became beloved when its budget was much smaller and it couldn’t afford to depict massive battles, dragon attacks, or ice zombie hordes. That stuff, when it came with frequency, was icing on the cake that was the deep roster of memorable characters George R.R. Martin had created, who the GoT writers brought to such vivid life. Even in its later, more epic seasons, the show was still most potent when it placed people first and carnage second. “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” takes place the evening before a coalition of heroes from across Westeros will face the Night King and his undead army. It’s almost all talking, as the characters have the kinds of conversations you’d expect when they don’t believe they’ll survive the next day. The most powerful of these is the moment that provides the episode with its title, as Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) realizes that, by the laws of Westeros, he can fulfill the dreams of his old friend Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and grant her the knighthood she spent her whole life believing her gender disqualified her from achieving. The actual battle with the Night King winds up being the most visually underwhelming episode of the series, but writer Bryan Cogman’s love letter to these characters still resonates years later.  — A.S.

The Good Place, “Michael’s Gambit” (Season 1, Episode 13)

TV has a mixed track record with twist endings. For every Twilight Zone , it seems there are a half-dozen disasters like the Dexter season where Edward James Olmos was a ghost, or the Westworld season where Ed Harris and Jimmi Simpson were playing the same character — both ideas that fans sniffed out long before those series’ producers expected them to. But then there is the marvelous conclusion to the first season of the metaphysical comedy The Good Place . For the previous 12 episodes, Eleanor (Kristen Bell) and her friends had struggled to figure out why the seemingly perfect afterlife in which they found themselves had so many obvious flaws. In the end, it’s dum-dum Eleanor who’s the only one smart enough to see through the genial exterior of their host, Michael (Ted Danson), and recognize that, for all their worry of ending up in the Bad Place, “ This is the Bad Place!” In hindsight, the idea was clearly seeded; some viewers did guess it in advance, but not so many that it ruined the surprise for everyone else. Rather than undercut everything that happened before, the twist is in keeping with the show’s basic premise about heaven being not all it’s cracked up to be. And it set the series off in new, increasingly wild directions, rather than repeating the same jokes about fro-yo for years on end. — A.S.

Star Trek, “City on the Edge of Forever” (Season 1, Episode 28)

This episode, written by author Harlan Ellison, offers one time-travel tragedy to rule them all. When a deliriously ill Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) staggers through a time portal on a mysterious planet, he somehow alters history enough that the Enterprise is no longer in orbit above the away team. It’s up to Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) to follow their friend, winding up in Depression-era New York, where interplanetary lothario Jim Kirk finds himself falling hard for do-gooder Edith Keeler (Joan Collins). Unfortunately, Spock figures out that Edith is a pivot point for the future of humanity, where her life will ironically lead to centuries of pain and misery, while her death will lead to the timeline our heroes know well. Torn between his duty to the galaxy and the desires of his own heart, Kirk allows Edith to be fatally struck by a car, in a tearjerker ending that wound up echoing throughout the future of TV science fiction. — A.S.

My So-Called Life, ”Pilot” (Episode 1)

Meet Angela Chase, a high school sophomore who offers us a look into her life in a mundane suburb of Pittsburgh. She has a major crush on Jordan Catalano (“I just like how he’s always leaning. Against stuff. He leans great”) and is quite possibly the only person in history to be jealous of Anne Frank (“She was stuck in an attic for three years with this guy she really liked”). My So-Called Life premiered 30 years ago, giving teens a much more realistic portrayal of what it’s like to endure the “battlefield” that is high school over primetime soap operas like 90210. And the pilot lays that groundwork perfectly, with Angela (Claire Danes) narrating as she navigates her strained relationship with her mom, outgrows her best friend and abandons her for two cool, kindred spirits, and, yes, watches Jordan (Jared Leto) excel at leaning. A battlefield indeed. — Angie Martoccio

Master of None, “Thanksgiving” (Season 2, Episode 8)

Though Aziz Ansari was star, frequent writer, and occasional director of his series about an actor named Dev trying to find meaning in his life, he periodically turned over episodes from the first two seasons to other characters, demonstrating that their stories had just as much richness as Dev’s, if not more. “Thanksgiving” tracks many years of the holiday, as Dev’s best friend Denise (Lena Waithe, who co-wrote the episode with Ansari) gradually comes out to her family, slowly but surely wearing down the resistance of her mother (Angela Bassett), aunt (Kym Whitley), and grandmother (Venida Evans). Partly inspired by Waithe’s own coming-out story, the warm and knowing episode was such a creative success that when the series finally returned for a third season four years later, it was built entirely around Denise’s marriage, with Dev now a minor figure in what was once his own show. — A.S.

For All Mankind, “The Grey” (Season 2, Episode 10)

The second season of this sci-fi drama, set in an alternate timeline where the Soviets beat America to the moon, triggering a never-ending space race, is the platonic ideal of the intensely serialized, “10-hour Movie” approach so much of dramatic television has taken in the years since The Wire , and that so few shows actually do well. Everything that happens throughout Season Two, even the parts that seem slow and pointless when you first watch them, have thrilling payoffs in the finale , where Earth seems on the verge of nuclear Armageddon, while American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts wage war on and around the moon. All the earlier subplots matter, like Gordo (Michael Dorman) putting his new devotion to jogging to good use when he and ex-wife Tracy (Sarah Jones) have to run across the lunar surface, clad only in spacesuits jury-rigged out of duct tape, to prevent a nuclear meltdown. — A.S.

St. Elsewhere, “Time Heals” (Season 4, Episodes 17 & 18)  

This innovative hospital drama pushed the boundaries of its format throughout its run. One episode was set largely in the afterlife. Another told a quartet of stories about the stages of life from birth through death. The most audacious, and satisfying, of these, is the two-part “Time Heals,” which aired over consecutive nights. As St. Eligius prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary, we get glimpses of the hospital across the decades, and see how Dr. Westphall (Ed Flanders), Dr. Craig (William Daniels), and the other senior members of the staff each came to work there. Beyond all the backstory — including a great guest turn by Edward Hermann as Father McCabe, the priest who founded the hospital and helped raise the orphaned Westphall — “Time Heals” impresses because each vignette from the past is presented in the style of movies (or, in some cases, television) of that period: Scenes in the 1930s are in black and white, ones in the Sixties are much more brightly lit, and so on. — A.S.

Larry Sanders, “Flip” (Season 6, Episode 12)

“You could sense there would never be another show like that again,” The Larry Sanders  Show actress Ileana Douglas said of the show’s final scene. “And there hasn’t been.” As Rip Torn, Jeffrey Tambor, and show creator Garry Shandling group-hug in an empty studio, a poignant sadness infuses the acerbic wit that Shandling’s revolutionary series displayed for six seasons. Set around Larry’s final show, the Peabody Award-winning episode features gags that remain timeless: Jim Carrey serenading Larry on-air while excoriating him off-air, Tom Petty telling Clint Black to “quiet down, cowpoke” before getting into a fistfight with Greg Kinnear, and Carol Burnett and Ellen DeGeneres catching Larry in a lie that destroys both the show-within-the-show itself and Larry’s glass-fragile ego. It’s a brilliant ending that balances pathos (“I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do without you,” Larry says to his audience before choking up. “God bless you. You may now flip”) with the series’ trademark send-up of Hollywood phoniness (Torn instinctively telling a bumped Bruno Kirby on the last show that “we’ll have you on another time.”) The show that invented the modern sitcom and stuck the landing perfectly. — Jason Newman

Orange Is the New Black, “Toast Can’t Never Be Bread Again” (Season 4, Episode 13) 

The Netflix prison series is the only show in Emmy history to be reclassified from the comedy categories to the drama ones, in part because its tone was so elusive, even to the people making it. But when Orange wanted to get totally serious, it was incredible, like in this episode set in the aftermath of the shocking death of beloved inmate Poussey at the hands of a guard. As Taystee (Danielle Brooks) and the other women grieve the loss of Poussey, then fume at the realization that the guard will go unpunished while most of them are stuck behind bars for much lesser crimes, their pain and rage boils over into a prison riot that will take up the entire following season. — A.S.

The Andy Griffith Show, “Opie the Birdman” (Season 4, Episode 1)

The Andy Griffith Show set the template for broad, light, homespun small-town humor, but the best episode of the long-running 1960s show is as raw as a modern prestige TV feelings-fest. Gifted a slingshot by Don Knots’ iconically bumbling deputy Barney Fife, a young Opie Taylor (played by a nine-year-old Ron Howard) accidentally kills a bird, orphaning its three young offspring. “You gonna give me a whippin’?” Opie asks his father, Sheriff Andy Taylor, played by the show’s star, Andy Griffith. Not this time. Instead, TV’s all-time cool-headed dad simply opens Opie’s window so his boy can listen to the newly motherless baby birds in the tree outside, filling the Mayberry night with their desolate emo chirps. Howard later said the tears he cried in the scene where he kills the bird were real, because he was thinking of his recently deceased dog. The episode doesn’t have any big laughs, a bold move considering it was a season-opener. But by breaking with formula, they made a heartbreaking classic. — Jon Dolan

Good Times, “The I.Q. Test” (Season 2, Episode 7)

As the Seventies sitcom’s iconic gospel theme song noted, there was a lot of scratchin’ and survivin’ to do for the Evans family in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects. And the Maude spinoff was so smart in illustrating the many ways the deck was stacked against Florida (Esther Rolle), James (John Amos), and their kids. In “The I.Q. Test,” everyone is shocked when gifted youngest son Michael (Ralph Carter) flunks a school standardized test, until Michael explains that he refused to finish after recognizing that the test is racially biased, with questions geared towards the experience of reasonably well-off white children. The episode nimbly addresses systemic problems in a way that few shows were even thinking about at the time, much less willing to incorporate into their scripts. And it does it while still having some fun with the situation, through the obliviousness of the white test proctor. — A.S.

Moonlighting, “Atomic Shakespeare” (Season 3, Episode 7)

At the point “Atomic Shakespeare” rolled around in the third season of Moonlighting , the private detective comedy had already established two things: 1) that the onscreen chemistry of co-stars Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd was as scorching as any couple — even an unconsummated one like this — ever put on television; and 2) that the show’s writers didn’t feel in any way bound by the conventions of genre or era, as they had already done a black-and-white film noir tribute, as well as put Willis’ David into a musical number helmed by Singin’ in the Rain director Stanley Donen. So it felt wholly natural to translate the familiar David and Maddie dynamic back to Shakespearean times, with a postmodern retelling of The Taming of the Shrew , with Willis and Shepherd playing David and Maddie-flavored versions of Petrucchio and Kate, and that at various points features ninjas, a horse wearing sunglasses, and wannabe blues singer Willis wailing on the classic rock hit “Good Lovin’.” The episode even gets away with rewriting the Bard: Instead of Kate submitting to Petrucchio’s insistence that the sun is in fact the moon, as a way of humoring her new husband, she instead stands her ground and gets him to admit that, “My wife hath called it: ’Tis the sun, and not the moon at all!” — A.S.

Severance, “The We We Are” (Season 1, Episode 9)

By the time we reach the Season One finale of the satirical workplace thriller Severance , the employees of the macrodata refinement department of Lumon Industries have reached their boiling point. Part of a cohort who volunteered for a surgical procedure that separates their work selves, called “Innies,” from their personal selves, called “Outies,” they all live bifurcated lives, where one half has no clue what the other half does. But now, the Innies, sure they’re getting the short end of the deal, are fed up. With the help of Dylan (Zach Cherry), who hacks into a control room, Helly (Britt Lower), Mark (Adam Scott), and Irving (John Turturro) find a way to inhabit their Outie personas — and, as a result, learn all kinds of things about themselves that they aren’t fully prepared to know. Mark faces his wife’s death in a car accident. Irving tries to reignite his workplace romance with Burt (Christopher Walken), who retired his Innie self. And Helly is shocked to discover she’s descended from the family that championed Lumon’s severance procedure. A master class in building and maintaining tension, the episode reaches a heart-racing crescendo before an abrupt, cliffhanger ending. Premiering two years after the pandemic, as many employees returned to the office with shifted priorities and revamped notions of “work-life balance,” the Dan Erickson-created, Ben Stiller -directed series captures something essential about our modern malaise. But as the mirror maze of this episode shows, completely severing work and home may not be the fix we think it would. — Kalia Richardson

Review With Forrest MacNeil, “Pancakes, Divorce, Pancakes” (Season 1, Episode 3)

In this cult comedy, Andy Daly plays Forrest MacNeil, a pompous fool who has committed himself to the self-destructive task of undergoing and reviewing whatever life experiences his viewers ask him to. Installments prior to this one saw Forrest becoming addicted to cocaine, acting racist, and trying to make a sex tape. But the true folly of the exercise doesn’t hit until the third episode, where two different binge-eating assignments are wrapped around Forrest having to divorce his wife, without even being allowed to explain to her why he’s doing it. It’s a classic case of a joke building and building, until we get a traumatized Forrest declaring to his awful audience, “Perhaps I simply understood, from the darkest corner of my soul, that these pancakes couldn’t kill me, because I was already dead.” — A.S.

Homeland, “Q&A” (Season 2, Episode 5)

When this spy thriller about domestic terrorism ended its first season without brainwashed double agent Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) going through with a planned suicide bombing, it felt like a failure of nerve from the creators of a show that would have been best served as a one-and-done. But the first half of Season Two, featuring an ongoing cat-and-mouse game between Brody and CIA analyst Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), was excellent, and led to the series’ single-best episode, where Brody gets arrested and Carrie is given a limited window to interrogate him in the hopes of turning him into an asset. Danes and Lewis put on a mesmerizing acting duet, so potent it’s easy to ignore a silly subplot about Brody’s daughter Dana (Morgan Saylor) and her boyfriend Finn (a young Timothée Chalamet) getting into a hit-and-run incident. It was largely downhill for Homeland from here, at least until the producers were finally willing to kill off Brody for real, but that takes nothing from “Q&A.” — A.S.

China Beach, “Hello Goodbye” (Season 4, Episode 16)

Long before cable and streaming dramas began to experiment with fractured timelines, there was the final season of this wildly underrated series about the staff of a U.S. Army hospital base during the Vietnam War. Episodes bounced back and forth between events at various points in the war and in the lives of nurse Colleen McMurphy (Dana Delany) and her surviving colleagues throughout the Seventies and Eighties. Much of the series finale takes place in 1988, as recovering alcoholic McMurphy warily attends a China Beach reunion event, then joins her pals in an impromptu (and incredibly poignant) visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. But “Hello Goodbye” also takes us back to China Beach one last time, to show us McMurphy caring for a dying soldier she knows she can’t save, as a closing reminder of the costs of war, whether or not you fight in them. — A.S.  

The Jeffersons, “Sorry, Wrong Meeting” (Season 7, Episode 14)

All in the Family , the parent show of The Jeffersons , had already done a story about the Ku Klux Klan four years prior to the KKK-themed “Sorry, Wrong Meeting.” But the very nature of the spinoff and its leading man made the latter episode feel anything like a rehash. A racist neighbor decides that he can’t tolerate the presence of Black tenants like George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) and hosts a Klan rally to drive this undesirable element out of the building. But he invites the supremely WASPy Tom Willis (Franklin Cover), not realizing that Tom is best friends with George. Tom mistakenly assumes that the meeting will be about a recent spate of break-ins, and later suggests George attend with him. It’s a perfect set-up for both comedy and drama, as an oblivious George enters and cheers on what he thinks is rhetoric aimed solely at low-class criminals, rather than an upstanding businessman like himself, while the meeting’s vile host is shocked by his presence. But then some earlier business about CPR training leads to a great, dramatic climax: This spectacle agitates the Klan leader into a heart attack, and George turns out to be the only one in the room capable of saving the life of someone who thinks of him as less than human. — A.S.

What We Do in the Shadows, “On the Run” (Season 2, Episode 6)

For a show that specializes in absurdist, nonsensical humor, creator Jemaine Clement and company take it next-level with “On the Run.” The episode plucks pompous vampire Laszlo ( Matt Berry , who in July finally got an Emmy nomination for his work on this show) out of Staten Island, where he lives with four roommates — his undead wife Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Prosch), 760-year-old Nandor (Kayvan Novak), and Nandor’s familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) — and relocates him to small-town Pennsylvania, where he’s hoping to escape an old friend (Mark Hamill) who’s come to collect on a nearly two-century-old debt of unpaid rent. A stranger in a strange land, Laszlo goes undercover as a “regular human bartender” named Jackie Daytona and, naturally, becomes an avid supporter of the local girls’ volleyball team. His disguise of dark-wash jeans and a toothpick is enough to fool his pursuer… until a mirror (and the removal of the toothpick from his mouth) exposes his true identity. Fully withdrawn from the show’s usual despondent setting, “On the Run” humorously plays Laszlo’s macabre nature against his desire to help 14-year-old girls make it to their state championship. What more could you want from a small-town, salt-of-the-earth bloodsucker? — CTJ

Friday Night Lights, “Mud Bowl” (Season 1, Episode 20)

When a train derailment near the school forces the relocation of a crucial playoff game, Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler), seeking a neutral battleground, opts for the most retro possible site: a cow pasture that turns into a swampy mess after a downpour starts during the contest. While everyone else thinks the coach has lost his mind by eschewing a modern facility, he sees it as a back-to-basics location that will allow himself, his players, and the Dillon High School fans to reconnect with the pure essence of the sport, rather than all of the usual cynical distractions. In the same way, “Mud Bowl” provides the most concentrated blast of emotions that this most heart-tugging of all dramas ever provided: the joy of seeing the Panthers have fun and play well despite the weather conditions, and the horror of Tyra (Adrianne Palicki) barely fighting off a rapist while skipping the game to study. — A.S.

Better Things, “Batceañera” (Season 4, Episode 9)

Pamela Adlon’s stunning, semi-autobiographical comedy-drama about Sam Fox, a single mom-slash-actress raising three daughters, is packed with installments that feel worthy of being called the best, but “Batceñera” brilliantly captures what makes this underrated gem of a show so special. It opens with a surprise: Frankie (Hannah Alligood), Sam’s headstrong middle daughter, perfectly reenacting a Jerry Lewis bit from Who’s Minding the Store? set to composer Leroy Anderson’s “The Typewriter.” The heart of the episode is the blending of a bat mitzvah and a quinceañera for 15-year-old Frankie and her friend Reinita, respectively. The episode has everything: carnitas and knishes, a replica of Frida Kahlo’s suit, an all-female mariachi band, great needle-drops, poignant mother-daughter exchanges with each girl, Sam’s ex finally feeling a bit of proper shame for not being there for his kids, and much, much more. It’s a batceañera you never want to end. — Lisa Tozzi

The Honeymooners, “The Man From Space” (Episode 14)

For fans of The Honeymooners , it’s impossible to choose an all-time favorite episode, but like Jackie Gleason himself, “The Man From Space” is one of the greats. Originally airing on New Year’s Eve 1955, it pit Gleason’s blustering Ralph Kramden against his dimwitted pal o’ mine Ed Norton (Art Carney) in the Raccoon Lodge costume contest. Norton rents his outfit — a foppish French getup that’s supposed to evoke the engineer who built the sewers of Paris — while Ralph aims to prove he can do better by making a costume out of everyday items: a flashlight, the ice-box door, a kitchen pot as a helmet. His vision is “the man from space,” but neither his long-suffering wife Alice (Audrey Meadows) nor Norton take it that way. When the live audience finally sees Ralph emerge in all his resplendent glory, their reaction is unhinged, even as pieces of his spacesuit unexpectedly fall to the floor, teeing up a classic Gleason ad lib: “Let me have that,” he barks at Alice, “that’s my denaturizer.” The final scene at the costume party, with Norton barging in from his shift in the sewer in a gas mask, is one for the ages. — Joseph Hudak

Six Feet Under, “Everyone’s Waiting” (Season 5, Episode 12)

Alan Ball’s HBO drama usually kicked off its episodes with a grisly and/or highly ironic death. For the series finale, however, the showrunner opted for something a little different: He’d begin the last chapter of the Fisher family and their associates not with a life being snuffed out, but with a birth — and then he’d end the show not with one death, but a dozen. Having spent the bulk of its swan song tying up all of its loose narrative ends, Six Feet Under then shows us how every one of its surviving main characters would eventually shuffle off this mortal coil: Matriarch Ruth Fisher will die of old age with her family around her; Federico has a heart attack on a cruise ship; David’s security-guard husband Keith is murdered during a robbery, etc. Set to the Sia song “Breathe,” this justly praised montage doubles as a full-frontal assault on your tear ducts. It saves Claire’s passing for last, and before she takes her last breath at age 102, we see evidence of friends, loved ones, professional accolades, and personal memories all around her. For a series so devoted to sudden death, it goes out with a tribute to a long life well-lived. — David Fear

Columbo, “Etude in Black” (Season 2, Episode 1)

As rumpled homicide detective Lt. Columbo, Peter Falk was so superhumanly charming that he could have onscreen chemistry with a doorknob. But the iconic mystery series was at its best whenever Falk had a strong foil. This episode, with the dogged cop trying to prove a famous orchestra conductor murdered his mistress, has a home-field advantage in this regard, as the bad guy is played by Falk’s close friend and frequent collaborator John Cassavetes. Beyond the actors’ ease around one another, the dynamic crackles because the Columbo formula depends on the killers being too arrogant to assume this mumbling schnook could possibly outsmart them — and Cassavetes had a gift for playing smug and irritated. — A.S.

Friends, “The One Where Everybody Finds Out” (Season 5, Episode 14)

The best Friends moments come from full-ensemble episodes (Season Three’s “ The One Where No One’s Ready ,” Season Seven’s “ The One With Monica’s Thunder ”) where all six buds join forces and create a killing floor of comedy. The result is always a propulsive 22 minutes that doesn’t have a single dull moment, and “ The One Where Everybody Finds Out ” is this dynamic at its best. Secret’s out: Everyone has found out about Monica and Chandler’s relationship (OK, maybe Ross is a little late), and the gang play a game of chicken, one-upping each other to see who cracks first. Phoebe’s line, “They don’t know that we know they know we know!” embodies everything great about this episode, and the wit and wordplay that make the series a classic. No surprise it was nominated for three Emmys. — A.M.

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