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5. The Sopranos: Melfi Says “No” (Episode: “Employee of the Month”)
“Employee of the Month” makes Dr. Jennifer Melfi, who frequently served as the conscience of ‘The Sopranos’, and the audience face an awful choice. Melfi is raped. Her violator is identified, but due to minor glitch in the justice system, he is let go. It angers you and frustrates you as you see the agony in Melfi’s eyes. She considers having him “squashed like a bug” by her most high-profile patient, the mob boss of New Jersey, Tony Soprano. But in the end, Lorraine Bracco’s voice fraught with sorrow, Melfi makes the decision she should be celebrated for: when Tony asks if she wants to tell him something after she nearly breaks down in front of him, she simply says, “No.” and the writers hold a mirror to us all, making us realize that some part of us wanted her to make the easy choice, not the right one.
4. The Wire: Omar Testifies Against Bird (Episode: “All Prologue”)
Omar Little is as undeniably one of the great television characters as ‘The Wire’ is one of the great television series. A searing, dissecting look into the crime that plagues the city of Baltimore, the show was always underlining the tragedy of living in a world where life is defined by its inevitable fatality. When Omar testifies against Bird in that courtroom, his poignancy is only fleetingly captured, but it embeds in our consciousness the truth of someone who’s never known a different life. As he points out to the defense lawyer, “I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase”, it send chills down your spine as it forces you to consider the innate hypocrisy of our times.
3. Game of Thrones: The Red Wedding (Episode: “The Rains of Castamere”)
‘Game of Thrones’ has been accused by many of exploiting violence to create thrill and anticipation; of using it merely as a plot device without supplementing it with a thematic subtext. But “The Rains of Castamere” should silence all those accusations. The sheer of amount of tragedy here can make someone feel hollow, devoid of any hope. The bloodshed so gruesome and eclectically composed, that it would be imprinted in the minds of all those who dare to imagine it’s underlying savagery. That final shriek from Catelyn Stark will always ring in my ears.
2. Breaking Bad: Walt Kidnaps Holly (Episode: “Ozymandias”)
There is something very dark in the moment where Walt kidnaps Holly. Aside from the pain in Anna Gunn’s face, everything seems to be going awry, as if the world is closing in on us and all we can do is try to figure out how did we get here and what the hell just happened. It leaves you gaping with terror, shaken to your core, never to see any of these characters in the same light again. “Ozymandias” is without a doubt the greatest “Breaking Bad” episode. But when director Rian Johnson creates the overpowering, hypnotic unease of this scene, the show touched a new height.
1. The Sopranos: Cut To Black (Episode: “Made in America”)
This might be a highly unconventional choice, but anyone who saw ‘The Sopranos’ finale “Made in America” knows how hard that instant cut-to-black hit us. It was unexpected, it was genius, it was the only perfect way to end the greatest television series of all time and it remains, till date, extremely controversial. Tony, Carmela and AJ sitting in the diner with their onion rings, Meadow trying to park the car outside, the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” playing on the jukebox, the guy in the “Members Only” jacket, everything causes us to be on the edge of our seats. The setup is there, the tension has been ratcheted up, there is an absurd, giddy exhilaration underlining every shot, you expect something to happen and then
Read More: Best TV Shows of the 21st Century
