PTR Reveals the Best Episode of the Season!

Well, we have made it through the summer-long countdown, which means that it is time to reveal the #1 Best Episode of the Season. For the final time, here's a look at the rules for this year's winners. LillyKat and I ended up with 33 incredible episodes that demonstrate the diversity and quality of the current television state. The shows and their episodes are from both NETWORK and CABLE television. All episodes aired between June 2008 and June 2009. Each episode that made the final list moved us in some way; either by making us laugh out loud, cry our eyes out or just left us with that "wow" feeling that stays with you for a few days. So basically, it's completely subjective! Since this was a summer-long countdown to the number 1 episode, we revealed a few each week all summer. Before we get to numbers 3-1, here's a quick review of #33-4:

33. “Friends With Benefits” – My Name is Earl
32. “Gus Walks into a Bank” – Psych
31. “Chuck Versus the Colonel” – Chuck
30. “Private Eyes” – My Boys
29. “Apocalypse… Now?” – Medium
28. “Intervention” – How I Met Your Mother
27. “Tuesday the 17th” – Psych
26. “Officer Down” – Cold Case
25. "A Pretty Girl in a Leotard" – Damages
24. “Inside Probe” – My Name is Earl
23. "Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today" – Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
22. “New York, New York” – Friday Night Lights
21. "Hey! Mr Pibb." – Damages
20. “The Deadliest Ice Road” – Ice Road Truckers
19. "I Lied, Too" - Damages
18. "The Final Hour" – Deadliest Catch
17. “Zebras” – Law & Order: SVU
16. “Tomorrow Blues” – Friday Night Lights
15. "Mortal Men" – Deadliest Catch
14. “Unleashed” – Fringe
13. "Heart of a Cop" – Saving Grace
12. “Yanks in the UK” – Bones
11. "I Believe In Angels" - Saving Grace
10. “The Incident” – Lost
9. “The Double Death of the Dearly Departed” – Bones
8. "Cherry Bomb" – The Closer
7. “The Long Blue Line/Into the Blue” – Cold Case
6. "Allison From Palmdale" – Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
5. “My Finale” – Scrubs
4. “Right Time, Right Place” – How I Met Your Mother

And now, the Top 3 episodes of the season...

3: "Adam Raised a Cain" - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Just when I thought T:SCC couldn't wow me anymore, couldn't leave me with goosebumps, couldn't get me to take back all of my WTF-is-wrong-with-this-show comments I had made during much of the middle of the second (and final) season (which bored most of us loyal viewers to death), the T:SCC folks delivered "Adam Raised A Cane." Though not the series finale (it was actually the second to last episode), it left me feeling fulfilled and proud to have been a T:SCC fan. Just when I thought they had forgotten how to create that sense of mystery, drama, sentimentality, excitement, action and suspense that made me love the show so much throughout the first season, "Adam Raised a Cain" did ALL this - and then some. Summer Glau's Cameron was kick arse, take charge and be definitive once again. The death of Brian Austin Green's Derek before I've even settled into the episode was just brilliant. No warning, no pomp and circumstance, no hoopla. It was so simply perfect and absolutely fitting to have this character go down doing exactly what he was sent here to do - protect John. Lena Headey's Sarah still did seem to have her own pair and was still willing to put the greater good of everyone above herself - no matter the weight of it, no matter its never-ending pursuit. Thomas Dekker finally owned up to having the true quiet leader strength of John Conner. The sacrifices he must make for that to happen weigh on him heavily, but no longer in such a dopey, emo, poor-me way. And no sacrifice is perhaps more poignant than with the death of yet another person close to him, or with the capture of his own mother - both of which he comes to terms. And little Mackenzie Brooke Smith's portryal Savannah Weaver stole the entire episode with an unbelievably brilliant, most amazingly nuanced performance that actors twice her age sometimes fail to do. The chemistry she shareed not only with Garret Dillahunt, but in character with John Henry, was just too.damn.good. Her duet with Garret that closed the episode haunted me for weeks. This episode did the one thing I had hoped the second half of the T:SCC season would do: give some closure, be complete, and send the show out with a wow and a bang. And it was this kind of episodes that reminded us all of what the show did when it was at its best. Written by Toni Graphia and directed by Charles Beeson. - LillyKat, PTR Senior Staff Writer

2: "Power of Attorney" - The Closer
This stellar hour of a PTR fave was so good, it was on both of our lists. So, we each wrote a few words about what made it so great.

LillyKat Says: The show delivered one of its legendary episodes with "Power of Attorney." We know the good folks at The Closer always manage to give us compelling cases each season, with a memorable bad guy (or two). Someone who gives Brenda Leigh Johnson a run for her money, someone who really gets to her and forces her hand. It can, at times, be a rarity given she is so good closing cases. But we crossed into legendary territory for the one she could NOT get in this ep. Billy Burke's portrayal of the sex offender defense attorney was just insanely-creepily-disturbingly-engrossingly good, second (or perhaps tied with) Jason O'Mara's Bill Croelick character. And given how long PTR has followed Cold Case, it's not a stretch to compare Burke to John Billingsley's portrayal of serial killer George Marks who was, essentially, Detective Lilly Rush's one true nemesis. Both detectives on both shows - so poised, in control and on their game in always getting their suspects - reduced to powerless bystanders. Both actresses on both shows - Kathryn Morris and Kyra Sedgwick - delivering one of their best performances. "Power of Attorney" left us waiting for the sequel - the rematch. When that happens, you know you're watching the best of the best.

TVFan Says:

You can always count on this show to turn out powerful, brilliant episodes, but this outing from last season might just be the series' most powerful to date. Brenda went head-to-head with a skilled attorney whose knowledge of criminal law allowed him to rape six women and murder a seventh and then walk right out of the police station without a charge against him. He used his own client as a scapegoat and Brenda's evidence against her and he did it in such a masterful and nefarious way that it had Major Crimes' and our heads spinning. Mostly, though, it has us still waiting for Brenda's next encounter with Stroh. Keep 'em wanting more -- that's good television. Written by Michael Alaimo and directed by Rick Wallace.

And now, after an entire summer of counting down episodes, we're finally up to the number one episode of the past season. Drum roll please....

1: "Hello, Goodbye" - Friday Night Lights
I'm pretty sure that out of all of the story lines on Friday Night Lights, the Brian "Smash" Williams story was the best written, consistently most emotional and all-around champion of the series. So, it comes as no surprise that its conclusion would stand out as this season's best episode. There were two moments in this episode that proved that this series is network television's best and left me completely in awe of its brilliance. The first occurred when Coach Taylor walked across the Texas A&M field and convinced the coach to allow Smash to try out. It was one of those moments when you have to fight the urge to leap out of your seat and give the writers, actors and every other person who works on this show a HUGE standing ovation. The second scene came at the very end when Smash finally got the word from A&M. My eyes welled up with tears of joy as he told his mother that he was going to college. What a payoff for all of his hard work, determination and disappointments along the way. Everything that he had to overcome post-knee injury and knowing how much this opportunity meant to him made it that much sweeter and cemented this episode's place at the top of this year's list. Written by David Hudgins and directed by Michael Waxman

Well, there you have it -- the complete list of PTR's Best Episodes of the Season! Do you agree? Disagree? Are there episodes that PTR left off the list? Leave us a comment with your thoughts on the final list. If you would like to take a closer look at numbers 33-4, click the "Best Episodes" link at the bottom of this post.