025. Treehouse Of Horror VI (The Simpsons)

"There's no mystery about Willie. Why, he just simply disappeared. Now let's have no more curiousity about this bizarre cover-up"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 29th October 1995
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 7, Episode 6
WRITTEN BY: John Swartzwelder, Steve Tompkins & David S. Cohen

The Simpsons' annual Halloween episode is as famous as the show itself. The three stories format allows the show to be as experimental and creative as they like, allowing for fast-paced stories. The first story is a fun romp full of rampaging monsters, as billboards start coming to life. The satire is still as sharp as ever, as the way the advertisements die are when people stop looking at them.

The second segment is a great parody of Nightmare On Elm Street, which again plays with horror conventions and humour (the introduction of the 13th month, Smarch, is a classic joke). But it's also pretty creepy in places and Groundskeeper Willie makes a great bad guy.

"Homer 3" takes the show to a whole different medium when Homer discovers a dimension where he is 3D behind his bookcase, resulting in some very meta in-jokes and allowing the show to try new things that it's never done before or since. There's something slightly unsettling about seeing Homer in the real world at the end, and the whole episode maintains those same vibes.

Treehouse Of Horror VI is a strong contender, not just for best Halloween episode ever, but for best episode of The Simpsons ever.

024. Long Term Parking (The Sopranos)

"The highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 23rd May 2004

EPISODE NUMBER: Season 5, Episode 12

WRITTEN BY: Terence Winter

As The Sopranos built towards the climax of its fifth season, Long Term Parking ramped up the tension on several plotlines, providing shocking new developments, and did something only one other episode had done at the time: kill a main character that had been part of the show since season 1.

The episode begins with Johnny Sack and Tony Soprano discussing the aftermath of Tony's cousin killing Phil's brother, and Johnny issues an ultimatum that he must hand his cousin over before things get ugly. This is not why everyone loves the episode so much: the really gripping parts are about Adriana, an FBI informant, revealing her secret to Christopher. And boy, does he take it badly.

This was to be Drea De Matteo's last performance as a regular but it was a worthy one to go out on, and some of her best work. Her death scene is perfectly set up - driven to the hospital to see Chris by Silvio, it gradually dawns on her that it's just a ruse, and is shot in the woods as she tries to escape. It's a brutal, dramatic high point of the show as Christopher is forced to demonstrate his loyalty to the family truly has no exceptions.

023. Zen (Twin Peaks)

"I've got good news. That gum you like is going to come back in style"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 19th April 1990
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1 Episode 3
WRITTEN BY: Mark Frost & David Lynch

The twisted mind of David Lynch has been confusing people on cinema screens for years, and when he tried his hand at television, the result was no less surreal. Zen is the definitive episode of Twin Peaks and contains the show's most iconic scene.

The dream sequence, where Cooper is in a red room with Laura Palmer and a midget, is one of the most amazing and absurd things ever put to the small screen. It's a hypnotizing, unforgettable scene that leaves the viewer transfixed. This was the first completely "out there" moment of the series, and it made viewers wonder just what kind of show they were watching. It captured the audience's imagination and people analysed and dissected every line looking for hidden meaning. If people weren't hooked on the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer before, they certainly were after it.

There's another standout scene in Zen that less people remember. It's the part where Cooper is throwing rocks at a bucket as Lucy reads out names of suspects, as part of a technique he apparently picked up in Tibet. We knew right then and there that Cooper was not a by-the-book detective and was willing to use less conventional methods in his investigation. With that in mind why should we be surprised that he takes a dream so seriously?

Both these scenes demonstrate the eccentric and quirky nature of the show assuring Twin Peaks a place in pop culture history for life (once The Simpsons has parodied you, you know you've made it). Other shows were inspired by it (e.g. Lost) but there has still been nothing quite like it ever since and there never will be.

022. Smile Time (Angel)

"Yeah, I'm a puppet! Doesn't mean you don't have work to do"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 18th February 2004

EPISODE NUMBER: Season 5, Episode 14

WRITTEN BY: Ben Edlund & Joss Whedon

Smile Time is an absolutely bonkers premise, but brilliant because of its absurdity. It started with the writers wanting to do an evil Sesame Street, by having a group of evil puppets sucking the brain power out of children (like all TV shows, amirite?). That's weird enough but then Angel later becomes a puppet himself. It's an episode that really has to be seen to be believed.

It's a genius idea that proved how inventive the show could be, as many laughs come from the situation - not least a hysterical slapstick fight between Spike and puppet Angel. Typical action tropes are subverted, such as Angel's badass walk in the scene above, which loses a lot of its intimidation for obvious reasons. A lot of the time, Angel is accused of being much darker than Buffy, but this episode showed a softer, lighter side to the series. It's the kind of bizarre humour that only Joss could pull off.

The final battle where Gunn starts using a shovel on the puppet is a riot, and the whole episode is just so much fun. I don't know how they found the time to fit in a romantic subplot between Wesley and Fred who finally become an item, but it doesn't detract from the felt-flinging fun.

Despite being really silly, Smile Time is an all-time favorite of mine, just because it's all so much fun.

021. The Man Behind The Curtain (Lost)

"I'm sorry that you're too limited to see"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 9th May 2008
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 3, Episode 20
WRITTEN BY: Elizabeth Sarnoff & Drew Goddard

Having arguably hit a slump at the beginning of season 3, Lost surprised everyone with a quality batch of episodes to close out the year. This is the first episode to centre on Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson), the show's breakout character that was rewritten from small bit-part to major player. One of TV's ultimate villains, the episode proves just how much of a cold bastard he really is, with a very unsettling scene involving him gassing his dad, and another shocking ending where he tries to kill Locke. It's also an episode full of mythological relevance.

The show has teased about the all-powerful Jacob before, but now was the first time we were going to see him. Or were we? The cabin scene is the most unexpected and unpredictable moment in Lost and that's what makes it so amazing. With lesser actors, the scene would've fallen flat, but Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn give some of the best acting they've ever given.

Even though the show has ended, it's still not entirely clear what we saw in that scene, and the mystery lives on. Has this episode suffered on rewatch? Perhaps. You could argue that at this point the writers were in the same position as Ben: pretending to understand the Island, and desperately trying to buy more time before people expose their lies. But it was certainly an unforgettable experience at the time, and got people talking.