Single TV Episodes That Were Even Better Than Their Entire Shows

Sometimes just one episode is enough to completely change the way viewers feel about the show. A single episode can either take a show to the top of the heap or cause fans to tune it out and never come back.

These standout episodes will definitely leave a lasting impression on viewers, leaving them in awe and granting praise for the entire series.

1. The Haunting of Hill House — The Bent-Neck Lady

Throughout the series, the ghostly figure of the Bent-Neck Lady haunts Nelly, the youngest daughter of the Crain family.

Until the fifth episode of the series, viewers are unaware of the identity of the mysterious lady, but in a jaw-dropping reveal, we find out that the Bent-Neck Lady is little Nell herself, trapped in a time loop.

The suspense of the episode, Nelly's return to her childhood home, her hallucinatory reunion with her family members and her late husband, and her sudden death — all of this shocked the hell out of us and left us with a whole new level of fear we've never experienced before.

2. The Last of Us — Long, Long Time

In the third episode of the post-apocalyptic series, we get a closer look at Joel's friend Bill, whose anti-authoritarian paranoia works in his favor, saving him from mass murder and making him the only person left in the entire neighborhood.

The story follows his life in isolation from the whole world until one day Bill, a man accidentally caught in his trap, changes his life forever.

We watch as the two characters go from strangers to lovers, surviving together in their own little world, only to have the most heartbreaking scene at the end of the episode where they take their own lives to be together even in the afterlife.

This whole episode single-handedly cheered us up and destroyed us at the same time.

3. Game of Thrones — The Winds of Winter

The episode that finally showed Cersei Lannister in her revenge mode after all the torture she went through. She cunningly gathers her enemies at the Great Sept and triggers a devastating explosion with hidden wildfire.

Margaery's face of realization, the eye-catching explosion, King Tommen stepping out of the tower after losing his wife, and Cersei sitting on the Iron Throne as the new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms — a Chef's Kiss episode.

4. The Office — Dinner Party

The moment when Michael proudly revealed his tiny 15-inch plasma TV defined the Dinner Party episode as the show's most iconic.

he most memorable scenes of starving Pam who can't get anything to eat and the party that is supposed to be about eating, Jan's weird passion for candles, the quirky awkward dialogue, and the final dinner turned into a disaster — everything we love about this show is reflected in this particular episode.

5. Breaking Bad — Ozymandias

This episode of Breaking Bad shows the show at its absolute peak. The episode's intense and heartbreaking events, including the crushing showdown between Walter White and Hank Schrader, were shocking.

The Ozymandias contains the show's best moment when Walter calls Skyler and embodies his toxic masculinity of an aggrieved nerd, labeling his wife every single word she deserves.