Fandomverse - Episode Picspam (West Wing, Buffy, Hitchcock, Dawson's, CSI)
Picspam for fandomverse challenge. If anyone's interested in joining, we just started the round.
2.10 Noël (West Wing)
Reason: Quite possibly the most perfect episode ever written. Josh nearly died when a gunman tried to assassinate the president in an earlier episode. Not only was Josh's pain not ignored by the show, but watching everyone know he's unraveling - while Josh is completely oblivious to his descent - was heartbreaking. Josh couldn't escape from his body constantly reliving the shooting. The scenes with the psychologist forcing Josh to face his reality and bring him into the present so that he could finally move on and heal emotionally - and not just physically - were astoundingly effective and emotionally satisfying.
Leo McGarry: How'd it go?
Josh Lyman: Did you wait around for me?
Leo McGarry: How'd it go?
Josh Lyman: He thinks I may have an eating disorder...
Leo McGarry: Josh...
Josh Lyman: ...and a fear of rectangles. That's not weird, is it?
[pause]
Josh Lyman: I didn't cut my hand on a glass. I broke a window in my apartment.
Leo McGarry: This guy's walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep, he can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, "Hey you, can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here." The friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out."
[pause]
Leo McGarry: Long as I got a job, you got a job, you understand?
Scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9ApwZBit_I
Full Episode: http://www.amazon.com/Noel/dp/B000KZNBGK
4.10 Hush (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Reason: Creepiest mofo'ing episode in history. Even better? It was creative. Nearly the entire episode was filmed without dialogue, and the villains themselves were the antithesis of what you'd expect: they were actually polite. Relying heavily on story and visuals to make you think rather than squick you out, this episode still gives me chills thinking about it. The scene where the Gentlemen floated by the windows....brrrrr. That they could kill you while you were still alive, but no one could hear you scream - because you have no voice - *shiver*. A definite mess-with-your-head episode.
Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbnIH3zHT7M
Full Episode: http://www.sidereel.com/Buffy_The_Vampire_Slayer/season-4/episode-10
1.1 Revenge (Alfred Hitchcock Presents - 1985)
Reason: This is on my list not because it's a great episode (it's not), but because it managed to burn the final scene into my head that I haven't forgotten in over 20 years. I used to watch TV with my mom when I was young, and our newest favorites we were going to start tuning into were Amazing Stories, and this: the rebooted Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The first episode: Revenge. A woman is brutally raped, sees her rapist one day on the street, and tells her husband. The husband plots - and then finally executes - the man's murder. At the end of the episode where the husband is driving his wife, the wife "sees" her rapist again - thereby showing she's not seeing her attacker at all, she's simply so traumatized she sees all men as her rapist. The look of horror on the husband's face has never left me. I never watched another episode of this series. I couldn't even watch it full when getting the screencaps for this picspam.
Full Episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orCEIVMQI5U
3.22 Anti-Prom (Dawson's Creek)
Reason: Sigh. Where do I begin? While West Wing's "Noel" may be the perfect episode, Dawson's Creek's third year is the perfect season. From watching the tentative change from enemies to friends, then from friends to lovers - and the destruction it caused to everyone around them - watching Pacey fall irrevocably in love, and Joey refuse to acknowledge she's doing the same, there is literally nothing about the story of these True Loves I wouldn't change. I could have done 10 of these picspam challenges from this storyline alone. He even bought her a wall, dammit! The best love story ever written. That is, until the middle of season four.
Pacey: Where'd you get those? They're not you.
Joey: Why because I'm some poor tomboy or because Dawson gave them to me?
Pacey: Neither. See this? This is you. It's not showy or gaudy. It's simple. Elegant. Beautiful.
Joey: It's my mom's bracelet.
Pacey: I know.
Joey: How do you know?
Pacey: Well, because you told me. Six months ago. You were wearing that blue sweater with the snowflakes that you have. You were walking down the hallway at school. I was annoying you as per usual. You said, "Look, Pacey, I just found my mother's bracelet this morning, so why don't you cut me some slack?"
Joey: You remember that?
Pacey: I remember everything.
Scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvwK-UyaW6o
Pacey/Joey love story on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Charleesangel/videos?view=0
Full Episode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKO_PgBwDRg (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2rPR69miZI (Part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr1Daygciv8 (Part 3)
5.24, 5.25 Grave Danger (CSI)
Reason: CSI is a show made to just watch. That is, until something happens that makes you sit up and pay attention. "Grave Danger" was it. Directed by Quentin Tarantino (who I don't really like), this episode turned out amazing. Not only was it an ode to continuity (they even remembered Nick's stalker, and Grissom's lip-reading ability), but also an ode to friendship. Everyone's connection to both Nicky and each other was highlighted in painful detail. It was heartbreaking watching Nicky believe he'd let Grissom down, and Grissom knowing that he didn't. In the end, watching them put all the clues together to find Nicky's grave site was like watching a well-written novel come to life. The choice of putting George Eads in the box was not wasted. George literally blew the lid off his scenes, and for an actor who TBH is probably doomed to a lifetime of Lifetime movies after this show is over, to find out he could actually act was mind-blowing. The biggest crime the year this episode aired? That CSI didn't have the Hollywood buzz needed to get George his one (and probably only) shot at an Emmy. He certainly earned - and deserved - it.
Gil Grissom: Alright, Poncho, we're gonna open the lid and get you out, but I need you to stay lying down. Okay? Or else you'll blow us all up. You understand that?
Nick Stokes: Yeah, yeah.
Gil Grissom: Do you promise, Poncho?
[Nick nods]
Gil Grissom: Say I promise.
Nick Stokes: [crying] I promise.
Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2ISsdIWTh8
Full Episode: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0079PWEM6
