2025 was not only a good yr for tv. It was additionally a refreshingly various yr for the medium.
The yr’s greatest exhibits vary from a star-driven neo-noir on FX and a “Star Wars” spin-off to a breakout HBO Max hit that felt like each a return to old school, procedural TV medical dramas and a mature, considerate evolution of them. One of the best TV episodes of the yr didn’t all come from probably the most acclaimed exhibits, both. In 2025, there have been quite a few uneven, undeniably flawed collection as nicely, which nonetheless briefly overcame their shortcomings and delivered episodes so memorable that they nonetheless stand out, in some instances, months later.
With all of that in thoughts, listed below are the very best TV episodes of 2025.
“Gradual Horses” Season 5, Episode 6 – “Scars”
“Gradual Horses” viewers have been ready years to study extra about Slough Home chief and MI5 veteran Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman). Within the Apple TV thriller’s Season 5 finale, aptly titled “Scars,” viewers lastly get the second of perception they’ve been looking for within the type of a jaw-dropping, last-minute shot of Lamb’s ft. The second, brilliantly executed by director Saul Metzstein and departing showrunner Will Smith, each pays off a memorable scene from earlier in “Gradual Horses” Season 5 and justifies viewers’ ongoing dedication to the present.
Earlier than that, the finale additionally delivers a 1-on-1 dialog between Oldman’s Lamb and James Callis’ boastful Claude Whelan that’s as thrilling as any motion set piece. Collectively, these two moments kind an astonishing one-two punch that reestablishes Oldman’s anti-hero because the present’s single best energy. There was no episode of TV this yr extra purely satisfying than “Scars.” — Alex Welch
“Paradise” Season 1, Episode 7 – “The Day”
“Paradise” was the primary actual shock of the yr for me and its penultimate episode, which defined what actually occurred out on the earth to steer all these folks to life in a nuclear bunker beneath a mountain, felt like a catastrophe film on the small display. The place Kathryn Bigelow’s “A Home of Dynamite” did not seize the strain of individuals in energy grappling with making a country-altering resolution, “The Day” retains you hooked, engaged, and white-knuckling your seat.
James Marsden who, for story causes, had not had a ton of time to shine in his personal proper, got here out swinging on this episode. He’s phenomenal from begin to end as a flawed president trying to do proper by his nation in what stands out as the final resolution he has to make. – Jacob Bryant
“Pluribus” Season 1, Episode 1 – “We Is Us”
A catastrophe film in slow-motion. That’s one of the simplest ways to explain the primary episode of “Pluribus,” titled “We Is Us.” Written and directed by collection creator Vince Gilligan, the Apple TV dramedy’s premiere presents viewers a sensational entry into its story of a hive-mind pandemic that wipes away the individuality of almost each human being on Earth.
Very like he did in “Breaking Unhealthy” and “Higher Name Saul,” Gilligan charts his demented alien invasion in obsessive, step-by-step element, an method that solely makes it all of the extra satisfying to look at the dominoes fall in all their uncanny, fiery glory within the second half of “We Is Us.” Gilligan’s process-first type moreover units viewers as much as anticipate a last-minute resurrection within the closing moments of the “Pluribus” premiere that by no means comes. In doing so, he brilliantly pulls the rug out from beneath each the viewer and Rhea Seehorn’s Carol and, on the identical time, units up her grief-driven campaign shifting ahead. It’s nearly as efficient and environment friendly as TV writing will get. — AW
“The Rehearsal” Season 2, Episode 3 – “Pilot’s Code”
No episode of “The Rehearsal” Season 2 higher captured the oddity and coronary heart behind Nathan Fielder’s look into airline security than “Pilot’s Code.” This membership actually had every part – Sully Sullenberger cosplay, Nathan being breastfed by a papier-mache puppet mom, Evanescence – because the star tried to determine what it was in regards to the famed New York pilot that helped him pull off the Miracle on the Hudson.
The complete episode felt like a fever dream with a coronary heart of gold and was the primary level within the season the place it was clear Fielder is likely to be spending the season analyzing himself and why he does what he does as a lot because the very actual ardour behind this airline security episode. And I’m not too afraid to confess that, whether or not it was the primary time or a rewatch – I nonetheless get chills each time Fielder reveals the runtime of the “Deliver Me To Life” refrain syncs up completely with Sully’s silence earlier than making the choice to land his aircraft within the Hudson. That’s simply generational tv. -AW
“Wheel of Time” Season 3, Episode 4 – “The Street to the Spear”
“The Wheel of Time” is a uncommon present that improved each season throughout its three-season run on Prime Video. Whereas the primary was rocky for each followers of Robert Jordan’s sprawling guide collection and TV viewers on the lookout for the subsequent “Recreation of Thrones,” the third – and sadly closing – season discovered its footing and nonetheless stands as top-of-the-line exhibits of 2025.
Nowhere is that extra on show than within the season’s fourth episode, “The Street to the Spear.” Whereas the remainder of the collection featured a sprawling solid and a number of POVs in each episode, this entry honed in solely on Rand and Moraine’s journey by Rhuidean. Rand’s path takes him by the historical past of his ancestors and Josha Stradowski pulled each trick out of his bag taking part in, every member of his bloodline whereas hidden beneath make-up. This won’t be the episode to point out new viewers to promote them on the present, however it can stand because the crown jewel of the collection. – JB
“Black Mirror” Season 7, Episode 5 – “Eulogy”
“Black Mirror” Season 7 was, as is usually the case with the Netflix sci-fi collection, a combined bag. Hidden among the many season’s varied installments, although, was “Eulogy,” a heart-wrenching, reflective drama that ranks excessive on the record of greatest “Black Mirror” episodes. The entry is a contained drama a few middle-aged man (Paul Giamatti) whose invitation to supply recollections for an ex-girlfriend’s funeral sends him down an immersive journey into his personal previous. “Black Mirror” is called a present that always highlights — and typically predicts — the largest risks of contemporary know-how.
However its greatest episodes (see additionally: “Grasp the DJ,” “San Junipero,”) most of the time use high-concept sci-fi conceits to supply some hope for humanity’s failings. Within the case of “Eulogy,” Giamatti’s Phillip learns too late, with the assistance of the episode’s futuristic tech, how a lot his personal, restricted perspective has price him. Giamatti’s efficiency is among the many greatest in “Black Mirror” historical past, and its closing 10 minutes are equally among the many present’s outright weepiest. Watching the episode calls to thoughts that straightforward, sucker-punch line from “Magnolia,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 epic: “The goddamn remorse!” — AW
“The Lowdown” Season 1, Episode 5 – “This Land?”
Virtually each episode of “The Lowdown,” the brand new FX neo-noir from “Reservation Canine” creator Sterlin Harjo, felt like a present. However maybe none extra so than “This Land?” This mid-season gem encompasses a one-episode visitor flip from Peter Dinklage because the estranged former enterprise accomplice of Ethan Hawke’s self-destructive, reckless Lee Raybon who skydives again into the latter’s life to assist him together with his ongoing, newbie investigation and power him to mourn the dying of a mutual pal.
Dinklage and Hawke have electrical chemistry on display, and there have been few funnier traces of dialogue you may discover on TV this yr than when Dinklage — mid-wrestling match — ordered Hawke to “Drink my piss!” It is just 20 minutes later within the episode that the 2 actors are sharing an emotionally express, susceptible dialog about their thorny look after one another, and all of it simply works. “The Lowdown” proved to be a present that would do all of it, and no episode higher exemplifies that than “This Land?” — AW
“Alien: Earth” Season 1, Episode 5 – “In House, No One…”
Episodes set solely in a flashback are the bane of my TV-going expertise for probably the most half. It slams the momentum of the story to a violent halt to go off and overly clarify one thing. I used to be assured in my unanimous hatred for the all-flashback episode – after which one thing like “Alien: Earth” comes round and has me questioning myself solely.
“In House, No One…” pauses the ahead narrative to the times earlier than the Maginot landed on Earth with its lethal cargo and the way the entire scenario performed out. When you fell off the present as a result of the “Alien” present didn’t really feel “Alien” sufficient for you, this was creator Noah Hawley’s flex on how nicely he understood what labored in regards to the franchise and learn how to implement and develop on it for the small display. The episode additionally provides the already nice Babou Ceesay’s Morrow the area and time to shine because the cyborg does what wants doing to make sure Weyland-Yutani will get their cargo, whereas additionally displaying the person behind the machine components. — JB
“Severance” Season 2, Episode 7 – “Chikhai Bardo”
“Chikhai Bardo” is a type of episodes in a puzzlebox present like “Severance” that followers yearn for. After seasons of ready, and loads of discuss it, the episode lastly dives deep on Mark and Gemma’s relationship earlier than the “crash” that led to her being reprogrammed as Ms. Casey and Mark determined to turn into a severed worker.
All of that interspersed with what Gemma/Ms. Casey’s actual objective as part of Chilly Harbor was and the way she had been pressured to work for Lumon after leaving the severed flooring. The episode is a grasp class at answering massive questions whereas changing them with bigger ones, however on the core its a love story about two individuals who slipped away from each other. I’ll say it now – “Chikhai Bardo” will go down because the “Severance” equal of fabled “Misplaced” episode “The Fixed,” which is about as excessive of reward as I may give anybody TV episode. – JB
“The Pitt” Season 1, Episode 12 – “6:00PM”
Of all of the episodes of “The Pitt” that we might have picked, the obvious could have been Season 1, Episode 13, which ends with Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) experiencing a traumatic breakdown that rightly earned Wyle widespread acclaim and, in all chance, his eventual Emmy win. However, when trying again on the first season of “The Pitt,” it’s Episode 12, “6:00PM,” that stands out probably the most. This breakneck episode is the primary chapter of the collection’ multi-installment mass taking pictures arc, and it follows its varied nurses and docs — led by Wyle’s Robby — as they deal with numerous taking pictures victims as they arrive with the sudden power of a tidal wave.
The ensuing episode is terrifying, anxiety-inducing, thrilling and, maybe most stunning of all, deeply comforting. “The Pitt” Season 1 was typically at its greatest when it was each delivering thought-provoking drama and celebrating the world’s well being care employees. “6:00PM” does simply that by permitting its heroes’ shared competency beneath monumental, unimaginable stress to talk for itself. Ultimately, there was simply one thing profoundly affecting this yr about getting to look at educated professionals be very, very good at their jobs. — AW
“Andor” Season 2, Episode 9 – “Welcome to the Rise up”
“Andor” Season 2 isn’t missing in noteworthy episodes. However there have been merely few TV episodes this yr that felt as operatic and very important as “Welcome to the Rise up.” The climactic installment of the season’s third, multi-episode arc follows Diego Luna’s beleaguered Cassian Andor as he mounts a daring mission to escort Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) to security after she delivers a career-ending, life-threatening public denouncement of the Galactic Empire and its chief, Emperor Palpatine. All of “Andor’s” threads come collectively in “Welcome to the Rise up,” an episode that’s as nerve-wracking as every other but additionally unexpectedly, viscerally cathartic.
Coming off the brutal, disheartening chaos and violence of the season’s eighth installment, “Who Are You?,” “Andor” manages to ship the victory that its heroes — and viewers — desperately want in “Welcome to the Rise up.” The episode hammers house the fee and significance of standing up for what is true, and the bittersweet departure of Adria Arjona’s Bix in its closing moments cements “Andor” because the type of sweeping, mythic tragedy the likes of which we hardly ever see anymore — on TV or within the movie show. — AW
