Top 10 Episodes of 2012 - Part 5

This is part 5 of 5. I asked 20 friends to write about their favorite TV episodes of 2012 and this is the exciting results. At the bottom you'll see the tabulated results from everyone's lists. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here and Part 3 here and Part 4 here.

The Thick of It – “Episode Three” (Season Four, Episode 3)

By Aaron Wittwer

Back from a three year hiatus, Series 4 of The Thick of It wastes no time, throwing us right back into the everyday, mundane chaos at work behind the scenes of the (fictional) British “Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship” aka DoSAC.

With this (and the funny, yet slightly redundant, Veep), show runner Armando Iannucci satirizes the trivial power-struggles and day-to-day inanities that one imagines must overtake lesser government positions in the off-seasons. Not satisfied to simply “humanize” government authority figures, The Thick of It turns them into a bunch of children going to war over the last piece of candy.

Top 10 Episodes of 2012 - Part 4

This is part 4 of 5. I asked 20 friends to write about their favorite TV episodes of 2012 and this is the exciting results. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

Peep Show – “Jeremy Therapised” (Season Eight, Episode 1)

By Joshua Carroll

[This episode contains major plot spoilers for the season premiere only in the marked paragraph.]

Flying by the seat of one’s pants for nothing more than personal gain is perhaps the driving force behind many of Peep Show’s, a British television series (which, by the way, is what this rambling will cover) characters.  Mark and Jez, roomies, ‘El-Dude Brothers’, and perpetual assholes (can I say assholes?), exist in an ever-constant battle with each other and their individual dreams.  The show’s ‘gimmick’ is allowing us to hear Jez and Mark’s individual thoughts to a revealing extent; so we are right there with the two of them through everything.  And the result is some very layered and uncomfortable comedy.

Top 10 Episodes of 2012 - Part 3

This is part 3 of 5. I asked 20 friends to write about their favorite TV episodes of 2012 and this is the exciting results. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Justified – “Guy Walks Into a Bar” (Season Three, Episode 10)

By Molly Raker

[Plot spoilers for what happens in this episode of Justified.]

It has been awhile since I have seen Season Three and since they don't release the DVD until a week before the new season, it doesn't give me much time to refresh my memory. But one episode stands out. The episode consists of a stand off between Raylan and Querles, the Emmy-winning Jeremy Davies as Dickie, the monster that is Limehouse and also my favorite Supernatural guy, Jim Beaver.