5. Ramy: “They”
Ramy’s “They” takes viewers on a personal odyssey with Maysa (Hiam Abbass), the titular character’s intense and often under-appreciated mother. Much of the episode boldly focuses on a misunderstanding between Maysa, a first-generation immigrant, and a non-binary rideshare passenger named Sophia (Maybe Burke) who gives her a negative review when she continually offends them. Maysa worries that the complaint against her will prevent her from passing her citizenship test, so she goes to extreme measures to reconcile with the passenger.
The triumphant final scene sees Maysa hold her hand up in an oath of citizenship, and reveals exactly what was at stake for her all along. She sees a picture of the US president on the wall and inexplicably breaks the fourth wall to speak to him. “I’m not like you, Trump,” she says. “I will vote you away, you piece of fucking fuck shit. I’m here to stay.” She punctuates the last word with a wave of a small American flag, then laughs with relief as an offscreen speaker announces her citizenship. This brief but fantastic moment encapsulates the immigrant journey in a way we rarely see, all while laying bare the deeper motivations that compel Maysa’s occasionally misguided actions.
4. The Umbrella Academy: “Right Back Where We Started From”
The first seven minutes of The Umbrella Academy’s second season should be in the dictionary beside the word “reinvention.” The series about dysfunctional superhero siblings had a less-than-stellar first season, yet its second turned on a dime and became one of the most stylish and enjoyable shows of the summer. It all starts with this epic opener, which sees each of the Hargreeves siblings touch down in the same alley in Dallas after Five (Aidan Gallagher) sends them through time to avoid the apocalypse. The problem is, they all touch down in different time periods.
Each character re-introduction is pitch-perfect, with several even setting up season-long arcs in a matter of seconds. After Alison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) has wandered into a segregated diner, Vanya (Elliot Page) has been concussed into forgetting her terrible Season 1 plot, and the rest of the Hargreeves crew have realized they’re stuck in the JFK era, the scene pivots into a large-scale military apocalypse scenario. Five’s time jump takes him a few days too far, and he sees the Umbrella Academy squad fighting an invasion at the onset of a third world war in an utterly cinematic moment. Before the title credit even comes up, the entire season’s blueprint is laid out. Top it all off with the perfect soundtrack choice — Maxine Nightingale’s “Right Back Where We Started From” — and you’ve got a certified banger of a season premiere.
3. Bojack Horseman: “The View From Halfway Down”
More than one scene on this list involves looking death in the face and treating it like a natural step in life. Bojack Horseman, on the other hand, looks death in the face and is understandably terrified by what it sees. “The View From Halfway Down” is the series’ surreal, frightening penultimate episode, which looks at life’s finite nature through the prism of a dinner party with the deceased. The episode’s ending, in which formless, gooey blackness follows Bojack to the ends of his psyche, is an all-time great TV moment. After wracking his brain to remember what led him to this purgatorial party in the first place, Bojack (Will Arnett) finds a phone and calls Diane (Alison Brie). He asks her to save him, but she says that she can’t; she never picked up the phone, remember?
It’s then that Bojack realizes he overdosed in the pool. This moment, which brings the series’ opening credits sequence full circle, is both bone-deep surprising and unwaveringly true to the story that’s been told all along. Although the series finale involves a reversal of fortune, these few moments beforehand are gutting. “Well, if it doesn’t matter, can I stay on the phone with you at least?” Bojack asks Diane, content to feel one last moment of human connection, real or imagined, as the darkness envelopes him.
2. Schitt’s Creek: “Happy Ending”
In the grand tradition of Shakespearean comedies, TV series that end in weddings are classic. They can also, unfortunately, be forgettable. Luckily, everything about Schitt’s Creek’s journey from an underwhelming fish-out-of-water sitcom to a beloved, Emmy winning beacon of positivity and love is memorable. When David (Dan Levy) and Patrick (Noah Reid) are forced to make some last-minute changes to their venue and Alexis (Annie Murphy) shows up in a wedding dress, the stress levels are high. But when the ceremony finally arrives, it’s perfect. Catherine O’Hara’s Pope-inspired getup is the upstaging outfit to end all upstaging outfits, and as Moira, her gasping sobs and vocal misadventures throughout the ceremony are nothing short of hilarious. The musical moments, of which there are three(!), are even better. By the time David and Patrick exchange their vows, there’s not a dry eye in the house. There’s a pure joy to Schitt’s Creek, and by bringing the whole town together to celebrate one of the best sitcom love stories around, the series ends on a beaming high note.
1. The Midnight Gospel: “Mouse of Silver”
Every episode of The Midnight Gospel — Adventure Time creator Pendelton Ward and comedian Duncan Trussell’s new animated fantasy series — includes real podcast audio of Trussell interviewing someone about their relationship with death, spirituality, and life’s big questions. In the final episode, Trussell’s universe-hopping spacecaster character, Clancy, speaks with his own mom, who is played by Trussell’s mother, psychologist Deneen Fendig. Their conversation is loving, funny, tender, and wise, his curiosity matched by her assured responses. As they talk, the animated version of his mother ages and dies but then is reborn as his own baby. The second time around, he raises her, soon becoming an old man himself. Around them, the universe seems to be changing — or maybe ending.
At the same time, their conversation turns to Fendig’s diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer. By the time viewers realize, with an overwhelming sense of sudden grief, that the subject of this audio recording has already passed on, she’s already comforting us with an assurance that everything is meant to change form. The animated universe of The Midnight Gospel is in constant flux throughout the season, building and breaking itself more times than we can imagine. “There’s no way to stop the heartbreak,” Trussell tells her, then asks. “What do you do about that?” Her answer has all the gentleness and comfort in the world. “You cry,” she says. “You cry!” So they do, and we do too.
Related Topics: 2020 Rewind
