23 Overshadowed TV Episodes You Need to Revisit

The best episodes that the TV history books overlook.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

TV episodes endure. In an age where there are more series to choose from than ever before and scenes are dissected to create memes, GIFs and viral clips, the episode itself has still managed to make an indelible mark. When a classic series delivers a classic episode, it hits. It impacts. It will almost definitely live on various lists for years to come. This much is certain.

But what about the episodes that exist right next to these classics? As time passes, we reflect nostalgically on the season, followed by that season's highlights. But in many cases, there exist episodes that are just as good, but drew the short straw of existing next to the more fondly remembered moments, like that song on a classic album you were sure would be a single but then never blew up. Or the inverse, great episodes that persist amidst infamously terrible creative stretches. Welp, we're finally shining some long overdue light on those that deserve props. You might find yourself on a TV marathon shuffle when we dig up these gems that have been buried in the rough. 

The Walking Dead — "Nebraska" (Season 2, Episode 9)

Not Available Interstitial

Game of Thrones — "The Watchers on the Wall" (Season 4, Episode 9)

Not Available Interstitial

Lost — "White Rabbit" (Season 1, Episode 5)

Not Available Interstitial

Breaking Bad — "Sunset" (Season 3, Episode 6)

Not Available Interstitial

Breaking Bad — "Open House," (Season 4, Episode 3)

Not Available Interstitial

Seinfeld — "The Secret Code" (Season 7, Episode 7)

Not Available Interstitial

The O.C. — "The Heartbreak" (Season 1, Episode 19)

Not Available Interstitial

The Sopranos — "Kennedy and Heidi" (Season 6B, Episode 6)

Not Available Interstitial

True Detective — "The Secret Fate of All Life" (Season 1, Episode 5)

Not Available Interstitial

Friday Night Lights — "Tomorrow Blues" (Season 3, Episode 13)

Not Available Interstitial

Mad Men — "The Summer Man" (Season 4, Episode 8)

Not Available Interstitial

Mad Men — "Mystery Date" (Season 5, Episode 4)

Not Available Interstitial

The Simpsons — "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" (Season 11, Episode 5)

Not Available Interstitial

The Shield — "Possible Kill Screen" (Season 7, Episode 12)

Not Available Interstitial

How I Met Your Mother — "Gary Blauman" (Season 9, Episode 21)

Not Available Interstitial

Veronica Mars — "A Trip to the Dentist" (Season 1, Episode 21)

Not Available Interstitial

Alias — "Double Agent" (Season 2, Episode 14)

Not Available Interstitial

Justified — "The Spoil" (Season 2, Episode 8)

Not Available Interstitial

Futurama — "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" (Season 4, Episode 18)

Not Available Interstitial

Boardwalk Empire — "Havre de Grace" (Season 4, Episode 11)

Not Available Interstitial

Cheers — "Showdown, Part 2" (Season 1, Episode 22)

Not Available Interstitial

Sons of Anarchy — "Bainne" (Season 3, Episode 11)

Not Available Interstitial

True Blood Season 1

Not Available Interstitial

Latest in Pop Culture