Ten Dramatic Television Scenes I Love
Some scenes stick with you. Here are ten of my favorites, in chronological order by original airdate. (In general, you should be wary of spoilers, but I’ll make sure to specially flag clips that seriously spoil large chunks of a series — there are only two of these.)
“It was the first kiss for both of us”
The Wonder Years – “Pilot” (1988)
I’ve remarked before that this scene is the main reason anyone remembers Percy Sledge‘s classic tune, “When a Man Loves a Woman”. This is probably an exaggeration, but what I find unforgettable about this scene is Daniel Stern‘s (yes, that’s really Marv) beautiful narration at the end. It’s striking how different this is from the voiceovers that have become common in modern primetime soap operas (Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, and so on). While the narration in those shows is at best forgettable, and at worst little more than background noise, the reflections at the end of this seminal series’s pilot are deeply resonant, with a flowing cadence that is nothing short of poetry. I can listen to it over and over again without getting bored.
“Then I’ll see you in your nightmares!”
Batman: The Animated Series – “Perchance to Dream” (1992)
(To watch, skip to 13:30 here and wait a [long] while for the video to buffer, so that you can watch through to the end of the episode. Sorry I couldn’t find a better video.)
In this gripping episode, Bruce Wayne suddenly finds himself in a world in which there is a Batman, but it’s not him. His parents are still alive, he’s engaged to Selina Kyle, and he leads a life of lazy comfort. But he can’t bring himself to accept that this could really be his life (which of course, it turns out, it’s not).
Watching this now, it’s hard to believe that I first saw it when I was only seven years old. There is some really deep stuff here — the idea that living a life that is true is more important than living one that’s enjoyable, and the idea that it would be worth dying to protect this principle. I can almost feel the chills I got when I first heard Wayne growl the line I quoted above. (I also think this episode must have primed me for being completely obsessed with Inception.)
“There…are…four…lights!”
Star Trek: The Next Generation – “Chain of Command: Part Two” (1992)
In this two-part episode from TNG‘s fifth season, Captain Picard is captured on a mission by the Cardassians and subsequently tortured for strategic information by a sadistic Cardassian officer. In an plot point with shades of Orwell, Picard’s captor, Gul Madred, tries to break him by demanding that he admit that a light fixture which has four lights in fact has five. This scene comes at the climax of the second half of the episode, after Starfleet has negotiated Picard’s release. Gul Madred tries one last time to get Picard to capitulate, and Picard refuses.
The chilling line, the one that made this scene even more resonant, actually comes afterward, back on the Enterprise, when Picard confides in Counselor Troi: “I would have told him anything. Anything at all. But more than that, I believed that I could see five lights.”
“Cherry bark and almonds”
Frasier – “To Tell the Truth” (1999)
It may seem odd to include a scene from a sitcom in a post about dramatic television, but every now and then, sitcom writing does elevate itself in a way that is impossible to ignore. This scene, which comes after Niles has finally concluded his divorce settlement proceedings and is therefore finally ready to express his true feelings to Daphne, is so potent because of its brutal demonstration of what Niles says: it’s remarkable how completely one’s life can change in an instant. The very last line of the scene, quoted above, has stuck with me for over a decade as a poignant expression of unrequited love.
“We aren’t supposed to move the body!”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – “The Body” (2001)
[Spoiler alert!]
I believe this scene is the single most compelling portrayal of death that I have ever seen on screen. It’s a masterpiece of direction: the unsettling camera angles, the total absence of a score, the eerie emphasis on mundane sounds like the wind chimes. I love how the scene captures the way that we fixate on the most pointless of details (like Joyce‘s exposed legs) as a way of coping with the unfathomable event of death. I also love it because it’s an example of how, every now and then, an actor can transcend her own talents (which, in Sarah Michelle Gellar‘s case, are not insignificant) and deliver something truly special.
“The king stay the king”
The Wire – “The Buys” (2002)
You know that I had to include a scene from The Wire in this list. There are plenty to choose from, but I think what I love about this, in addition to the easy humor of the banter between the characters, is the way that it stands alone as a social commentary even if you know almost nothing about the show. In that sense, it’s a nice primer — no spoilers, but you get an immediate sense for the feel of the show and what it’s about. The scene demonstrates the fundamental tension between the raw ambition of the street dealers in the scene and the reality that they are just pawns in someone else’s game of chess.
The Carousel
Mad Men – “The Wheel” (2007)
(Link, because embedding is disabled.)
Whenever I go on a rant about how advertising isn’t just some soulless tool of the capitalist machine, this scene is the sort of thing I’m thinking about. The things we buy aren’t just about utility; they can also tap into our deepest emotional experiences. I love this scene because it shows that advertising isn’t just about products — it’s fundamentally about people.
It wouldn’t be illegitimate to criticize this scene as overwrought — Harry Crane’s reaction is honestly a bit much — but you’d be hard-pressed to find a scene that captures the essence of a character as artfully and perceptively as this one. Don Draper is a showman, through and through, and showmanship is the only way he can devise to express even his most heartfelt emotions.
Intervention
Breaking Bad – “Gray Matter” (2008)
Click play and skip ahead to the 28:25 mark:
This series has had a lot of pretty good scenes, but this was the scene I saw early on that let me know this show was for real. What astonishes me about it is the sheer patience it demonstrates; when was the last time you saw a show invest over ten full minutes in a single scene, letting every last moment of discomfort and pain linger on the screen? It’s powerfully affecting to watch a scene that slows down so deliberately, as if to say, “this is going to be hard, these people are going to suffer, and we’re not going to let you off easy.”
Don’t Stop Believin’
Glee – “Pilot” (2009)
I love this scene because it’s such a powerful expression of potential, of possibility — and the fact that Glee has so rarely met this potential in subsequent episodes makes the performance even more compelling. The sheer joy and jubilation portrayed here are so full and pure that the scene is uplifting even beyond the song itself, which has always been a pick-me-up; only the recent “Loser Like Me” has come anywhere close to being this enjoyable. All the other scenes in this post are about loss and pain, because that’s what much of drama is all about, but I wanted to make sure to include one scene that demonstrated the power of positive thinking.
“I think I’m just havin’ a moment”
Friday Night Lights – “The Son” (2009)
[Spoiler alert!]
I knew I wanted to include a scene from FNL in this list, but the marvelous thing about this show is that its writing and performances are so understated in their excellence that it’s actually hard to pick out specific big moments from the thousands of wonderful little ones. I knew, however, that the scene I chose would come from “The Son”, one of the most affecting hours of television I’ve ever watched (and probably the performance of Zach Gilford‘s career). I am deeply impressed by the courage of the writers in making Matt Saracen‘s feelings about his father so complicated, and in not hiding from that complexity just because Henry Saracen was killed by an IED in Iraq (hence the reference to “not having a face” — Matt has just come from viewing his father’s body in the mortuary). It would have been easy to sweep Matt’s bitterness under the rug, but FNL never lets itself off the hook, and this scene is no exception; Matt’s bitterness is on full display, raw and real.
I also love the ways in which the Taylors quietly support Matt and each other; they really are one of the best families on television.
There are plenty of honorable mentions — I could probably fill another post or two with them — but I think you get the idea.
What scenes have stuck with you?