5 Best TV Episodes of 2019

by Julian Spivey

5. "Veep" (Veep)

​HBO’s “Veep” was for most of the last decade the funniest show on television, but also the most callous, vile and mean-spirited show of the decade. The series finale, simply titled “Veep,” double down on all of those things that made it the greatest political satire we’ve ever seen. We’d seen for seven seasons that Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Selina Meyer could be a cruel and truly evil politician, but what she did at the end to her most loyal of staff members absolutely took the cake. 

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4. "Rose390" (Evil)

​The fourth episode of the new CBS horror drama “Evil,” from Robert and Michelle King (who created the critically-acclaimed “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight” for CBS and CBS All Access), is when the show really clicked and showed it might turn into something special (which is still to be seen as it’s only halfway into its first season). The episode “Rose390” had two incredibly creepy storylines – one in which our protagonist Kristen’s (played by Katja Herbers) children are seemingly being hacked in a virtual reality world and another in which Kristen, David (Mike Colter) and Ben (Aasif Mandvi) are tasked with seeing if a kid with violent behavior is being controlled by a demon. What the episode does at the end is something you just don’t see out of network television, and though deeply disturbing, gave me hope that this show might go deeper than your average CBS procedural.  

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3. Eddie Murphy Hosts (Saturday Night Live)

​Eddie Murphy is one of the all-time great “Saturday Night Live” legends but hadn’t returned to the show (other than for a brief appearance at the 40th anniversary special) since he was a cast member in the early ‘80s. It was a bit of a shock a few months ago when announced he’d be hosting a show this season in December and it led to many wondering if he would reprise his great characters like Gumby, Buckwheat and Mr. Robinson even though he hadn’t touched them in nearly 35 years. Murphy’s return had high expectations, but the show’s writing doesn’t always lead to the best shows these days, but this episode easily cleared those high expectations. Crafting a perfect ‘SNL’ episode is like throwing a perfect game in baseball – it just doesn’t happen often because sketch comedy is so hit or miss. Murphy hosted a perfect episode with reprisals of his greatest hits and by the time the goodnights finished rolling it was instantly the best ‘SNL’ episode in a long time. 

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2. "Episode 6" (Fleabag)

​I think “Fleabag” creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge was able to get every conceivable emotion one could feel into the finale of the series “Episode 6” and knocked them all out of the park. The episode is incredibly funny, heartwarming and sad all at the same time. Going into the reasons why would spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet and I highly recommend doing so, but the performances in this episode by Waller-Bridge and Andrew Scott’s Priest, better known to the Internet world as “Hot Priest” are among the best on television all year. 

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1. "ronny/lily" (Barry)

​“ronny/lily,” a second season episode of HBO’s “Barry,” had me in stitches its entire 30 minute runtime. It’s one of the funniest episodes of television I’ve not only seen in a long time, but all time. The episode sees hitman, who wants to give up the violent life and become an actor, Barry (played by an eye opening Bill Hader) out to do a hit to get him off the hook for a previous murder. Not wanting to kill again he tries to let his target off easy by forcing him to move elsewhere, but it turns out the target is a taekwondo expert and isn’t going to go easily. What happens next is the longest fight scene I’ve ever seen and certainly the funniest. That was Ronny. Then walks in Ronny’s daughter Lily who believes Barry has killed her father … and Lily just so happens to be even more ferocious than her father. The antics that play out between Lily, Barry and Stephen Root’s Fuches are so unbelievably hilarious you might pass out from laughing so hard. 

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What was your favorite TV episode of 2019?