Angel: Lonely Hearts (1.2)

One of the greatest achievements Angel has made so far has been with its depiction of Los Angeles as a city of loneliness. Just like Tina in the pilot, the lost souls depicted throughout Lonely Hearts beautifully reflect a world of isolated individuals desperate for some form of connection and release. Angel fits into this metaphor, but unlike so many of the guest stars here, he's happy to be alone and withdrawn from the world. It's where he feels at home.

Buffy: Living Conditions (4.2)

Part of me loves this episode, and part of me doesn't. There's obviously a lot of funny dialogue, and anybody who's had a roommate can relate to some of the more obvious 'issues' Buffy had with Kathy (the noise, the food, the obsessive rules and charts), but I always felt that the joke just got tired after a while. That fatigue definitely hit by the time the Scoobies tied Buffy up, thinking she had lost her mind. It was one of those completely out-of-character moments that Buffy rarely did, with characters doing something to service the story, rather than the story being modified to fit the characters.

Angel: City of... (1.1)

This is a relentlessly confident pilot episode, one that exploits David Boreanaz's strengths as an actor, carefully positions him as the hero of his own show, sets up a new mythology for the spin-off as well as relying on imagery and characterization of the past, and generally sucks you in. From the first fifteen minutes, it's patently clear that this is a spin-off series with its own drive and mission statement, and something far more successful than it easily could have been.

Buffy: The Freshman (4.1)

Buffy is lost in the world. The Freshman is the fourth season premiere in a row where Buffy experiences some deep personal crisis. Season one saw her trying to avoid her calling in a new town. Season two saw her alienating her friends via her attitude problem. Season three opened with her on the run. Now, as the series settles into season four, Buffy has hit a wall of sorts while she starts college. Not only does she struggle in battle, unable to hold her own against a group of everyday vamps, but she experiences that expected feeling of being thrust into new, uncomfortable surroundings and finding it hard to handle. It's made worse by how easy Willow and Oz seem to have transitioned, Buffy instead feeling overcome by her current predicament.

The X-Files: Two Fathers (6.11)

Sometimes it does surprise me that The X-Files still manages to get mileage out of what are arguably some of the most tired ideas around. Black oil, the conspiracies, the CSM, Krycek. It's all so routine and predictable now that when an episode comes along that actually wins me over using the exact same elements, it's worthy of considerable attention. Two Fathers is a ridiculously entertaining mythology episode, book-ended by an intriguing framing device, littered with absorbing power play, and featuring some squicky face-ripping antics which everybody should somehow enjoy. Heh.

Nip/Tuck: Virginia Hayes (6.15)

And the show begins to come full-circle. Escobar Gallardo is always a reliable villain, and I enjoyed the power play between his ghost and Sean. There's always been a connection between the two of them, Escobar representing the rationality and aggression that Sean rarely employs in reality. The subplot with his daughter Aurelia was a little heavy-handed (Rosemary's Baby... really?), but I enjoyed the show exploring old stories at this point.

Charmed: Look Who's Barking (3.21)

This episode doesn't have a whole lot of emotional resonance, but it's another fun detour involving the sisters morphing into something supernatural. Where it falters is in the execution of the banshee story. The idea of the demon is that each banshee is a former witch, and that banshees seek out those in great emotional pain. Phoebe unsurprisingly is taken over by the banshee, and it should have been an interesting idea to build an episode around. However, the emotional ramifications of the story aren't exploited enough, and it's disappointing that all Phoebe can learn from the episode is that Cole is, deep down, a good guy. Meh.

Charmed: Exit Strategy (3.20)

Way more successful than its preceding part, if only because all the annoying corporate-takeover shenanigans hilariously vanish. Seriously, that whole element of the plot is entirely removed. Obviously everybody involved thought it was a bunch of ass. Exit Strategy is pretty fine, but it's again frustrating that the sisters (notably Prue) are background players to Cole and his demon drama. Cole is a great character, but the flat villains he's usually paired with are all so 'blah'.