A weekly feature in which we're trying to find the most compelling, best acted, written, directed and just generally great, memorable scenes that we've seen in past seven days on TV.
2 BROKE GIRLS, "And the 80's Movie", October 17, 2016, Actors: Kat Dennings, Beth Behrs
The Scene: The arm wrestling
Marko Pekic: 2 Broke Girls turned into one of my favorite comedies in the last couple of months and each episode is a comedic treasure. The intensity of Caroline's face as Max mentions all the failures in her life was truly hilarious.
BROOKLYN NINE-NINE, "Halloween IV", October 18, 2016, Actors: Andy Samberg, Melissa Fumero, Andre Braugher and more, The Scenes: Jake takes the plaque & The heist announcements
Justyna K: First of all, I absolutely love this show, it's my favorite comedy currently on TV and there's always so much fun and heart in its episodes, and the scenes I'd be happy to mention in the article. Some of the best episodes of the series are the ones related to Halloween and the famous heist to determine theAmazing Ultimate Detective/Genius. This year Jake, Amy and Holt all work against each other to win the title and it leads to a number of hilarious moments, starting right in the opening scene of the episode (mentioned below). I could easily name another three favorite moments from the half-hour but I decided to go with the one that made me the laugh the most - Jake's plan to steal the plaque. It was just such a perfect highlight of how the show works and all the characters had their part in it. After Jake figures out a way to lock everyone in the rooms they're in and uses a body double to distract them, he proudly proceeds to take the plaque right in front of them with the help of Gina, ready for the quick runaway. He clearly underestimates the Captain's will to win when the latter breaks the glass in his office, jumps through the window and runs after Gina with the plaque. Holt's action in that scene really made my day and Andre Braugher was absolutely perfect in this part, as well as the entire episode. Also, a shout-out to the other two attempts to steal the plaque - loved Amy and Rosa working in sync together, "Who do you work for, pizza man!? and Holt's clever story. Kudos to cast & crew for this brilliant show!
Laura Markus: Jake, Amy and Holt take turns announcing the heist.
CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, "Where Is Josh's Friend", October 21, 2016, Actors: Santino Fontana and more
The Scene: Greg admits he's an alcoholic at the meeting (picked by Laura Markus)
DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, "The Justice Society of America", October 20, 2016, Actors: Patrick J. Adams, Caity Lotz and more, The Scene: JSA wins the fight with the Legends
Marko Pekic: The Legends get their behinds kicked by the JSA. This was a lot of fun. The JSA was so in sync and the Legends being all over the place was entertainment pure.
FRESH OFF THE BOAT, "Breaking Chains", Octobe 18, 2016, Actors: Ian Chen, Hudson Yang, The Scene: Evan scolds Eddie
A Dahne: Evan scolds Eddie for not taking Emery's feelings into consideration. Usually Jessica is my favorite thing about Fresh Off the Boat but this time I really loved Evan, the littlest brother, telling Eddie, the oldest, that he has to let Emery be himself. I think Eddie really did think that he was doing Emery a favor but it took Evan to make him see that Emery didn't want the same things out of middle school that Eddie did. All in all, this was a strong brothers episode.
FREQUENCY, "The Near Far Problem", October 19, 2016, Actors: Peyton List, Riley Smith, The Scene: Raimy tells Frank to always be honest with her
Aimee Hicks: Raimy is having a tough time dealing with everything alone and her father knows it. With her life growing increasingly complicated all she wants is to stop the man who is ultimately going to rip her mom from her. She thought that she had that man in her sights when she went after Goff only to find out that it wasn’t him after she nearly killed him. To make the whole situation even worse her father never truly believed that Goff was the Nightingale killer. He helped Raimy because he felt it was what she needed. It was a poignant scene between them as she sternly told him to always be honest with her. That is the only way their across time partnership will work. Still, it is evidently hard for Frank given that as her father all he wants to do is protect her. He can’t be with her to shield her, but he can be a voice to support her. Peyton List and Riley Smith are perfect for this part because even though they can’t physically share the screen their shared scenes are always poignant and the bond between the characters is always evident. This was a powerful scene in an intense and powerful episode full of many new twists and turns.
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, "It's About Frank", October 20, 2016, Actors: Aja Naomi King, Behzad Dabu, The Scene: Michaela confronts Drake
Laura Markus: Michaela wrecks Drake about searching their bags.
LUCIFER, "Lady Parts", October 17, 2016, Actors: Lauren German, Lesley-Ann Brandt and more, The Scene: Ladies night out ends in an all-out bar fight
Aimee Hicks: This scene was very possibly my favorite to ever air in the series yet and there have been a million amazing scenes. This one's just perfect because of the way it portrayed these four women. In various combinations, they are all interconnected yet they haven’t ever all hung out together. In fact, last season Maze spent most of the season wanting to murder Chloe. Yet, the moment Chloe was in a position where she was threatened nothing else mattered. Ella immediately stepped up in defense of Chloe when the jealous girlfriend showed up. Maze was prepared to rip the woman limb from limb and would have had she not been restrained. Even Dr. Linda got a couple verbal punches in all in the name of looking after Chloe. These women really did become a little tribe and when the fighting began all of them really held their own well. Okay, well Dr. Linda mostly hid, but she did warn Maze when someone was coming up behind her so she did contribute to the fight. This showed that no matter the differences between these women, or the circumstances that brought them together, they all have each other’s backs. This wasn’t the typical way a show would tell this type of story. The women weren’t out to backstab each other instead they were protecting each other’s backs. Every single scene that continued their night out was epic, but this one really stood out because of how united the women were. This is how to tell a story about a group of female friends. They aren’t perfect and they have their differences, but when it counted they were there for each other. The actresses really brought it as well. Every single one of them was a standout.
MASTERS OF SEX, "Family Only", October 16, 2016, Actors: Michael Sheen and more
The Scene: The nudist colony
Jimmy Ryan: It's amazing the showrunners managed to pull this scene off. It was genuine and superbly executed.
SUPERGIRL, "The Last Children of Krypton", October 17, 2016, Actors: Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, Tyler Hoechlin and more, The Scene: Alex and Supergirl vs Metallo 1 and J’onn and Superman vs Metallo 2
Aimee Hicks: For the entire episode, these four characters were at each other for various reasons. All of them with the best of intentions in mind, but none of them could get on the same page. That is until they realized that they were playing right into the hands of Cadmus by being divided. They are, and always will be, their strongest together. This scene was the epitome of all this show stands for. I particularly loved that they brought back Alex’s Kryptonite laced super suit back from the season finale. It shows that even as a human she can be superhuman and fight side-by-side with her super-powered sister. I hope that is not the last time we have seen of her suit, though I do kind of hope that eventually they’ll remove the Kryptonite from it in order to keep Kara safe when they fight together. I also particularly loved that in the end, it was Alex who delivered the blow that took Metallo 1 down. On the reverse side of the fight, I loved how J’onn and Superman brushed off their differences to fight together. They were a well-oiled machine in the fight making me believe that perhaps before their falling out they had fought together before. The way this scene was written, acted, choreographed, and particularly the way it was edited all came together to create a perfect sequence that beautifully showed off the very core purpose of this show’s message.
SUPERNATURAL, "Mamma Mia", October 20, 2016, Actors: Jared Padalecki, Samantha Smith, The Scene: Sam talks to Mary
Justyna K: While the episode and the reunion itself didn't work quite how I wanted it to, there were a couple of scenes I truly loved in this hour - the family moment with the pie and Sam finally getting his chance to talk to Mary. Even though Mary missed most of her sons' life, she has a memory of Dean and the early years they spent together. It's different with Sam, who never truly got to know his mom before she died when he was still just a baby. It seems though that they have quite a lot in common and this beautiful scene already showed the strong family bond between them. The world has changed so much since her death but what Mary is really trying to catch up with are all the mother stuff, the time her boys spent without her. I loved the return of John's journal and how much it meant for Mary who said only the best things about her lost love. Makes me wish these two had a chance for a reunion as well... For Sam, his mom was always the biggest blank in his life, the one he could never quite fill until this moment. Both Jared Padalecki and Samantha Smith did a wonderful work in this emotional, powerful and most meaningful scene. I hope to see more of such beautifully done family moments in the next episodes. Kudos!
Klutzy girl: Sam comes to check on his mother and tells Mary that her return has filled the biggest blank he's had about his life. I've been waiting for their first interaction and it didn't disappoint at all. The hug was so sweet and I can't wait to see more of the three Winchesters together.
THE GOOD PLACE, "The Eternal Shriek", October 20, 2016, Actors: Kristen Bell and more, The Scene: Eleanor tells the truth
Klutzy girl: Eleanor finally comes clean about the fact that she doesn't belong in the Good Place. I didn't expect the reveal quite so soon - or at all - so it was definitely surprising. I'm looking forward to seeing what the fallout of this revelation entails.
THE MIDDLE, "A Tough Pill to Swallow", October 18, 2016, Actors: Neil Flynn, Patricia Heaton, The Scene: Mike tells Frankie he sold his half of the diaper business
Klutzy girl: Mike reveals to Frankie he sold his half of the diaper business to pay for Sue's college tuition after her financial aid fell through. He's such a good father and the fact that he was willing to do anything to help Sue - even something that was providing money to the family - made me emotional.
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, "Hello Brother", October 21, 2016, Actors: Paul Wesley, Kat Graham, The Scene: Stefan almost gives up
Marko Pekic: Stefan on the brick of giving up. I always enjoyed the interactions between Bonnie and Stefan in previous seasons and them reuniting and teaming up to find Damon and Enzo was a really enjoyable journey. But eventually Stefan broke and thankfully Bonnie was right there to pick up the pieces and encourage him to keep fighting for his brother. Great moment.
WESTWORLD, "The Stray", October 16, 2016, Actors: Evan Rachel Wood and more, The Scene: Dolores saves herself
Justyna K: It's the third episode of the show and they're all really impressive so far. There were a few great scenes I'd like to mention in the article but none more than Dolores saving herself. After getting to know her and seeing the horrors of her story, it's impossible not to root for her to fight back. That's why the scene where she breaks through her settings and shoots the man who attacks her, after recalling her previous encounters with the Man in Black, makes this moment such a powerful one. It's also the part where the Westworld truly changes, the new beginning for Dolores and a chance to fight to get free. There's no telling how far away she can get but for now I can't wait to see where her adventure will lead. Evan Rachel Wood's performance in the scene (and on the show overall!) is absolutely fantastic. Kudos to all the cast & crew for their wonderful work on this one-of-the-kind series!
Darth Locke: Dolores goes off-script and saves herself. Evan Rachel Wood has done such a fantastic job in conveying different modes and settings, which require such incredible acting skills, and although I would have been equally tempted to pick the opening scene between herself and Bernard, there was just a great payoff with Dolores beginning to stray away from an always doomed storyline! I don't know how far she'll be able to get with William and Logan, but I am anxious to see her adventure in 'wonderland' really begin!!
2 BROKE GIRLS, "And the 80's Movie", October 17, 2016, Actors: Kat Dennings, Beth Behrs
The Scene: The arm wrestling
Marko Pekic: 2 Broke Girls turned into one of my favorite comedies in the last couple of months and each episode is a comedic treasure. The intensity of Caroline's face as Max mentions all the failures in her life was truly hilarious.
Justyna K: First of all, I absolutely love this show, it's my favorite comedy currently on TV and there's always so much fun and heart in its episodes, and the scenes I'd be happy to mention in the article. Some of the best episodes of the series are the ones related to Halloween and the famous heist to determine the
Laura Markus: Jake, Amy and Holt take turns announcing the heist.
CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, "Where Is Josh's Friend", October 21, 2016, Actors: Santino Fontana and more
The Scene: Greg admits he's an alcoholic at the meeting (picked by Laura Markus)
DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, "The Justice Society of America", October 20, 2016, Actors: Patrick J. Adams, Caity Lotz and more, The Scene: JSA wins the fight with the Legends
Marko Pekic: The Legends get their behinds kicked by the JSA. This was a lot of fun. The JSA was so in sync and the Legends being all over the place was entertainment pure.
A Dahne: Evan scolds Eddie for not taking Emery's feelings into consideration. Usually Jessica is my favorite thing about Fresh Off the Boat but this time I really loved Evan, the littlest brother, telling Eddie, the oldest, that he has to let Emery be himself. I think Eddie really did think that he was doing Emery a favor but it took Evan to make him see that Emery didn't want the same things out of middle school that Eddie did. All in all, this was a strong brothers episode.
Aimee Hicks: Raimy is having a tough time dealing with everything alone and her father knows it. With her life growing increasingly complicated all she wants is to stop the man who is ultimately going to rip her mom from her. She thought that she had that man in her sights when she went after Goff only to find out that it wasn’t him after she nearly killed him. To make the whole situation even worse her father never truly believed that Goff was the Nightingale killer. He helped Raimy because he felt it was what she needed. It was a poignant scene between them as she sternly told him to always be honest with her. That is the only way their across time partnership will work. Still, it is evidently hard for Frank given that as her father all he wants to do is protect her. He can’t be with her to shield her, but he can be a voice to support her. Peyton List and Riley Smith are perfect for this part because even though they can’t physically share the screen their shared scenes are always poignant and the bond between the characters is always evident. This was a powerful scene in an intense and powerful episode full of many new twists and turns.
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, "It's About Frank", October 20, 2016, Actors: Aja Naomi King, Behzad Dabu, The Scene: Michaela confronts Drake
Laura Markus: Michaela wrecks Drake about searching their bags.
Aimee Hicks: This scene was very possibly my favorite to ever air in the series yet and there have been a million amazing scenes. This one's just perfect because of the way it portrayed these four women. In various combinations, they are all interconnected yet they haven’t ever all hung out together. In fact, last season Maze spent most of the season wanting to murder Chloe. Yet, the moment Chloe was in a position where she was threatened nothing else mattered. Ella immediately stepped up in defense of Chloe when the jealous girlfriend showed up. Maze was prepared to rip the woman limb from limb and would have had she not been restrained. Even Dr. Linda got a couple verbal punches in all in the name of looking after Chloe. These women really did become a little tribe and when the fighting began all of them really held their own well. Okay, well Dr. Linda mostly hid, but she did warn Maze when someone was coming up behind her so she did contribute to the fight. This showed that no matter the differences between these women, or the circumstances that brought them together, they all have each other’s backs. This wasn’t the typical way a show would tell this type of story. The women weren’t out to backstab each other instead they were protecting each other’s backs. Every single scene that continued their night out was epic, but this one really stood out because of how united the women were. This is how to tell a story about a group of female friends. They aren’t perfect and they have their differences, but when it counted they were there for each other. The actresses really brought it as well. Every single one of them was a standout.
MASTERS OF SEX, "Family Only", October 16, 2016, Actors: Michael Sheen and more
The Scene: The nudist colony
Jimmy Ryan: It's amazing the showrunners managed to pull this scene off. It was genuine and superbly executed.
Aimee Hicks: For the entire episode, these four characters were at each other for various reasons. All of them with the best of intentions in mind, but none of them could get on the same page. That is until they realized that they were playing right into the hands of Cadmus by being divided. They are, and always will be, their strongest together. This scene was the epitome of all this show stands for. I particularly loved that they brought back Alex’s Kryptonite laced super suit back from the season finale. It shows that even as a human she can be superhuman and fight side-by-side with her super-powered sister. I hope that is not the last time we have seen of her suit, though I do kind of hope that eventually they’ll remove the Kryptonite from it in order to keep Kara safe when they fight together. I also particularly loved that in the end, it was Alex who delivered the blow that took Metallo 1 down. On the reverse side of the fight, I loved how J’onn and Superman brushed off their differences to fight together. They were a well-oiled machine in the fight making me believe that perhaps before their falling out they had fought together before. The way this scene was written, acted, choreographed, and particularly the way it was edited all came together to create a perfect sequence that beautifully showed off the very core purpose of this show’s message.
Justyna K: While the episode and the reunion itself didn't work quite how I wanted it to, there were a couple of scenes I truly loved in this hour - the family moment with the pie and Sam finally getting his chance to talk to Mary. Even though Mary missed most of her sons' life, she has a memory of Dean and the early years they spent together. It's different with Sam, who never truly got to know his mom before she died when he was still just a baby. It seems though that they have quite a lot in common and this beautiful scene already showed the strong family bond between them. The world has changed so much since her death but what Mary is really trying to catch up with are all the mother stuff, the time her boys spent without her. I loved the return of John's journal and how much it meant for Mary who said only the best things about her lost love. Makes me wish these two had a chance for a reunion as well... For Sam, his mom was always the biggest blank in his life, the one he could never quite fill until this moment. Both Jared Padalecki and Samantha Smith did a wonderful work in this emotional, powerful and most meaningful scene. I hope to see more of such beautifully done family moments in the next episodes. Kudos!
Klutzy girl: Sam comes to check on his mother and tells Mary that her return has filled the biggest blank he's had about his life. I've been waiting for their first interaction and it didn't disappoint at all. The hug was so sweet and I can't wait to see more of the three Winchesters together.
Klutzy girl: Eleanor finally comes clean about the fact that she doesn't belong in the Good Place. I didn't expect the reveal quite so soon - or at all - so it was definitely surprising. I'm looking forward to seeing what the fallout of this revelation entails.
Klutzy girl: Mike reveals to Frankie he sold his half of the diaper business to pay for Sue's college tuition after her financial aid fell through. He's such a good father and the fact that he was willing to do anything to help Sue - even something that was providing money to the family - made me emotional.
Marko Pekic: Stefan on the brick of giving up. I always enjoyed the interactions between Bonnie and Stefan in previous seasons and them reuniting and teaming up to find Damon and Enzo was a really enjoyable journey. But eventually Stefan broke and thankfully Bonnie was right there to pick up the pieces and encourage him to keep fighting for his brother. Great moment.
Justyna K: It's the third episode of the show and they're all really impressive so far. There were a few great scenes I'd like to mention in the article but none more than Dolores saving herself. After getting to know her and seeing the horrors of her story, it's impossible not to root for her to fight back. That's why the scene where she breaks through her settings and shoots the man who attacks her, after recalling her previous encounters with the Man in Black, makes this moment such a powerful one. It's also the part where the Westworld truly changes, the new beginning for Dolores and a chance to fight to get free. There's no telling how far away she can get but for now I can't wait to see where her adventure will lead. Evan Rachel Wood's performance in the scene (and on the show overall!) is absolutely fantastic. Kudos to all the cast & crew for their wonderful work on this one-of-the-kind series!
Darth Locke: Dolores goes off-script and saves herself. Evan Rachel Wood has done such a fantastic job in conveying different modes and settings, which require such incredible acting skills, and although I would have been equally tempted to pick the opening scene between herself and Bernard, there was just a great payoff with Dolores beginning to stray away from an always doomed storyline! I don't know how far she'll be able to get with William and Logan, but I am anxious to see her adventure in 'wonderland' really begin!!
