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.
BROAD CITY, "Broad City", March 28, 2019, Actors: Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer
The Scene: The final scene
Max: The final scene of the series finale, with Abbi and Ilana in different States but still connected and chatting about mundane, silly things. It was a nice touch that the series panned out over New York City to end with several pairs of 'Abbi and Ilana' having their own conversations.
CHARMED, "Memento Mori", March 24, 2019, Actors: Valerie Cruz, Melonie Diaz, Madeleine Mantock, Sarah Jeffery, The Scene: The sisters revisit Marisol's death
Marko: The sibling bond between the sisters never felt this strong. Revisiting Marisol’s death brought the sisters closer than ever and you could see them needing each other. A really powerful moment and great stepping stone for the girls and their future endeavors.
GOOD GIRLS, "Pick Your Poison", March 24, 2019, Actors: Christina Hendricks, Manny Montana, The Scenes: Beth and Rio consummate their alliance
Claire: The steamy scene in the bar’s bathroom where Beth and Rio consummate their alliance or whatever you’d call the relationship that they have. As Rio has slowly reeled and trapped Beth into a life of crime, their chemistry has been bursting at the seams. He excites her not just physically but mentally like her husband, Dean, never has. Dean says be a good mommy and Rio says be a boss, bitch! As dangerous as he is, Beth has never felt more empowered and alive. But where is this all going to end? This is my favorite show on TV in years!
GOOD TROUBLE, "Broken Arted", March 26, 2019, Actors: Emma Hunton, Josh Pence, Heather Mazur and more, The Scenes: The voicemail & Angela decides to help the cause
Mads: Davia realizes where Dennis is. The second Dennis’ ex-wife turned up I had a feeling where things were going but it didn’t stop the reveal from being any less powerful. Davia recounts every moment she’d seen of Dennis over the day and realizes, with horror, that Dennis may be about to kill himself. The relationship between these two has been a nice surprise so I like that it was her who ultimately is going to try and stop him.
Luana: Angela decides to help the cause. I was not sure what would happen but I'm so glad she chose to help Mariana by giving her all the salary information, because unless the company wants to look terrible they can't fire all their women, so inevitably something will have to change at Speculate.
Jamie: The suicide voicemail. This whole sequence was so powerful. When this show first started I wasn't sure how I felt about the flashforward system they have but it worked so well here. This moment came completely out of nowhere until you realize he was actually saying goodbye to everyone all the way through the episode.
GREY'S ANATOMY, "Silent All These Years", March 28, 2019, Actors: Khalilah Joi, Camilla Luddington, Kim Raver and more, The Scenes: The women of the hospital show up to support Abby & Abby tells Jo and Teddy she doesn’t want to be scrutinized & Ben talks to Tuck about consent & Teddy and Jo walk Abby through her tests
Klutzy girl: All the women of the hospital (most of them real life crew members who wanted to be a part of the scene) line up to support the patient, Abby, as she's wheeled into surgery. The whole episode was emotional and heartbreaking but this scene was so moving. Women supporting women is everything.
Marko: Abby telling Jo and Teddy she doesn’t want to be scrutinized. Khalilah Joi was impeccable in this scene. She was hurt, damaged, not in her right mind but she already felt the judgment of the world on her back. It all magnified in her head just about ready to explode.
Zandarl: One of the most powerful episodes I have seen in a long time. Hard to pick just one scene but the women all standing on both sides of the walls showing their support was so moving and touching. This is the Grey's Anatomy I fell in love with.
Claire: Same as above. Just beautiful!
Max: I figured there would be quite a few choices from this phenomenal episode, so I'm going to go with one of the more quiet scenes: Ben talking to Tuck about consent. They managed to do this brilliantly, with fantastic dialogue and really genuine performances. It felt like a nice cap on an episode about assault that spoke to where we really need to focus a lot of attention in this discussion; ensuring young boys understand consent.
Jamie: I really loved this moment. It was a powerful episode but this is the moment that will stay with me the longest. Women supporting women.
Michele: The whole episode was incredible and impactful, but a scene that will stay with me for a long time is the montage of "Yes" as Abby consented to each poke, swab and picture taken during the rape kit collection. It's something to hear about this procedure, but it's another thing entirely to see it done. It was so raw, I forgot I was watching Grey's Anatomy.
Mads: Teddy and Jo walk Abby through her tests. Like everyone else has said, this was an incredibly powerful and poignant episode. There were many phenomenal scenes to choose from but the one that really struck me was when Jo and Teddy help Abby get her rape kit and continue to ask for her consent every step of the way. After being robbed of it during the trauma, it was a necessary visual of consent and returning Abby’s agency.
JANE THE VIRGIN, "Chapter Eighty-Two", March 27, 2019, Actors: Gina Rodriguez, Brett Dier and more, The Scenes: Jane's monologue & Jane sees Michael again
Michele: Jane's monologue in the Villanueva kitchen. As I watched the scene, I was in awe. Firstly, I remembered why I missed Gina Rodriguez on my TV screen. She's so talented and funny and expressive. It's pure joy to watch her act. The second thing that struck me was this was a long scene. And the longer it ran I realized it was done in one, single shot. The camera follows Jane's every move, even as she floats around the apartment from the dining room to the kitchen to the front door and back around again. It's impressive camera work in and of itself, then pair it with a nearly 7-minute monologue - amazing. Finally, the periodic glances the scene gave to Xo and Abuela watching Jane were hilarious. Their faces mirrored my own face watching, right down to the moment Jane walked back into frame not wearing any pants.
Luana: Jane sees Michael again. Gina Rodriguez was so amazing during this episode, but the mix of emotions she was showing in this scene was amazing. Her confusion was hilarious, her pain heartbreaking. To find out the love of your life has come back from the dead only to have forgotten you, it might not be super relatable, but it looks heartbreaking. And how uncomfortable he felt by seeing so much love for him in a stranger. This is what Jane the Virgin does best, grabs absolutely ridiculous telenovela plots and somehow makes them deep and meaningful in other ways, I've missed this show so much.
LEGACIES, "There's Always a Loophole", March 28, 2019, Actors: Danielle Rose Russell, Matt Davis, The Scene: Hope and Alaric’s goodbye
Mads: Hope tells Alaric her plan. Hope calling Alaric to tell him what she intends to do, jump im the Malivore, was a heartbreaking scene. Both actors were incredible and it was a reminder of how much the relationship has grown between them with Alaric becoming Hope’s surrogate father figure.
Marko: The Twins were always jealous of Alaric’s treatment of Hope and this scene just proved them right. The dynamic between those two is messy just as it should be between father and daughter. Hope’s decision was heartbreaking and Alaric couldn’t cope with losing her. The lines flowed well and their tears felt real.
SPLITTING UP TOGETHER, "Melancholicky", March 26, 2019, Actors: Oliver Hudson and more
The Scene: Martin dances and sings with his daughter
Klutzy girl: Martin dances and sings with his daughter, Annie, to Bob Seger's Still The Same. Besides being absolutely adorable and something that made Lisa see him in a new light, this is one of my favorite songs of his so that just made it even more perfect. He really loves his kids, and I'm so happy he's now allowed to spend time with Annie.
STEP UP: HIGH WATER, "Attitude", March 20, 2019, Actor: Jade Chynoweth
The Scene: Odalie dances underwater
Jamie: This scene was so beautifully shot. The song was perfect for this moment. I could rewatch it a hundred times and not get sick of it.
SUPERGIRL, "The House of L", March 24, 2019, Actor: Melissa Benoist, The Scene: Red Daughter finds the destroyed cabin
Justyna: This episode took me by surprise. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Lex's storyline on the show continues to be very interesting and it was great to finally see all the ways in which he has influenced this season's events. The best part, however, turned out to be his interactions with the copy of Supergirl, first codenamed Snowbird and later known as Red Daughter. Melissa Benoist did such a wonderful job with this new portrayal. This young woman, with almost childlike attitude, who felt the need to protect people right from the start, good at her core, but ended up manipulated by a monster like Lex. And the most painful part of it is surely the destruction of the cabin in Kaznia where a young boy named Mikhail lived with his mother. "The thing she loves most" is brutally taken away from her and Red Daughter's world falls apart in a second. The viewers get to learn later that the boy survived the explosion but sadly Red Daughter gets no such comfort. Her complete breakdown when she finds what's left of the cabin is painful to watch. The scream of hopelessness is heartbreaking and hard to imagine. It's a turning point for the character and the story and the actress excels at portraying all the complicated emotions experienced by Snowbird throughout the episode and especially in this moment. Kudos to the cast & crew for all their wonderful work on the show.
DJRiter: Red Daughter's anguish at finding the cabin of the young boy she befriended destroyed by a missile. Melissa Benoist was phenomenal in this episode playing her Supergirl/Kara Danvers Russian doppleganger but this particular moment was the a standout moment as this blank slate of a character faced loss, for the first time, of someone she cared about. You felt every ounce of the gut-wrenching loss she was feeling as she fell to the ground in tears with an anguished cry.
THE MAGICIANS, "All That Hard, Glossy Armor", March 27, 2019, Actors: Hale Appleman, Summer Bishil, Jade Tailor and more, The Scene: Here We Go Again
Milo: This whole sequence was just exceptional and a reminder as to why this show is up there with the best on TV. A powerful character study for Margo it allowed the series to embrace its weirdness and deliver the best episode of the year so far with one of its standout scenes, matching last year's fantastic "Under Pressure" musical number. Summer Bishil, Hale Appleman and Jade Tailor can really sing and it was fantastic seeing Rick Worthy's Dean Fogg show up as well for this extended sequence. In an episode full of spectacular musical numbers, this one shines the most. Here We Go Again, indeed. One more thing, can The Magicians just become a full, Umbrellas of Cherbourg-style musical where every word is spoken in song? I just love this wonderful show so much.
THE OA, "Chapter 8: Overview", March 22, 2019, Actors: Jason Isaacs, Brit Marling, Kingsley Ben-Adir and more, The Scenes: Hap lets Prairie inside his secret room & Karim watches Prairie and Hap through the portal
Aimee T: In the season finale Dr. Percy/Hap willingly lets Nina/OA/Prairie inside his secret room within the psychiatric facility, where she sees the deceased bodies of the boys Jesse, French and Steve floating in a pool. This was a disturbing and tragic scene because it reveals that the boys are actually dead in this dimension. It also explains why in an earlier episode Rachel's "ghost" warned them it was "only safe for BBA to go." For if the boys had attempted to jump from the first/OA's original dimension into this second/current dimension to rejoin her, then they would have been jumping into dead bodies and their conciousness would have died as well. It also reiterates what a complete monster Hap/Dr. Percy is, that even across dimensions he has no qualms about killing people for his research, even kids. Moreover, it seems anyone in OA/Prairie's life that she is close to (or who would try to help her) eventually ends up dead (Homer, Rachel, Scott, and now the boys) once they cross paths with Dr. Percy. The episode ended with a jump to a new/third dimension, so hopefully OA/Prairie will be able to find her friends again (without Hap killing them).
Laura B: Karim watches Prairie and Hap through the portal, as they arrive at new dimension, in which these characters are now the actors who play them "on set" filming the scene of the other reality. This season of the OA was excellent and really beautifully crafted itself atop the first season, but more over the OA never fails to throw in some serious monkey wrenches with its plot twist and this meta scene, which really comprises of 3 stories turning into four, was such an unexpected delight, but makes other things told to viewers by the French traveler make so much more sense. I hope it gets picked up for season 3 asap!
THIS IS US, "R & B", March 26, 2019, Actors: Sterling K. Brown, Susan Kelechi Watson, The Scene: Beth tells Randall she's not going to give up dance
Luana: Beth tells Randall she's not going to give up dance. I absolutely love Beth and Randall, before I saw this episode I would've said they were #relationshipgoals. But now, even though I still love them and I get how much they love each other I can understand Beth so deeply. Someone doesn't have to be bad or mean-spirited to take you down a path you don't want to go, he can be charming and ridiculously convincing, and through no fault of his own, that for sure is Randall, and he can't help who he is, but neither can she, she was never meant to be "just the wife", and even though people want to tell her it's too late for her dreams she stands her ground, and I applaud her for it.
Gina: Randall and Beth fighting in the bedroom and some things were said that can't be unheard.
YOU'RE THE WORST, "We Were Having Such a Nice Day", March 27, 2019, Actors: Aya Cash, Rebecca Tilney, The Scene: Gretchen confronts her mother
Giulia: What an episode! I don't think I'm ready for next week's series finale. This show is incredible. Gretchen finally tells her mother that she doesn't really know her, listing all the things that she has done or have happened to her. To Gretchen's surprise, her mother tells her that she knew everything and belittles her daughter's mental health issues in a very offensive way. It was refreshing to see a mother-daughter relationship where they seem not to know anything about themselves, when in reality, they do. Vanessa really knows her daughter, she just doesn't want to know her. Aya Cash is spectacular in this scene. She made me cry. Again.
BROAD CITY, "Broad City", March 28, 2019, Actors: Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer
The Scene: The final scene
Max: The final scene of the series finale, with Abbi and Ilana in different States but still connected and chatting about mundane, silly things. It was a nice touch that the series panned out over New York City to end with several pairs of 'Abbi and Ilana' having their own conversations.
CHARMED, "Memento Mori", March 24, 2019, Actors: Valerie Cruz, Melonie Diaz, Madeleine Mantock, Sarah Jeffery, The Scene: The sisters revisit Marisol's death
Marko: The sibling bond between the sisters never felt this strong. Revisiting Marisol’s death brought the sisters closer than ever and you could see them needing each other. A really powerful moment and great stepping stone for the girls and their future endeavors.
Claire: The steamy scene in the bar’s bathroom where Beth and Rio consummate their alliance or whatever you’d call the relationship that they have. As Rio has slowly reeled and trapped Beth into a life of crime, their chemistry has been bursting at the seams. He excites her not just physically but mentally like her husband, Dean, never has. Dean says be a good mommy and Rio says be a boss, bitch! As dangerous as he is, Beth has never felt more empowered and alive. But where is this all going to end? This is my favorite show on TV in years!
Mads: Davia realizes where Dennis is. The second Dennis’ ex-wife turned up I had a feeling where things were going but it didn’t stop the reveal from being any less powerful. Davia recounts every moment she’d seen of Dennis over the day and realizes, with horror, that Dennis may be about to kill himself. The relationship between these two has been a nice surprise so I like that it was her who ultimately is going to try and stop him.
Luana: Angela decides to help the cause. I was not sure what would happen but I'm so glad she chose to help Mariana by giving her all the salary information, because unless the company wants to look terrible they can't fire all their women, so inevitably something will have to change at Speculate.
Jamie: The suicide voicemail. This whole sequence was so powerful. When this show first started I wasn't sure how I felt about the flashforward system they have but it worked so well here. This moment came completely out of nowhere until you realize he was actually saying goodbye to everyone all the way through the episode.
Klutzy girl: All the women of the hospital (most of them real life crew members who wanted to be a part of the scene) line up to support the patient, Abby, as she's wheeled into surgery. The whole episode was emotional and heartbreaking but this scene was so moving. Women supporting women is everything.
Marko: Abby telling Jo and Teddy she doesn’t want to be scrutinized. Khalilah Joi was impeccable in this scene. She was hurt, damaged, not in her right mind but she already felt the judgment of the world on her back. It all magnified in her head just about ready to explode.
Zandarl: One of the most powerful episodes I have seen in a long time. Hard to pick just one scene but the women all standing on both sides of the walls showing their support was so moving and touching. This is the Grey's Anatomy I fell in love with.
Claire: Same as above. Just beautiful!
Max: I figured there would be quite a few choices from this phenomenal episode, so I'm going to go with one of the more quiet scenes: Ben talking to Tuck about consent. They managed to do this brilliantly, with fantastic dialogue and really genuine performances. It felt like a nice cap on an episode about assault that spoke to where we really need to focus a lot of attention in this discussion; ensuring young boys understand consent.
Jamie: I really loved this moment. It was a powerful episode but this is the moment that will stay with me the longest. Women supporting women.
Michele: The whole episode was incredible and impactful, but a scene that will stay with me for a long time is the montage of "Yes" as Abby consented to each poke, swab and picture taken during the rape kit collection. It's something to hear about this procedure, but it's another thing entirely to see it done. It was so raw, I forgot I was watching Grey's Anatomy.
Mads: Teddy and Jo walk Abby through her tests. Like everyone else has said, this was an incredibly powerful and poignant episode. There were many phenomenal scenes to choose from but the one that really struck me was when Jo and Teddy help Abby get her rape kit and continue to ask for her consent every step of the way. After being robbed of it during the trauma, it was a necessary visual of consent and returning Abby’s agency.
Michele: Jane's monologue in the Villanueva kitchen. As I watched the scene, I was in awe. Firstly, I remembered why I missed Gina Rodriguez on my TV screen. She's so talented and funny and expressive. It's pure joy to watch her act. The second thing that struck me was this was a long scene. And the longer it ran I realized it was done in one, single shot. The camera follows Jane's every move, even as she floats around the apartment from the dining room to the kitchen to the front door and back around again. It's impressive camera work in and of itself, then pair it with a nearly 7-minute monologue - amazing. Finally, the periodic glances the scene gave to Xo and Abuela watching Jane were hilarious. Their faces mirrored my own face watching, right down to the moment Jane walked back into frame not wearing any pants.
Luana: Jane sees Michael again. Gina Rodriguez was so amazing during this episode, but the mix of emotions she was showing in this scene was amazing. Her confusion was hilarious, her pain heartbreaking. To find out the love of your life has come back from the dead only to have forgotten you, it might not be super relatable, but it looks heartbreaking. And how uncomfortable he felt by seeing so much love for him in a stranger. This is what Jane the Virgin does best, grabs absolutely ridiculous telenovela plots and somehow makes them deep and meaningful in other ways, I've missed this show so much.
Mads: Hope tells Alaric her plan. Hope calling Alaric to tell him what she intends to do, jump im the Malivore, was a heartbreaking scene. Both actors were incredible and it was a reminder of how much the relationship has grown between them with Alaric becoming Hope’s surrogate father figure.
Marko: The Twins were always jealous of Alaric’s treatment of Hope and this scene just proved them right. The dynamic between those two is messy just as it should be between father and daughter. Hope’s decision was heartbreaking and Alaric couldn’t cope with losing her. The lines flowed well and their tears felt real.
SPLITTING UP TOGETHER, "Melancholicky", March 26, 2019, Actors: Oliver Hudson and more
The Scene: Martin dances and sings with his daughter
Klutzy girl: Martin dances and sings with his daughter, Annie, to Bob Seger's Still The Same. Besides being absolutely adorable and something that made Lisa see him in a new light, this is one of my favorite songs of his so that just made it even more perfect. He really loves his kids, and I'm so happy he's now allowed to spend time with Annie.
STEP UP: HIGH WATER, "Attitude", March 20, 2019, Actor: Jade Chynoweth
The Scene: Odalie dances underwater
Jamie: This scene was so beautifully shot. The song was perfect for this moment. I could rewatch it a hundred times and not get sick of it.
Justyna: This episode took me by surprise. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Lex's storyline on the show continues to be very interesting and it was great to finally see all the ways in which he has influenced this season's events. The best part, however, turned out to be his interactions with the copy of Supergirl, first codenamed Snowbird and later known as Red Daughter. Melissa Benoist did such a wonderful job with this new portrayal. This young woman, with almost childlike attitude, who felt the need to protect people right from the start, good at her core, but ended up manipulated by a monster like Lex. And the most painful part of it is surely the destruction of the cabin in Kaznia where a young boy named Mikhail lived with his mother. "The thing she loves most" is brutally taken away from her and Red Daughter's world falls apart in a second. The viewers get to learn later that the boy survived the explosion but sadly Red Daughter gets no such comfort. Her complete breakdown when she finds what's left of the cabin is painful to watch. The scream of hopelessness is heartbreaking and hard to imagine. It's a turning point for the character and the story and the actress excels at portraying all the complicated emotions experienced by Snowbird throughout the episode and especially in this moment. Kudos to the cast & crew for all their wonderful work on the show.
DJRiter: Red Daughter's anguish at finding the cabin of the young boy she befriended destroyed by a missile. Melissa Benoist was phenomenal in this episode playing her Supergirl/Kara Danvers Russian doppleganger but this particular moment was the a standout moment as this blank slate of a character faced loss, for the first time, of someone she cared about. You felt every ounce of the gut-wrenching loss she was feeling as she fell to the ground in tears with an anguished cry.
Milo: This whole sequence was just exceptional and a reminder as to why this show is up there with the best on TV. A powerful character study for Margo it allowed the series to embrace its weirdness and deliver the best episode of the year so far with one of its standout scenes, matching last year's fantastic "Under Pressure" musical number. Summer Bishil, Hale Appleman and Jade Tailor can really sing and it was fantastic seeing Rick Worthy's Dean Fogg show up as well for this extended sequence. In an episode full of spectacular musical numbers, this one shines the most. Here We Go Again, indeed. One more thing, can The Magicians just become a full, Umbrellas of Cherbourg-style musical where every word is spoken in song? I just love this wonderful show so much.
Aimee T: In the season finale Dr. Percy/Hap willingly lets Nina/OA/Prairie inside his secret room within the psychiatric facility, where she sees the deceased bodies of the boys Jesse, French and Steve floating in a pool. This was a disturbing and tragic scene because it reveals that the boys are actually dead in this dimension. It also explains why in an earlier episode Rachel's "ghost" warned them it was "only safe for BBA to go." For if the boys had attempted to jump from the first/OA's original dimension into this second/current dimension to rejoin her, then they would have been jumping into dead bodies and their conciousness would have died as well. It also reiterates what a complete monster Hap/Dr. Percy is, that even across dimensions he has no qualms about killing people for his research, even kids. Moreover, it seems anyone in OA/Prairie's life that she is close to (or who would try to help her) eventually ends up dead (Homer, Rachel, Scott, and now the boys) once they cross paths with Dr. Percy. The episode ended with a jump to a new/third dimension, so hopefully OA/Prairie will be able to find her friends again (without Hap killing them).
Laura B: Karim watches Prairie and Hap through the portal, as they arrive at new dimension, in which these characters are now the actors who play them "on set" filming the scene of the other reality. This season of the OA was excellent and really beautifully crafted itself atop the first season, but more over the OA never fails to throw in some serious monkey wrenches with its plot twist and this meta scene, which really comprises of 3 stories turning into four, was such an unexpected delight, but makes other things told to viewers by the French traveler make so much more sense. I hope it gets picked up for season 3 asap!
Luana: Beth tells Randall she's not going to give up dance. I absolutely love Beth and Randall, before I saw this episode I would've said they were #relationshipgoals. But now, even though I still love them and I get how much they love each other I can understand Beth so deeply. Someone doesn't have to be bad or mean-spirited to take you down a path you don't want to go, he can be charming and ridiculously convincing, and through no fault of his own, that for sure is Randall, and he can't help who he is, but neither can she, she was never meant to be "just the wife", and even though people want to tell her it's too late for her dreams she stands her ground, and I applaud her for it.
Gina: Randall and Beth fighting in the bedroom and some things were said that can't be unheard.
Giulia: What an episode! I don't think I'm ready for next week's series finale. This show is incredible. Gretchen finally tells her mother that she doesn't really know her, listing all the things that she has done or have happened to her. To Gretchen's surprise, her mother tells her that she knew everything and belittles her daughter's mental health issues in a very offensive way. It was refreshing to see a mother-daughter relationship where they seem not to know anything about themselves, when in reality, they do. Vanessa really knows her daughter, she just doesn't want to know her. Aya Cash is spectacular in this scene. She made me cry. Again.
