Spoiler Alert: This list contains spoilers for multiple TV shows.The last 30 years of television have seen the airing of several of the heaviest episodes, not just of the last three decades, but arguably of all time. These may be some of the greatest episodes of television in history, but they’re undeniably tough to get through. Whether they’re depressing, violent, emotionally exhausting, narratively dense, or all of those things and more, they can simply not be described with a more fitting word than “heavy.”
Regardless of why, these episodes prove that an episode that completely drains the viewer of all their energy can nevertheless be near-objectively exceptional. From drama miniseries like Chernobyl to comedy cartoons like BoJack Horseman, these are shows which have provided us with some masterful episodes that are nonetheless nothing if not incredibly heavy to experience.
10
“Plan and Execution”
‘Better Call Saul’ Season 6, Episode 7
With its predecessor being perhaps the single most acclaimed drama show in the history of American television, the bar was sky-high for Better Call Saul. Somehow, it managed to not only live up to expectations, but in many ways even surpass them. All in all, however, it remained a far more lighthearted series than the show it served as a prequel to—until the arrival of “Plan and Execution.”
The mid-season finale of Better Call Saul‘s final season sees the two worlds of the series—its gritty criminal side and its less-heavy legal drama side—irreparably collide, as Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) carry out their plan to sabotage Howard (Patrick Fabian), only to see him get murdered by Lalo (Tony Dalton) when he comes to their home to confront them. For a variety of reasons, Better Call Saul is one of the best TV shows since 2010, but fans had never seen it get this shocking or bleak.
9
“The View from Halfway Down”
‘BoJack Horseman’ Season 6, Episode 15
Going into BoJack Horseman, anyone would be forgiven for thinking they were just watching a silly cartoon for adults about a talking horse. Soon enough, however, the show proved that it was far more serious, psychologically intense, and philosophically complex than anyone would have given it credit for during its first few episodes. That culminates in “The View from Halfway Down,” the show’s penultimate episode, where BoJack (Will Arnett) is forced to confront his own mortality.
BoJack Horseman could be argued to be one of Netflix’s most flawless shows, but even by its high standards, “The View from Halfway Down” is surprisingly perfect. Its bleak, surreal, overwhelmingly existential, and dread-filled tone make it all the more emotionally intense. By the time it’s over, viewers have been treated to what’s probably the heaviest but most intense anti-suicide statement in the history of television.
8
“Mizumono”
‘Hannibal’ Season 2, Episode 13
Thomas Harris‘ Hannibal novels are legendary for a reason, all of them essential reading for fans of thriller books. The series has seen several feature film adaptations over the years, but there are those who would argue that the best Hannibal adaptation to date is NBC’s television series of the same name, one of the most shockingly dark and violent shows in the history of American network television.
Hannibal is the sort of crime show that gets darker with every episode, but the peak of its intensity and heaviness actually comes in the finale of its second season: “Mizumono,” which deals with the aftermath of Hannibal’s (Mads Mikkelsen) discovery of Will’s (Hugh Dancy) betrayal. The comfort of the complex, intimate relationship between these two characters is shattered in an emotionally overwhelming cascade of violence and heartbreak, culminating with a brutal bloodbath where a shocking number of the show’s main characters are left to bleed out by Hannibal.
7
“Connor’s Wedding”
‘Succession’ Season 4, Episode 3
Though it definitely has a delightful sense of humor that results in some of the funniest television moments from the last decade, Succession remained a drama on a Shakespearean scale through and through until its final season. The whole season is exceptional, but it’s with Logan Roy’s (Brian Cox) unexpected death in the third episode that it really kicks off and immediately picks up steam.
All in all, Succession is undoubtedly one of the best modern HBO show masterpieces, and that’s all thanks to episodes like “Connor’s Wedding,” which may very well be the show’s best. From the sheer shock of Logan’s surprising off-screen death to watching his children try and emotionally and psychologically deal with it in real time, the episode is both the heaviest and most intense of a show with plenty of episodes that check those boxes.
6
“Open Wide, O Earth”
‘Chernobyl’ Season 1, Episode 3
There are very few miniseries that are truly without flaws, and there’s a very strong argument to be made that HBO’s Chernobyl is far and away one of the best of that prestige group. Over the course of five episodes, audiences are forced to sit and watch everything that led to the harrowing disaster in the eponymous Ukrainian city, then witness the disaster itself, and then sit through its devastating consequences. The whole miniseries is incredibly heavy, but no episode is harder to watch than “Open Wide, O Earth.”
By this point in the series, viewers have only heard about the agonizing realities of radioactive exposure, but it’s “Open Wide, O Earth” that finally shows them in all of their visceral brutality. The makeup and prosthetics are so painfully realistic, the episode is so well paced, and the emotional effect of all the devastation is so perfectly conveyed that it’s tough to watch this episode and not want to call it a night.
5
“Fishes”
‘The Bear’ Season 2, Episode 6
For a show about cooking, it’s surprising just how many of the heaviest episodes of the last 15 years The Bear has to offer, and perhaps even more surprising that the weight of many of those episodes comes from a lot of places other than the kitchen. Case in point: “Fishes,” a tense flashback episode chronicling a chaotic and emotionally explosive Berzatto family Christmas Eve family dinner.
Calling “Fishes” things like “tense,” “heavy,” or “emotionally overwhelming” still doesn’t even come close to capturing the full range of how downright exhausting watching this energy-draining masterpiece of an episode can be. Watching the raw unfiltered emotion, deep-seated trauma, and unaddressed toxicity that affects this family down to its very core makes the episode’s rising sense of tension all the more effective.
4
“Capital P”
‘Oz’ Season 1, Episode 4
Throughout the ’90s, HBO completely revolutionized television, and it did that through shows like Oz, one of the heaviest crime shows of all time. With episodes like “Capital P,” where Jefferson Keane (Leon) is scheduled to die after Governor Devlin (Željko Ivanek) reinstates capital punishment, Oz proved that audiences were ready for darker, grittier, and more morally complex stories than the small screen had ever seen before.
Usually, shows wait until they’re well into their runs in order to throw episodes this heavy and emotionally overwhelming at the audience, but not Oz. The series wanted to make a point right off the bat, and a point “Capital P” definitely makes. The psychological despair that Jefferson goes through as he deteriorates in preparation for his death, along with the episode’s other deeply emotional subplots, makes for an episode whose comments on the dread of capital punishment are nothing if not deeply affecting.
3
“Ozymandias”
‘Breaking Bad’ Season 5, Episode 14
Over a decade after its conclusion, many still refer to Breaking Bad as the greatest TV show in history, and for good reason. The series only kept getting better and better—and heavier and heavier—as it went on, until culminating in one of the best and most intense final seasons in the history of crime drama television. The peak of the season’s intensity is “Ozymandias,” which many would confidently call the best TV episode of all time.
It’s both the momentous collapse of Heisenberg’s empire and Walter White’s family. Rian Johnson‘s direction is flawlessly intense, the episode’s many twists are as brutal as they are jaw-dropping, and the production values are top-notch. Add to that Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, and Dean Norris all delivering four of the best TV performances of all time, and all we’re left with is the question of what’s not to admire about “Ozymandias,” hard to watch though it may be?
2
“Episode 3”
‘Adolescence’ Season 1, Episode 3
The 2020s have thus far seen the release of many nearly-perfect miniseries, and Adolescence is undoubtedly one of the very best. Though it’s only four episodes long, it’s still one of the heaviest and most intense dramas the small screen has seen this decade so far. There is no episode of Adolescence heavier, however, than “Episode 3.”
This is one of those Netflix crime shows in which every episode’s a masterpiece, but that label applies particularly strongly to “Episode 3,” following a single-shot psychological assessment between a clinical psychologist (Erin Doherty) and accused 13-year-old murderer Jamie (Owen Cooper). The single-shot gimmick adds an awful lot of intensity and realism to the episode, but it’s mainly the strength of the dialogue and of Doherty and Cooper’s powerhouse performances that make this such an emotionally overwhelming episode.
1
“The Rains of Castamere”
‘Game of Thrones’ Season 3, Episode 9
Seeing as A Storm of Swords is not only the best book in George R. R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire, but also one of the best fantasy books where every chapter’s a masterpiece, it should come as no surprise that the third and fourth seasons of Game of Thrones (which adapted the novel) are widely considered among the show’s very best. And likewise, the huge twist that makes Storm of Swords a tonal and narrative turning point for the book series also serves as a turning point in Game of Thrones.
From its very first season, Game of Thrones had already established that absolutely no one was safe; but it’s the Red Wedding from “The Rains of Castamere,” where Robb Stark (Richard Madden), his family, and his army are betrayed and brutally slaughtered, that really showed how brutal the show could get. Dark, bloody, hopeless, and downright cruel, this is probably a strong candidate for the title of heaviest episode in all of television’s history.
