"Flawless Episodes" - Day 1

*The Demski Five is my weekly "top five" list. Each week's list will feature a unique theme, and the items on that list will be posted individually throughout the week. As always, I welcome and encourage your contributions to the Demski Five themes in the comments section!

After sitting speechless, mouths agape, for a full two minutes after the closing scene of last night's episode of Breaking Bad ("Crawl Space"), I turned to my friend Olivia and said:

"I think that was the best episode of television I've ever seen."

It's a bold statement, and perhaps a tad hyperbolic, but in the moment it felt absolutely true.

So, in honor of that moment, this week's Demski Five will cover the five episodes of various shows I've seen throughout my life that left me simultaneously awestruck and dumbstruck as the credits rolled - whether it be because of a crazy-intense final sequence, or out of admiration for truly masterful writing and storytelling (last night, it was both).

And, a caveat: This is my list. Yours could very well be different. And, no, I still haven't seen "The Wire."

Possible Spoilers ahead!

1. Twin Peaks - Season 2, Episode 7 - "Lonely Souls"

Halfway into the second season of Twin Peaks, Lynch and Frost reveal Laura Palmer's killer to the audience during an already insanely emotional yet gorgeous scene of various characters watching Julee Cruise perform at the Roadhouse. So much comes to a head in this episode - so many plans foiled by reality (Bobby, Shelly and comatose Leo), so many characters suddenly faced with the consequences of their actions (Donna's betrayal of Harold Smith). Then, with almost ten minutes left in the episode, characters from multiple storylines just happen to show up at the Roadhouse. As the action of the plot slows down, a sudden but intense calm falls over the scene. When Agent Cooper, Sherif Truman are led to the Roadhouse by the Log Lady, that odd Lynchian vibe of something incredibly sinister existing amidst the mundane goings-on everyday life takes over. Julee Cruise and her band disappear from the stage as Agent Cooper has another vision of The Giant, who repeats the phrase "It is happening again" like a broken record.

Then, at 4:16 in this clip, you'll notice a dissolve to a record player - and thus begins an incredibly brutal scene involving Laura's killer, which, for the sake of not spoiling EVERYTHING, I guess, has been cut from this particular video on YouTube. If you've seen the series, then you know the scene, and it surely pops into your conscience from time to time like a bad flashback - I'm genuinely amazed it the network censors allowed it to air. Then we cut back to the Roadhouse and suddenly everybody - even Bobby! - is inexplicably overcome with emotion and the Old Man is apologizing to Cooper and Cooper's brow furrows... And then? End credits. BAH!!! Brilliant! When somebody says that television is somehow lesser than films, I immediately want to rub this episode in their pretentious little face. Er, I mean, nicely show this episode them as a rebuttal to their claim.