movies/tv Terrible episodes of great shows.

[CastletonSnob 3,046]

Just about every long-running or critically acclaimed show has at least one major stinker in its run. It's just inevitable when you have so many episodes, some of them are gonna be duds. Sometimes, these episodes can be just as well-known as the great episodes.

I'll start with Code of Honor from TNG. Everything, from the racist undertones thanks to the baffling decision to make the actors playing a primitive alien race who lust after strong women black to the terrible fight scene makes me wonder how anybody involved thought this episode was a good idea.

[ggg-2 3,552]

Nobody doesn't like TJ. Recess? Amazing show. That particular episode? Oh god. The old "someone doesn't like a particular person but has no legitimate reason"" cliche. 

[Here No Longer 5,275]

• Sub Rosa also from TNG. Just... Why was this episode even made... A paranormal episode doesn't really belong in Star Trek, let alone one that is so worn, cliche, and just downright awful in every possible way. Plot makes no sense whatsoever, Dr. Crusher surely can't be herself, oh and not to mention, WHAT IS THIS TERRIBLE CG? I'm not sure if it's the worst I've ever seen, but its up there. Sadly, not all TNG episodes are on par with the likes of "Tapestry."
• Babylon from X-Files. The reboot episodes may not be nearly the best in the series, but Babylon? It's about as bad as Sub Rosa and I don't say it lightly. The episode is absurdly political for some reason ("Terrorists are bad" trope), and with the whole thing with Mulder and the placebo magic mushrooms... Those are just WRONG on SO many levels. This is a definite skip if you decide to watch seasons 10 and 11 of X-Files.
• Steven Universe's Pilot. This has got to be one of the worst pilots I've ever seen, especially for a show that ended up being a masterpiece after it got over the hurdle of an atrocious first season. No proper introductions, nothing is actually happening... Like... What? It feels like a mid-season filler. Also this is back when Steven was just obnoxious, and Garnet and Pearl were like aggravatingly controlling parents instead of what they are today. Don't start from the pilot.

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by Angel_Dust

[Tao 7,167]

The Bleach anime,  I use to love the hell out of that anime but the filler eps at times made me want to throw a show at it.    It just seemed to killed the plot and the pace of the story and would jump right back to the main plot. 

[Oleks 1,988]

As a Doctor Who fan, my reaction to this topic is "Too soon". I still can't get over "The Timeless Children".

 

[Twilight Luna 31,234]

Threshold from Star Trek Voyager is often rated as the worst episode of the entire franchise. Science often gets flushed out the airlock with Voyager but this episode takes it to a whole new level of stupid. Star Trek is notorious for using technobabble to explain away things but this episode just throws things at the walls and hope that they stick.  Not only does it say that if you reach warp 10, you’ll occupy every point in space simultaneously and you’ll evolve into lizards. Since evolution happens in response to the environment, this makes zero sense. Somehow this episode confuses mutation with evolution. After watching this episode, you’ll feel more stupid.

[Denim&Venöm 17,570]

2 hours ago, VG_Addict said:

I'll start with Code of Honor from TNG.

 

2 hours ago, Angel_Dust said:

Sub Rosa also from TNG.

 

1 hour ago, Twilight Luna said:

Threshold from Star Trek Voyager is often rated as the worst episode of the entire franchise.

I'll add TNG: Matters of Honor Part 2. Part one was great. One of the best Worf episodes. But part 2 hardly focused on him, devolving back into the Federation/ Romulan proxy war. Worse, it undid the memorable character death(s) of Tasha Yar. Instead of being ripped away from us senselessly by a force of evil or dying a hero to restore history, she gets captured by Romulans, has a child with one, is apparently killed while trying to escape, and now her daughter is generically evil. All so that Denise Crosby could be back on the show. 

 

Continuing on the Sci-Fi route, Babylon 5 episode 'Day Of The Dead'. On an alien holiday, parts of the B5 station get trapped in a force field that allows those inside to meet the spirits of the dead. New captain reunites with a dead sister that we didn't hear about prior. We also learnt hat her personal pass code literally references sisters death and exists solely to be used in front of dead sister.  Faithful servant meets one of the old antagonists, even though they never met before and old bad guy is weirdly out of character. Prime minister meets the love of his life who was ripped away from him, which makes sense because it fueled his character arc. But then the security chief also gets his girl back, which we knew for an episode and never gets mentioned again. A major character returns, but off screen.  Oh and the president & first lady of the interstellar alliance have dinner with Penn & Teller. Who aren't dead.

Basically this was the Sub Rosa of Babylon 5, but worse since this episode and the whole last season were rushed out.  

 

Of course we can't exempt our beloved MLP. Nor will I exempt Newbie Dash. A cringe worthy episode with such a weak moral and a lousy payoff to Rainbow Dash's show spanning journey. 

[Megas 27,390]

Honestly a good chunk of MLP's second half(6-9) of it's run is pretty awful

Aside from that, King of the Hill has a few stinkers. Pigmalion is probably the least "King of the Hill" feeling episode ever. I know it's supposed to be related to Halloween, but even by that standards, something isn't right about it, especially with Peggy and Luanne seeing a man horribly die and brushing it off(though Peggy's exchange of "Trip had a mental breakdown and is now a sausage. That is not a better place" was still worth a chuckle). The episode feels like it belongs in Family Guy instead

Other episodes include Hank's Bully("Dusty old bones, full of green dust!" ugh), Après Hank, le Deluge(which treats Hank like garbage despite a reasonably hard decision that he shouldn't have had to make in the first place), Goodbye Normal Jeans(Peggy at her worst, makes a Peggy/Bobby episode terrible, which in itself is terribly because they're normally a really fun duo), and Ms. Wakefield(old lady obsessed with wanting to die in Hank's house, everyone gives him crap for wanting her to stay away despite her even regularly trying to break into his house(and at one point succeeds))

Edited March 5, 2020 by Megas

[SpittyPie2005 3,926]

• Curb Your Dragon (Wizards of Waverly Place)
• Paranoid Activity (Adventures with Tip and Oh)
• The Secret Recipe (Littlest Pet Shop)

[Tacodidra 60,526]

I'm not saying all the other episodes were masterpieces (looking back, there were quite a few weak episodes), but there can't be a thread about bad episodes where "A Third Dad Cartoon" from Dexter's Laboratory isn't mentioned. I'd go as far as to say that's the worst episode I've seen of any show.

Three and a half minutes of the characters just standing there, doing nothing – probably the ultimate filler episode there is (most of those three-minute shorts were completely pointless, but this one takes the cake). The episode could easily have been cut down to 15 seconds without losing anything of note. I can't help but wonder how the episode was even approved and made. Was it because it was obviously very cheap to produce? In any case, I can't imagine any show having a more boring episode than that.

[Guest]

The Great Divide of Avatar The Last Airbender 

It was so bad that even the series recap episode skipped it 

Edited March 5, 2020 by Guest

[Here No Longer 5,275]

Jess- Belle from the original Twilight Zone. I mean Season 4 had quite a few stinkers, but I don't even know what to make of this atrocity. The plot is simultaneously dumb yet convoluted and extremely hard to make sense of, the writing even otherwise is just... absolutely awful... It's almost like I'm watching some bad soap opera episode from the 60s that's about a werecat and... witchcraft? I have no idea why I never see this ranked as the worst of the bunch as it so obviously is. This episode is worse than an actually racist (against black and white people at the same time) episode from the 2019 run it's so bad.

[zoloft 117]

That one episode of Breaking Bad where they only try to catch a fly for almost an hour straight. It was unwatchable.

[Splashee 28,557]

Almost all episodes that are specifically made as filler and just shows scenes from previous more expensive episodes, are very annoying. A few of them in Stargate SG-1. There is also a Riker centered episode in TNG which is super annoying.

 

Annoying = Terrible in my opinion.

[Sparklefan1234 165,497]

"Arnold Betrays Iggy" from Hey Arnold! would be my choice. Just a mean-spirited episode all-around. 

Edited March 20, 2020 by Sparklefan1234

[Here No Longer 5,275]

"I'm With Stupid" - Old SpongeBob (If we're being honest, post S4 SpongeBob should be counted as an entirely different show). This episode is surprisingly mean-spirited for an early SpongeBob episode and almost feels like it belongs in Season 7 or something. This episode is not only awful for a SpongeBob episode, but it's utterly unwatchable. Which is quite unfortunate because it's paired with "Procrastination" which is a really good episode.

[Prospekt 10,999]

MLP: FiM has its bad episodes. Applejack's "Day" Off remains my least favorite in the entire series.

I think The Simpsons and Family Guy both went downhill, but at least Family Guy is still watchable if you ask me.

I never liked "Lightsaber Lost" in The Clone Wars. It's a very underwhelming filler episode stuck in between some really great episodes, though I guess Tera Sinube is a decent new character. Same with the mini arc where Ahsoka gets kidnapped by the Trandoshans. Those Trandoshan hunters are so incredibly irritating.

[Here No Longer 5,275]

"Dead Freight" from Breaking Bad. I don't actually have as much of a gripe with "Fly" because it's a decent character development episode, even if nothing really happens in it, and the latter part in a way honestly made it a breath of fresh air. But this feels like I'm watching a bad Macgyver episode for most of it, and then oh no the ending... The ending of this episode is probably the worst scene in the entire show. Killing an innocent kid for what amounts to no reason... That's not character development like they seemed to intend, it's just lousy writing. Killing for killing's sake. But being evil because why not seems to be what Todd's about.

Edited March 21, 2020 by Angel_Dust

[purpen 15]

....................

Edited May 25, 2021 by purpen

[Megas 27,390]

Since, I'm rewatching the series. Episode 4 of Gurren Lagann. The story itself is nothing bad or anything, introduction of Kittan and his sisters, but the episode is notorious for its hideous animation. Unlike the rest of the series this episode had a guest animator and it really shows

Regular episodes

 

Episode 4:

 

It's sucks because Kittan is one of the most badass characters in the show and this being his first episode is a huge disservice to him

[heavens-champion 1,902]

Town and Out from the old Powerpuff Girls show. An attempt at putting the girls in a more realistic setting, and wound up being the worst episode in the show.

[heavens-champion 1,902]

On 3/4/2020 at 2:19 PM, Tao said:

The Bleach anime,  I use to love the hell out of that anime but the filler eps at times made me want to throw a show at it.    It just seemed to killed the plot and the pace of the story and would jump right back to the main plot. 

I hear ya. It took them forever to rescue Rukia.

[Emerald Heart 24,777]

• Transform! (Fairy Tail)
• You are So Sue- Able to Me (Hannah Montana)
• I Almost Drowned in a Chocolate Fountain (Wizards of Waverly Place)

[Pandora 38,011]

The last season of BBC’s Merlin 

they rushed everything and the ending was just poor - it kinda is a wtf dis ending 

[Pastel Heart 6,464]

Two from King of the Hill, a show I like but had a couple of stinkers. The show is witty and clever with its themes usually but one ended up just being "Canada bad" and the moral of the story of the other one being "never try new things cos you'll regret it later". Dumb. I don't remember the names of the episodes.
 

Spoiler

 

1. Canadians move into the neighborhood, they're made fun of and thought of as uptight... and oh, they actually are. It becomes basically a fight with both sides saying how bad eachothers countries are. I don't know what was even the point of this except to make Canadians look like jerks. Atleast when South Park did it it was based in the surreal and was comedic and clever in doing it. 

2. Bobby joins a group that practices a different interpretation of Christianity. They're out there compared to usual, but they believe in the same God. Hank freaks out and tries to do everything he can to get him out". In the end, Hank convinces Bobby to leave it and "be normal", because "we all do crazy stuff when we're young and I don't want the lord to end up in this box". It just seemed like he manipulated his son out of following his own choices and learning from them. I get where the writers tried to go with this one but it just came off as Hank being self righteous and pushing that on his son. Might just be my interpretation though 

 

 

And one from Ed, Edd & Eddy which I love the show to death but one was kinda weird. Again, I don't remember the name.

Spoiler

Ed has a total personality swap and starts being violent and stand offish towards everyone, even his two best friends. Grumpy Ed snaps at everything and gives death glares. I woulda liked this episode, but at the end it's revealed that the reason he was so grumpy was... a pebble in his shoe. And goes right back to normal. The comedy is supposed to be "Oh crazy Ed was nuts cos he had a pebble, like a lion with a thorn in its paw" but like, even if he's not that smart I don't see someone going nuts over THAT lmao. Cartoon characters snap over less cos they're exaggerated, sure, but this was the entire plot of the episode rather than part of a bigger thing. to me the entire episode was uncomfortable, off course for the show and doesnt depict Ed in a good light, and the entire "its a pebble in the shoe" gag never made me laugh in the end. Just made me say "that was weird."

 

For shows with seasonal rot, Spongebob after the Movie, Simpson's after the 90s, Sonic X halfway into the final season, and Family Guy should have ended after its 2007 season, whichever one that was.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Pastel Heart