There are scores of TV shows out there, with dozens of new episodes each week, not to mention everything you can find on Hulu Plus, Netflix streaming, and HBO Go. How’s a viewer to keep up? To help you sort through all that television has to offer, Flavorwire is compiling the five best moments on TV each week. This time, Scandal and Community end their seasons, and Game of Thrones introduces a major twist just as it’s getting started.
Game of Thrones Kills a Character We Actually Wanted It To
Possibly the first death of its kind in the history of the show. Game of Thrones doesn’t even have many characters that cross the boundary from antihero to straight-up villain, let alone any that the show is willing to kill off. Obligatory spoiler warning before we say that we’re extremely glad Joffrey is dead, but even happier that his death came at the end of one of the longest, slowest-burning scenes this series has executed since the Battle of the Blackwater episode. It’s too bad Tyrion’s going to end up taking the blame, but we’ll take whatever small pleasures we can get in Westeros.
Scandal Finale Reliably Insane
I tried to pick just one twist to include in the headline, but couldn’t narrow it down. Which says something about the action-packed conclusion that attempted to cram an already overstuffed show into a season four episodes shorter than normal. Let’s see… Fitz loses the election, Fitz wins the election, Liv tells Fitz that his wife was raped by his father, Fitz’s son dies, Liv’s mom probably did it, Liv’s dad actually did it, and a whole lot of other stuff goes down with a whole lot of secondary characters that aren’t the show’s protagonist and the fictional president of the United States. Well done, Shonda. Well done.
Amy Schumer Goes After the “Nice Guy”
Between her equally brilliant satires of food-shaming and Aaron Sorkin, Amy Schumer has managed to place her sketch show smack-dab in the middle of the cultural conversation just two episodes into its second season. The best of this week’s sketches, though, is this all-too-recognizable story of girls trying to let down guys who just won’t take the hint. Schumer’s comedic solution is an OKCupid-style app that lets users know whenever some loser has locked her in his sights, then warns them when the friend-zonee in question’s outrage hits the boiling point. It’s only a matter of time before someone makes millions by crafting a real-life version of Hello, M’Lady.
Tavi Pops Up in the Parenthood Finale
As Haddie Braverman’s college girlfriend! Sara Ramos’ character hasn’t been a regular on the show in some time, so what better way to welcome her back into the fold, albeit briefly? Thanks to Haddie’s absence, Tavi probably won’t get a prolonged role on the show, but it’s nice to see the Rookie EIC/former child blogger/sometime actress/future Broadway star on the small screen. Needless to say, she rocked it (though it didn’t quite top her turn as Julia Louis Dreyfus’s daughter’s best friend in Enough Said).
Community Hits Five Seasons (But No Movie Yet)
“This is our show, and it’s not over… We’ll definitely be back next year.” If Community goes off the air, we’ll be robbed of the only series on TV with the guts to be that blatantly meta. In the fifth-season finale, Jeff and the crew dive into the depths of the Greendale Community College basement, find the school’s founding computer genius, and save the campus from the corporate clutches of Subway and the city school board. There’s also the brilliant writing that made us all miss Dan Harmon so last season, and it’s the main reason why we’re all crossing our fingers for a sixth season (and a movie). If not, though, Community went out on a very, very high note.