From Big Little Lies to Rick and Morty, Outlander to Twin Peaks, these were TV's outstanding installments.
Every passing year brings more and more television, making year-end lists like this one increasingly difficult to compile. But the bright side of the Peak TV onslaught is that there's more TV to love than ever.
And as too many shows indulge in long, drawn-out installments that don't differentiate themselves enough from one another, 2017 brought with it a welcome return to the episode, to the singular standout installment that twists a story in a new direction, or pauses the action to check in on something important. Great episodes were everywhere, even in some of the year's most serialized shows.
In that spirit, Vox has put together a list of our top 35 episodes of the year — the individual chapters that wowed us the most with their daring, their thoughtfulness, their ingenuity, and their sheer excellence.
They represent the best that TV had to offer in 2017.