Days after announcing that its hybrid employees would have to return to the office (RTO) four days a week starting Jan. 5, NBCUniversal is offering an alternative to its mandate — accept a buyout.
According to internal documents obtained by Business Insider, NBC is offering employees who don’t want to return to the office the following severance package: eight weeks of pay, plus medical, dental, and vision benefits for three months after their departure. Employees will also receive a full bonus if eligible.
The package does not add additional compensation based on the employee’s tenure. Workers have to ask their HR managers about the severance offer by Oct. 3 to get the offer, BI learned.
The severance package only applies to NBC employees at the vice president level or below who currently work a hybrid schedule and are located in the U.S. and the U.K. They will be required to work through Dec. 31 on the company’s payroll and transfer their responsibilities to other employees before they leave. According to PitchBook, NBC has nearly 60,000 employees worldwide.
NBCU workers previously followed a hybrid schedule, coming into the office three days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), according to Variety. The new four-day policy would require them to come in on Mondays as well.
Many companies are implementing RTO mandates across a variety of fields. Buy now, pay later company, Klarna, announced earlier this week that it would require workers to work from the office three days per week starting September 29. Klarna began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday and employed 3,422 workers as of the end of 2024.
Microsoft is also requiring its employees to work from the office at least three days a week starting in February. Microsoft’s worldwide headcount as of June 30 was 228,000 employees, with 125,000 workers located in the U.S.
A survey conducted by Bamboo HR last year found that around one in four C-Suite executives hoped strict RTO policies would prompt some employees to quit, calling the RTO orders “layoffs in disguise.” According to the study, around 40% of managers had to implement actual layoffs when fewer employees quit than expected after the RTO mandate.
A study published in the scientific journal Nature last year revealed no differences in productivity, performance, or promotion when comparing employees who went to work fully in-person for six months, and those who followed a hybrid schedule.
Days after announcing that its hybrid employees would have to return to the office (RTO) four days a week starting Jan. 5, NBCUniversal is offering an alternative to its mandate — accept a buyout.
According to internal documents obtained by Business Insider, NBC is offering employees who don’t want to return to the office the following severance package: eight weeks of pay, plus medical, dental, and vision benefits for three months after their departure. Employees will also receive a full bonus if eligible.
The package does not add additional compensation based on the employee’s tenure. Workers have to ask their HR managers about the severance offer by Oct. 3 to get the offer, BI learned.
Look no further than David Ellison’s father for reasons number one, two and three behind Paramount Skydance’s reportedly likely and imminent bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Namely — it’s a rounding error on the Oracle co-founder’s balance sheet. Ditto if you’re asking why David is paying Bari Weiss as much as $150 million to sell her growing Free Press media empire.
Yes, the younger Ellison just pulled off a massively complicated and expensive $8 billion deal to purchase the giant Paramount media empire. But as they say in the old neighborhood, the tech nepo baby, especially most recently, has “a lot of scarola” to throw around thanks to Daddy Warbucks, aka his father and partner in the newly formed Skydance Paramount, software tycoon Larry Ellison.
Bari Weiss will be the beneficiary of the money, and so will Warner Bros. chief David Zaslav if the deal goes through. Zas has been looking for a buyer since the day he came on board following the merger of Warner and Discovery a few years ago. Shares of WBD spike on the news of a potential bid on Thursday afternoon, though it’s unclear if such a transaction will pass regulatory muster or if Zas is fully on board.
The elder Ellison, Larry, just recently usurped Tesla-mogul Elon Musk as the worlds wealthiest man after a massive $100B gain.
It’s also unclear how much the Ellison’s will pay for WBD; it has a market cap of around $38 billion after news of the possible bid broke. So, you can see a deal of well over $40 billion.
Doesn’t look like such a problem on the day after Larry Ellison’s net worth leaped by $100 billion following Oracle’s latest blowout earnings report. Now he’s closing in on being the richest dude in the world with a net worth, as this goes to press, of more than $370 billion. Forbes, which has its own calculations for its real-time list, still has Musk ahead with around $432 billion.
Zaslav, it should be noted, had been fielding offers for at least part of his debt-laden WBD empire for some time. Media maven Jay Penske, who runs a conglomerate that owns among other properties Variety, Hollywood Reporter, the Rolling Stone and Vox Media, is said to have expressed interest in CNN, the rating challenged cable news network held by WBD.
Zaslav is said to have believed Penske was low balling him and could get more for the property if he held out for a while longer (a rep for Penske and Zaslav had no immediate comment).
CNN’s fate, if Ellison does indeed emerge as a buyer of all of WBD, is a major question. Regulators might not approve WBD holding CBS as well as the cable news channel, which means Penske might re-emerge as a bidder on the property.
Warner Bros Discovery CEO David has been fielding offers for at least part of his debt-laden empire for some time. AFP via Getty Images
That brings us back to Skydance and the Larry and David show. The conventional wisdom is that new management will be guided by the exigencies of the media business, which aren’t great. There will be cuts to CBS, particularly its news department that is on a difficult trajectory in terms of revenues.
“Zas has one idea of what CNN is worth, and other Penske had his and it was a lot lower,” said one media industry insider who asked not to be named.
The movie business is similarly challenging. People don’t go to the theater like they used to, and the alternative — streaming –isn’t the money maker once envisioned.
All true, but I also hear David, with his father in the background, is willing to spend strategically. It is why as we first reported here, Skydance is paying big bucks to hire a right-leaning think tank type as an ombudsman.
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The move is part of its settlement with President Trump over the allegedly deceptively edited Kamala Harris interview. The watchdog, who will monitor lefty news bias at CBS, will earn $250,000 a year for working just one day a month.
A Skydance rep had no comment on any of the above but people inside the company say David is cognizant about not overspending on anything, including Bari Weiss and WBD as well.
Skydance insiders David Ellison is cognizant about not overspending on anything, including Bari Weiss and WBD. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
She won’t be handed a lump of cash, but instead will be getting a lot of stock, sources said. Cash will be used to entice Zaslav to sell, I am told. For Weiss, there also will be an-earn-out provision based on certain business metrics she must reach, they added.
The new Skydance is a public company, so David Ellison answers to public shareholders, meaning he has to watch what he spends. Plus, just throwing around money isn’t how he rolls, ditto for the old man.
Nonetheless, with Oracle’s stock surge, Daddy Warbucks certainly has room to spend. And unless something changes radically, Bari Weiss will be getting a big check from David for the Free Press and probably land a top role at CBS News. So might David Zaslav.
Charlie Kirk and I had a lot we didn’t agree on, but he used to bring me on his show.
Unlike his leftist haters, the man who was martyred this week in Utah for spreading his conservative beliefs with vigor and love wasn’t afraid to engage with views that contradicted his own.
The opposite: He sought them out.
In an age of podcasters ensconced in the safety of their home studios, Charlie Kirk met young people where they were, on college campuses, and invited them to debate.
This is how you fight polarization.
This is how you fight violence.
This is what it means to be an American — to crave the voices of those you disagree with, and the rush of trying to convince them.
And it is this that led to his murder.
A culture on the Left, opposed to honest, spirited debate, has demonized the views of the other side as “hateful,” as fascism, as Nazism.
Yet even in their condemnations of Kirk’s murder, Democrats are doubling down on the rhetoric that led to it.
“The scourge of gun violence and political violence must end. The shooting of Charlie Kirk is the latest incident of this chaos and it must stop. We cannot go down this road,” tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“This kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy,” former President Barack Obama posted, language echoed almost word-for-word by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani.
Note the both-sidesing.
Note the passive voice.
Even in their denunciations, the left is gaslighting us about the truth: The vast majority of the political violence in this country is coming from their side.
And they are unwilling to take an ounce of responsibility for it.
They can’t — because there’s nothing in their philosophy to explain why the cold-blooded murder of Charlie Kirk is wrong.
They view the world not through the Judeo-Christian lens of right versus wrong, but through the lens of power.
In their view, people with less power have no moral responsibilities.
Moreover, they claim language is violence, and believing things counter to leftist orthodoxy is a form of violence, too.
And they believe that when victims, as they see themselves, are threatened by such “violence,” physical violence is a righteous response.
It’s doubly ironic that the left’s own language these days is replete with fighting words.
“Our only chance to save our democracy is to fight fire with fire,” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said earlier this week. “We’re in a war right now to save this country, so you have to be willing to do whatever is necessary to save the country.”
It starts when they admit it was wrong to paint political differences as evil hatreds, and commit now, in Charlie’s memory, to return to the values of civil debate.
Let Obama admit that even if he disagrees, it is legitimate to vote for Donald Trump — that it doesn’t make you a Nazi or a fascist.
Let AOC admit that even if she disagrees, it is legitimate to believe there are only two genders — that it’s not hateful or bigoted, but what most Americans believe.
Let Murphy admit that even if he disagrees, it is legitimate to believe that life begins at conception — that it doesn’t make you a misogynist who wants women to die.
Then we can truly turn down the temperature, honor Charlie’s legacy — and unite.
Batya Ungar-Sargon is the author of “Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women” and hosts “Batya” on NewsNation.
If you’re using Apple products in your business, it is essential you also use a device management service, — but migrating between services has always been challenging. That will change with the release of Apple’s upcoming operating systems, which should make it easier to move between MDM platforms, including the big names such as InTune or Jamf.
MDM migration was a pain
This has been something Apple IT has wanted for a long time. It understands the many reasons it might be necessary for a company to switch between MDM services, such as:
Moving to a cloud-based device management service from an on-premises solution.
Combining devices into a single device management service when acquiring another company.
Migrating between services for more specific corporate reasons.
The process was difficult because a single device could only carry a single MDM profile, and Apple’s Automated Device Enrollment locked devices to one MDM. The only way to migrate was to remove a device from the original MDM, wipe the device (!) and then manually reenroll it with the new MDM provider.
Microsoft and OpenAI have issued a joint statement to say that they have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the “next phase” of their partnership. The companies are still finalizing the terms of agreement and haven’t shared the details of what their future would look like exactly. But according to The New York Times, the deal includes hows the parties share technology and and the revenue from those technologies. The new agreement also reportedly modifies the clause in the original, which states that Microsoft cannot access OpenAI’s most powerful technology if its board decides that it has reached human-like artificial general intelligence or AGI.
In addition to the new deal, The Times says OpenAI is giving an equity stake worth at least $100 billion to its nonprofit arm that will continue to oversee and control the organization. As the publication notes, a change in the company’s agreement paves the way for OpenAI to transition into a public benefit corporation, a type of corporation that’s meant to make a positive impact on society, and for an eventual IPO. OpenAI had to reach an acceptable agreement with Microsoft first, including how much equity it’s getting in the AI firm’s for-profit arm. Microsoft had invested over $13 billion into OpenAI and is entitled to 49 percent of its future profits.
Reports about OpenAI moving away from its complicated non-profit structure started coming out last year. After Christmas in 2024, it officially announced its plan to transform itself into a public benefit corporation with ordinary shares of stock. “It will enable us to raise the necessary capital with conventional terms like others in this space,” it said at the time. In May, however, OpenAI announced that it was no longer going to remove the control of its for-profit arm from its non-profit board. “OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit, and is today overseen and controlled by that nonprofit. Going forward, it will continue to be overseen and controlled by that nonprofit,” it said.
Two Democratic lawmakers Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman were shot overnight in separate locations in June 2025. Hortman died as a result, but Hoffman survived and called for action to combat the ongoing violence in the United States.
Read on to learn what happened to Hortman and Hoffman.
Who Is Melissa Hortman?
Hortman, 55, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. She represented District 34B in Minnesota and was a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL).
Apart from her political career, Hortman was a mother of two children and was married to her husband, Mark Hortman. She and her husband died after being shot in June 2025.
Who Is John Hoffman?
Hoffman is a 60-year-old member of the Minnesota Senate. Like Hortman, Hoffman is a part of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), and he represents District 34.
Hoffman survived the shooting. He returned to speak at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Minneapolis to address the harrowing incident.
“I’m still slowly recovering from my gunshot wounds — nine of them,” Hoffman explained. “If you want to see the pattern on my body, it’s the same pattern that’s in my red door that I no longer have, although I do still have a long way to go.”
Hoffman added, “We must call Americans to action in ways that don’t incite intimidation and political violence, right? Having our own homes violated by pure evil cannot be the new normal, right? … I believe all Americans and Minnesotans want to talk to each other again without being demeaned and without the threat of violence.”
Hortman & Hoffman Shooting Details
Hortman and Hoffman were shot in separate locations in Champlin and Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, in what appears to be a related incident, per Fox 9. Their respective spouses were shot as well, according to multiple outlets.
I’ve activated the State Emergency Operations Center.
Local law enforcement in Champlin and Brooklyn Park have the full resources of the State of Minnesota behind them.
We are monitoring the situation closely and will share more information soon.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walzconfirmed via X that he “activated the State Emergency Operations Center” and that “local law enforcement in Champlin and Brooklyn Park have the full resources of the State of Minnesota behind them.”
“We are monitoring the situation closely and will share more information soon,” Walz added.
Walz confirmed that Hortman and her husband were dead and that Hoffman and his wife were wounded.
Who Shot Hortman & Hoffman?
The suspect in Hortman and Hoffman’s shootings is Vance Luther Boelter, who impersonated a police officer before carrying out the shootings.
A beautiful village has ranked as the best seaside town or village in the UK for five years in a row, and now thousands of tourists descend on the spot every year. Local businesses say it’s “totally a positive”, despite others grumbling.
Bamburgh in Northumberland topped Which?’s list of the UK’s seaside destinations again in 2025, beating 117 other towns and villages to get the highest destination score of 84%. It was the only place to get full five-star ratings for its beaches, seafront, scenery, and peace and quiet.
Visitors love the spectacular views of Bamburgh Castle, which stands on a rocky outcrop above the miles of sandy beach. There’s not much else to the little village: a handful of pubs and cafes, a couple of restaurants, some shops, and a museum. The village can see up to 150,000 visitors a year, over 350 times the normal population of just 400. But local businesses say this is a positive. Leonie, general manager at the Castle Inn, told the Express that there’s “definitely” been an increase in tourism over the last few years, adding: “These ‘best’ titles have brought more people in.
“We’ve found recently that we don’t have a summer season; we’re busier for a much longer period. Like now, the school holidays are over, but we’re still busy and that’ll last into October, which is obviously great for us.”
She said that while there will always be “locals grumbling”, tourism is “totally a positive”. Leonie said: “Without tourists, we’d have no business, we couldn’t keep going.
“It’s brought more business to everyone. There’s a new cafe in the Walled Garden, and you could look at it as a competition, but it takes pressure off us a bit, spreads the business out. It also means seasonal businesses can stay open longer.”
Ruth, who runs a mobile tea-and-coffee van, said she can be “non-stop busy” from 9.45am to 4.30pm. “It’s nice though,” she added. “It generates income for everybody.” She doesn’t feel the village has been spoiled, saying: “It’s still a quaint village – that’s the attraction.”
But not all are pleased about the increase in visitors. Blacketts owner, Sue, told the Chronicle that the boom in visitors isn’t without its complications. She said Bamburgh is “not really set up to deal with this number of people, in a number of ways,” noting parking and internet access.
She added: “We really need to have some sort of huge injection of cash from a Government body to meet the demand, not just for Bamburgh but right the way down the coast.”
Leonie at the Castle Inn said the only negative would be that there “aren’t as many locals around”, adding: “We used to be open to the little hours, but there’re not as many locals now. Maybe they’re put off by how busy it is, or like their own space.”
She said there’s a concern that the village could be overtaken by second homes, like nearby Beadnell, where her grandma lives: “She says she has no neighbours in the winter, cause they’re all second or holiday homes. Bamburgh could be heading that way, houses come up for sale, and they’re really expensive, maybe people can’t afford it.”
After dominating the best seaside destination rankings for years, Bamburgh’s popularity looks set to rise even further in the coming years.
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In the short video above, I talk about Trump’s appearance at the 9/11 event today. For more information, please give it a watch.
It was odd when the White House announced that Trump would not be going to ground zero in NYC to mark the 24th anniversary of 9/11, but instead they would send JD Vance.
The trip from Washington, DC to New York City is a short one, and presidents have made it a point in the past to go to the site of the worst terrorist attack on domestic soil in US history to pay their respects and mark a somber anniversary in the nation’s history.
Joe Biden, the guy who Republicans and the media claimed wasn’t fit to be president, went to all three attack sites in 2021 and 2024. Biden did a Pentagon-only commemoration in 2022. Biden was in Alaska in 2023 as he was returning from a diplomatic trip to Asia.
Biden was able to visit all three sites as president twice, but Trump, at a similar age to Biden, could not get out of Washington, DC.
What is going on with Trump’s health?
If you watch the video above, Donald Trump does not look well. He looks like a person who could be dying, and if the mainstream media weren’t so committed to their refusal to ignore everything related to Trump’s health, they might start asking the same questions that they asked about Joe Biden, who managed to visit all three attack sites LAST YEAR.
Something seems to be wrong with Trump. First, he vanished for a week around Labor Day, and now he can’t seem to be engaged on 9/11.
Donald Trump does not look well, and the American people deserve answers about what is going on with the president.
Trump may be aging. Maybe Trump is slowing down and showing his age?
None of this looks or seems right, and it could be that Donald Trump is declining and dying before our eyes.
What do you think about Trump’s appearance on 9/11? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The latest health feature for recent Apple Watch models has cleared the FDA, meaning Apple can switch it on and ship it with Apple Watch Series 11.
FDA has approved hypertension notifications
Apple Watch has become a powerful health companion that tracks a lot of metrics to give users helpful insights. Each generation seems to bring some kind of new metric to track, and Apple revealed hypertension notifications alongside the Apple Watch Series 11.
A report from9to5Mac notes that Hypertension notifications have now made it past the FDA and can be activated on compatible Apple Watch models. It is a feature that will ship with Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 on September 19.
The 2020s are already halfway over, and during that time, we’ve witnessed huge box office hits, multiple shows destined to become cult classics, and some spectacular episodes of TV. These TV episodes span a wide range of genres, from epic fantasies to dystopian dramas. They also cover different mediums, time periods, and entirely unique worlds. But the one thing they share in common is that they are undeniably masterpieces.
With standout performances and creative plot twists, these episodes have so much to offer, and they’re destined to stay with viewers long into the 2030s and beyond.
So, here’s a look at 10 of the greatest TV episodes of the 2020s.
“Where I Really Come From”
‘Invincible’ Season 1, Episode 8
Following Mark Grayson (voiced by Steven Yeun), a half-Viltrumite half-human, Invincible initially seemed like a typical superhero story. However, it was soon revealed that his father, Nolan (J.K. Simmons), aka Omni-Man, wasn’t as heroic as he appeared. In the appropriately titled episode, “Where I Really Come From,” Mark learned more about his father’s origins, including that he had been sent by the other Viltrumites to conquer Earth. Toward the middle of the episode, Mark and Nolan faced off in a bloody battle, leading to the deaths of hundreds of innocents and a battered and broken-hearted Mark.
An Origin and an Ending
“Where I Really Come From” ended on a somewhat optimistic note, but the episode forever changed how Mark saw his father. It also established the Viltrumite threat that would come to haunt Mark in the following seasons, making viewers question whether Mark’s heritage might also control his destiny.
“The Red Dragon and the Gold”
‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, Episode 4
A prequel to Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon centered on the brewing war between the Greens and the Blacks. In “The Red Dragon and the Gold,” tensions came to a head at Rook’s Rest when Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) attacked with her dragon, Meleys, only for Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and his own dragon, Sunfyre, to literally return fire. As the two fought, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) appeared on Vhagar, commanding the dragon to attack both Rhaenys and his brother. In the end, Rhaenys and Meleys were killed, Aegon was terribly wounded, and the fate of the seven kingdoms remained even more uncertain.
Everything Fans Wanted
“The Red Dragon and the Gold” gave viewers exactly what they wanted: high stakes, betrayal, and dragons fighting mid-air. This doesn’t even get into the drama at Harrenhall or the battle taking place by land. Simply put, “The Red Dragon and the Gold” is a golden example of House of the Dragon at its best.
“Whenever You’re Ready”
‘The Good Place’ Season 4, Episode 13
The Good Place starred Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop, a recently deceased, not-so-great person who somehow wound up in the Good Place—or did she? As the series progressed, Eleanor began to realize that she was actually in the Bad Place, and it became her mission to show that people can change and grow. By the series’ finale, “Whenever You’re Ready,” she’d proven that humans were capable of earning their spot in the Good Place. Now a Good Place member herself, all that was left was for her and her friends to reach fulfillment and move on.
More Than Good
The last episode of The Good Place is great, delivering everything a series’ finale should. It’s funny, emotional, and poignant, completing every character’s arc in a way that was simultaneously satisfactory and bittersweet.
“Long, Long Time”
‘The Last of Us’ Season 1, Episode 3
Based on the video game, The Last of Us Season 1 took place during an apocalypse caused by a fungus that turned people into zombie-like Clickers. Survivor Joel (Pedro Pascal) was just trying to make it through each day when he learned of a possibly immune child named Ellie (Bella Ramsey). After some convincing, Ellie’s own survival became priority number one, with Joel determined to find the Fireflies and have them develop a cure. But Ellie and Joel weren’t always the stars of the show, and in episode 3, the cameras instead turned toward two background characters and their love story.
A Bittersweet Tearjerker
Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) both appear in The Last of Us game, but their story in the show is markedly different. In the game, Frank is already dead, and his last words to Bill, via letter, are that he hated his guts. In the show, the viewer gets to see the highs and lows of their relationship, including how they met, how Bill was almost killed protecting Frank, and how Frank eventually came down with a debilitating medical condition. While it can be argued that the pair get a happy ending, it’s undeniably a tearjerker, too.
“Gganbu”
‘Squid Game’ Season 1, Episode 6
Player 456, aka Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), was a gambler with a losing streak who was in desperate need of money. He joined a game that promised huge rewards, not realizing that he was putting his life up as collateral. As the games intensified, he befriended Player 001, Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su), an older man who helped Gi-hun through the other games. By episode 6, “Gganbu,” the two were essentially family, which made the reveal that only one of them could survive the latest game, Marbles, especially horrific.
A Winning Episode
Although the core of “Gganbu” was Gi-hun and Il-nam’s game, side stories involving the other players’ games were just as hard-hitting. From Sang-Woo (Park Hae-soo) betraying Ali (Anupam Tripathi) to Ji-yeong’s (Lee Yoo-mi) noble sacrifice, every moment was sadder than the last, and on a rewatch, the tragedy is only greater.
“Arrivederci”
‘The White Lotus’ Season 2, Episode 7
Taking place in Sicily, Season 2 of The White Lotus built upon the themes of wealth and sex that made Season 1 so great. It also brought back fan-favorite Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) and her now-husband, Greg, who had to leave the trip early, much to Tanya’s disappointment. However, as the season developed, Greg’s behavior grew even more suspicious, and as fans said “Arrivederci” to the season, Tanya sadly said farewell as well.
Hits All the Right Notes
This episode has some of Tanya’s best quotes, which is really saying something, since every line in the series is a winner. It also marked a huge shift in Ethan (Will Sharpe) and Harper’s (Aubrey Plaza) relationship and offered a hopeful ending for Mia (Beatrice Grannò) and Lucia (Simona Tabasco). Basically, the episode has some hilarious moments, some distressing scenes, and overall keeps your attention from start to finish.
“The We We Are”
‘Severance’ Season 1, Episode 9
What if you could separate your work-life from your home-life, literally? That was essentially the premise of Severance Season 1, where “Severed” workers would live one life above ground and one life beneath it, completely unable to remember the events that their Innie or Outie went through. This was great for the Outies, who got all the benefits of their off-time without ever needing to set foot in their office. But it wasn’t so great for the Outies, which is why they hijacked their bodies in Season 1 and tried to make a daring escape.
Surprising and Suspenseful
“The We We Are” is one of those endings where you don’t know what’s going to happen next—and neither do the characters. Watching each of the Innies adapt to their Outie’s life was fascinating, especially when it came to Helly Eagen (Britt Lower). Plus, it was hard not to root for Irving (John Turturro) as he looked for Burt (Christopher Walken), even though it wasn’t part of his mission, and the final few scenes were exactly what a good season finale needs to make a viewer invested in Season 2.
“Qui”
‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2, Episode 6
After a girls’ soccer team became stranded in the Wilderness, everything quickly devolved into Lord of the Flies. Each episode, hunger and fear caused the girls to descend even more into madness, with them eventually resorting to cannibalism in order to stay alive. During the episode “Qui,” one of the girls, Shauna (Sophie Nélisse), watched in horror as her newborn was devoured by her teammates, only to soon learn a truth that was somehow even worse: her baby had died at birth.
Incredible Acting
Shauna’s grief is a gut punch throughout this episode, and the jumps to the present-day just make everything that more intense. In this future timeline, the girls meet at Lottie’s (Simone Kessell) commune, setting the stage for a major confrontation to come. In short, this episode delivers gripping emotion, superb acting, and high-stakes, all culminating in an experience that is equal parts suspenseful and heartbreaking.
“Connor’s Wedding”
‘Succession’ Season 4, Episode 3
When the Roy family patriarch, Logan (Brian Cox) began having health problems, it set off a power struggle among his children. Each of them was determined to gain control of Waystar RoyCo, a global media conglomerate owned by their father. Come Season 4, Logan would die aboard his private jet on the day that his oldest son, Connor (Alan Ruck), was getting married. A huge shock to audiences, his death would leave his children grieving and viewers wondering what was going to happen next.
Standout Episode
“Connor’s Wedding” shook audiences, not just because of Logan’s death, but because of the way it unfolded off-screen. Whether or not he was actually dead remained uncertain throughout most of the episode, and his family’s reaction to hearing the news was both realistic and devastating. For a family defined by its rivalries, the episode surprisingly and deftly highlighted their connection and the importance of togetherness in the face of unexpected loss.
“The View from Halfway Down”
‘BoJack Horseman’ Season 6, Episode 15
Centered on an ex-sitcom star, BoJack Horseman (voiced by Will Arnett) followed a self-destructive horse as he desperately clung to his former glory. Most episodes involved him making a bad decision that ultimately backfired, hurting him and those closest to him. In the episode “The View from Halfway Down,” he found himself in a dream surrounded by dead friends and family members. One by one, they began acting out important events from their lives and deaths before disappearing, leading BoJack to realize the horrifying truth: he wasn’t asleep. He was drowning.
A Viewing Must
The message and visuals of “The View from Halfway Down” stick with you, creating a dark feeling that’s hard to shake. Plus, at the time, it was uncertain whether BoJack had survived, making the episode especially hard-hitting as it appeared to be his last. Scary, thought-provoking, and unique, “The View from Halfway Down” is perfect from start to finish, and it will undoubtedly go down as a masterpiece of the 2020s.
