Joss Whedon

While watching last week’s Nikita, I actually let out an audible “HELL yes!” I’ll admit to this, though not exactly when, in case you haven’t seen it. The episode is called 343 Walnut Lane, so it’s a safe bet it will deal with Nikita’s history, especially considering the disappointingly absence of backstory so far. Aside from delivering some really juicy material for me to appreciate, it worked pretty well as an origin, or a Nikita version of one, anyway.

This got me thinking about origin stories in general. Not just flashback episodes – how the crew got together, everyone with silly hair in the 80’s – but the episodes that step back and reveal some history the audience hasn’t yet seen. We all love flashback episodes, especially the silly hair, but usually the motive of a flashback episode is simply to flash back, to depart from the series arc and tell another story. The trick of a really good origin episode is bridging a character’s history with what’s going on in the present. Again, this type of episode is incredibly popular, so I tried to pick the ones that stick out in my mind, even if they don’t fit that exact description or aren’t particularly well-known.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – “Fool for Love”

Okay, you got me. Ask any Buffy fan to list their favorite episodes, and this one will probably show up within the first five titles. But I chose it because it is just a damn good origin story. In “Fool for Love”, Buffy has been struggling on patrol, to the point that a mere stunt vampire nearly guts her with her own stake. For lack of a better option, she seeks out Spike in an attempt to understand how a slayer could make a fatal mistake.

And thus, our excuse to time travel. Among other things, Spike recounts his murder of two slayers, one during The Boxer Rebellion and Nikki Wood on a New York subway in the 1970s. These are borderline iconic images in the fandom, and with good reason. The details of Spike’s past add chilling tones to what Buffy faces in the present. “Fool for Love” may be the true turning point in the decay of Spike’s badass villainy, but it fits too perfectly for me to complain.

The counterpart to this episode is Angel’s “Darla”, which aired later that night on The WB, and is a solid episode in its own right, but there’s nothing like that shot of Spike on the ground, shamed by the girl he loves, same as he’s been for 120 years.

Avatar: The Last Airbender – “The Storm”

One thing I love about Avatar: The Last Airbender is its ability reach a broad audience. Though built as a children’s show, Avatar wasn’t afraid to tell a complex story and explore dark themes such as war, genocide, and evil royal families, to name a few, all while keeping things light enough for young children. Though a little slow to start, by episode twelve of the first season Avatar gave older viewers a reason to tune in with “The Storm”.

Up until then, we knew Aang was the Avatar, and that he’d run away and gotten himself frozen under water for one hundred years somehow, and we knew that Zuko was the big evil jerk who was trying to capture Aang for the Fire Nation. “The Storm” tells of Aang’s struggle to face his fate as the Avatar. Though typically Avatars begin training at age sixteen, the monks summon twelve-year-old Aang thinking the world is in peril and needs a savior right away, puberty be damned.

On the other side of the ocean, Zuko’s crew grows tired of with their captain’s temper (and general disregard for anyone’s wellbeing). So trusty Uncle Iroh gathers them round to explain the nasty scar that covers the left side of Zuko’s face, and help them understand why the Avatar is so important to him.

These parallel stories help the audience to understand their hero and villain a little better, even back in season one when they had so little in common. After all, the Avatar gives people hope – even the ones trying to take him down. It’s one of the more beautifully executed episodes of the series.

*Homicide: Life on the Street – “Kaddish”

This is an episode I imagine would not have been called unsung fifteen years ago. Homicide: Life on the Street was watched, respected, acclaimed, you name it. But the years go by, TV vomits out cop shows like a frat boy you can plug a DVR into, and little brother The Wire goes on to cure polio, or whatever the appropriate TV-to-reality metaphor would be. Such is the way of things. But Homicide will always be a personal favorite, and this episode encompasses much of what makes it great.

In “Kaddish”, Detective Munch has a slight crisis of faith when a girl he had a crush on in high school is found raped and murdered. He must sift through what her life has become to solve the case. The episode visits Munch’s memories of high school in the early 60s and it’s just perfect. To watch, not so perfect to live. Munch is, of course, a total nerd; he hangs out with his little brother, getting picked on left and right. We know what will happen to the only girl being kind to him, but it doesn’t feel forced or trite, just bittersweet.

*Malcolm in the Middle – “Flashback”

Despite being largely written off as zany Roseanne rip-off, Malcolm in the Middle had plenty of brilliant, hilarious episodes, and the off the wall nature of the series made it perfect for experimental structure. The alternate timelines stick out as favorites, and the second season finale was a solid flashback episode.

When Lois is late (that kind of late), she and Hal fight like cats and dogs – Whose fault is it? How could this happen? We have so many kids already!! …and so on. When Dewey overhears the bickering and worries that they’re getting divorced, he seeks comfort from his big brothers. It goes something like this:

“They just have a way of working things out.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, they just do.”

“But how?”

“How do I say this so you’ll understand… SHUT UP!”

“Flashback” recounts each of Lois’s pregnancies and exactly how she and Hal manage to end their worst fights, but more than that, it shows how they function as a couple and a family.

By the final season, Malcolm fell back on over the top craziness instead of actual comedy, as countless comedies before it and surely more will after. But Malcolm had several good seasons, and that really nice flashback episode.

The West Wing – “Bartlet for America”

I know it seems like a tough sell – The West Wing is a lot of things, but “unsung” isn’t one of them. It has made wonderful use of flashbacks and origin stories, even in its subpar seasons. The most popular has to be “Two Cathedrals”, and don’t get me wrong, I love that episode with all my heart, but “Bartlet for America” is at least as strong as the former, and without a beloved character death to add poignancy points.

The third season episode runs the stories of the early Bartlet campaign days – and a few rough campaign nights for Leo – against the present day House Committee hearings on the president’s previously undisclosed MS. This is a day in the limelight for Leo, even if the entire episode is hinged on his guilt and stress, and how that affects the staffers, but this is Sorkin, so everything comes together the right way. And it’s worth mentioning, “Bartlet for America” is a Christmas episode, so good luck not weeping into your holiday cocoa.

Hey Arnold! – “Helga on the Couch”

Thanks to Teen Nick and Stick Stickly, many of our favorite slime-drenched toons from the 90s have made a recent comeback. I like to think that newer generations will grow to appreciate the brilliant television I grew up with, but the parts of my brain not dominated by nostalgia know that no one really needs to see The Amanda Show. Even so, there are few if any who wouldn’t be better off for watching Hey Arnold! The tale of a bold kid, growing up in an unnamed city with his wacky grandparents and the tenants of the boardinghouse they run – what’s not to love? There are odd, likable characters, urban legends, and even true love. Well, there’s stalker love, anyway, from Miss Helga G. Pataki, who teaches that it’s okay to be a rude, brilliant, and mentally unstable fourth-grader.

Arnold was Helga’s obsession from the beginning of the series, often played for laughs, and by the time “Helga on the Couch” came around in the fourth season, we had a reasonable understanding of the romance, and of Helga as a character. She was a bully, yes, who would address her negligent parents only as Big Bob and Miriam, and she would make Arnold’s life as miserable as possible, all while writing verbose poetry and building a shrine of his head out of chewed gum (if you’re unfamiliar with the show, yes, I am serious. His head. Chewed gum).

So when Helga is referred to the school psychologist for her anger issues, we are not surprised. “Helga on the Couch” follows Miss Pataki’s memories of meeting Arnold, being shown up by her sister, ignored by her parents, and interacting with the tiny, adorable versions of all the characters we love. This is one of the first children’s cartoons I can think of that dealt with child psychology, which would be notable even if it weren’t a really sweet episode. But it is, so that’s all we really need.

Dollhouse – “Belonging”

Oh, Dollhouse. I can hardly think of another series so broadly lauded and maligned. And to think, “Belonging” was the last episode to air before cancellation was announced. Perhaps, had it aired sooner, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Well, we probably would, but I like to think an episode of this caliber early on would have helped the cause.

In “Belonging”, we watch Topher and Boyd dig into Sierra’s past, and discover her contract with the Dollhouse is not so kosher. The details of Sierra’s history are compelling enough, but what makes this a great origin episode is how well her history is used it to develop every other character on the screen. Of course, Sierra is front and center, but her tumultuous past helps to shed light on people we thought we knew.

We see Topher’s freshly budding conscience forced to lurch forward, while Adelle begins to struggle with her own, plus a glimpse into Victor’s past and Boyd’s eerie efficiency as a cleaner. Even Echo isn’t too annoying, staying quiet and pointing everyone in the right direction, slowly manipulating the situation better than her doll-brain is supposed to understand.

It’s a really wonderful episode, a highlight for the series that built momentum for the rest of the season. As a bonus, “Belonging” is almost a scene-for-scene perfect origin episode. So even if the audience wasn’t huge, it told a story that’s hard to wipe away.