20 Best TV Episodes Of 2017

4. Better Call Saul - Chicanery

Better Call Saul's third season was its best yet, one that should eviscerate any lingering doubts (not that there should be any) about its place in Breaking Bad canon. This was best exemplified in its centrepiece, episode 5, Chicanery - the series' crowning achievement thus far.

Despite its main characters, the show focuses much more on the sibling rivalry between Jimmy and Chuck - not to mention the former's trickier ways - than it does serious court-is-in-session business. This marks the first time it has truly gone into full-blown courtroom drama territory, and it completely nails it.

It's a tense, slow-burning delight to watch this drama methodically unfold, going back-and-forth as Jimmy and Chuck go head-to-head in a battle of brotherly wits, each thinking themselves the likely victor. The true genius of the episode, and the series, is that there actually is no real winner, and by the time we get the big reveals it's a heartwrenching, sombre moment of tragedy for all involved, viewers included.

Tautly directed by Daniel Sackheim, you spend almost the whole hour in the stifling courtroom, totally gripped even with a lack of action, and it is - as ever - one of the most perfectly shot shows on television.

Bob Odenkirk and Michael McKean somehow manage to reach new levels with their respective performances here. McKean, in particular, is astonishing, bringing so much nuance to Chuck's illness and villainy, with shocking results. The heart of Better Call Saul is the relationship between Jimmy and Chuck, and Chicanery takes a knife straight to it.