When thinking about the best episodes of television, we tend to fall into the habit of highlighting those most distinctive installments, those that break the narrative cadence of the story, those that culminate a plot or that mark an unexpected filigree. It’s normal: they are the ones that attract attention.

In the lists of this 2023 there is no shortage of mentions of Forks from The bear, Connor’s Wedding from Succession or especially Long, long time from The last of us, that episode that forgot about Ellie and Joel to tell the idyll between two men in that zombie apocalypse caused by a fungus.

They should also be Me-Time by Fleishman is in trouble, The Devil Has Answered Me in Person by Cardo, Escape from Shit Mountain or The Orpheus Syndrome by Poker Face, the pilot of Bronca, Black by Moving, to name just a few. However, what if I said that there was another episode that is a treasure, that also stands out for its humanity and its tenderness, and it is only 21 minutes long?

I am referring to The amazing Rudy, the second episode of the current season of Bob’s burgers, broadcast this December on Disney. The animated comedy, instead of focusing on the Belchers, the family that owns a humble hamburger restaurant, focuses its interest on Rudy Stieblitz. He is one of Louise’s classmates: kind, fearful but always involved in her friend’s adventures, even when her asthma advises against it.

In the first scene, we can see that Rudy is nervous just like his father. The reason? Since his parents divorced, the Stieblitzes try to maintain cordiality for Rudy’s sake, meeting for dinner at the restaurant. But that night they will face the first dinner where both the father and the mother will bring their current partners. Rudy feels the pressure: he has to make sure dinner goes well and, to break the thread, he thinks the best thing to do is to perform an infallible magic trick.

There is no need to reveal any more details of the episode written by sisters Lizzie Molyneux and Wendy Molyneux. What is worth mentioning is that it is an exercise in tenderness that proves the solidity of this fictional universe (the Belchers are content with having a supporting role) and is a demonstration of how to approach serious topics (divorce, anxiety children) without losing empathy, good intentions and the comic and family profile of the production.

What has more merit? Write a standalone story in a big-budget series with a couple handfuls of episodes? Or think, write and produce a marvel for all audiences after 14 years on the air and 262 episodes broadcast?

How we miss the recognition of this craftsmanship and creativity of television: the ability to surprise and excite within recognizable parameters and from a work that is a constant in the viewer’s life.