I would love to watch and document some favorite television series 'bottle' episodes over the years.
I will start.
I think I'll have to go with pros baby one of the more recently obvious.
'The Fly', from Breaking Bad.
In this episode Jessie and Walter get trapped in the basement while manufacturing a batch of meth for the cartel. While stuck the tensions and mistrust comes to a head. The tension and conversation rises as a mysterious fly is trapped inside with them evading them at every chance to pester their tempers.
what is yours? The older the better!
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Hey, Jordan Smith. What's a bottle episode?
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Maurice Vaughan a bottle episode is an episode restricted in scope, typically confined to one setting with a limited number of cast members, effects, and sets
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Thanks, Pat Alexander. I've seen bottle episodes, but I didn't know they were called that.
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The Teddy Perkins episode in Atlanta is one of my favorites, Jordan Smith. It's creepy. It has a Horror vibe.
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Good Buzzword. Maybe good idea for a short movie keeping the costs down. I like the Fly. Any idea how much a bottle episode like that would cost to produce???
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The film called "The Outfit" comes to mind where the whole film is inside a Taylors, oh, sorry, The Cutters business. It was a Film Noir masterClass!
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Maurice Vaughan I love Atlanta's take on all of their bottle episodes. It's one of the first shows where they embrace redefining the traditional "bottle episode" and run a more anthological short story that is set in the world but isn't necessary to the main storyline. It is absolutely one of my favorites!
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Atlanta is one of my favorites too, Jordan Smith. I want to write an anthological series now!
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I like the Fly. Any idea how much a bottle episode like that would cost to produce???
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FRIENDS - "The One Where No One's Ready" and STAR TREK: TNG - "Cause And Effect". FYI, I love bottle episodes!!!
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Most of Dexter’s kill room scenes, taut backstories. Original The Prisoner, confined set in “The Village.” Interrogation room, “You’ll get nothing out of me.” “By hook or by crook we will.” Most of Ice Cold In Alex was in in same space, particularly like truck sinks swamp.
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PS Latter a film, not episodic, was a spin off take on it but can’t remember production.
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It'll be hard to find but Dr Who: The Edge of Destruction is the best bottle episode ever.
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Hard to beat The Fly from Breaking Bad. It wasn't just a bottle episode because the studio changed their mind about something and needed a holding pattern episode (which has happened in other shows) but it came at a crucial moment in Walt and Jessie's relationship. Having an episode where they were trapped together really let them explore this changing dynamic and say things which have been brewing between them for some time. They really made the most of it to make it an episode with powerful character drama.
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I would add THE SUITCASE from MAD MEN.
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Great call RB! I'd also throw in Cooperative Calligraphy from Community. Just because its where a lot of people learnd what a bottle episode is since Jeff literally screams out at the start "we're doing a bottle episode".
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Remember that well, Ewan Dunbar!
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Tons of Star Trek episodes. Cause and Effect was mentioned. Remember Me also comes to mind, probably because it’s not only a reduced setting, but a (progressively) reduced cast.
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While the entire show could be considered "Bottled," the third episode of HORACE AND PETE is something to behold as the camera locks down on a spectacular Laurie Metcalf for an uninterrupted ten minute monologue.
This monologue, like the rest of the show, is riveting. The story and the denizens that inhabit it will haunt you. Beware: It's the opposite of dainty.
A well-deserved Peabody Award for this truly amazing ten episode show.
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E Langley Never heard of it. Thank you! I'm looking forward to checking it out!
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Mike Boas Thanks for the share. They did a lot with limited budget and great writing back then. other thanks scene studies I never knew where to jump in on Star Trek, I would love some advise on which series!
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Ewan Dunbar I watched the show as it aired but I haven't went back to rewatch, this definitely makes me want to! I know the Halloween, Paintball and Blanket fort episodes were pretty great!
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Richard "RB" Botto Thanks for the recommendation. I watched Mad Men through once and sadly don't recall the episode specifically. Probably time to rebinge a classic!
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Bill Albert Agreed and already on it. I'm my pursuit of collecting all the lost episodes of Dr. Who in during my high school years ago, I reached out to the piracy community collections for the ones I couldn't obtain through normal routes... Fantastic rec!
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Welcome, Jordan Smith. It's a shame this show does not enjoy greater awareness.
Enjoy.
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Jordan SmithI love this topic! Originally, bottle episodes were often produced as a budget-saving measure, especially in network television, where the constraints helped balance out more expensive episodes. But over time, especially with the rise of premium cable and streaming, bottle episodes have evolved into creative storytelling showcases (like you and Maurice discussed with Atlanta), used not just to save money but to drill deep into character development and tension.
I love that you mentioned The Fly! It's such a polarizing but undeniably masterful episode! Some of my favorite bottle episodes are Firefly’s “Out of Gas,” Community’s “Cooperative Calligraphy,” and Mythic Quest’s “A Dark Quiet Death,” which totally redefines what a bottle episode can be in the streaming era. And since Bill Albert mentioned an older one- Dr. Who’s “Midnight” from the Tennant years is a chilling, claustrophobic masterpiece of a bottle episode.
Many people consider Buffy’s “The Body” to be a bottle episode, but I’d argue that while it’s emotionally intimate and contained, it doesn’t quite meet the traditional criteria. That being said, it's undoubtedly one of my favorite episodes of television ever made.
What I love most about bottle episodes is how they strip everything back and force the characters, and the audience, to sit with the emotional weight of the moment. Would love to hear more favorites from the community! This conversation is actually sparking a blog idea that I may have to explore!
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It's a fantastic episode to revisit, Jordan Smith. Completely enhances and serves as a marked evolution of the Peggy/Don dynamic.
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What is the Peggy/Don dynamic Richard "RB" Botto
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Thank you all for sharing. I'm still turning on all of this. This 'bottle-epsiode' discussion is giving me inspiration to expand more. Stay tuned....
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Thanks again Jordan Smith
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You're welcome, Jordan Smith. Thanks for making the post. I have a lot of bottle episodes to watch now. "This 'bottle-epsiode' discussion is giving me inspiration to expand more. Stay tuned...." Looking forward to what you're cooking up!
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You're going to have to watch MAD MEN, Mark Deuce. I won't ruin it for you!
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E. Langley, 100%
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This is a fun discussion! I just finished working on show that had what they called bottle but the definition was mainly not leaving WB to not have the cost of location :). I can't think off top of my head a favorite show but you all have mentioned some great ones!
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Does this meet the requirements?
From The Sopranos episode “Pine Barrens”, where Paulie and Christopher get lost in a snowy forest while searching for a Chechen.
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Certainly does, Dolf Van Stijgeren. I was surprised not to see it listed here.
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Great news, all! Jordan took the time to expand on this topic further with a full blog post that is now live on the Stage 32 Blog page! You can all check it out here: https://www.stage32.com/blog/understanding-bottle-episodes-curiosity-abo...
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Thanks Michael Valente.
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hi Jordan Smith I read your blog about the bottled episodes and I think that imagining a scene in a place for the characters in your story is an important way to "stress" their complexity and check if they are fully developed.
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then I am sorry, but it is impossible not to quote Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rope'.
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Are you a fan of FX's Atlanta? Can't pick a single favorite, the Fly in Breaking Bad was GREAT, but I'm going with the Teddy Perkins episode (Atlanta).