10 episodes that highlight The Wonder Years‘ uncommon empathy
As the ABC series turns 35, let's shortlist the coming-of-age show's essential episodes
TV Lists The Wonder Years
With TV Club 10, we point you toward the 10 episodes that best represent a TV series, classic or modern. They might not be the 10 best episodes, but they’re the 10 episodes that’ll help you understand what the show’s all about.
In 1988, at the end of the Reagan era, a modest show about growing up during the late-’60s debuted. The Wonder Years proved to be something special, epochal, and deeply empathetic in ways you just don’t see very much in this age of streaming. It was intimate. It was tender. It was, in other words, rare for a half-hour network program.
Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) and his family live unremarkable lives in the suburbs, surrounded by people doing very much the same. They are content with their existence, dawdling behind the placid facade of American suburbia, with its a homogeneity of houses with trim green grass and boys playing ball in the street. But these are people who matter to the show’s writers, and they’re never denied dignity or internality. They may not have a lot and they may not rage against the machine (if they even acknowledge or recognize it). The show reflects not only the late-’60s—the rock ‘n’ roll, the hippies and homemakers, the tumult of the Vietnam War, the blooming of progressive ideologies—but also the late-’80s, at the apogee of Reagan’s popularity. Book banning was getting popular back then, just as episodes of this show rolled out. (With the way things have gone since, it wouldn’t be surprising if The Wonder Years got banned from schools, too.) And today, the genuine, unobtrusive progressiveness of The Wonder Years, and its uncommon empathy, feels almost radical 35 years later. (The show premiered January 31, 1988.)
But I don’t want to make you think this is ABC’s weekly liberal sermon: It is, deep down, in its thrumming heart, about being a boy—a boy in 1968, yes, but even more so about the intricacies and intimacies of boyhood. Think of school, which takes up half of your adolescence, and it sucks. There’s the barking of the gym teacher, the alluring sensitivity of the English teacher, the draconian principal, the raucous halls, the rampaging hormones of a 12-year-old. And there is, of course, his father, the first ideal of American masculinity of any boy’s life. Kevin tries out for the baseball team to earn the approval of his dad, and he’s terrible. (I relate to this. I sucked at baseball, even though I played from age eight to 18, but no matter what my mom was there.) And there’s also boyhood friendship: Kevin’s best friend is Paul (Josh Saviano), a four-eyed nerd who gets winded running down the street for the football and in whom Kevin finds the kind of dauntless loyalty and love that you only find as a kid. Kevin has other friends and acquaintances, most notably his once and always love, Winnie (Danica McKellar). Their first kiss at the end of the first episode is one of television’s most purely warm moments. Here and throughout the series (even as its glints of brilliance were far sparser later on), Kevin is sincere, reacting to a quarrel with Paul or a moment of intimacy with Winnie or the approval of a teacher he likes so much with the kind of awe and awkwardness and anxiety and adulation that any kid would.
And don’t forget Daniel Stern’s narration, offering reflections and observations on the events of each episode, articulating it all with the wisdom of age. It’s not entirely dissimilar to Scrubs, nor are Kevin’s occasional daydreams, his fleeting sparks of spectacle and fantasy. In the end, it’s Stern-as-Kevin who sums it up best: “If dreams and memories sometimes get confused, well, that’s as it should be. Because every kid deserves to be a hero. Every kid already is.”
“Pilot” (season one, episode one)
Kevin’s neighbor, the older brother of his childhood love Winnie, is killed in Vietnam, draping a veil of tragedy over the first season and creating some very real problems for a boy who can’t quite comprehend them yet. In the end of the show’s pilot, Kevin and Winnie share a kiss, the first for both of them, and it’s a stunning moment. The show was shot single-camera (whereas, say, Cheers was a multi-camera setup), and it is frequently lovely to look at. This episode, which has some simple, effective camera movements, was directed by Steve Miner, who made the second and third Friday The 13th films. And of all people, he establishes the show’s charming aesthetic quite well.
“Swingers” (season one, episode two)
This episode is about Winnie’s brother’s funeral and the day-after anxieties in the wake of Kevin and Winnie’s first kiss in the woods. (There’s a fantastic shot of blank pale headstones, arranged neatly in rows, the sameness and grid pattern recalling the homes these people lived in.) When Kevin’s mother tells him to bring Winnie some food, he suggests she try the ham, attempting incredibly hard to appear cool—and it’s oh-so-wonderfully genuine.
“My Father’s Office” (season one, episode three)
Kevin’s grumpy father Jack (Dan Lauria, with a face so stony and stoical that those rare flickers of a smile, or even just generally contentedness, feel like a jolt) is a Korean War vet, a fervid defender of the Vietnam War, and an all-American man who comes home from work and wants his drink and his dinner. At his soul-sucking job, where one of his many vague superiors berates him for a minor mistake in front of Kevin, we—and Kevin—get to see, for the first time, the sadness simmering behind that stoicism. And we realize, early in the show, that the old man isn’t happy, that adult life is hard and scary and rife with misfortunes. We empathize with him, the way we might our own fathers.
“Angel” (season one, episode four)
Yes, I am saying that the first four episodes are all among the show’s best. (They’re also among the best opening eps of any network show, especially considering how long it often takes great series take to find their identities.) The series is great at dislodging memories of when you first questioned your parents’ infallibility. And here, we get to see Kevin’s sister (Olivia d’Abo) and her first phase of being politically active. She falls for a guy and becomes fiery in her leftist convictions. Yet, while her ideas are cogent and her intentions admirable, she’s still in self-righteous mode, arguing with her parents without considering the reasons why they believe what they do.
“Our Miss White” (season 2, episode 2)
Kevin, like George Michael Bluth would years later, gets a crush on his teacher, in this case a kind and comely English instructor played by Wendel Meldrum. He agrees to play Robert Kennedy in a school play that she wrote to get her attention—and by doing so his eyes are opened to some real political issues. The episode depicts Kevin’s maybe-a-little-shameful-but-pretty-innocent crush—and somehow it doesn’t come off as too weird.
“Coda” (season two, episode seven)
Another teacher-focused episode. In “Coda,” Maxine Stuart plays Kevin’s sweet piano instructor, Mrs. Carples, who inspires him to take his playing more seriously when he wants to quit. He practices like he never has before, but he succumbs to the pressure and messes up at the recital while a smug classmate, who is very good at the keys, silently taunts him. Stuart is an ebullient presence onscreen here.
“The Family Car” (season three, episode seven)
Anytown, U.S.A., which this show is very much set in, is a realm where property—lawns, lawnmowers, colorful houses, and flowers that flaunts your standing—defines a person and a family. Take, for instance, the car, a practical purchase so you can get to work or take the kids to school or, if you’re a teen, go out with friends on Saturday night. Here, good old dad can’t give up the good old vehicle that has seen better days.
“Don’t You Know Anything About Women?” (season three, episode 11)
Sex, that filthy inconvenience. You can’t grow up without it. And yet we don’t often talk about it very honestly or eloquently. In this episode, Kevin gets curious, and, in the end, learns that even adults have a lot of questions. There are no real “jokes” here, thankfully, and the episode isn’t even that funny, but you can’t help but smile as Kevin tries to surreptitiously buy Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex.
“Heartbreak” (season four, episode 11)
Before the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” was an overused needle-drop, The Wonder Years used it perfectly, with Carl Wilson’s voice floating as Kevin says goodbye in his mind to Winnie, his love. Everyone knows that feeling of a first heartbreak, and this episode trembles with a very particular kind of adolescent pain.
“The Accident” (season four, episode 20)
Winnie has broken up with her boyfriend and confesses, in a beautifully tender scene (the first of two in this episode), her problems and her feelings, and Kevin understands. Then, she shuts him out and makes him leave. But he comes back, because of course he does, and they both say “I love you,” as Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonite” swells.
54 Comments
Get a job!?!? Were they serious? I didn’t realize it at the time… “To everything, turn, turn, turn…” And so on.
Narration of David Stern, huh?
Ok, now I’m sure you do this on purpose like Easter eggs.
Can’t believe he had time to run the NBA and narrate a television series. What a guy!
“I’ll never forget the first time I stepped up to that podium and announced the first pick in the NBA Draft. I only wish my first love, Winnie Cooper, could have been there to see it.”
“I wasn’t sure what to do until Paul suggested I freeze the Knicks’ envelope.“In return, I told him he should definitely try to become a shock-rock star in a few decades.”
Hi – one of my all-time faves, thanks for reminding me. I’m kind of depressed at this point in time but it might help…or end it all.Where can I stream this with the original soundtrack?TX
Looks like HULU – but does it have the original soundtrack. I know that was a real problem when it was coming out.
Well, I’m not surprised, but they didn’t include my favorite episode:
The Electric Shoes!
“And don’t forget David Stern’s narration, offering reflections and
observations on the events of each episode, articulating it all with the
wisdom of age”It’s weird to think about now, but this was an 80’s show about an era twenty years earlier, so the adult version of Kevin was offering reflections from the wizened old age of… 32.
Now that I’m over 50, yes, 32 looks like an absurdly young age to be looking back at anything, but it makes sense from the viewpoint of the show’s audience. The prime era for nostalgia is 20 to 30 years ago — which is why we saw Happy Days in the 1970s and even explains things that on the face of it that seem absurd to us olds — like how both Ladybird and Turning Red were set in 2002.
I think you missed the most ridiculous part of that statement.
No, I caught the name flub-up, but other people already mentioned that in the comments.
It’s weird that the former commissioner of the NBA played such a prominent part in an 80s sitcom…
The era of Fox News and elderly QAnon supporters falling for youtube conspiracy theories has really done a number on the notion that age and wisdom are linked in any way.
Season 3, Episode 20 needs to be on here: ‘Good-bye.’After allowing himself to be convinced by his stern, but ultimately loving math teacher that he can and should face down the challenges of working toward a hard-earned A, Kevin returns to school from a weekend eager to share in his successes with Mr. Collins, only to find out that he has passed away from a previously unrevealed heart ailment. Kevin realizes the gifts of perseverance, self-confidence, and motivation that Mr. Collins has given him, too late to express his appreciation directly to Mr. Collins, but in plenty of time to carry those lessons with him toward adulthood, where they’ll endure far longer than the math he learned in class.Waterworks.
That was such a good episode. I kept scrolling through this list expecting to see it, and was a little surprised it was excluded.
Yep, it’s the one I remember the most and was very surprised it wasn’t on here.
I cried like a baby.
OMG yes!!! That was such an amazing episode.
Frank the Stank and Denise the Grease
Still somewhat in love with Danica McKellar from this series, though she persists in testing this by joining the new even more conservative than Hallmark Christmas movie channel with (ugh) Candace Cameron
Yeah, unfortunately she’s one of those evangelicals. She has written some well received math books aimed at girls so she does seem to have a brain despite that. And is on her second husband so she doesn’t seem to be one of those “the purpose of a woman is to serve her husband no matter what” types.
Oh geez. I had no idea about that so I googled it, and it kinda sounds like Candace Cameron is the one who basically converted her to a born again. Like, less than a year ago. I guess on the bright side, one of the articles I read just now noted that Winnie Cooper has said that even though she has, to paraphrase, accepted Jesus and whatnot, she still doesn’t believe God would judge any form of love, and that she “celebrates all forms of healthy love.” So I guess she’s not completely off the deep end like DJ Tanner.
Eh, so what. You’re in love with Winnie Cooper, not IRL Danica McKellar. As are we all.
Winnie treated Kevin like crap.
I was/am/ever-shall-be Team Becky Slater.
Like ‘em dangerous, I see.
Look at my list of crushes:
Becky Slater, Amanda Knox, Anna Delvey…
No Elizabeth Holmes?
She’s a solid “maybe”. The Spider has spoken.
And the fun fact there is that Becky Slater is Winnie’s real life sister. And now that I’m googling… she went to Yale, and then got her law degree from Harvard. So, yeah. Team Becky Slater!
I did know that, but thank you for sharing.
Becky Slater was a gossip though so no love for her.
nobody’s perfect.
the one that I would say it’s essential would be when the class do a walkout from the classroom protesting the Vietnam war…
That was so bullshit. He either should have done it or chickened out. Not him walks out uses the bathroom and then the students walkout because they think he actually walked out when he didn’t. That was such a cop out
“Some men have greatness thrust upon them… while they’re in the bathroom.”
“I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom”
Which, IIRC, cheats by having Winnie not be in that episode.
I’m genuinely surprised that, in talking about the episode “Angel,” there’s no mention of the fact that Karen’s boyfriend is played by a young John Corbett, who is very, very good in the episode.
Doesn’t Karen eventually move in with David Schwimmer in the later seasons?
Pretty sure that’s who she marries, if I’m not mistaken.
That’s right. I had forgotten they get married.
I thought the one with the math teacher coulda shoulda made this list.And I know it doesn’t really highlight “empathy,” but the lake episode is still one of my all-time favorites. Actually, both lake episodes.
“The show was shot single-camera and it is frequently lovely to look at.” Gonna disagree there. It was shot with this kind of golden, gauzy glow to it that worked on the TVs of that era but unfortunately HD does it no favors. One episode missing is the one in the first or second season that just centers around Kevin trying to work up the nerve to call a girl he likes. Great, awkward comedy in that one. But really the show was at its best the first two seasons with the original producer team and to me the difference after they left it pretty noticable.That said the finale should be on this list. Especially that gut punch in the coda:[SPOILER!]“Wayne took over the shop the following year. After Dad died.” Watching this with college roommates I couldn’t help it and burst into tears when it happened.
This article really leans into season one—which is, like, six episodes long—but for those who haven’t seen the whole show, all of it is great. Fred Savage, problematic though he may be now, gives an all-timer performance as Kevin Arnold. The series is absolutely worth watching and holds up remarkably well.
This show is precisely why everyone is so bummed Savage turned out to be a prick. It’s like a less severe version of reaction to the Cosby revelations.
I can’t remember the episode, but the one that sticks with me (other than the pilot and Heartbreak) is when the parents are fighting and Kevin’s trying to get them on the same side of a situation. His solution:I use “While you sleep” to this day.
The Wonder Years was my first David Schwimmer sighting, and my affection for his puppy-eyed schlub character carried me through most Friends.
No mention of Kevin’s older brother, Wayne!? My favorite Wayne episode was when he tried to join the Army and go fight in Vietnam. Their dad flips the fuck out because he was in Korea and, despite being pro-war, doesn’t want his son to go through that hell. He tries to stop Wayne, but there’s no need: he gets rejected because of flat feet. It ends with the dad consoling the boy.
There’s a whole arc (ok, probably 3 episodes) about Wayne getting involved with a young single mother with a baby; the parents see what’s coming and warn him, but…finally the couple split, and Wayne loses his surrogate child, and everybody cries. It’s brutal.
Also, obligatory…
I still can’t believe this show was canceled with those numbers. So great from front to back. Too bad Fred’s a creep (and maybe that’s why it was canceled was what was suggested a few years ago?). I am just a little younger than him and had an entire wall of posters of him in my bedroom as a pre-teen.
Almost no POCs? Celebrating White privilege all the time? Nah that show was racist af. Who watched a show like that anyway? My guess: Racists.
S322, Daddy’s Little Girl. Cried at the end. So good.