Sure shots: The 20 best TV oners of all time

The oner—that is, an extended, uninterrupted take—is most synonymous with film, with standouts like Goodfellas’ “Copacabana shot,” the ambush in Children Of Men, or the intro and pool-party scenes in Boogie Nights having inspired countless cinephiles to enroll in film school. But the single-shot has been experimented with—to beautiful, anxiety-inducing, frightening, or dazzling effect, depending on the series—on TV, too. So with the much-anticipated return of The Bear set for June 27—the show’s 17-plus-minute single shot in season-one episode “Review” remains such a perfectly-constructed doozy all these rewatches later—we decided to count down the very best oners to grace the small screen, from a bloody battle in Game Of Thrones to a sun-kissed homage in Pen15.

20. Mr. Robot season 3, episode 5 - “Eps3.4_runtime-error.r00"

Length: 42 minutes, 49 secondsTechnically, this isn’t a oner. It’s to make the episode appear as one continuous shot. But it flows together seamlessly as we follow Elliot (Rami Malek) and Angela (Portia Doubleday) through one hellish day of work at E Corp. In “Eps3.4_runtime-error.r00,” Elliot tries to piece together the events of the past four days, which he can’t remember. The constantly hovering camera captures his panic in real time as he realizes he’s been fired from E Corp, Angela is working with the Dark Army, and she’s about to blow up E Corp’s headquarters. Here, the oner immerses the audience in Elliot’s state of mind as he tries, and fails, to prevent a massive tragedy. [Jen Lennon]