Top 10 Stranded-in-the-Woods TV Episodes

Hello, dear reader!

I was watching Atlanta (2016-Present) with my dad, when we stumbled upon an episode where major character Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles (Brian Tyree Henry) gets lost in the woods and winds up spending most of the episode there. Dad commented on how this was similar to that one The Sopranos (1999-2007) episode, after which I started thinking that it was also similar to that one It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-Present) episode. More and more shows came to my mind, and so it dawned on me - a weird amount of television shows have one individual episode where one or more characters get lost in the woods for a majority of the episode.

And here's the kicker - when I googled this phenomenon, nothing came up. So I may be among the first writers to publish anything about this phenomenon. So, without further ado, these are my favorite stranded-in-the-woods television episodes.

10. Das Bus (The Simpsons, Season 9 Episode 14)

"So the children learned how to function as a society, and eventually they were rescued by, oh, let's say...Moe"

Das Bus begins like a standard Simpsons episode, as students from Springfield Elementary School are going on a field trip. However, within the opening minutes, an accident with the brakes causes the school bus to drift off a bridge, leaving the students stranded in the wilderness. Campfires, survival methods and Lord of the Flies (1954) -shenanigans ensue, with Bart (Nancy Cartwright) and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) calling the shots.

9. In the Forest of the Night (Doctor Who, Season 8 Episode 10)

"It's that way...

...Are those trees??"

This one is a bit of a rule-bender (I had to get creative to come up with ten episodes for this premise; no one wants to see a "Top 9" list). Sure, the main characters are stranded in the woods for a majority of In the Forest of the Night, but only because the woods are everywhere. This Doctor Who episode begins with a mysterious alien invasion that causes trees to grow everywhere on Earth instantly. Suddenly the whole planet is one gigantic forest, and the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) must navigate his way through those large woods to find out what is causing the sudden forestation. A fun sci-fi twist on the lost-in-the-woods phenomenon.

8. Left Behind (Lost, Season 3 Episode 15)

"Welcome to the wonderful world of not knowing what the hell is going on"

Sure, the whole series is about a group of people stranded on an island (well, in the later seasons, it's about a lot more than that, but I'm going to save my thoughts on the wonderful escalation of Lost's premise for another day). But within the premise, there are a select few individual episodes where one or more characters spend their time in the mysterious forests of the island, and this season 3 gem is the best of the bunch.

The Others have left major characters Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) handcuffed to each other in the middle of the jungle. While the episode does feature a subplot taking place in the main beach camp of the survivors, a majority of the runtime is devoted to Kate and Juliet making their way through the woods. Like many episodes on this list, the stranded-in-the-woods premise is used as a means to get two characters who don't get along to get some much-needed one-on-one time. Kate and Juliet confront each other on their differences, and the relationship between the characters starts to build towards some sort of friendship.

7. The Ascent (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 5 Episode 9)

"I'm not trying to rescue you; I'm taking you along as emergency rations. If you die, I'm gonna eat you"

Speaking of putting two characters who don't get along into a situation where they must work together, this episode from my favorite Star Trek series takes that to a maximum. One of the best character relationships in the Star Trek franchise is the love-hate relationship between the shady Ferengi bartender Quark (Armin Shimerman) and the tough, by-the-book Changeling security chief Odo (Rene Auberjonois). Throughout the series, it is extremely amusing to follow Odo trying to bust Quark for his various less-than-legal endeavours, Quark trying to get Odo to loosen up on his strict morals, and the two working hard to hide the fact that they actually care for each other on some deep-down level.

In this episode, the frenemies crash land on a planet and must hike up a nearby mountain in order to send an emergency signal. As the two make their way through the woods and up the mountain, their differences and mutual respect come to a head, as they end up saying things they have refrained from saying for a long time. Hilarious at times and harsh at others, this episode really knows how to use the stranded-in-the-woods premise for some great character building.

6. Still (The Walking Dead, Season 4 Episode 12)

"Ain't gonna have your first drink be no damned peach schnapps. Come on"

This divisive The Walking Dead episode is strikingly similar to the equally polarizing Breaking Bad (2008-2013) episode Fly. While Fly takes place in a meth lab and Still in the woods, they both put the show's larger plot lines on hold and focus on just two characters and their relationship in a peculiar situation. While many fans weren't happy with such a "filler" episode, I found it delightful.

After the main characters had divided into smaller groups, one of the many ongoing storylines in season 4 of AMC's post-apocalyptic drama was the one of Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Beth (Emily Kinney) surviving together. This episode follows only that storyline, as Daryl and Beth are the only characters to appear in the 42-minute runtime. Their trip deep into the woods features harsh conflict, emotional moments of the two characters opening up to each other, and an amusing search for alcohol in an abandoned cabin, making for a nice and different character-driven episode.

5. Darmok (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 5 Episode 2)

"Mirab, his sails unfurled"

What is even worse than being stuck in the woods on an alien planet with a total stranger? Being stuck in the woods on an alien planet with a total stranger who doesn't speak your language. The language barrier in this Star Trek episode is clever; throughout its history, the Trek franchise has avoided language barriers by having a universal translator as existing technology in its utopian universe. But in this episode, the Enterprise crew faces an alien species that speaks exclusively in metaphors, therefore making their sentences sound like gibberish even when the individual words are translated to English.

A majority of the episode follows captain Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart), who has been beamed down to the planet against his will, and he finds himself in the wilderness with a member of the alien race. It is intriguing to follow their interactions, as Picard tries to get a grasp on the metaphor-based language that the alien is speaking, as they fend off enemies and survive the woods together. Classic Star Trek creativity.

4. Woods (Atlanta, Season 2 Episode 8)

"The only people who got time are dead. And if you dead, I'm gonna take them shoes"

Ah, the episode that inspired me to make this list in the first place. Atlanta is filled with concept episodes that just seem random at first glance, but have some deeper meaning to them, and Woods is no different. While watching the episode, the viewer (although entertained) might be wondering just why the bulk of the episode is devoted to Paper Boi running through the woods alone (or with a crazy man who may or may not be his imagination). The episode's first act features him getting jumped by a group of thugs, and his escape into the nearby forest turns out to be a long one.

Only after seeing the episode and reading about it on IMDB did I figure out that the episode is a metaphor for grief. Not only that, but it was written with Paper Boi's actor Brian Tyree Henry in mind, as he had lost his mother during the shooting of season 1, and filming this was seen as a way of processing the emotions that came with such a loss. This series is amazing.

3. The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 6 Episode 11)

"See, this is why I don't leave Philly, all right? You leave Philly and bad shit happens - I mean trees? Everywhere, trees? What the hell is this place?"

This line, uttered by one of comedy television's top tier characters Charlie Kelly (Charlie Day), is comedy gold. This episode, as you might guess from the title, is a very straight-forward example of the stranded-in-the-woods trope. On their way to a charity benefit in Atlantic City, the gang ends up crashing their car whilst taking a questionable shortcut somewhere in Jersey. They wind up surviving in the middle of the woods, and this premise with this particular sitcom cast makes for all sorts of hilarious happenings throughout the fantastic episodes. Poor Charlie spent six seasons avoiding ever leaving his hometown, only for his worst fears to come true.

2. 404 Not Found (Mr. Robot, Season 4 Episode 4)

"You were right about one thing. I've known we were gonna die since we walked out of that gas station and the van was gone. I don't think there's a way out of this for us"

"Then why do you want to keep going?"

"My sister. I have to warn her. I have to at least try"

The fourth and final season of Mr. Robot is a masterpiece that some experts saw as the final straw in television rising to the level of (or even surpassing) cinema as an art form. All of the 13 episodes are gold, and one of them happens to follow two (or technically three) major characters as they end up in the middle of the freezing woods after a chaotic sequence of events. The episode has it all: confrontations, survival methods, harsh realities, moments of humor and levity, and a subplot where Darlene (Carly Chaikin) is driving to find the lost duo but winds up bonding with a drunken mall Santa (Jon Glaser) instead.

While most of the stranded-in-the-woods episodes on this list are somewhat filler episodes, 404 Not Found (quite a genius title for the fourth episode of season 4 in a computer-heavy series) manages to end its story by making a major leap in the show's larger story arch. An important character gets a majestic exit, made all the better by the show's impeccable soundtrack and magnificent cinematography, making the final sequence feel very emotional and large in scope.

1. Pine Barrens (The Sopranos, Season 3 Episode 11)

"Dad and me used to go every year. One time we went hunting, saw a sign that said 'Bear left' - so we went home"

Despite being a drama series about organized crime, toxic families and mental health struggles, The Sopranos always had a stronger comedic undertone than most of its counterparts in the field of critically acclaimed TV dramas. And Pine Barrens, with its 9.7 IMDB rating, is what happens when the comedic side of the series takes over.

Throughout the third season, one of the main plotlines had been the slowly deteriorating relationship between Paulie (Tony Sirico) and Christopher (Michael Imperioli). This comes to a breaking point in Pine Barrens, where the two of them are en route to dump a body in the woods, only for the surprise that the man they tried to whack is very much alive. This mysterious Russian escapes from their car trunk into the freezing woods, and the dynamic duo goes after him. Much of the episode is spent with the two characters getting increasingly fed up with each other, with the dialogue between them being a golden balance of serious "These two might kill each other any second" tension and hysterical moments of humor. In this subgenre of television episodes that I've discovered, Pine Barrens is without a doubt the gold standard.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I celebrate the birthday of one of my all-time favorite actors, Kyle MacLachlan, with a list of his 10 greatest performances.