‘Faith’

‘Outlander’ (Starz)

Caitriona Balfe has been giving an award-worthy performance as the time-traveling Claire since this series began in 2014, but her work in this May episode really stood out. Claire suffers a miscarriage, and Ms. Balfe’s portrayal of grief is heart-rending. In another show, the episode would have built to that singular moment, but in this series, always fearless about depicting things that are hard to watch, it’s just one of several emotionally fraught developments. Among the others: the rape of a child, a rape by a king and a trial by witchcraft. To pack so much into an hourlong episode is an achievement; to do so without any of it seeming rushed or gimmicky is astonishing. NEIL GENZLINGER

‘Two in the Box’

‘Silicon Valley’ (HBO)

Episodes of HBO’s start-up comedy tend to be as intricately assembled as the products its characters labor over. This one took the Pied Piper crew from joy at moving into lavish new offices — Dinesh could now play solitaire on six monitors at once — to the dawning realization that their utopian storage platform was being turned into a black box designed to hide information. And it included the unforgettable scene in which the cynical new chief executive played by Stephen Tobolowsky explained business realities while watching two of his thoroughbreds mate. MIKE HALE

‘S-L-Sled H-O-Hockey’



‘Speechless’ (ABC)

“Speechless,” a sitcom about a family with a nonverbal child, knocks down more preconceptions about the world of disabilities with each episode. This one, from early December, took on a particularly annoying feel-good story that crops up constantly on local news and social media: the one in which a child with Down syndrome or autism or whatever is allowed to score a touchdown or goal in a meaningless game while the opposing team stands down. It happens to JJ DiMeo, who has cerebral palsy (as does Micah Fowler, the actor who plays him), during gym class, and he is quick to use his alternative-communication device to tell everyone that he is not interested in being condescended to or pitied in that way. By the end of the episode, he has found a sled-hockey team for people with disabilities where the competition is real, and so is the contact — he ends up with a smashed face, just as nondisabled hockey players sometimes do. The message, as always on this show, is served with a brash brand of mirth. A side plot in the episode finds JJ’s mother (Minnie Driver) walking in on his aide (Cedric Yarbrough) in the shower. NEIL GENZLINGER