Subway Heroes: All Our Favorite Episodes of '30 Rock'

In their series Subway Heroes, Hayley and Victoria discuss anything and everything in the 30 Rock universe.

Hayley: It is a very impossible thing to narrow my love of 30 Rock down into one singular episode, but I can probably do a top five. Most of them happen one right after the other in Season 2, which I believe is the strongest season of the show:

1. Rosemary's Baby (S2E4)
2. MILF Island (S2E11)
3. Subway Hero (S2E12)
4. Succession (S2E13)
5. Sandwich Day (S2E14)

Actually, now that I've written that list down, I can narrow in on my favorite episode: It's "Subway Hero", which is unsurprising given that I was the one to name our 30 Rock series. One of my favorite 30 Rock lines of all-time is when Cerie asks Dennis, our titular Subway Hero, what he's holding and he says "That's the Stanley Cup, baby. It's hockey's ultimate prize. And me and it are teaming up to fight illiteracy." A Dennis Duffy appearance is a crucial component of what makes an episode a favorite of mine.

Another thing that I really enjoy is the kind of "game within a game" structure that happens in "MILF Island," where the whole episode takes on the kind of reality competition drama of the "MILF Island" episode. We see the exact right amount of Survivor-inspired MILF Island to make its entire ridiculous and hilarious concept really land without taking up too much of the episode runtime. And "Succession" is a top contender because it's where Tracy decides to make his porn video game Gorgasm: The Legend of Dong Slayer.

Victoria, what are some of your favorite episodes? What makes an episode go from good to great?

Victoria: As you know, my list of favorite 30 Rock episodes would be almost identical! "Subway Hero" is also my number one. The run of episodes at the end of season 2, starting with "MILF Island" and ending with "Cooter" is just elite. What do all these episodes have in common that make them great?

1. Plot! I guess it's weird to associate a sitcom, which is supposed to be kind of unchanging, with plot, but these episodes ARE plot heavy. Jack's world is turned upside down as he tries and fails to become the chairman of G.E. This sticks normally high status Jack in some very low status situations, culminating with a brief stint in the last days of the Bush administration (a psychotic phrase to write in 2021). Meanwhile, Liz is also trying to figure out what she wants out of life — first when her ex Dennis shows up, then when she climbs the corporate ladder, then when her ex Floyd shows up, and then when she thinks she's pregnant. Jack and Liz are working through stuff that has real stakes, and that's fun!

2. Excellent subplots. You mentioned Tracy's porn video game, which is a pitch perfect Amadeus tribute. There's also Kenneth's attempt to become a Beijing Olympics page in "Cooter" and the writers and Jenna's quest to get Liz her sandwich in "Sandwich Day" ("I'll do it, but only for the attention" is the 30 Rock line that most speaks to me).

3. Guest stars. I know we did a whole issue about this, but the string of episodes at the end of season two really deploy a bevy of guest stars to their greatest effect. There's Will Arnett, Jason Sudeikis, Paul Scheer, Matthew Broderick, and Edie Falco.

Mike Schur, who created Parks and Rec and The Good Place, once said that the second season of a show is where the real sitcom magic happens — the table is set, and you know what type of show you're making, and now you can just make it. 30 Rock really makes magic here.

Some of my non-season 2 favorites: season 3's "Christmas Special," which has one of the best Elaine Stritch performances; "Anna Howard Shaw Day," in season 4; "Murphy Brown Lied To Us" (I say that constantly); and the last two episodes — "Hogcock!" and "Last Lunch." And of course we praised "St. Patrick's Day" at length before!

I also want to throw in a word of praise for the end of season 3, which includes "The Bubble," "Apollo, Apollo," "Jackie Jormp-Jomp" (famously my Instagram name), and the "Kidney Now" plot we discussed last episode.

Hayley do you have any late series favs??

Hayley: I totally agree, the end of season 3 is also full of heavy-hitters! I personally love "Reunion," which is also in season 3 (episode 5). Liz goes back to her high school reunion and it's revealed that she wasn't the shy, weird nerd that she thought she was — she was more of an acerbic bully! What's fascinating to me about this is that I think this is how a lot of comedy people view themselves: As nerds or loners who had trouble making friends, and use their insecurity and sense of humor as a defense mechanism which ends up pushing people away, and sometimes hurting them. Even Jack calls her out for this, when he realizes that when he shared bad news with her, her first instinct was to make a joke about impotence. Coming off of the point you mention about plot, I think this is a nice development in the Liz-Jack friendship dynamic.

A late episode that I thoroughly enjoy is "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning", where Jack tries to preemptively stage a disaster charity benefit for ratings. This is where we get Robert De Niro listing off a random list of potential disasters. This episode also has Liz and Tracy yelling at each other to the tune of "Uptown Girl" in order to circumvent their fights being filmed for future Queen of Jordan episodes. This bit is so funny that I can't think about it without laughing. Speaking of, the Queen of Jordan episodes are also amazing, and function so well in the 30 Rock universe as well as standalone parodies of the Bravo Cinematic Universe.

Another later episode that I love is "Winter Madness", which is when they take TGS on the road to Boston for a week. While I don't care for the Jack-Nancy Donavan love story, I do love the ways in which this episode dunks on Boston. Especially when Kenneth says, "These gentlemen are the writers for Bruins Beat, whose offices we'll be sharing. They're all named Sean, they are mean, and I hate it here." I just double-checked the season for this episode, and it's in season 4! It definitely feels like it happens later on than that. I guess in my mind, 30 Rock seasons 1-3 are the sweet spot, and everything else feels "later", somehow.

Victoria: God I love yelling, “Winter Madness!” when shit hits the fan in January and February, as it always does!!

One of the most classique end of run episodes is “Leap Day,” which, like “Galentine’s Day” on Parks and Rec, invented a whole new holiday!! It is so goofy and fun and deranged! Jack’s plot with his daughter (and whether he can spend time with her) is also a nice emotional foil to his plot in “Christmas Special,” which was all about how his mom treated HIM as a kid on holidays. Don’t let anyone ever tell you 30 Rock isn’t about generational trauma!!

One episode we did not name that is a season one classic is “The Head and The Hair.” The guy who played “The Hair” is married to Mariska Hargitay and also on Younger, but I cannot call him anything but “The Hair.” It’s such a good episode that sets up what Liz’s dating life is like, and what it could be like. I love that The Hair encourages her to believe that she is hot (she is) and she can have hot people — but the message is undermined by some grade-A jokes.

I also want to give a shout out to the Live episodes, which paid tribute to the idea that they were actually filming a “sketch” show in a very fun way!! These were major events in my life!!

Now that we’re coming to the end of our own 30 Rock series, I think we should take a moment to reflect on the end of the show and its legacy. Like I said, I think the finale is perfect. Everyone gets a “happy” ending, but not in ways that’s are absurd or feel wrong for the vibe of the show. I’m thinking of the endings of Parks & Rec and The Office, which went a little over the top with wrapping things up. 30 Rock did the right amount of wrapping. And the "Rural Juror" song is incredibly funny and a perfect callback to the early seasons.

The end of 30 Rock is probably the peak of how much I’ll ever like Alec Baldwin and also Tina Fey. Alec is … Alec. There’s a real nastiness to some of the stuff Tina has done since (I’m thinking of a lot of Kimmy Schmidt plots that were just straight up racist) that I don’t think was present in this show. It bums me out, but I guess adulthood is realizing your heroes are flawed and kind of shitty. Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski remain perfect to me, though.

How do you feel about the show looking back?? How have your Tina feelings changed??

Hayley: I agree that 30 Rock ends on a perfect note. It's funny, it's bizarre, it's all the things we love about the show! When Liz meets her adopted kids and they are basically tiny versions of Tracy and Jenna — it's PERFECT.

Looking back there is some shit on this show that I'm obviously not cool with, and I think it's good to acknowledge that 30 Rock has flaws and missteps without dwelling on them too much. This is my outlook on most things, so, naturally it would carry over into the world of TV. I watched the first season of Kimmy Schmidt, but found the racist stuff to be too much for me. Was I just older, more aware, and less willing to overlook the bad shit in Kimmy Schmidt than I was in 30 Rock? Possibly.

Tina Fey has put so many harmful things into everything that she's created, and it's not something I can overlook. When she received the Mark Twain prize for American Humor in 2010, she said, "I hope that like Mark Twain, 100 years from now people will see my work and think 'wow, that is actually pretty racist." I think Tina, in all her Gen X white lady-ness, views racism as a natural thing that just "happens" when you make something, and not a systemic, dangerous problem that you have to actively fight against to stop it from causing harm.

I also just don't have a lot of faith in famous people to do anything that's actually good. This isn't an exoneration of Tina, but more of how my own perspective on celebrity—and on how money and fame warp your brain — has changed a lot in recent years. I think Tina's attitude on confronting the racism in her industry and her own projects can best be summarized by a favorite Liz quote of mine:

Just like in 30 Rock, we will also be taking a brief hiatus from the newsletter during the month of June. We'll be back in July, sharing all our thoughts with you weekly on Thursdays. We hope that, like The Rural Juror, you'll never forget us.

What Victoria Loves:

• For book club, I listened to the audiobook of Leslie Jordan's new book, which was very funny and sweet.

• Two newsletter recs: my friend D brought back her newsletter, Dial D For... and it's quite wonderful. And my friend Caitlin started a newsletter, My Mom Died And Other Things I'm Thinking About All The Time, which is also incredibly good. Yes this is newsletter inception.

• My friend Tyler Feder wrote a children's book called "Bodies Are Cool" all about teaching kids that all bodies are great!! Order it for all the kids you know!

What Hayley Loves:

• I can't recommend narrative nonfiction book Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe enough. It's a fascinating look into The Troubles in Northern Ireland, a topic I knew almost nothing about before reading. Big shoutout to the people who recommended this to me when I asked for book recs on Twitter!

• If your sunglasses always slide down your nose when you're sweaty, then you HAVE to invest in some of these silicone ear grips. Thank you, Lydia, for bringing these weird yet wonderful things into my life.

• Unsurprising to no one, I am now an ambassador for Olive & June. You can save 20% on a mani or pedi system if you're a new customer by using "hayleys20" at checkout. And if you are a returning customer, you can always just use my referral link. (Victoria is also* an ambassador, so you have to flip a coin whenever you buy something new to decide which of our referral links to use.)

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