2013's Best Episodes: Fringe's Bittersweet Sacrifice and Matt Damon Bumps Jimmy Kimmel

Torture! Clones! Betrayal! Sexting! And just sex! From touching series finales (adieu, 30 Rock and The Office!) to Game of Thrones' brutal Red Wedding, 2013 was brimming with fantastic hours of television. TVGuide.com has compiled the top 25 episodes. Which ones made the cut? Tune in all week to see the full list.
What were the best TV shows of 2013?

Here are the first five in our countdown.25. "Uprising," Switched at Birth Every episode of the ABC Family drama features American Sign Language, since one of the show's two leads, Daphne, is deaf, but "Uprising" represents the first episode in TV history filmed entirely in ASL. With the Carlton School for the Deaf facing closure, Daphne mobilizes her friends to stage a protest to keep its doors open. The story evokes the real-life Gallaudet Uprising, in which students at a deaf university protested until the school hired a deaf president. Despite lacking sound, the episode was the loudest of the season.24. "An Enemy of Fate," FringeThe oft-bittersweet sci-fi drama proves with its series finale that all happy endings come with a price. In order to reboot time and rid the earth of its Observer invaders, our beloved Walter takes the anomaly Michael to the future to live out their days, essentially sacrificing himself. (He suddenly disappears in 2015 without explanation.) With Walter gone from their timeline, Peter, Olivia and Etta are able to live out their days in peace.
23. "Let's Be Mad Together," Parenthood
Parenthood always shines brightest when it juggles several smaller conflicts simultaneously. In this jam-packed hour, there are several all-stars, including: Erika Christensen, whose Julia comes to terms with being a stay-at-home mom; Max Burkholder, whose character finds intergenerational common ground with Hank (Ray Romano); and Matt Lauria and Mae Whitman, who have us hanging on every curve of the roller coaster that is Ryan and Amber's fledgling relationship.

The best performances of 2013
22. "Colony Collapse," Arrested Development
Resembling the old Arrested we know and love, this Gob-centric episode follows the eldest Bluth sibling whose life blows up when the resurrection of Jesus illusion he had planned for his wedding to Ann goes awry, and he falls in with the wrong Hollywood entourage led by baby-faced pop star Mark Cherry (Daniel Amerman) after Ann leaves him. The episode also gives us some of the Netflix reboot's best new gags, namely the Stefon-worthy club And Jeremy Piven that Gob frequents, Mark Cherry's infectious hit "Getaway" and the Graduate-like use of "The Sound of Silence" during Gob's forlorn moments of introspection that rivals the show's earlier uses of the Charlie Brown theme. Until we hit "Colony Collapse," we were about to write off Season 4, but this episode renewed our faith, even though Gob fails at his attempt to be more popular than Jesus.
21. "Matt Damon," Jimmy Kimmel Live!
After being "bumped 1,205 times," Matt Damon finally exacts his revenge on Jimmy Kimmel when the actor hijacks his show. The hilarious episode kicks off with Damon dragging a bound-and-gagged Kimmel out onto the stage and redubbing the show Jimmy Kimmel Sucks. Damon also brings out a slew of special guests, including his BFF (and Jimmy's "lover") Ben Affleck, Robin Williams, Demi Moore, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams, Reese Witherspoon and, yes, Sarah Silverman to bad-mouth the host (well, Affleck tries to). The elaborate stunt, coming two weeks after Kimmel moved to 11:30 p.m., adds a much-needed jolt to the usual late-night happenings and confirms that Jimmy is here to stay — and play.
Check back all week to see the rest of the list!