Oh dear, it’s April and this post was meant to be up at the end of last year. Not that I’ve done one of these in a while, as I simply haven’t had enough material to fill up all twelve spots in a “best moments of film and television” list since 2023.
In any case, this is exactly what it says on the tin: my twelve favourite scenes, twists, moments or concepts from film or television media that was released in 2025 (though I give myself a little bit of wriggle room and occasionally allow some material from the year before)...
1. The kidnapped children get their revenge in Weapons
Surely there was no scene more cathartic in 2025 than watching Aunt Glady, the witch that kidnapped seventeen children, stuffed them in a basement, and slowly drained their life essence for her own betterment, get the tables turned on her.
That’s down to Alex Lily, the boy whose home was invaded and whose parents she enslaved; a kid that’s been living in complete hell – but also observing carefully. Pursued by his parents in a harrowing sequence, Alex retains the wherewithal to use the witch’s tools against her, setting his classmates tearing after their captor, who realizes what’s happened with a tiny little: “oh no.”
The chase that follows is dark comedy at its finest – Gladys screams her way across backyards and through living rooms, the murderous gang of children tearing after her, baying for her blood. Meanwhile, the befuddled neighbours just watch it happen, too shocked to even register what they’re seeing.
If you’ve ever read any sort of fairy tale about witches getting their comeuppance, you’ll know exactly what’s going to occur when those kids catch up with her…
2. Dancing across time and space in Sinners
It seems almost redundant to include this Signature Scene from Sinners, as along with the visceral tearing apart of Aunt Gladys, Ryan Coogler’s Oner through the juke joint was the talk about scene of the year. Having established Sammie as a musician so gifted that his song can break through the walls of space and time, we’re treated to a single shot that moves through the 1930s club and gradually reveals dancers, singers and revellers from the past and future, mingling with those already gathered there.
I mean, there aren’t really words to describe it in any adequate way – just watch it for yourself:
3. The phone call in Wake Up Dead Man
Like all the Benoit Blanc mysteries, Wake Up Dead Man is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon, even if it is slightly less ambitious in its scope, settling for more cozy mystery vibes than its predecessors. But like them, it contains an important turning point at in the front half of the film. In Knives Out, this was learning exactly who killed Harlan within the first act. In Glass Onion, it was discovering the murder victim has a twin sister who’s been impersonating her for the whole time we’ve seen her onscreen.
Here the turning point is combined with the franchise’s ongoing commentary on human nature, encompassing the course of a single phone call. Our protagonist Father Jud has contacted someone with pertinent information about the case, while Blanc gestures impatiently for him to hurry the conversation along. Then all of a sudden, the woman on the other end of the line becomes a real person instead of an irritant, reaching out to her priest for spiritual guidance. Jud’s priorities reassert themselves, and he decides to commit himself to the care of his flock.
Just as Knives Out hinged on Marta being a good nurse and a good person, so too does Wake Up Dead Man revolve not only around Jud’s integrity as a priest, but the difference between true godliness and the vile rhetoric that fills so many churches, parliaments, twitter threads and human hearts these days. It’s edifying to watch something that clarifies the difference.
4. Huntrix sing their way to victory in K-Pop Demon Hunters
My favourite part of K-Pop Demon Hunters is its own success story: that it was dropped on Netflix without any fanfare, and gradually made itself a massive hit through nothing but its own quality and word of mouth. But if I had to narrow it down to a single scene, it would simply have to be the film’s climax, at the very moment in which the demons seem to have won.
The protective Honmoon is close to destruction, hundreds of fans have been put into a trance, and souls are being harvested en masse at the Saja Boys’ concert, strengthening the power of the demonic Gwi-Ma. But then Mira enters the stadium, singing her own truth: “my voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like.” Zoey and Rumi are in the crowd, and harmonize with her as they approach the stage. Gwi-Ma sends his demons after them, but there’s no stopping the girls now.
It’s a perfect conflation of everything the film has established over its runtime: the power of song and female friendship, its kinetic and vibrant animated fight scenes, and a thematically satisfying conclusion to the fact that demons have been characterized as the negative voices inside a person’s mind that can only be defeated with self-acceptance. The sequence is defiant and cathartic and joyful – is it any wonder this film was embraced so completely?
The title hits the same tone as Buffy the Vampire Slayer did: how something seemingly silly can be used as a potent metaphor for a range of important issues. In this case, how struggling with one’s mental health can be isolating and frightening, but which can be overcome with support from loved ones and accepting your flaws as part of who you are.
5. The armour comes off in Elio
Watching a Pixar always means waiting for the Pixar Moment, the point at which everything gets turned on its head, when they present you with some stark emotional truth that gets the tear ducts going. The Pixar Moment is when Andy bequeaths his toys to Bonnie, when the monsters realize laughter is more powerful than screams, when Ian foregoes the chance to meet his father so his brother can get a proper goodbye, when Carl realizes he gave his wife an adventure after all – heck, even when Lightning McQueen gives up winning the race in order to help the other guy cross the finish line.
Elio has one too, and it’s such a warm rebuttal to what’s been termed toxic masculinity, or the manosphere, or whatever it is you want to call this thing society is currently grappling with. Glordon is highly uncomfortable with the future that’s expected of him: a hypermasculine killing machine encased in armour that never comes off. But that’s the culture he’s been raised in, and one his foreboding father expects him to embrace.
The Pixar Moment comes when Glordon is dying of hyperthermia – and on seeing him, his father doesn’t hesitate to rip off his armour so he can swaddle him and use his own body heat to warm him up. As he tells him afterwards: “I may not understand you, but I still love you.” Yeah, I didn’t see it coming and I cried like a baby.
6. Chris Evans cameos as Johnny Storm in Deadpool and Wolverine
Don’t judge me for this one. Yes, I’m as tired of Marvel movies as the next person, and yes, I’m constantly complaining about fanservice, and yes, this movie was all icing and no substance, but look – you have to admit the fact they brought in Chris Evans for a cameo not as Steve Rogers but Johnny Storm was a tiny stroke of genius.
Say what you will about Ryan Reynolds, but that befuddled head tilt when “Captain America” yells an obscenity is what sells the whole scene.
7. The Thirteenth and Fifteenth Doctor meet on Doctor Who
I’m still salty about losing Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor so soon, especially after the sheer levels of excitement that greeted the announcement of his casting. Even the Daily Mail was enthusiastic. The Daily Mail! Alas, all things come to an end, and this much sooner than it should have.
But before he went, we got to see a surprise appearance from Jodie Whitaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, who comes to be with him in his last moments. Not only is it great to see her again, not only does it make for a sweet little acknowledgement of the fact they were respectively the first Black and female Doctors, but the interaction itself is very poignant – there’s encouragement, regret, teamwork and compliments.
And then she runs off, realizing she probably needs to tell Yaz she loves her – and her future-self sadly remarking that she never will.
I’m glad that the two Doctors who had so much riding on their shoulders and who were failed so consistently by their showrunners got to have this moment together. Who knows, maybe we’ll see them again one day. It is a show about time travel, after all.
8. Max wakes up in Stranger Things
If you’ve read even a fraction of this blog you’ll know I’m not a shipper at the best of times, though I did think Mike and Eleven were very cute in the first couple of Stranger Things seasons – at least until they were overtaken by Max and Lucas in season four, when Sadie Sink and Caleb McLaughlin stepped up as the two strongest performers of the young cast (along with Gaten Matarazzo).
The fourth season finale was harrowing in regards to the injuries inflicted upon Max, leaving her in a coma from which she was unlikely to wake – at least as far as the other characters knew. Those versed in the rules of television know that coma patients always wake up sooner or later, and so when Holly Wheeler meets Max in Vecna’s subconscious (or the astral plane, or wherever the heck it was) the two girls get to work trying to escape. And they do.
Episode six concludes with Max making a break for consciousness, unaware that Lucas is with her body at the hospital, desperately trying to protect her from the demodogs that’ve been sent to kill her. Mrs Wheeler of all people gets rid of the creatures, and then the big emotional scenes plays out: Max wakes up in Lucas’s arms and the two of them proceed to bring the house down. I’m pretty sure my friends was crying next to me as we watched it.
Season five was a little hit and miss, but this was definitely one of the hits. Plus, I got to feel unbearably smug that my ship made it safely to the finish line.
9. The rescue of the condemned men in Robin Hood
The latest take on Robin Hood from MGM is not a great show, but it’s not a bad one either, and it found its footing about halfway through the season, in which Robin stages a rescue for the Miller brothers, who have been condemned to hang in the town square. The rescue utilizes all the allies he’s assorted thus far: Tuck, who gets on the scaffold to perform the last rites, Little John, who starts a fire to cause a distraction, Isabel, who provides the getaway cart, and himself, supplying cover fire from the rooftops. For the first time, the team works together and pulls it all off.
It’s a strong sequence that steadily ratchets up the suspense, brings together nearly all of the major players, and ultimately allows Robin to make his statement: that he’s publicly set himself against the Normans and the Sheriff, at the very place where his father was executed. Nor do they forget the little emotional beats: the desperate hope forming on Ralph’s face when she realizes Tuck is beside her, Milange putting the pieces together and making a break for freedom, Henry looking up at Isobel as she carries them all away, hardly believing his luck.
In other words, the perfect setpiece for a midseason episode that’s all about Robin discovering what he is and who he wants to be. As a soldier states as they all gallop away: “that was Robin Hood and his bleeding Merry Men.”
10. The Ghorman Massacre on Andor
The last time Andor appeared on this list it was 2022 and I had trouble pinpointing exactly what scene I was going to choose. The exact same problem arose this year with its second season. Kleya’s infiltration into the hospital? Mon Mothma’s speech to the Senate? K-2 making himself useful? Luthen confronting Dedra?
Well, the truth is there can only be one scene (or sequence), and that’s the payoff to the slow but steady lead-up to the Ghorman massacre, which encompasses all the adjectives: horrifying, sickening, riveting, harrowing, terrifying. It lays out a dozen little narrative pieces and then turns up the heat until the whole thing explodes; it’s a series of striking moments that make up the tapestry of this huge scene. I can really only describe it by listing some of them:
Dedra looking flustered for the very first time. The hotel concierge saying: “rebellions are built on hope.” The low-flying Tie Fighters. Cyril being taken to a safe room and making eye contact with a security droid. The angry chanting becoming a peaceful song. The sniper deliberately taking out an Imperial soldier. Wilmon realizing that the Stormtroopers have created a kettle. The security droids emerging from the smoke. Drina’s desperate plea over the radio. It’s just one devastating visual after another, and by the end of it – you’re exhausted.
11. Peggy’s proposal on The Gilded Age
It took three years but something good finally happened to Peggy Scott! After getting seriously ill (Because even happiness must be prefaced with something unpleasant) Peggy meets Dr. William Kirkland, a man who is kind, temperate, intelligent, respectful, interested in her opinions, and quickly besotted with our girl. The only obstacle is his mother, a rather snobbish woman who disapproves of Peggy’s family and darker complexion.
But thankfully William is made of stronger stuff, and defies his mother by proposing to Peggy at the Newport ball, promising they won’t be parted again. And by God does Peggy deserve this after all her tribulations. The whole scene is beautifully staged what with the dancing and those in the know gathering about the edges of the room and the expression on Peggy’s face when she realizes what’s happening. She even gets the slow motion and soaring theme music treatment.
So now that that’s settled, can we get back to her writing career?
12. Gambit’s sacrifice on X-Men ‘97
This technically aired in 2024, but since it was the only notable scene from the media I watched that year, I couldn’t compile a twelve-point list without showcasing it. I give myself a little leeway with these lists.
The continuation of the X-Men nineties cartoon was one of the big surprises in a time in which practically every conceivable IP is being dragged into the light and given a shakeout, as this one was surprisingly excellent, not even shying away from genocide, depicting a targeted attack on mutants across the island of Genosha at the hands of Sentinels, which costs one X-Man his life.
After realizing that Rogue is about to attack their opponents head-on, Gambit uses his motorbike to knock her out of the way (don’t worry, he knows she’s a Flying Brick) and makes his move, only to be impaled on one of the Sentinels. But that only gives him the opportunity to infuse the entire thing with his telekinetic charge, blowing them up – killing himself in the process. Even when he thinks he’s been romantically rejected, he steps up to do the right thing. In the aftermath, all we can see is Rogue cradling his body, finally able to make contact without harming him – because he can no longer feel her at all.
With no music or soundtrack, it was a striking scene, and that it took place only halfway through the season we were given ample time to explore the fallout, as it’s one of the few times a male character is killed to advance the development of a female one (though I get the feeling this won’t be permanent – it is based on a comic book after all). Still, that doesn’t lesson the impact of the scene.
Honorary Mentions:
Alan and Ellie reunite in Jurassic World: Dominion
Wait, another shipping-related moment? What’s going on? This one brought more a sense of relief than joy, that a narrative problem had finally been resolved long after the fact. I’ve never seen Jurassic Park III, which reveals that Ellie married and had children with someone other than Alan, which always struck me as a bizarre creative choice since Alan’s entire arc in the first film is getting ready for fatherhood. His final scene is looking wryly/lovingly at Ellie while the kids he’s bonded with rest their heads on his shoulders.
And look – I’m not saying an individual has to have kids in order to be happy and fulfilled, only that learning to like kids was the entire point of this character’s development. To go back on that is one of those irritating about-turns that renders an entire movie pointless in hindsight.
By the time Dominion rolls around, it’s too late for seventy-five-year old Alan to parent any children, but it’s not too late to rekindle his relationship with Ellie. Like Indy and Marion, they find each other in the third act of their lives, and I do appreciate Sam Neill’s delivery of the line: “Ellie, I am coming with you” with just the right blend of resignation and warmth. Because of course he’s going with her! Their reunion is what justifies an otherwise pretty dreadful movie.
The kids put the thing in the other thing in Welcome to Derry
Confession time: I did not actually watch Welcome to Derry as I’ve been burnt too many times by shows that get cancelled before their stories are completed. But I did watch plenty of YouTube clips, and happened upon this scene, reedited to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” as performed in Deadpool and Wolverine (this music is being added to a lot of famous movie scenes; it’s its own meme now).
And… it’s just perfect. The timing of it is so impeccable you could easily believe it’s the actual soundtrack. The way the kid glides over the ice to reach his friends, the transformation of Pennywise, the way the stone/dagger/whatever it is slides in at precisely the right moment – it all just fits.
***
My watching and reading material throughout 2025 somehow became all about things vibing with each other, often in unexpected ways. For instance, I watched MGM’s new Robin Hood show last year, as well as several seasons of Hustle. In both, charming tricksters steal from the grotesquely wealthy in order to help… well, often just themselves, but occasionally the wronged as well.
At no point did I read C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew, but I did read two books that were clearly inspired by it: Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi (which essentially wonders what could have happened to Uncle Andrew’s guinea pigs) and Robin Stevens’s The Body in the Blitz (which readapts the scene of Polly and Digory using the crawlspace in the attic to gain access to other houses in the street).
I read plenty of mysteries (many involving intrepid Connecticut babysitters) and watched plenty of films set in the Tudor-era, with The Lady Grace Mysteries as the link between them, while the steampunkish tone of Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan make for natural reading bedfellows (and I’ve got another trio of these books, one from each author, coming up fast in my reading list).
Sometimes the way in which stories echoed each other had to do with the contrast they provided: the chillingly prescient Andor and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes each grappled with the subject of genocide, but when it was Doctor Who’s turn to do the same it failed disastrously. Often the comparisons could be found in characters: Jude Law’s character in The Third Day reminded me very much of Vincent D’Onofrio’s in Emerald City, that of a seemingly sympathetic and capable man being slowly revealed as someone who is profoundly disappointing. (Okay I’m cheating a bit, as I watched the latter in 2026, but the point still stands).
There was plenty of gender swapping and race lifting, a number of unlikeable antiheroines, and quite a few recurring actors who popped up in several genre projects: Vincent Regan, Robert Emms, Freddie Fox, Olivia Williams and Holliday Grainger were familiar faces across the year, and only that last one by design. It’s all the way that stories speak to each other, refract and reflect and echo, that I find so fascinating.
Other highlights include the success story of K-Pop Demon Hunters, the dark twisted fairy tale ambiance of Weapons and Sinners, discovering the incredible talent of Bilquis Evely (Helen of Wyndhorn and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow), rereading some of my favourite authors (Philip Reeve, Patricia McKillip, Meredith Ann Pierce, Frances Hardinge, Garth Nix, Susanna Clarke) and my big gorge of all the pop-culture media in June that I’d been avoiding for several years.
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