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The Best Episodes of S.W.A.T.

Every episode of S.W.A.T. ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of S.W.A.T.!

S.W.A.T. is an American action/crime drama series about the adventures of a Special Weapons And Tactics team operating in an unidentified California city. A spin-off...
Genres:Action & AdventureDrama
Network:ABC

Best Episodes Summary

"Death Carrier" is the best rated episode of "S.W.A.T.". It scored 8.2/10 based on 60 votes. Directed by George McCowan, Harry Falk and written by Robert Hamner, it aired on 3/10/1975. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Time Bomb".

  • Death Carrier
    8.2/1060 votes
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    #1 - Death Carrier

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 3/10/1975

    In order to nab a mysterious sniper who's been murdering a series of men a young model has been dating, Street poses as the beautiful woman's latest boyfriend to lure the sniper out of hiding.

    Director: George McCowan, Harry Falk

    Writer: Robert Hamner

  • Time Bomb
    8.2/1043 votes
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    #2 - Time Bomb

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 4/21/1975

    Street and his girl friend are trapped in a deserted movie studio planted with bombs by an embittered movie stuntman.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Deadly Tide (1)
    8.2/1042 votes
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    #3 - Deadly Tide (1)

    Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/13/1975

    Hondo and his team go after a gang of jewel thieves who make their getaways under water.

    Director: Gene Levitt

    Writer: N/A

  • Deadly Tide (2)
    8.0/1035 votes
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    #4 - Deadly Tide (2)

    Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 9/13/1975

    Hondo and his team close in on the gang that has been committing robberies using SCUBA gear.

    Director: Gene Levitt

    Writer: N/A

  • Kill S.W.A.T.
    8.0/1034 votes
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    #5 - Kill S.W.A.T.

    Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 9/20/1975

    Following a training exercise with S.W.A.T. officers from another division, Hondo and Street find the dead body of officer Frank Crane with the words ""Kill S.W.A.T."" pinned to his chest. The murder of Crane is the forerunner of a series of attempts to wipe out S.W.A.T. by brothers Mike and Simon Bishop and their fanatic sister-in-law, Joanna, who is convinced that the death of her husband was the result of S.W.A.T. ""brutality.""

    Director: George McCowan

    Writer: Robert Hamner

  • The Running Man (2)
    8.0/1034 votes
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    #6 - The Running Man (2)

    Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 1/24/1976

    The SWAT team protects a key government witness against an organized crime boss.

    Director: George McCowan

    Writer: Robert Hamner

  • Coven of Killers
    7.9/1066 votes
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    #7 - Coven of Killers

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 3/3/1975

    A convicted murderer's Manson-style "family" engineers his prison escape, but after executing a D.A., this maniacal leader sends a cryptic message to Hondo, naming him as his next victim, along with the jury who found him guilty.

    Director: George McCowan, Harry Falk

    Writer: Robert Hamner, Skip Webster

  • The Vendetta
    7.9/1042 votes
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    #8 - The Vendetta

    Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 10/11/1975

    Mel Lang and Ralph Costa have served sentences in prison after being framed by one Carl Rigby and arrested by Hondo Harrelson. When S.W.A.T. is called upon to assist police in evicting heavily armed brothers Will and Johnny Brewer from a home taken over by Rigby, Lang and Costa plan to execute Hondo and Rigby and create evidence pointing to the Brewer Brothers.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Courthouse
    7.9/1031 votes
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    #9 - Courthouse

    Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 11/1/1975

    Howard Wilson is jailed and his partners, Mike Simon and Frank Peterson, escape before S.W.A.T. moves in to combat a race track heist involving a female hostage. Wilson is on the brink of revealing the names of his partners when a high-powered attorney, Jason Bridges, assures him that Simon and Peterson are planning to free him at all costs--even if the price involves the lives of court personnel when Wilson goes to trial.

    Director: Don Weis

    Writer: N/A

  • Ordeal
    7.9/1033 votes
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    #10 - Ordeal

    Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 11/8/1975

    Hondo and a convicted dope dealer are stranded in rough terrain when syndicate thugs who want to keep him from testifying sabotage their helicopter.

    Director: Sutton Roley

    Writer: N/A

  • Silent Night, Deadly Night
    7.9/1023 votes
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    #11 - Silent Night, Deadly Night

    Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 12/13/1975

    Millionairess Doris Bristol has brought gems into the hospital where she is undergoing cosmetic surgery. Her bodyguard, John DeLeon, is slain after he spots criminal Frank Malloy posing as a dying patient (part of a plan where a woman doctor and he plot to steal the jewels from the socialite). Hondo and his men, who are at the hospital putting together a Christmas party in the children's ward, find themselves on duty when the discovery of DeLeon's body leaves Mrs. Bristol unprotected and in apparent jeopardy.

    Director: Bruce Bilson

    Writer: N/A

  • Deadly Weapons
    7.9/1026 votes
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    #12 - Deadly Weapons

    Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 2/7/1976

    Bud Haskins, disowned after marrying a girl whom his father, John Haskins, disapproved, decides to help three ""professionals"" crack open the safe in the elder Haskins' warehouse. Bud is unaware that the thieves are actually after a huge arsenal of sophisticated, unmarked weapons that have been secretly imported for sale. Bud is slain after helping the criminals burglarize the warehouse. Although S.W.A.T. is assigned to investigate the burglary-murder, John Haskins recruits members of a tough Eastern mob to find the killers of his son.

    Director: Reza Badiyi

    Writer: N/A

  • Dangerous Memories
    7.9/1040 votes
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    #13 - Dangerous Memories

    Season 2 Episode 23 - Aired 3/27/1976

    As Lt. Harrelson lies in a hospital bed, severely wounded, the other members of the team reminisce about their best moments together in clips from previous episodes.

    Director: Richard Benedict

    Writer: Robert Hamner, Rick Husky

  • Vigilante
    7.8/1033 votes
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    #14 - Vigilante

    Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 10/25/1975

    Radio repairman Paul Julian has patched in on the S.W.A.T. radio band so he can show up at a scene of police action, where he can observe and judge each case from a concealed position. when Julian decides to punish two disarmed gunmen who have been talked into surrendering by Lt. Hondo Harrelson, S.W.A.T. is suspected of causing the senseless killings.

    Director: Bruce Bilson

    Writer: N/A

  • The Swinger
    7.8/1029 votes
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    #15 - The Swinger

    Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 11/22/1975

    D.A. Ainsely Stevens holds secret information which could convict two syndicate chieftains of capital crimes. Because Stevens insists on saying nothing until the grand jury convenes, and because police believe the mob has put out a ""major contract"" on Stevens, S.W.A.T. is assigned to guard him. But enforcer Mario Rosetti plans to abduct the prosecutor's daughter, Tory, and keep the girl until the father cracks. Oblivious to the danger, Tory is out for kicks as police and crooks try to track her down.

    Director: Barry Crane

    Writer: N/A

  • The Killing Ground
    7.7/1097 votes
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    #16 - The Killing Ground

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 2/24/1975

    Street's partner, officer Rob Duran, is killed in the premeditated police assassination by two brothers bent on revenging their father's death. That and subsequent police killings serve to shape the psychology of Lt. Dan ""Hondo"" Harrelson's newly formed Special Weapons and Tactics team, ""S.W.A.T."" The team's task is to combat high risk, contemporary, urban crime as a strike force. The team consists of James Street, David ""Deacon"" Kay, T.J.. McCabe, Dominic Luca, and Harrelson. ""S.W.A.T.""'s first assignment is an acid test of their ability to survive as individuals and as a team. Their rigorous training is literally a fight against time.

    Director: Harry Falk

    Writer: Rick Husky

  • Soldier on the Hill
    7.7/1023 votes
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    #17 - Soldier on the Hill

    Season 2 Episode 22 - Aired 3/20/1976

    A mentally unbalanced veteran touring a movie studio suddenly thinks he is back fighting in Vietnam.

    Director: Nicholas Colasanto

    Writer: N/A

  • Death Score
    7.6/1046 votes
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    #18 - Death Score

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 4/7/1975

    A fanatical terrorist group poses as a documentary crew in a scheme to hold a professional basketball team hostage during its championship game, demanding a multi-million dollar ransom for their cause.

    Director: George McCowan, Earl Bellamy

    Writer: N/A

  • Lessons in Fear
    7.6/1034 votes
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    #19 - Lessons in Fear

    Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 1/31/1976

    Hondo Harrelson and his team are called upon to investigate robbery-homicides in which powerful drills and cutting equipment have been stolen. Meanwhile, Dom Luca is dating a student, Sharon Merlingdale, who is being carefully watched by Mark Worth, one of the killer thieves. The more Sharon sees Dom Luca, the more convinced North becomes that the girl must be eliminated.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Daniel B. Ullman

  • Dragons and Owls
    7.6/1029 votes
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    #20 - Dragons and Owls

    Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 3/6/1976

    Clues to the perpetrators of a series of rapes are a religious medal and a Biblical quotation overheard by one of the victims.

    Director: Bernard McEveety

    Writer: N/A

  • Hit Men
    7.5/1052 votes
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    #21 - Hit Men

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 3/24/1975

    After a convicted felon agrees to expose a crime syndicate's dirty laundry before a Senate committee, he learns that a Mafia "hit" has been placed on his life, and he is wounded in an ambush en route from the penitentiary.

    Director: George McCowan, Earl Bellamy

    Writer: Fred Freiberger, David P. Harmon

  • Jungle War
    7.5/1048 votes
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    #22 - Jungle War

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 3/31/1975

    When a veteran police officer who served with Hondo in Vietnam lobbies to fill in for ailing "Deacon" Kay, Hondo thinks he's the right man for the job - until urban combat dredges up jungle-warfare memories for the embattled vet, triggering a nervous breakdown that risks jeopardizing the entire team.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Strike Force
    7.5/1028 votes
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    #23 - Strike Force

    Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 11/15/1975

    Hondo and his team are assigned to handle security for a demagogic former general who now leads a racist paramilitary group.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Any Second Now
    7.5/1027 votes
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    #24 - Any Second Now

    Season 2 Episode 21 - Aired 3/13/1976

    A group of militants take over a radio station and demand that their jailed leader be released or they'll blow it up.

    Director: Nicholas Colasanto

    Writer: Edward J. Lakso

  • Terror Ship
    7.4/1031 votes
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    #25 - Terror Ship

    Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 11/29/1975

    A man steals a tugboat laden with explosives and threatens to blow up a famous marine biologist unless he is given a million dollars.

    Director: George McCowan

    Writer: N/A