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The Worst Episodes of The Paper Chase

Every episode of The Paper Chase ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of The Paper Chase!

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Critically lauded drama about the life and pressures of a group of students at a prestigious Eastern law school, with a strict and domineering contract-law professor named Charles Kingsfield, who alternately inspires and terrifies the

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  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 21 - A Case of Detente
    5.8/10(23 votes)

    #1 - A Case of Detente

    S1:E21

    Although this was not the last episode shown, as the production numbers tell, it was the last one produced. I remember that the last episode was about Hart falling in love with a Russian gymnast. John Houseman did not appear as Kingsfield in this episode. I heard that, because the network had caused the scripts to be ""dumbed"" down to this level, that Houseman refused to be in it. A visiting professor played by Pernell Roberts had to help Hart with his love life. I also understand that Houseman refused to do the Showtime seasons unless it was understood that this episode would never be reshown.

    Director:Robert C. Thompson
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. The Paper Chase Season 2 Episode 5 - Commitments
    6.2/10(19 votes)

    #2 - Commitments

    S2:E5

    Hart fails to appreciate Connie's heavy workload and turns to another woman for comfort. Bell attempts to help a first-year student who cracks under the pressure of Kingsfield's class.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 7 - Da Da
    6.5/10(26 votes)

    #3 - Da Da

    S1:E7

    This episode focuses on Tom Clayton, the guy with the ""photographic memory"" in the study group. Early in the episode Kingsfield intimidates Tom to the point he is incapable of speaking and freezes up. In an effort to ""start at the very beginning"" and teach him how to talk again, Kingsfield tells him to say ""da da"". In this episode Tom's wife, Karen, announces she's pregnant. Faced with stresses due to his (losing) struggle with law school and the further complication of having a child, Tom goes on a drinking binge and falls behind in Kingsfield's class. In an all-night cram session, where members of the class impersonate Kingsfield, Tom is helped to learn to synthesize the material he so easily memorizes into fully developed ideas and he is able to make a good showing in the actual class the next day.

    Director:Philip Leacock
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 12 - Bell and Love
    6.7/10(19 votes)

    #4 - Bell and Love

    S1:E12

    A female friend from Hart's hometown comes to visit Hart while trying to sort out her struggling marriage. As usual, Hart is swamped, so he asks Bell to keep her company for a few days. Love-struck Bell skips classes to be with her, and goes so far as to start looking for apartments where he and she can live together. Her husband shows up to reconcile, but Bell forgets to inform her of that development.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 5 - Voices of Silence
    6.8/10(29 votes)

    #5 - Voices of Silence

    S1:E5

    As part of Prof. Rolf's prison internship program for first year students, Logan is assigned to help in a hearing of a political activist, Eric Ryerson, who was put in solitary confinement for stabbing a fellow prisoner. Ryerson convinces Logan that the prison establishment is only supressing him for his political activism and Logan is taken in, emotionally as well. Kingsfield is not in favor of this program because he believes that the students are not ready scholastically and that it takes away valuable time from their other studies. Logan is banished to the back bench in his class for being late as a result of her work in the program. Hart displays his fluency in Spanish, acting as interpreter of another prisoner, Sanchez - the prisoner who was stabbed. At first Sanchez denies that it was Ryerson who stabbed him (because he and other prisoners are afraid of Ryerson), but we find out that Ryerson stabbed him because Sanchez would not give Ryerson a cool pair of sunglasses. THINKING L

    Director:Alex March
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 8 - The Seating Chart
    7.0/10(28 votes)

    #6 - The Seating Chart

    S1:E8

    The ""Paper Chase"" meets ""I love Lucy:"" as the weekend approaches, Hart gets a special, paying assignment to index Kingsfield's new book of essays, due Monday – an impossibly difficult deadline. On top of that, Ernie, his employer, asks him to manage the tavern for the weekend while he's away. Meanwhile, Willis Bell, the portly, disorganized member of the study group who's always perceverating about his 200+ page property outline becomes obsessed with his goofy picture on Kingsfield's seating chart. He believes that it's why he always gets called on first in each class and sets about to get his picture changed. When Kingsfield's secretary declines to change it without his approval, Bell arrives on the hair-brained scheme to break into Kingsfield's office and change it. While everything possible is going wrong at Ernie's and the index is still looming large, Hart inexplicably agrees to accompany Bell in this ill-fated mission becoming the Ethyl to Bell's Lucy. Of course, even thoug

    Director:Robert C. Thompson
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 BEST Episodes of The Paper Chase

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  7. The Paper Chase Season 2 Episode 4 - Cinderella
    7.0/10(19 votes)

    #7 - Cinderella

    S2:E4

    Connie attempts to help a returning student, now a single mother with no child care, and recruits Hart and Bell for assistance. Ford is assigned to an older woman's case against a slumlord.

    Director:Joseph Pevney
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 6 - Nancy
    7.1/10(29 votes)

    #8 - Nancy

    S1:E6

    Hart has a girlfriend with whom he is very close and share's his deep love of the law. Together they uncover a ""secret"" repository of all of the collected books, articles, and even class notes of all the law school's professors (including Kingsfield). They look very good in the Contracts class the next day. Things seem to be moving to the next level when Hart is invited to her Father's house for the weekend. All seems to go well, Father is impressed with Hart, Hart with the Dad. Dad makes Hart promise that, no matter what, he will try to help Nancy keep her dream alive of being a lawyer. Hart thinks the promise is a little odd, but agrees. Back at school, a news bulletin shocks Hart and Nancy with the news that Nancy's father has been killed in a ""gangland hit"". We find out that Nancy's dad is an underworld figure, one that Nancy does not want to emulate, but whom she loves nonetheless. She and Hart try hard to make the relationship work, regardless of the constant interference of news

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 14 - Losing Streak
    7.1/10(23 votes)

    #9 - Losing Streak

    S1:E14

    Anderson, who has been making a small killing at poker amonst his friends, sees a lovely 3L (3rd year law student), Chris Carlyle (Christine Belford), and wants to get to know her better. She lives in the Hamilton Society House, known for it pokerplaying, less than academically gifted upper classmen. She is bright, but because of her limited cash flow she exchanges room and board for her class ""notes"". Kingsfield tells her that he regrets the fact that the others get by ""on her coattails"". Anderson, who visits her at the Hamilton House, get sucked into their nightly poker game and loses to the tune of $800 and signs a countercheck for the amount (for which he know he doesn't have the funds). His gambling gets him behind in Kingsfield's class who gives more work to make up for his lack of preparation in class. The rest of the study group feels he is not fufilling his contract to the group, but they help him to get his extra work done and Ford through Logan gives him the money to pay

    Director:Alex March
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. The Paper Chase Season 2 Episode 3 - Spreading It Thin
    7.3/10(19 votes)

    #10 - Spreading It Thin

    S2:E3

    Hart has a feeling that a popular law professor has plagiarized an article for Law Review, and tries to prove it, to the detriment of his schoolwork. Lehman suspects he is just jealous because she greatly admires the professor.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Lee Kalcheim

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  11. The Paper Chase Season 3 Episode 6 - The Big D
    7.4/10(15 votes)

    #11 - The Big D

    S3:E6

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. The Paper Chase Season 3 Episode 11 - Security
    7.4/10(13 votes)

    #12 - Security

    S3:E11

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. The Paper Chase Season 2 Episode 10 - Labor of Love
    7.5/10(17 votes)

    #13 - Labor of Love

    S2:E10

    Hart and Harriman compete to represent the school in the national moot court competition. First-year student Vivian struggles with speaking up in class.

    Director:Jack Bender
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 10 - Kingsfield's Daughter
    7.6/10(25 votes)

    #14 - Kingsfield's Daughter

    S1:E10

    Hart falls for a woman who turns out to be Kingsfield's daughter - Susan Fields.

    Director:Alex March
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 16 - A Matter of Anger
    7.6/10(22 votes)

    #15 - A Matter of Anger

    S1:E16

    A black woman has an inferiority complex because she was accepted to law school through the Affirmative Action program. At Kingsfield's request, Hart reluctantly becomes the angry woman's tutor. An influential white alumnus, his son having been rejected despite having better grades than the woman, does his best to change the government's stance on Affirmative Action.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. The Paper Chase Season 2 Episode 12 - War of the Wonks (a.k.a.) Machine
    7.6/10(17 votes)

    #16 - War of the Wonks (a.k.a.) Machine

    S2:E12

    A minor incident between Golden and an engineering student about a parking space causes hostilities between the law students and the engineering students (or ""Wonks"" as they are called on campus). Golden has the Wonk's car impounded and the Wonks retaliate by moving Golden's car into the Law Review office (which is in a basement...). A romance between a law student and a Wonk is strained by the conflict. The matter is settled by a contest of legal knowledge between Kingsfield and a computer.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Lee Kalcheim

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  17. The Paper Chase Season 2 Episode 19 - Billy Pierce
    7.6/10(15 votes)

    #17 - Billy Pierce

    S2:E19

    Stressed-out first-year students prepare for Kingsfield's final. When the final exam is stolen, Bell is charged with finding the students responsible.

    Director:Corey Allen
    Writer:John Jay Osborn Jr.

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  18. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 15 - The Man in the Chair
    7.7/10(22 votes)

    #18 - The Man in the Chair

    S1:E15

    A new student, Paul Chandler, joins the class mid semester. He is wheelchair bound yet athletic and handsome. The study group welcomes him in and in their interactions we gradually see that contrary to the good initial impression Chandler makes, he is manipulative, takes advantage of his situation, and is highly competitive. We also learn that through his mother he is friends (on a first name basis) with Kingsfield. Chandler's competitive nature reveals its dark side when he sets his sights on Hart. He tries to seduce Logan, thinking that she is Hart's girlfriend, he applies to a need-based scholarship that Hart is trying hard to win, and both he and his mother try to use their relationship with Kingsfield to win the scholarship. Finally, in Kingsfield's office, he experiences a life changing moment where he sees himself as what he is and turns over a new leaf.

    Director:Robert C. Thompson
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. The Paper Chase Season 4 Episode 3 - Suppressed Desires
    7.7/10(17 votes)

    #19 - Suppressed Desires

    S4:E3

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. The Paper Chase Season 1 Episode 13 - An Act of Desperation
    7.8/10(25 votes)

    #20 - An Act of Desperation

    S1:E13

    A struggling Jonathan is so desperate to pass Kingsfield's midterm, he hires someone to steal a copy of the test. He tricks the rest of his study group into believing that it is an old Kingsfield exam, making them unwitting accessories to his cheating.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. The Paper Chase Season 2 Episode 8 - Mrs. Hart
    7.8/10(18 votes)

    #21 - Mrs. Hart

    S2:E8

    Hart is given a run of the Review for the night when Golden meets a woman who is demanding of his time and attention. For dates a woman whose ambition is to marry a lawyer.

    Director:Jack Bender
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. The Paper Chase Season 3 Episode 5 - Pressure
    7.8/10(15 votes)

    #22 - Pressure

    S3:E5

    Tom Ford defends a student who assaulted a teacher. Rose goes on a date.

    Director:Alf Kjellin
    Writer:Irv Pearlberg

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  23. The Paper Chase Season 3 Episode 9 - The Choice
    7.8/10(15 votes)

    #23 - The Choice

    S3:E9

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. The Paper Chase Season 3 Episode 12 - Lasting Impressions
    7.8/10(16 votes)

    #24 - Lasting Impressions

    S3:E12

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. The Paper Chase Season 4 Episode 1 - A Wounded Hart
    7.8/10(15 votes)

    #25 - A Wounded Hart

    S4:E1

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"A Case of Detente" is the worst rated episode of "The Paper Chase". It scored 5.8/10 based on 23 votes. Directed by Robert C. Thompson and written by Unknown, it aired on 4/17/1979. This episode scored 0.4 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Commitments".