The BEST episodes of Connections season 2

Every episode of Connections season 2, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Connections season 2!

The original ten volume series was made in 1978. The popular success of the series led to two sequels, Connections 2 (sometimes written Connections2) in 1994, and Connections 3 (or Connections3) in 1997, both produced for TLC. By turning science into a detective story James Burke creates a series that will fascinate students and adults alike. This interdisciplinary approach has never before been applied to history or science and it succeeds tremendously. Winner of the Red Ribbon in the American Film Festival, the scope of the series covers 19 countries and 150 locations, requiring over 14 months of filming. As the Sherlock Holmes of science, Burke tracks through 12,000 years of history for the clues that lead us to eight great life changing inventions-the atom bomb, telecommunications, the computer, the production line, jet aircraft, plastics, rocketry and television. Burke postulates that such changes occur in response to factors he calls "triggers," some of them seemingly unrelated. These have their own triggering effects, causing change in totally unrelated fields as well. And so the connections begin...

Last Updated: 10/30/2024Network: CuriosityStreamStatus: Ended
Bright Ideas
star
8.00
29 votes

#1 - Bright Ideas

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/31/1994

A Baltimore man invented the bottle, which led to razors and clock springs, and the Hubble telescope.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Something for Nothing
star
8.00
29 votes

#2 - Something for Nothing

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/31/1994

Something impossible happened 400 years ago. And we wound up in outer space, thanks (en route) to pigeon lovers, the Pope, and electric Italian frogs.

Watch Now:Amazon
Separate Ways
star
7.50
58 votes

#3 - Separate Ways

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/31/1994

Two trails split over slavery in the 18th Century. One route leads to the Wild West and Brooklyn Bridge, the other coining money and TV. Both end with a threat to peace.

Watch Now:Amazon
Déjà Vu
star
7.00
29 votes

#4 - Déjà Vu

Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/31/1994

History repeats itself, when you know how to look. Pizzaro beats the Incas, the first stock market opens. The Queen of England salutes a Mexican beetle and Hitler's plans misfire.

Watch Now:Amazon
Flexible Response
star
7.00
29 votes

#5 - Flexible Response

Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 12/31/1994

Robin Hood starts us on a trail from medieval showbiz to land drainage, to the invention of decimals that end up in U.S. currency, thanks to the guy who started the Erie Canal.

Watch Now:Amazon
Better Than the Real Thing
star
7.00
29 votes

#6 - Better Than the Real Thing

Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 12/31/1994

How the zipper started with technology Jefferson picked up in Paris during a row about Creation.

Watch Now:Amazon
Sign Here
star
7.00
58 votes

#7 - Sign Here

Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 12/31/1994

Dutch piracy starts international law and French probability math, phonetics and Victorian séances.

Watch Now:Amazon
Making Waves
star
7.00
29 votes

#8 - Making Waves

Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/31/1994

Hairdressers, Gold Rush miners, Irish potato farmers and English parliamentarians are really tied together.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Big Spin
star
7.00
29 votes

#9 - The Big Spin

Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/31/1994

The greatest medical accident in history starts a trail that leads to Helen of Troy, 17th Century flower-power, the invention of soda pop and earthquake detection.

Watch Now:Amazon
Hot Pickle
star
7.00
29 votes

#10 - Hot Pickle

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/31/1994

The connections between a cup of tea, opium dens, the London Zoo and a switch that releases bombs.

Watch Now:Amazon
New Harmony
star
7.00
29 votes

#11 - New Harmony

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/31/1994

Microscopic bugs inspired the novel "Frankenstein" which aided the birth of Socialism.

Watch Now:Amazon
High Time
star
7.00
29 votes

#12 - High Time

Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/31/1994

Unwrap a sandwich and you're on a path to World War II radar and Neo-Impressionist painters.

Watch Now:Amazon
Photo Finish
star
7.00
29 votes

#13 - Photo Finish

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/31/1994

The Le Mans 24-hour race is the backdrop for linking photography and bullets, relativity and blimps.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Echoes of the Past
star
7.00
58 votes

#14 - Echoes of the Past

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/31/1994

On his way to finding the secret of the universe, Burke takes us to the Buddhist tea ceremony, ties it to international spies and Lincoln's assassination.

Watch Now:Amazon
Whodunit?
star
7.00
58 votes

#15 - Whodunit?

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/31/1994

Who stole a set of billiard balls in 1902 and why was he the most famous crook in history? The clues: maps from 1775, Charles Darwin's cousin and the FBI.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Getting It Together
star
7.00
29 votes

#16 - Getting It Together

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/31/1994

Start by examining a SWAT team, which leads to hot air ballooning, the root of many inventions.

Watch Now:Amazon
Sentimental Journeys
star
7.00
29 votes

#17 - Sentimental Journeys

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/31/1994

What has Freud got to do with maps? Or prison reform with blue dye? Or the inside of a star with the Himalayas? India reveals the answers.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Revolutions
star
7.00
29 votes

#18 - Revolutions

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 12/31/1994

Discover how the steam engine led to safety matches, imitation diamonds and the moon in a wild ride.

Directors: Mick Jackson
Writer: James Burke
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
One Word
star
6.50
58 votes

#19 - One Word

Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 12/31/1994

One medieval word kicks off the investigation into different cultures with the same stories that ends in cultural anthropology.

Watch Now:Amazon
Routes
star
0.00
0 votes

#20 - Routes

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/31/1994

A sick lawyer in 18th Century France changes farming and triggers the French Revolution and new medical research.

Watch Now:Amazon