The BEST episodes of The Wonder Years (2021) season 1
Every episode of The Wonder Years (2021) season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Wonder Years (2021) season 1!
A coming of age story set in the late 1960s that takes a nostalgic look at a black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama through the point-of-view of imaginative 12 year-old Dean. With the wisdom of his adult years, Dean’s hopeful and humorous recollections show how his family found their “wonder years” in a turbulent time.
#1 - Black Teacher
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/2/2022
When their teacher goes on maternity leave, Dean, Cory and Keisa are excited to be taught by Mr. Brady, the school’s first Black teacher. Mr. Brady encourages the students to try out for the Knowledge Bowl team where Dean faces some unexpected challenges.
#2 - Love & War
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/13/2022
Bruce returns home from Vietnam, and the family is shocked to find out he is dating an older woman with an 8-year-old son with whom he is eager to start his life. When they learn more about Bruce’s latest deployment, they begin to understand his survivors’ guilt and come together to support him.
#3 - Love, Dean
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/18/2022
It’s the end of the school year, and summer excitement is all around. When Bill and Lillian each receive major career opportunities, tension builds as they decide who will handle more of the household responsibilities. Meanwhile, Dean and Keisa take shelter together as a tornado tears through Montgomery, providing the perfect moment for Dean to tell her how he really feels.
#4 - Country Dean
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/23/2022
The family spends spring break with Lillian’s parents in the countryside, and Dean lies to his cousins about city life in Montgomery to impress them. Meanwhile, Lillian helps to settle a land dispute between her parents and their neighbors to impress her difficult-to-please mother.
#5 - Home for Christmas
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/1/2021
Dean can’t wait to spend Christmas with his older brother, Bruce, when he returns home from Vietnam. But adjusting to life back in Montgomery comes with unexpected challenges for Bruce, and the rest of the Williams family rely on their favorite holiday traditions to bring cheer.
#6 - The Sleepover
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/16/2022
When Dean learns that Corey's dad, Coach Long, is in the doghouse, he struggles to keep this secret from his friend.
#7 - Independence Day
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/3/2021
As Kim’s campaign for a car coincides with the need to take Grandaddy Clisby’s keys away, Bill proposes a solution that is only pleasing to him: Kim can drive, so long as she takes her grandfather and Dean around town. Later on at the mall, Dean is worried about seeming uncool when Clisby ends up chaperoning him and his friends, but Clisby has a few crowd-pleasing tricks up his sleeve.
#8 - Jobs and Hangouts
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/23/2022
Kim is excited to start her new job as a waitress at the local diner, which Dean adopts as his local hangout; when Kim experiences drama with her friends, she finds unlikely allies in a tough co-worker and her younger brother.
#9 - Goose Grease
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/6/2022
When Dean comes down with the chicken pox on his way to a hunting trip with Bill and Grandaddy Clisby, Lillian forces the three of them to quarantine together. Clisby pushes homemade remedies on them out of his mistrust of doctors, but he’s forced to reckon with this when Dean’s condition worsens.
#10 - The Workplace
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/13/2021
It’s “Take Your Son to Work Day” and Dean heads to band practice with Bill. But the “grown folks’ business” at the music studio prompts Lillian to have to pick up Dean. While at her office, Dean finally learns what his mom does while he’s at school all day, gaining a newfound respect for her career and ambition.
#11 - Where No Dean Has Been Before
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/11/2022
Dean tries to impress Keisa’s cool new boyfriend, Broderick, by inviting him and his friends over for a party Kim is throwing while Bill and Lillian are away for the night. Things get out of hand just as Bill and Lillian arrive home, and Dean is forced to admit he isn’t being true to himself.
#12 - Be Prepared
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/27/2021
When Coach Long and Bill take the boys on a camping trip as part of their newly formed scout troop, their starkly different approaches to the outdoors show Dean that his father isn’t good at everything. As a thunderstorm threatens an eerie quest through the woods, Bill leans into his expertise to save the day.
#13 - Bill’s New Gig
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/20/2022
Bill is excited to have made tenure at the university, only to find that his focus on career and family has cost him his spot in his band. Lillian encourages Bill to write and perform solo, especially as an attractive young jazz singer approaches Bill to collaborate. Meanwhile, Bruce adjusts to living at home.
#14 - Lads and Ladies and Us
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/5/2022
Bill and Lillian decide to join high society club Lads & Ladies as a way to introduce Kim and Dean to positive influences in the community. Bill, Kim and Dean fit right in, but things take a turn when Lillian is treated differently for being a working mom.
#15 - The Lock In
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/2021
Dean is reluctant to attend the annual church lock-in until Kim tells him it’s where she got her first kiss. He enlists his friends to help him pair up with Keisa, but his plans are thwarted when he instead gets paired up with the pastor’s daughter, Charlene.
#16 - Brad Mitzvah
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/12/2022
Brad works through his nerves preparing for his bar mitzvah speech while Dean ends his friendship with Keisa when Charlene tells him he can’t be friends with other girls. Things come to a head when the whole group comes together to celebrate Brad’s bar mitzvah.
#17 - I'm with the Band
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/19/2022
When Dean loses his position as first chair saxophone in the school band, Bill lays the pressure on him to earn it back. But after a talk with Lillian, Bill realizes he’s being a bit too harsh and forcing his own dreams upon Dean.
#18 - Science Fair
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/17/2021
After seeing Dean bullied by Michael after school Lillian goes to confront his parents and learns he needs more compassion than discipline. Much to Dean’s dismay, she takes Michael under her wing and helps him with his project for the science fair – an event where Dean typically excels.
#19 - The Valentine's Day Dance
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/2/2022
Dean’s plans to ask Keisa to the Valentine’s Day Dance are foiled when another boy asks her out first after a new makeover makes her the talk of the school. Meanwhile, Bill and Lillian make Kim sign up for a Big Sister program to have extracurricular activities for her college applications.
#20 - The Club
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/6/2021
Dean stumbles upon some “racy literature” and shares it with friends at school. When he is caught by the school principal, Bill and Lillian navigate uncharted territory as parents and Dean learns that manhood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
#21 - Pilot
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/2021
As the youngest in the Williams family, Dean is struggling to figure out where he fits in. Between his brother’s athleticism, sister’s popularity, mother’s intelligence and dad’s overall coolness, everyone else seems to have their lane figured out. He decides to pursue his calling as “The Great Uniter” and attempts to organize the first integrated baseball game between his team and his friend Brad’s team.
#22 - Green Eyed Monster
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/29/2021
While Dean reckons with his first taste of heartbreak and betrayal, the adults in his life are overly empathetic and assume his grief is from mourning current events. Dean milks the special treatment and uses it to his advantage – and his family shows their support for him in their own unique ways; Kim invites him to join her at a local activist rally, while Bill and Dean bond during a fishing trip.