All 73 episodes of Game of Thrones, ranked worst to best
24. “The Broken Man,” Season 6, Episode 7
Okay, I’ll be perfectly honest: this episode is ranked as high as it is largely based on the fact that it features the return of the Hound. Rory McCann always killed it in this role, and it was a joy to have him back on the show, even if it was only for two episodes in Season 6. The Hound and Arya’s road trip back in Season 4 was spectacular television, and his pairing with Ian McShane as Septon Rey could have been a show all unto its own.
The other major reason we ranked this episode so high was because it featured the introduction of the breakout character of Season 6: Lyanna Mormont. Bella Ramsay absolutely slays as the pint-sized ruler of Bear Island in the North, and held her own with a group of more seasoned actors in her scene. The Mormont scowl would go on to become an internet meme sensation, and it’s easy to see why.
Jon and Sansa’s other recruiting trips were also interesting, as we got to see the weariness felt by both the wildlings and House Glover, with each group tired of all the fighting for others that’s been required. Given all the violence we’d seen on the show, it was effective to see some leaders hesitant to reenter the fray.
On the flip side of all that goodness, we got the Waif’s attack on Arya, as the latter calmly strolled through the streets of Braavos despite knowing there was an entire assassin’s guild out to kill her. The Waif shanks Arya half a dozen times before Arya escapes into a canal full of sewer water. The whole scene just didn’t work for anyone, and was only made worse by the next episode when Arya’s wounds are healed by some chicken soup.
23. “You Win or You Die,” Season 1, Episode 7
“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” —Cersei Lannister
That sounds like a fun game, sign me up!
Seriously though, landing in our top fifteen, this Season 1 episode represents a shift in the narrative. By now, we’ve been introduced to all the major characters, gotten a bit of backstory on each, and are now starting to head towards the bloody conclusion of the year.
The quote above comes during a conversation when Ned Stark confronts Cersei Lannister about the real father of her children. Cersei calmly confesses that all three are Jaime’s as if she were explaining to Ned that she did have a Cobb salad last night for dinner, thank you very much. If Ned had half a brain, this conversation would have either waited until after Robert returned from his hunting trip, or Ned would have shown up to the meeting with half the guards in the Red Keep. Alas, he does neither, and things spiral out of control.
Remember that incredible conversation Robert and Cersei had before this? Where Cersei was secretly saying goodbye to Robert? Robert is injured in a drunken hunting accident, as it turns out hunting a boar with a spear and drinking copious amounts of wine are a bad mix. Oh Robert, you damned fool.
Robert’s death sets in motion all kinds of craziness that ultimately ends up with Ned in jail and Joffrey on the throne. Oh Ned, you damned fool.
Out in the Riverlands, we get to meet Tywin Lannister in the flesh for the first time, played by veteran actor Charles Dance. The normally arrogant and self-assured Jaime Lannister is cowed in the presence of his father. Tywin gives one of the best speeches of the series, all while symbolically skinning a stag, which we all know to be the symbol of which house, again?
Also in this episode, a wine seller attempts to poison Daenerys and her unborn child, and Khal Drogo’s reaction is terrible to behold. Drogo loses his mind when he learns someone tried to kill his wife, and swears a vow under the stars to see his son sit the Iron Throne. There is literally nothing on Game of Thrones more terrifying than a pissed-off Khal Drogo.
22. “Winter is Coming,” Season 1, Episode 1
But wait, you’ve said this whole time that the first episodes of each season aren’t very good. How does this one crack the top fifteen? Okay, well, this is not just any first episode, it’s THE first episode, and it sets the tone for the entire series. Most assumed it was simply another medieval-type show, a knockoff of Rome except with dragons. They couldn’t have been more wrong. I mean, what other show pushes an eight-year-old kid out the window of a tower in the pilot? It’s that kind of dedication to thwarting expectations that set Game of Thrones apart right from the beginning.
Before the opening credits roll, we get our first scene beyond the Wall, as a group of Night’s Watchmen are quickly and effortlessly slaughtered by the White Walkers. It’s no accident this scene comes first, as it’s meant to show us the true threat to Westeros, but then distract us with all the soap opera goings on in the south.
Next, we get introduced to the main power players in Westeros in rapid fire fashion, and book-readers everywhere paused periodically to explain to their newbie friends who everyone was. We meet the Baratheons, the Starks, and the Lannisters in the matter of a few minutes, before meeting Daenerys roughly one scene before she is married to the husband she just met. See what I meant about rapid fire?
In our first scene of over-the-top foreshadowing, Ned and his children come upon a direwolf and stag, the symbols of House Stark and House Baratheon, that have killed one another. The direwolf’s pups have survived, and each of the Stark children gets one for a pet. Because what child hasn’t secretly wished for a giant man-eating wolf for a pet?
We’re introduced to the mystery of Jon Snow’s parentage, and get see the deep bond of friendship between King Robert and Ned Stark, before jumping back to Dany’s wedding day. And last, we get our first official shock of the series when young Bran stumbles on Queen Cersei and her brother Jaime having sex. Jaime throws Bran out the window to keep him quiet, and a global phenomenon is born.
21. “The Long Night,” Season 8, Episode 3
For seven seasons, viewers had been waiting to see the Night King and his army of the dead descend upon the world of the living, for kings to shiver and die in their castles and for women to feel their tears freeze upon their cheeks. “The Long Night” compresses this invasion down to the space of an epic, extra-long episode where the Night King throws his undead army against Winterfell, and is in the end defeated before he can invade Westeros proper. No story could have completely paid off all that build-up, but “The Long Night” mostly succeeds.
Not that there aren’t flaws. Much has been made about the photography for this episode; it takes place at night, and the filmmakers wanted to give an idea of the oppressive bleakness closing in on those fighting against this apocalyptic threat. It’s a good idea, but the end result is an episode that is plain hard to see at times. That would be a point against it in an ordinary episode, but this is a battle episode — the show’s longest and most ambitious — so it’s especially important we be able to make out what’s happening.
Then there are the kind of oversights and plot conveniences that became more commonplace as the show went on. So you’re telling me that no one in the castle thought that it might be a bad idea to sequester all the non-fighters in a corpse-packed crypt when you’re battling an enemy who can raise the dead, not even the characters the show is always telling us are super-smart? And somehow, when the corpses inevitably start rising, no named characters are killed, so not only does everyone down there act like a moron, but the show lets them off the hook for it.
That’s probably my biggest “oh, come on!” moment of the episode, but there are several like it. But “The Long Night” comes through when it counts. Melisandre is on fire throughout, kicking things off right by setting ablaze the arakhs of the Dothraki cavalry, lighting up a defensive trench, and making good on her season 3 promise to meet Arya again. Her death scene at the end is the perfect, understated end to a loud, clanging hour.
And of course, Arya kills it throughout. There’s a tense scene where she dodges wights in the Winterfell library, and her unexpected slaying of the Night King is a proper get-on-your-feet-and-cheer-your-ass-off moment. The deaths of Theon Greyjoy and Jorah Mormont hit hard (even though not enough people died in this episode) and I love that Daenerys and Jon both throw the best they’ve got a the Night King and come up empty.
“The Long Night” may not be the best battle episode in the show’s history, but it sees us through the darkness and out the other side.
Next: The Lion and the Rose