All 73 episodes of Game of Thrones, ranked worst to best
12. “Blackwater,” Season 2, Episode 9
“Blackwater” solely concerns itself with the arrival of Stannis Baratheon’s forces in King’s Landing, something Season 2 built towards for most of its run. With a reported budget of $8 million dollars for this episode alone, Game of Thrones established itself as a television show of unique ambition.
The entirety of the episode is spent in King’s Landing, and director Neil Marshall does an excellent job ratcheting up the tension as the episode rolls on. We start by watching each of the major players preparing for the upcoming battle, and some are contemplating more extreme measures than others. Cersei obtains nightshade, a powerful poison, as a last resort should Stannis breach the walls.
Sansa attempts to goad Joffrey into leading the vanguard, but Joffrey is no Baratheon. The closest he gets is huddled on the walls of the city, scared the entire time, but this was yet another moment that endeared fans to Sansa. Trying to get Joffrey killed can only over well with the audience.
We split most of the episode between Stannis and Davos on the one side, and Cersei and Tyrion on the other. Cersei spends most of the hour getting drunk and berating Sansa while holed up with the other women, but Tyrion leads an attack, a first for him.
After destroying a large portion of the attacking Baratheon fleet with explosive wildfire, Tyrion leads sorties beyond the walls, after everyone else flees. When one of Joffrey’s Kingsguard attempts to murder Tyrion, its our lover-not-fighter Podrick Payne who comes to the rescue.
Blood and gore are pepper the episode, with heads, legs, and arms flying across the screen at a steady rate, but when it’s all said and done, the Lannisters emerge victorious after a Lannister/Tyrell army attacks Stannis from the rear. The outcome is left in doubt until the final moments of the episode, where we catch up with Cersei in the throne room. As she sits on the Iron Throne with poor little Tommen, Cersei uncorks her poison and waits to see who opens the doors. Luckily, it’s her father Tywin, smug as a bug after defeating Stannis. Dodged a bullet there, Tommen!
11. “The Spoils of War,” Season 7 Episode 4
Despite being tied for shortest episode of the series, “The Spoils of War” is our highest ranked episode of season 7. Clocking in at a meager 50 minutes, the episode still left a lasting impression.
In a season packed with reunions and meetings, “The Spoils of War” had one of the most momentous: Arya Stark reuniting with her siblings in Winterfell. From the moment where she quietly surveyed the courtyard of her childhood home to her initially frosty meeting with Sansa under the watchful eye of their father, Arya’s return was everything we’d hoped for.
Other highlights included Jon and Theon’s reunion on the beaches of Dragonstone, as well as Jon taking Daenerys on a tour of the dragonglass mine (Jon has a thing for caves). Finally, Arya and Brienne’s duel in Winterfell would serve as a pleasant appetizer for the main course: the Loot Train Attack.
Game of Thrones has rarely delivered a finer sequence. A lighthearted scene involving Jaime, Bronn and Dickon Tarly discussing war quickly degenerates into an actual battle, and one unlike any we have seen on the show thus far. Dany, mounted on Drogon, showed off her true power here, and it was exhilarating and horrifying and equal measure.
In addition to the thrillingly choreographed action, the scene’s greatest accomplishment was making us feel pity and fear for the Lannister and Tarly forces. But there were also moments of beauty, as when Drogon glided across a lake. When it comes to action sequences on TV, there’s nothing else like Game of Thrones.