All 73 episodes of Game of Thrones, ranked worst to best

3. “Battle of the Bastards,” Season 6, Episode 9

There are a few minor quibbles with the “Battle of the Bastards” that keep it out of the top spot, but so much of it works that it is was very hard not to rank this as the best episode of the series. Prior to its airing, most assumed that the episode would take place entirely in the North, but a decent chunk of the hour was set in Meereen, and what we got there was outstanding.

Seeing all three of Daenerys’ dragons unleashed on the slavers’ fleet was a sight to behold, and gave the audience a sense of how the Targaryens were able to conquer Westeros in the first place. After it was all said and done, Dany met with the Greyjoy siblings and gained more allies. Dany showed more diplomatic savvy in her two-minute conversation with Yara than she did during the entirety  of Season 5.

But back to the North, where Jon and Sansa have arrived at Winterfell for their showdown with Ramsay: from Sansa’s mic drop moment at the parlay to the war council in the tent, everything that led up to the battle was a pleasure to watch. Showing us Davos and Tormund musing about the kings they have served was a nice, quiet touch.

The battle itself contains some of the most potent imagery to appear in the series. Jon’s mad dash to save Rickon was great, as was the shot of Kit Harrington staring down the wall of cavalry dashing towards him. (Those were real horses, by the way.) And then, after a lengthy shot of Jon caught in the thick of the fighting, Jon was put in huge danger as the Bolton army surrounded his forces. We knew going in that Jon would find himself in peril at some point, but to have him almost be crushed to death by his own fleeing soldiers was an original choice, and you have to applaud the directors for their vision. It was a horrifying, claustrophobic sequence.

Later, Sansa fed Ramsy to his own dogs, a clever little bit of irony, and it was nice to see Sansa proactively kill someone for once. All in all, one of the best episodes the series has ever done.