10 episodes of TV with IMDb ratings as high as Game of Thrones (and 1 higher)

9. "Felina", Breaking Bad (9.9)

The title of Breaking Bad's series finale (Season 5 Episode 16) encompasses what the show is all about. Other than being an anagram of the word 'finale', it is also a combination of three chemical elements: Fe for the Iron in blood, Li for the lithium in meth, and Na for the salt in tears, a play on the phrase 'blood, sweat, and tears.'

Wordplay aside, the episode itself has stood the test of time in being one of the greatest finishes to a great TV series. To this day, "Felina" is a yardstick for how intense, critically acclaimed shows should strive to end. Ironically, it does not attempt to be as dramatic as some of the other episodes of the show but fleshes out the beauty in the tragic inevitability of Walter White's actions over the show's five seasons.

Two episodes before, the excellent "Ozymandias," which is mentioned later in this list, takes things to a point of no return. In "Felina", Walter White (Bryan Cranston) returns to Albuquerque with the mindset of a man who is not necessarily all changed but who has accepted the hurt his actions have caused. His final conversation with his wife Skyler draws a perfect ending line to their complex relationship. The moment also marks Walt being honest and not manipulative for the first time in a long, long time.

Walt's parting scene with partner Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) also puts a cap on years of character development, as Walt hands his gun over to him after killing Todd, putting his life in his former associate's hand. Jesse chooses to not pull the trigger, but the bullet he took a while back to save Jesse ends up eventually killing him. He takes one last look at the laboratory he created before collapsing to the ground.

8. "Connor's Wedding", Succession (9.9)

The grim shadow of Logan Roy's impending death that hovered over Succession since the pilot finally explodes most unceremoniously in "Connor's Wedding," Season 4 Episode 4, as showrunner Jesse Armstrong keeps the focus on how his children react to the news. The Roy family patriarch, played brilliantly by Brian Cox, chooses to not attend his son Connor's wedding to Willa, and instead dies on the plane on his way to Sweden to broker the sale of his company, Waystar Royco.

As the news reaches his kids, they all handle it differently. Roman goes into denial. Kendall refuses to forgive his father but says "I love you" one last time, while Shiv simply breaks down, calling out "Daddy." Connor's reaction is probably the most honest of the lot, as the first thing he says is how Logan never even liked him. The stunning sequence, filmed in near-30 minutes of endless take, ties together the complicated affection the kids had for their father, the respect he commanded as the pillar of the family, and the trauma he instilled with decades of manipulation and power plays.

Armstrong makes a subtle statement by keeping Logan's death largely offscreen and putting Roman, Kendall, Connor, and Shiv front and center. Despite the tragedy, Connor and Willa still get married and even have a lighthearted chat about their future, while others try to figure out their place in the hierarchy in a world where Logan Roy is dead.