For those who, like me, tuned in with fervor to see the season premiere Sunday night, know that while I did see “Two Swords,” it wouldn’t have made the cut here.
I started watching Game of Thrones at the very beginning of its second season, and was instantly hooked in a way I hadn’t felt since Lost. I remember streaming the first season and realizing that it was 2 AM and I had to work in the morning…and yet I still hit to watch just one more episode. It’s a wildly addictive show, and I will kindly request that the comments section is to be a spoiler-free zone if you’ve read the books and know what’s ahead on the television show (and since this is a current program, I’m issuing the Spoiler Alert if you’re not up-to-date on the actual series).
I’ll also say that, of all of the shows on this list that are currently on the air, this is the one I’m most certain will move up the list in the near future. Currently my favorite program on television, it may well crack the Top 5 when I finally finish, but twelfth for a show that has just barely started the halfway season of its expected seven-season run seems about right. And with all of those preambles, let’s jump right into the list.
10. “The Wolf and the Lion” (#1.5)
The visual effects and art direction of the series, while never quite at the level of a Hollywood blockbuster, come so close at times that you almost don’t notice. This is one of those episodes-the Eyrie, one of the creepiest and most terrifying places we’ve ventured, introduces us to Catelyn’s psychotic sister Lysa, and her very Hamlet’s mother relationship with her son. Meanwhile, we get some genuine movement on the Ned Stark storyline in King’s Landing. This episode makes the cut, though, if only for the petrifying sky cells of the Eyrie-prisons with an open wall and slanted floors that fall down to an incredible plunge.
9. “Garden of Bones,” (#2.4)
Game of Thrones, more than any other show on television (except, perhaps, Mad Men) is about the long story rather than the short payoff. This is the sort of show that would make Ryan Murphy gouge his ADD-writing eyes out. After all, it’s rare that we have a major event, and so much of this episode is fairly standard-fare approach, though I love that it introduced the Tywin/Arya story (I really started to get into Charles Dance’s character in this episode, even if he, like almost everyone else, is evil). However, the ending, with Melisandre giving birth to a shadowy demon, yikes, that was frightening, and how could we have predicted what would happen next with Renly? We couldn’t, but I think this episode gave a strong sense of foreboding.
8. “Valar Morghulis” (#2.10)
In a series as epic as Game of Thrones, season finales are giant and lasting adventures. Even when this one cannot quite compare with the ends of the first or third seasons, it’s still a thrill ride. You get a look at the brutality that Daenerys is capable of (locking Xaro and Doreah in the vault knowing the long death they are about to experience-particularly vicious), and we finally get to see the White Walkers in their truly horrifying upright state, marching across the North, bringing that much promised winter with them.
7. “Fire and Blood” (#1.10)
Coming off the death from the previous episode (the stunning demise of one Ned Stark), we get Robb entering his soon-to-be-failed bid to become the King of the North, and we get to see the fall-out from Joffrey’s hasty death of the head of the Stark house. Arya starts her campaign to find some member of her family (though of course that continues to be a fruitless endeavor), and Tyrion becomes the Hand of the King. Of course, the only thing anyone remembers from this episode is Emilia Clarke and her walk through fire. Daenerys gets all of the truly cool moments on the show, it seems, but few would argue that those dragons crawling across her shoulder, after surviving a night awash in flames, is one of her crowning achievements. And talk about a way to bring you back without the traditional cliffhanger tropes.
6. “Winter is Coming” (#1.1)
A series premiere is supposed to not only establish the characters, but also the mood of the series, and that is what is so successful about this introduction to the world of Westeros. We are given beautiful, grand castles and a series of random characters that we will learn add up to much more of the story than they initially appeared (it’s stunning to see how many of the principle performers of this particular episode ended up dead in the show’s first three seasons, and how ancillary characters suddenly became far more important). And we are given the “expect anything” ending, with the incestuous relationship between Jaime and Cersei giving way to an attempted murder on the young Bran Stark.
5. “Mhysa” (#3.10)
The finale once again follows a major turn-of-events in the series (it’s worth noting that the biggest moments of each season seem to occur in the penultimate episode), the moments and fall-out from the red wedding. We see a distraught Sansa (poor, poor Sansa) mourning her mother and brother, and Tyrion continuing to prove that he takes his new allegiance to her quite seriously. We get Daenerys, once again getting the final scene of the season, being proclaimed mother by her people in a moment that once again shows the rise of the young Targaryen (it helps when no one is nearby that sees you as a threat). But the best moment of this episode, possibly my favorite moment of the series so far is Jon and Ygritte, seeing each other after Jon has abandoned Ygritte, they get one moment where he finally confesses that he loves her and states she loves him, and she gets to say, “you know nothing Jon Snow.” I’ve watched this scene at least a dozen times and cried every single viewing. Just wonderfully acted by both Kit Harington and Rose Leslie.
4. “And Now His Watch is Ended” (#3.4)
There are two major moments in this episode, or so I’m guessing. One is obvious-Emilia Clarke earns her Emmy nomination with a spectacular show of panache-anyone who has seen the close of this episode, where she unleashes her dragons upon Kraznys, knows that this was an incredible ending to the episode, and one that we all likely watched thinking, “wait…I have seven more days before I find out what happens next?!?” But there is also the rise of Lady Margaery, soon to be Joffrey’s queen, who not only has managed to be one of the shrewdest and hardest to read poker players in this Game of Thrones (it wasn’t until the Season 4 premiere that we even got a hint of some of her true feelings), but also a true rival worthy of Cersei, even if she is angered by the prospects.
3. “Baelor (#1.9)
In the light of some of the later moments of the series, it seems impossible to think that we once thought Ned Stark invincible, and yet there he was. I had heard this spoiler ahead-of-time, so it didn’t quite have the same impact, but had I not, it would have seemed impossible. Kill off Sean Bean, the headliner? The main character? Absurd, and with Cersei seemingly pulling the strings, I almost believed it couldn’t happen. And then Joffrey dropped the hammer, stunning his mother and devastating his bride-to-be beyond compare. The show would never be the same, and it would take us two seasons to trust again.
2. “Blackwater” (#2.9)
Since everyone is aware of what Number one is, I’m sure you’re realizing that the penultimate episodes of each season are my favorite. This is the only episode that doesn’t alternate with the North or Daenerys’ trek through the wilderness. Instead, we get Stannis, in a relatively strong position, utterly and completely defeated at the battle by Tyrion and his men. The effects and action in this episode are spellbinding. We’re still soon from the Ned Stark death, and so we are aware enough to expect anything, but what we get is almost every major character left alive. Yet somehow that’s more exciting; this also makes you cheer for the Lannisters (a near impossible task), and gives you the rise of a new power, Tywin Lannister, who would become one of the dominant figures of the third season.
1. “The Rains of Castamere” (#3.9)
I’ll admit it-I was one of the viewers who overreacted while watching it. I think this may have been the first time my dad has ever heard me actually swear. How could it be possible? Enough time had left us since Ned Stark that we believed certain characters were impenetrable. Surely Robb Stark, strong, handsome (ridiculously so), and the only hero that you weren’t conflicted about cheering for, couldn’t die? Nor could his mother, strong-willed and a bit unfair (why was she so cruel to Jon Snow?) but ultimately a badass worthy of our admiration. When Robb’s bride was stabbed, I figured that was it-that was the shock that would stun the rest of the season-the queen and the heir inside her were dead. And yet that wasn’t the end. In the scene that would always be known as the red wedding, we saw the entire series do a head-flip, as Robb and his mother were murdered and we no longer felt anyone was safe.
Those are my thoughts on this gargantuan series-what were yours? Do you have a favorite episode? Please share in the comments (and for those literate types, please relegate your comments to stuff that’s already happened on the show).
For more of my favorites: Girls, Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother
For more of my favorites: Girls, Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother
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