Every Episode Of "Game Of Thrones" Ranked From Worst To Best

Directed by: Jeremy Podeswa

Written by: Bryan Cogman

When this ranking began at the end of Game of Thrones' third season, I started it by saying that the show is like drinking wine — even when it's not that good, it still does the trick.

Well, consider this episode to be a spoiled bottle — the wine's turned rancid, and it's unfit to drink under any circumstances. It would be bad enough that the episode ends with Ramsay Bolton raping Sansa Stark on their wedding night, while forcing his simpering minion Reek (né Theon Greyjoy) to watch. Regardless of how you may feel about GoT's use of rape as a storytelling trope, this scene — a major change from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books — is also shockingly lazy. We already know Ramsay is a monster, that Sansa is a victim, and that Reek is a beaten dog — as others have noted, this scene does nothing to change or expand that understanding. Instead, like so many of the sequences involving Ramsay and Reek, the show seems to get a disquieting, dark kick out of the degradation Roose Bolton's bastard can inflict on others.

What makes "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" the worst Game of Thrones episode of the series, however, is also just about everything else about it. The trial of Ser Loras Tyrell for "buggery" is such an obvious trap — of course the High Sparrow is going to scrounge up at least one of Loras' louche tricks — that it makes the Tyrells seem willfully stupid, when Margaery and especially the Queen of Thorns have heretofore proven to be anything but. And the fight between Jaime, Bronn, and the Sand Snakes comes off like a second-rate battle at a local Ren Faire, laughably unworthy of everyone involved.

Arya and Tyrion's storylines provide some tiny, fleeting glimmers of pleasure — the Hall of Faces! Tyrion pleading for his penis! — but they do nothing to save GoT's most aggressively unpleasant episode to date from itself. Thank the gods the season got so much better.

Directed by: Daniel Minahan

Written by: Vanessa Taylor

The previous episodes on this ranking aside, the "bad" GoT episodes are usually the ones that are preoccupied with checking in with all the disparate characters scattered across Westeros and beyond the Narrow Sea, advancing each story barely an inch in the process. When the show's critics in the early seasons called it a sprawling tangle of too many characters spread far too thin, these are episodes they were talking about.

The worst offender of this lot is the second episode of what was otherwise a sterling season. Over the course of an hour, we keep hopping from Sansa to Joffrey to Cersei to Margaery to Tyrion to Jon to Samwell to Bran to Theon to Robb to Catelyn to Arya to Brienne and Jaime, and there are exactly two mildly compelling scenes between them: Sansa's introduction to the Queen of Thorns (the perfectly cast Diana Rigg), and Catelyn's confession about her feelings toward Jon Snow. (Until they got caught, I found Brienne and Jaime's bantering just annoying.)

But neither scene can make up for the grind of tiny setups, especially of my two least favorite GoT storylines ever. The first: the endless mystery of Bran's Three-Eyed Raven via the obnoxiously cryptic Jojen. The second: the senseless captivity and torture of Theon. And so it plops with a thud at nearly the bottom of this list.

Directed by: David Petrarca

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Again, soooo much tedious setup of so many story lines, including Jon Snow's endless trudging through Iceland/I mean the land beyond the Wall; Daenerys' wild and wacky adventures in Qarth; and, yup, more of Bran's blasted Three-Eyed Raven. On the other hand: Jaqen H'ghar makes his first kill!

Directed by: Alan Taylor

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

When I initially created this ranking, I considered placing this episode in the worst-ever slot, mainly because the only thing I could remember about it was the pointless scene of Dany complaining that she wanted to find her missing dragons — the perfect example of GoT's early bad habit of needlessly checking in with every single character.

But then I rewatched it, and I realized that amid Theon whining about honor, Jon continuing to trudge through the snow, and Robb courting certain doom by boinking Talisa, there were some fun Tyrion scenes with Bronn, Cersei, and Varys. So: It's just sixth worst!

Directed by: Brian Kirk

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

This episode had the unenviable job of introducing a gaggle of new and important characters — including Renly, Varys, Pycelle, and Littlefinger — with little time to dwell on any of them. It's the ultimate "setup" episode, really...and for that, it must be punished!

Directed by: Alex Graves

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

This would be a perfectly decent mid-season episode — with some shrewd psychological warfare by Dany against the slavers of Meereen, and another pointed lesson in the Hound's education of Arya in the ways of cynicism and self-preservation — if it wasn't for Jaime's rape of Cersei next to the cold body of their first-born son. First of all, yes, it is rape, despite the wrongheaded assertion by the episode's director that "it becomes consensual by the end." Second of all, it's just bad storytelling, way out of character for how Jaime's behaved up to this point — and, for that matter, how he behaves in the subsequent episodes. It just hangs there, ugly and unaddressed, for the rest of the season. Everyone involved should have known better.

Directed by: Alan Taylor

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

So many new characters, like the loyal low-born smuggler Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) and his boring son Matthos (Kerr Logan), whose only real qualities are that he worships the Lord of Light and he's, you know, boring. Meanwhile, Dany and Arya spin their wheels, and Theon unknowingly diddles his grown sister. Well, I mean, he knows he's diddling her — on horseback, no less — but he doesn't know she's his sister until later. As twists go, it's somehow both hilarious and appalling.

Directed by: Daniel Sackheim

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Lots of busy business involving the Small Council, the Sons of the Harpy, the High Sparrow, and the Waif (Faye Marsay) hitting Arya in the face — none of it amounting to much more than setup for later episodes. This has become such a common issue with early-in-the-season GoT episodes that by the show’s sixth season, it should be easier to forgive. But “Oathbreaker” also featured the deeply frustrating Tower of Joy scene, which starts with a killer sword fight involving a young Ned Stark (Robert Aramayo) and ends with the Three-Eyed Raven (Max von Sydow) keeping Bran from learning what’s in the tower because… well, this is the third episode and not the season finale. Shame!

Directed by: Brian Kirk

Written by: Bryan Cogman

The main story of the season sllllllllowly begins to kick into gear, as Ned Stark starts investigating the death of Jon Arryn, and Catelyn arrests Tyrion for attempting to murder Bran. (Bad move, guys.) We also meet poor Samwell, whose fast friendship with Jon Snow gives us our first real peek into just how truly decent a man Ned's bastard really is.

But we also have to endure Viserys Targaryen's umpteenth demand for his Dothraki army. Shaddup already.

Directed by: Alan Taylor

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

The second season premiere hits the ground running — may the gods help you if this was the first time you'd tuned in. The secret about Joffrey's parentage that took Ned Stark's head is finally out, courtesy of Stephen Dillane's flinty Stannis Baratheon, and Carice van Houten makes a terrific first impression as the Red Priestess. And it's also fun watching Tyrion march into King's Landing and take command like a boss as the Hand of the King. But like so many early-season GoT episodes, this one suffers from too many characters all scurrying to their starting marks — and the final shot of Arya heading off to Castle Black isn't as powerful a launch into the new season as the episode seems to think it is.

Directed by: Michael Slovis

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

More early setup for Season 5: first and foremost Arya's introduction to the House of Black and White, which unfolds with a kind of mysterious-if-masochistic tedium that typifies so much of Arya’s time with the Faceless Men. And we get our first glimpse of Dorne, which starts with a lot of uninspired scowling (and never gets much better). Watching Jon Snow get elected Lord Commander is a classic GoT moment of don't-celebrate-just-yet triumph, and Brienne's discovery of Sansa gives us our first real understanding of how far afield Season 5 is going to stray from Martin's books. The best moment in the episode, however, is the final scene: a despondent Dany discovers Drogon camping atop Meereen's Great Pyramid, only to rebuff her and fly away. Don't worry, Dany. He won't be gone forever.

Directed by: Jeremy Podeswa

Written by: Dave Hill

Was the fleeting half-second of doubt as Melisandre seemed to fail to resurrect Jon Snow worth the bizarre, year-long PR masquerade that he was genuinely, never-coming-back dead? I would submit: No, it was not. As it stands, that transparent untruth filled the two-episode tap dance waiting for his obvious return with more tedium than tension, and undercut Melisandre’s genuine pathos as she grappled with her crisis of faith.

But least we care about all those people. It’s been three seasons since we last saw Balon Greyjoy barking at his daughter Yara, so his sudden demise at the hand of his megalomania-seized brother Euron (Pilou Asbæk) was befuddling, to say the least. (Odd that someone so important had never once been mentioned on the show!) I suppose Euron’s fratricide was meant to mirror Ramsay coldly killing his newborn half brother (along with his father), but that was “shocking” only if you hadn’t been paying attention to how Ramsay reduces every decision to how to extract the most pain from others. And the more time we spend with the new Lord Bolton, the more he feels like a lesser replacement for the baroque wickedness of the late King Joffrey.

Meanwhile, I could watch Tyrion commune with dragons for an entire episode — especially considering that it turned out to be the only great Tyrion scene for (almost) the entirety of Season 6.

Also: Welcome back, Bran! You are much taller and more interesting!

Directed by: Matt Shakman

Written by: Dave Hill

Season 7 of Game of Thrones may be only seven episodes long, but that didn’t keep the showrunners from trying to cram 10 episodes worth of story into it. The worst offender was "Eastwatch," which featured a few individually strong moments — Jon meeting Drogon, Ser Davos reuniting with Gendry, Tyrion reuniting with Jaime — but on the whole felt somehow undernourished. This season’s bizarrely compact sense of geography was on particular display in this episode, with Tyrion hopping from the Rose Road to Dragonstone to King’s Landing and then back to Dragonstone, when it took him more than half of Season 5 to get across Essos to Dany. It does feel a little odd to complain about Game of Thrones moving too fast, given how much I’ve groused in this ranking about the opposite. But for a show that has luxuriated in the character-building opportunities of long-haul travel, such sudden, rapid storytelling was actively harmful to the emotional impact of these final episodes.

For example, after his agonizing departure from Dany’s side and excruciating search for a cure for his greyscale affliction, Ser Jorah spent just, like, half a scene with her before he was off with Jon’s hastily assembled avengers. Also: Perhaps it was a good idea to capture and smuggle a wight past the Wall to somehow convince Cersei to join their fight against the White Walkers. However, this episode moved at such a breakneck clip that it effectively made everyone racing into this enormously risky endeavor seem unintentionally dumb.

At least it was nice to see Gendry again.

Directed by: David Benioff

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Another jittery episode, skipping from King's Landing, to Theon's mystery cell, to Dragonstone, to Astapor, to Mance Rayder's army, to Craster's Keep, to Rivverrun, to wherever Arya and the Hound are, and wherever Jaime and Brienne are.

The difference here is that while several of these scenes are interstitial at best — farewell, Melisandre, wherever you're going! — several other scenes manage to be good and/or consequential. Theon is set free and rescued (well, so far as we know at the time). Dany sells one of her dragons for the Unsullied of Asatpor, to the dismay of Ser Jorah and Ser Barristan. There's the hilarious discovery that Tyrion's loyal squire Podrick is so dynamite in the sack that the high-class whores Tyrion purchased for him refuse their payment. Annnnnnd Jaime is rewarded for rescuing Brienne from rape with the loss of his sword hand. Whoa!

Directed by: Alik Sakharov

Written by: Bryan Cogman

This otherwise just-OK episode — more cryptic Bran dreams! — contains one of my absolute favorite Tyrion sequences, when he tricks Pycelle, Varys, and Littlefinger into revealing which one of them is spying for his sister. And Margaery Tyrell (a perfectly cast Natalie Dormer) first reveals herself (literally!) as far craftier a player than we'd initially believed.

Directed by: David Nutter

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

The tap dancing over whether or not to kill Jaime Lannister gets old fast, and Dany seems like a dunderhead for not concluding immediately that A) Xaro can't be trusted, and B) the creepy bald wizard(s) at the House of the Undying have taken her dragons. Like, duh.

Thankfully, Jon Snow's story line finally gets interesting as he strains to fend off Ygritte's aggressive flirtation. And Tywin schools Arya on the art of pretending not to be high born, a delicious scene that allows the great Charles Dance to play something other than terrifying displeasure.

Theon's fake-out murder of Bran and Rickon Stark, however, is muddled. On the one hand, Alfie Allen is always great in this role (even once he becomes Reek), and especially this episode. On the other hand, for a show that has proven unafraid to kill off so many beloved characters, playing these deaths so coyly just makes the fake-out that much more obvious — and mean.

Directed by: Jeremy Podeswa

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Our first bold step into a world in which GoT is unburdened by our knowledge of Martin’s books is, alas, mostly a tiptoe. As is the case with every one of the show's season premieres, there is so much table setting here: Arya, begging and blind in Braavos; Tyrion and Varys, touring the deserted streets and burning fleets of Meereen; and Roose Bolton, ominously reminding his son that his only worth is fathering an heir with Sansa Stark.

But what does stand out about “The Red Woman” is its exploration of the complicated relationship its female characters have with power, which turned out to be the central theme of the entire season. Melisandre regards her own ancient true form with a mix of contempt, disillusion, and deep regret. Cersei, grieving the death of her “pure” daughter, despairs at her powerlessness against the prophecy of ruin she heard as a child in “The Wars to Come.” Daenerys, as alone as she’s ever been, still defiantly claims her titles — and her hard-won knowledge of Dothraki language and customs. Ellaria and the Sand Snakes finally live up to their lethal reputation, and murder their way into power in a long overdue attempt to make Dorne interesting. (Too little, too late!) And best of all, the frigid and fragile Sansa haltingly takes up Brienne’s pledge of loyalty, and Sophie Turner and Gwendoline Christie perform what they’ve waited years to play. It was a slow way to start the season, but also a promising one.

Directed by: David Nutter

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

There are some fantastic scenes here, especially between Tyrion and Tywin, Varys and Shae, and Davos and Gendry. Speaking of Davos, finally someone in the South knows about the shitstorm that's coming north of the Wall. And it's a bit of a relief to learn who has been tormenting poor Theon, though it's hard to be thrilled at the prospect of spending more time with Roose Bolton's bastard as he spreads his cruelty from Theon to the rest of the North.

Ultimately, though, when the producers split George R.R. Martin's A Storm of Swords in half — or, rather, split it off roughly two-thirds in — it was nigh impossible for them to manufacture a climax that came anywhere close to the power of the Red Wedding (or the previous season finales, for that matter). So they didn't. This episode felt like it fell where it does in Martin's text — somewhere in the middle. And as for that final tableau, with the mass of Yunkai swarming the benevolent blonde Dany, calling her "mother" and treating her like a savior — not good. As my colleague — and friend! — Kate Aurthur put it, "Hi, colonialism!"

Directed by: Mark Mylod

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

The Faceless Men have turned out to be such a drag that it is something of a relief that Arya’s time with them ends with a breathless chase through Braavos that feels straight out of a Bourne movie, just with barely pubescent girls. I do wish we got to, you know, see how Arya finally defeated the Waif, but I’ll take this small victory and just be glad we’ll no longer have to listen to Jaqen’s maddeningly vague lectures in the third person anymore.

It was also infinitely more satisfying than the bizarre interlude at Riverrun. Beyond giving Jaime and Brienne a chance to (all too briefly) reunite, I still don’t quite know why we spent so much time with the Blackfish (Clive Russell, well grizzled), only to have his army abandon him so he can die off camera.

Meanwhile, Tyrion had so little to do in Season 6 — despite running a city while fighting off an insurgency — that his time-killing scenes with Grey Worm and Missandei reach a kind of meta-nadir in this episode. It’s as if the writers decided to make a joke out of their lack of material for the character who is one of the leads of the show. Thank the gods for Dany’s return.

Directed by: Mark Mylod

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Casting Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow — the pious, barefooted leader of Westeros' cult of fundamentalist religious ascetics — was a particularly savvy decision; he lends a sense of pragmatic gravitas to a man who could have come across as merely a raving fanatic. (I’m not sure what to make of Pryce's uncanny physical resemblance to Pope Benedict in this context, but it’s certainly there.) His introduction is a high point in a decent-if-slow interstitial episode, which also features Margaery consummating her marriage to Tommen and throwing some thorny shade at Cersei, which is what drives the Queen Mother into the High Sparrow's dangerous nest in the first place.

Directed by: Jeremy Podeswa

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

This episode’s final line — Dany asking Tyrion, "Shall we begin?" — serves as a fitting kicker, as it sets Game of Thrones off on the beginning of its 13-episode conclusion. But it also points to the chronic problem for all GoT season premieres: While this penultimate season often moved at an uncharacteristic gallop, "Dragonstone" is more of a saunter, deliberatively establishing the conflicts that played out all season. Euron Greyjoy shows up with a louche rock star makeover and a drive to claim the championship belt for Westeros’s Biggest Asshole (previous owners: Joffrey Baratheon, Ramsay Bolton). Jon and Sansa butt heads over punishing the North’s less-than-loyal houses. Samwell suffers rather hilariously through his first days of maester training (and discovers a pivotal dragonglass deposit while sniffing around the Citadel’s restricted section). And Cersei and Jaime have a tête-à-tête over military strategy atop a giant map of Westeros — a weirdly missed opportunity to more directly deal with the fact that, ahem, Cersei drove their son to suicide by blowing up his wife.

By contrast, the Hound was heartbreakingly forced to confront his earlier transgressions — it’s hard to ignore the desiccated skeletons of the family you robbed and left for dead back in Season 4’s "The Breaker of Chains" when they’re staring right at you. It’s a theme — what is to be done about the crimes of the past? — to which Season 7 keeps returning, starting with its very first scene: Arya wiping out the rest of Walder Frey’s family as retribution for the Red Wedding. It was at once a deeply satisfying payoff and a chilling reminder of just how much of a murderous sociopath Arya has become trying clear those names from her list. It almost made up for the jarring presence of Ed Sheeran as a Lannister soldier with a penchant for singing. Almost.

Directed by: D. B. Weiss

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

The decision to open this season premiere with Tywin melting down Ned Stark's ancestral Valyrian steel sword proved to be telling harbinger of the dark and gloomy proceedings for the rest of Season 4. Yes, there is yet more setup in this hour — as Ygritte and the Wildlings advance south, and Dany and the Unsullied march on the slavers of Meereen — but this episode also introduces of one of Game of Thrones' very best characters, Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne (Pedro Pascal), a bisexual badass with a murderous grudge against the Lannisters. As was the case in the Season 2 premiere, we end with Arya, this time learning the ways of killing and revenge at the begrudging tutelage of the Hound, in the most delightfully twisted buddy comedy in Westeros.

Directed by: Mark Mylod

Written by: Dave Hill

A mixed bag. The Faith Militant are a good idea, but in execution, their reign of terror feels hasty and small, and King's Landing has rarely felt more like a backlot. And whatever the Sand Snakes were supposed to be this season, their underwhelming treatment started here, with Keisha Castle-Hughes, Jessica Henwick, and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers doing their best with the scraps the show seemed to give them.

But this is also the episode in which Ser Barristan valiantly dies while battling with the insurgent Sons of the Harpy, and Stannis delivers a heartwarming proclamation of love and devotion to his only daughter and heir. Yeah, remember that? How much it filled you with unexpectedly warm and cozy feelings for GoT's most hard-hearted character? We all should have known better.

Directed by: Mark Mylod

Written by: Bryan Cogman

More chess pieces are put in place to start off this season. These include Qyburn’s (sporadically effective) invention to take down Dany’s dragons and Tyrion’s (ultimately doomed) military strategy for taking Westeros, plus two long-awaited events — Arya’s return to Winterfell and Jon’s trip to meet Aunt Dany — are finally set in motion. To keep things spicy, we’re also treated to Grey Worm and Missandei giving into their (possibly exhibitionistic) feelings in one of GoT’s most emotionally affecting sex scenes. Euron’s (first) surprise attack, meanwhile, was certainly ferocious, and I appreciated Theon’s PTSD-fueled abandonment of his sister: It’s exactly the kind of brutally honest character choice that these final episodes sometimes shied away from in favor of more facile fan service. Also, like, they’ve got to do something to keep those Greyjoys interesting. But if I was supposed to feel anything about the death the two Sand Snakes — the one who was in Whale Rider, and, um, the one with the whip — that ship, alas, had not only sailed but had long since sunk into the Narrow Sea.

Directed by: Daniel Minahan

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

It's one of the best of the setup episodes — Tywin is at his most glower-y and Margaery at her most diabolically kind; Dany's dragons are getting big and catching fish on the open sea; and Jon meets a giant! The reveal that Ser Barristan Selmy has come to serve at Dany's side, meanwhile, is treated with a bit more pomp and circumstance than is probably warranted, since we'd last seen him back in Season 1.

Directed by: Michael Slovis

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

Like the three previous GoT season openers, Season 5’s first episode slowly seeds the ground for the plotlines that will blossom later in the season. We first hear of the Sparrows via Cersei’s cousin and sometimes-lover Lancel; Varys and a filthy Tyrion begin discussing traveling to Meereen to meet Dany, just as the Sons of the Harpy begin their insurgency campaign there; and Stannis first suggests allying with the wildlings to Jon Snow. Each of these setups, however, unfold with an ease, and even a sense of consequence, that earlier season openers have lacked. It's GoT's most assured season premiere ever — so much so that we're also treated to its very first flashback: A young Cersei, already full of confidence and seething anger, confronts a witch, who predicts, essentially, that she will get everything she wants in life before it shatters into oblivion. So it's not like Cersei can say she wasn't warned.

Directed by: Daniel Sackheim

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

The sight of Dany standing naked before the Dothraki, as they bow to her while their khals are engulfed in flames, stands as one of the most evocative and iconic images of the entire series. And I’m pretty certain I let out a yelp of joy at the sight of Jon Snow and Sansa reuniting at the gates of Castle Black. For these two reasons alone, "Book of the Stranger" stands out amid a season that took its sweet time getting started.

And yet, this episode’s weirdly overdetermined dialogue bugged me. GoT has made a fetish for its characters taking care to say precisely what they mean as rarely as possible. So I suppose I should have been thrilled that Sansa, Margaery, Cersei, and Yara all declare their intentions and desires in this episode with a bracing directness. But I just found so little art to their pronouncements, like Benioff and Weiss simply put the character motivation notes from the writers room in the mouths of their characters. Usually, even when all else fails, the dialogue on this show is memorably pungent; this was a rare, and unfortunate, stumble.

Directed by: Daniel Minahan

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

This is the episode responsible for the invention of the word "sexposition," thanks to Littlefinger's decision to inexplicably explain his motivations to two of his prostitutes as they practiced their...techniques...with each other.

But it also has one of the great character introductions ever on TV: Tywin Lannister dressing down his eldest son while skinning an enormous stag, presaging the death later on of King Robert. And watching Ned get outplayed by basically everyone around him carried just the right amount dread without tipping off unknowing viewers to what Ned's shortsighted nobility would cost him.

This is a grand episode, but Jon Snow's direwolf finding a severed hand isn't quite as exciting as...

Directed by: Daniel Minahan

Written by: George R.R. Martin

...Jon saving the Lord Commander by setting a zombified wight aflame!

Things really start cooking now, with Robb launching his war against the South, Cersei browbeating Sansa into denouncing her father, and, sadly, Khal Drogo winning a duel that leaves a mortal wound that will ultimately cost him his life.

Not so sure about Tyrion's band of barbarians, though.

Directed by: Miguel Sapochnik

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Just one episode after the disaster that was "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken," GoT employs the threat of rape again as a storytelling device to allow Sam a moment of heroism (aided greatly by Ghost) that consummates his relationship with Gilly.

Otherwise, however, this episode put Season 5 back on much surer footing. Cersei's shortsighted support of the High Sparrow bites back at her with a vengeance, but not before she's allowed the small victory of seeing Margaery stripped of her finery and dignity. And once again, Benioff and Weiss take a bold step beyond Martin's books by bringing Tyrion and Dany together after Ser Jorah triumphs in the fighting pits. Woot!

Directed by: Michelle MacLaren

Written by: George R.R. Martin

Everything about this episode is fabulous — especially the sight of Brienne fending off a grizzly bear with a wooden sword — except for two scenes. One: more mystic wheel-spinning with Bran, Jojen, and Osha. And two: two naked women torturing Theon by turning him on, just so the Boy can cut off his... (Shudder)

Directed by: Alex Graves

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

The bad: The sudden discovery of Ser Jorah's betrayal of Dany three seasons earlier feels weirdly, needlessly abrupt, as if Benioff and Weiss weren't quite sure how to fit it in this season, so they just tacked it on. The good: Sansa's brilliant transformation from Cersei's innocent "little dove" into Littlefinger's slippery dream woman. The split decision: The battle between Oberyn and Ser Gregor Clegane, in which the former nearly defeats the latter, until the latter crushes the former's skull like an egg. Yes, the execution of the scene was packed with top-notch tension, and Pascal certainly made the most of Oberyn's blinding need for revenge. But this felt like one cruel storytelling twist too far, not really punishing the characters — none of whom really got to know Oberyn all that well — but the audience — many of whom came to love Oberyn more than they may have expected.

Directed by: Alan Taylor

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

There is a fine line between satisfying climactic drama and shameless pandering to make fans happy, and this gratifyingly fraught and frustratingly indulgent episode trampled all over it. It’s certainly fun to watch, say, Tormund and the Hound talking about dick. And the sight of all three of Dany’s dragons exploding the horde of wights surrounding Jon Snow’s impromptu platoon did provide eye-popping spectacle as only GoT can. I mean, my gods, watching Viserion careen through the air and slam into the ice took my breath away.

But the haste with which these seven popular, wildly disparate characters were slammed together and thrust beyond The Wall left their interactions feeling shallow instead of richly earned. Ser Jorah literally just met Jon, so insisting Jon keep Longclaw, while noble, wasn’t nearly the soul-stirring moment it could have been. And had the episode stayed only with their quest — like with "The Watchers on the Wall" or "Blackwater" — perhaps it could have weaved in a more believable sense of time and space, and better set-up the Night King’s chilling plans for his new zombified pet dragon. Instead, we’re left with the impression that Melisandre secretly gave Gendry the speed force, Eastwatch has a murder of turbo crows, and the White Walkers happen to travel with an endless length of giant chains, just in case.

And yet I cannot deny how entertaining this episode still was in the moment — especially the human drama between Jon and Dany. As cheesy as it was, I still swooned at their bond at Jon’s bedside precisely because it had been allowed to develop through the season. Perhaps counterintuitively, I also dug the vexing conflict between Arya and Sansa. It makes perfect psychological sense that these sisters would fall back into old habits after so much time apart, and I appreciated the strange, off-putting way Arya chose to confront Sansa in her quarters — as much as we all may love her, we shouldn’t ever forget that the youngest child of Ned and Catelyn Stark is really messed up. As for the frustrating implication that Littlefinger was playing these two siblings for chumps, I never really bought it. If this show has taught us anything, it’s to never underestimate Arya and Sansa Stark.

Directed by: Michelle MacLaren

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

After lurking so long on the sidelines, Littlefinger looms large in this episode, as we learn that the inciting incident that launched the entire series — the death of Jon Arryn — was really his doing, a twist that makes brilliant sense. (But when did Littlefinger start talking out of the side of his mouth all the time? Does he have a canker sore or something?)

Also, and this is no small thing: Bran actually does something — warg-ing his way into Hodor's body — that is certifiably cool! (And, in hindsight, sadly prophetic of Hodor's ultimate fate!) Wonders!

Directed by: David Petrarca

Written by: Vanessa Taylor

We could talk about Joffrey's staggering sexual cruelty, or the welcome end to Dany's drudgery through the desert, or the beginning of the end of Robb Stark as he meets his beloved Talisa for the first time.

But, really, why would we talk about anything other than Melisandre's smoke baby? Watching an inky black creature emerge from the loins of a suddenly pregnant woman remains one of the most vivid images from the entire show.

Directed by: Neil Marshall

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

Like "Blackwater" before it, this is the heretofore rare episode that spends the entire runtime rooted in a single location: Castle Black as it is besieged on both ends by Mance Rayder's army. The quiet scenes of interaction — like between Sam and Gilly, or Sam and Maester Aemon, or Sam and pretty much anyone — are just as rousing as the epic scenes of battle featuring giants, wooly mammoths, and a massive chain scythe slicing down the wildlings trying to scale the wall. Unlike "Blackwater," however, the buildup to this battle during Season 4 felt too slack, starving it of a necessary feeling of driving anticipation and dread — which may be why Ygritte's death doesn't pack quite the punch that it should. Still, Kit Harington gives great weary, tragic hero.

Directed by: Mark Mylod

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

After 63 episodes, Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, rightful Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, and the Breaker of Chains, finally stands face to face with Jon Snow, er, King in the North. The result is a tension-filled collision of personal style and essential ambitions, with Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington superbly capturing the scene’s richly layered meanings that harken back to GoT’s earliest episodes. After seven years on the show, you can feel the excitement these actors felt to finally share a scene together.

In previous seasons, this episode would have otherwise consisted of other plot strands moving incrementally forward. Instead, "The Queen’s Justice" also packs in Cersei’s cruel revenge against Ellaria Sand, Sansa’s chilling reunion with Bran (aka the Emo Three-Eyed Raven), and the sacking of both Casterly Rock and Highgarden — two long-discussed, never-before-seen locales that tragically receive only a cursory establishing shot and flat-out denied their own whirligig models in the opening credits. This is perhaps the first time an episode of Game of Thrones tried to do too much, too fast (though it wasn’t the last!), but if nothing else, we got to see the Queen of Thorns dying as she lived: as the most badass woman in all of Westeros.

Directed by: Tim Van Patten

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

When this episode first aired, it was dismissed by some as too slow. But looking back at it now, so much of what was to come — not just in this season, but the rest of the series — was presaged in this episode. The Stark's conflict with the Lannisters. Arya's vendetta against Joffrey and the Hound. Sansa's divided loyalties. Dany's connection to her dragon eggs. The identity of Jon Snow's mother. And yet none of it felt like "setup" — it was just the characters dealing with the circumstances before them. Oh, and Tyrion slaps Joffrey — over and over and over. It's glorious.

Directed by: Alik Sakharov

Written by: Bryan Cogman

A thoroughly solid and satisfying episode. Davos proves his worth to Stannis in Braavos (including a great cameo by Sherlock's Mark Gatiss as a supercilious banker); Yara Greyjoy discovers just how far her brother has fallen; and Dany's dragons lay waste to some poor goats. And then there's the Tyrion's barnburner of a trial, which features a classic Game of Thrones curveball, leading us to believe Tywin has manipulated Jaime into saving Tyrion's life, only to have Tyrion turn the tables by venting his fury at all of King's Landing for being persecuted for being a dwarf, and request trial by combat — once again.

Directed by: Brian Kirk

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Of all the locations in Westeros, I'm still the most enchanted and unnerved by the Eyrie, from the towering prison's "sky cells," with their open wall facing a long drop down, to Catelyn's batcrap-crazy sister Lysa, who still breast-feeds her 8-year-old son.

Lest that image burn too deep into our brains, we also got Theon going full monty with Ros, and Renly getting busy with Ser Loras. So everything balanced out.

Plus, genuine story developments! Ned resigns! And fights Jaime! And loses! For those unfamiliar with the books who'd been grousing that nothing was happening on this show, "The Wolf and the Lion" announced that Game of Thrones was weirder, sexier, and more dangerous than your average fantasy fare.

Directed by: Jeremy Podeswa

Written by: Bryan Cogman

There is more unpleasantness with the Boltons of Winterfell, this time at the dinner table. And Jon Snow's decision to unite with the Wildlings is given so much screen time that anyone who has been paying attention to GoT’s attitude toward the Stark family’s best laid plans gets the hint that it is not going to turn out well for the new Lord Commander.

But those are quibbles when compared to the marvelous developments unfolding in Essos. Dany begins to find her mojo again, employing her dragons Viserion and Rhaegal to bring the great families of Meereen back in line. And as Missandei tends to an injured Grey Worm at his bedside, they share the single most romantic moment of the season — granted, there wasn't much by way of competition, but still, when they kissed, I swooned.

And then — and then! — there is Tyrion and Ser Jorah's boat ride through the ruins of Valyria. From their discussion of the ancient Doom, to Tyrion's face upon seeing a dragon for the first time, to the terrifying attack of the greyscale-riddled Stone Men, this is a superlative example of the grand fantasy storytelling at which GoT excels.

Directed by: Alan Taylor

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

With the world of GoT spread so far and wide by the end of Season 2, this episode suffered a wee bit from having to touch base with every single story line. But so many of those story lines ended so well — Theon getting thunked on the head, Tyrion licking his wounds, Samwell cowering from the army of wights and White Walkers — that it hardly matters. (Given what happens to them, meanwhile, I cannot bring myself to say that the marriage of Robb and Talisa "ended well," but it was nice to see them happy for a short time, at least.) And the episode still carved out plenty of time for Dany to both rediscover her dragons and, more importantly, her sense of power and purpose.

Directed by: Michelle MacLaren

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

So much happens! Sansa and Tyrion endure the most awkward wedding ever. Melisandre seduces Gendry so she can draw out his royal blood. And what seems like the introduction of three new characters — mercenaries Dany hopes to woo over to her side — really turns out to be the introduction of one: Daario Naharis (played by Ed Skrein this season, and recast with Michiel Huisman in Season 4), arriving just in time to take up the mantle of Game of Thrones' cocky dreamboat warrior from the handless and humbled Jaime. The best moment, though, goes to the spooky murder of crows that gather to witness an attempt to steal Gilly's newborn son by a White Walker, which gets shattered instead by Sam's dragonglass dagger.

Directed by: Jack Bender

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

Listen, maybe the Iron Islands are really interesting to some people, like the kind of people who don’t automatically chuckle when they hear the word “kingsmoot.” I have not met these people? But perhaps they exist!

Otherwise, an outstanding episode. The scene of Sansa confronting Littlefinger with the inescapable fact that Ramsay raped her night after night was not only terrific and bracing, but it also felt like a tacit acknowledgment that the show itself did not treat rape as it should have in “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken” (or in “Oathkeeper,” or in “Breaker of Chains,” or in a dozen other episodes).

“The Door” also introduces my favorite recurring characters in Season 6: the not-so-merry players of Braavos. As Arya watches the theater troupe reenact her father’s beheading as the legend it’s become rather than the reality we all know, Maisie Williams does some of the best acting I’ve ever seen on the show, wordlessly evincing wonder, confusion, and outrage in the same moment.

And then there’s what happened to Hodor. GoT has made me feel a lot of feelings over the years, but it’s never made me sob like this before. Bran’s barely coherent metaphysical journey wound up earning Hodor’s gutting sacrifice, but just barely.

Directed by: Alex Graves

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Tyrion's escape comes far too easy, as does Stannis' unwitting rescue of Jon Snow in Mance Rayder's camp. And Dany placing her dragons in chains feels just too undifferentiated from all the other hard choices she's had to make as the self-imposed ruler of Slaver's Bay. Then there's whatever the hell happened when Bran finally reaches the Heart Tree — skeleton zombies, a child who can throw fire, and an old man who lives in/has become the Heart Tree before he was the Three-Eyed Raven who tells Bran he will fly, and what in the seven hells is going on here?!

That aside, however, this is a energizing conclusion to an odd, dark, frustrating, and satisfying season. So many little moments were pitch-perfect, like Jon Snow finally meeting the man for whom his father died; Cersei spitting her incestuous affair with Jaime in her father's face; Tyrion discovering Shae in his father's bed; and Brienne and Arya bonding over being women who love to fight. Speaking of, that battle between Brienne and the Hound is easily the best one-on-one brawl ever on this show, and the Hound subsequently begging a stoic Arya to stab his heart — well, I certainly do not understand why HBO did not submit Rory McCann for an Emmy.

As for Tyrion killing Tywin on the privy — happy Father's Day, everyone!

Directed by: David Nutter

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Season 5 was Game of Thrones at its most surprising, infuriating, and thrilling, swinging wildly from the series’ worst episode to date to some of its very best. But the Season 5 finale was all of these things at once. I laughed out loud in delight when Varys returned to Tyrion’s side atop the pyramid of Meereen, and I felt a pang of genuine fear and wonder at what that swirl of Dothraki horsemen surrounding Daenerys could mean for her. The tragedy of Stannis, meanwhile, ended with the perfect note of epic, calamitous regret. It was an equally gratifying surprise to witness Brienne fulfill her long lapsed duty to Renly, and Stephen Dillane brought just the right note of teeth-gnashing weariness to Stannis’ final moments.

Both Arya and Sansa’s storylines reached similarly satisfying climaxes — the former racing headlong into her transformation into a vengeful sociopath and assassin, the latter taking hold of her own fate really for the first time in her life. But like the decision to cut away right before Brienne swung her killing blow to Stannis’ head, the Stark daughters’ storylines ended with a frustrating lack of clear resolution. I was left not only with questions like why is Arya blind and where did Reek and Sansa land, but more basic ones, like is Arya blind and did Reek and Sansa land safely? We learned in Season 6 that the answers are “Yes,” and “Inexplicably, yes,” but I don’t think the writers meant for these questions to be quite this pressing. And with this many cliffhangers already, why not an accidental one: After blithely confessing that she’s totes fine that her uncle is also her dad, we never actually see Myrcella die in Uncle Pappy Jaime’s arms, even though HBO’s press site includes a photo of exactly that happening.

As for The Thing That Happens to Cersei, I remain deeply conflicted. Cersei’s walk of literal shame through King’s Landing was excruciating to watch, and I may be alone in this feeling, but it evoked the Internet Shame Machine so vividly that the sequence came across as almost too meta for me. And yet, unlike the multitude of times GoT has wallowed in Ramsay’s sadism, the degradation of Cersei was truly consequential, for the show and for her character.

What's that? I've ignored The Thing That Happens to Jon Snow? Nope. Sorry. I didn’t believe it when it first happened, despite Kit Harington’s interview with Entertainment Weekly insisting Jon Snow was totally dead. Indeed, it was frustrating to watch everyone involved with the show tie themselves into knots just to trick viewers into thinking Jon's "death" was true. But it's also hard to deny how powerful a gut punch the moment itself was — even if it was, ultimately, just a storytelling conceit to free Jon from his lifelong pledge to serve in the Night's Watch.

Directed by: Alex Graves

Written by: Bryan Cogman

Hot tubs and sexy times abound: Jon and Ygritte get horizontal in a cave with hot springs, and Ser Loras grabs some sack time with his (alas, disloyal) squire. And when a broken and beaten Jaime slides into a steaming bath with Brienne, he finally drops the armor around his soul — and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau nails the scene he's waited three seasons to play. Emmys, are you paying attention? (UPDATE: Sadly, they weren't.)

Directed by: Tim Van Patten

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

If the series premiere didn't work — if it didn't simultaneously transport us to a fully realized fantasy world and immediately dial us into the emotional lives of its characters — then, well, for one thing, this list wouldn't exist. Fortunately, from the eerie prologue set beyond the wall (can't you still hear the ominous clicking of the White Walkers?) to Bran's discovery that Cersei and Jaime are really close siblings, the first episode of Game of Thrones ranks up with The Sopranos', The West Wing's and Lost's as one of the most successful opening episodes ever.

Directed by: David Nutter

Written by: Bryan Cogman

There were many GoT fans frustrated by the action-free pace of the first two episodes of the final season — but I am not one of them! In order for all the carnage and heartbreak of the rest of the season to resonate, we needed to be reminded of how the bonds between all of these disparate characters have shifted and evolved over the course of the show. If anything, there should have been more episodes like this one in GoT’s final season, but at least “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” made enchanting use of the years we’ve spent watching these characters transform. Just one small example that reduced me to tears: The simple look of love and support that Podrick shoots Brienne after Jaime offers to knight her, followed by everything else that happens in that scene. I just rewatched it, and, yup, crying again!

There was Edd, Sam, and Jon reminiscing about their departed friends from the Wall; Tyrion sidling up to Bran to hear his uncommon life’s story; and Sansa tearfully embracing Theon upon his prodigal return to Winterfell. All of it felt like the best kind of fan service: Gratifying payoffs for our devotion to the show that also felt totally right for the characters in that moment.

Arya’s no-nonsense seduction of Gendry didn’t quite clear that bar for me, though. We’ve seen her go through so much, but the consummation of her attraction to Gendry — while understandable! — felt rushed, less in a we-may-only-have-tonight-to-live way for the characters, than in a we-only-have-five-more-episodes-to-go way for the writers.

Directed by: Alex Graves

Written by: George R.R. Martin

Ding dong, the king is dead! Before the fateful climax of the wedding between Joffrey and Margaery, however, there are some fabulous scenes with the Lannister siblings — together, and apart, as they strive to protect what they love most dear. We also finally understand exactly what Ramsay Snow was doing with Theon Greyjoy — turning him into a simpering human pet named Reek — and it is so much more compelling than all the torture that preceded it. (Did we need to see that torture to believe Theon's transformation? Discuss!)

The crown jewel of this episode, however, is Joffrey's purple, blood-clotted face as the life is choked out of him thanks to some poison planted by the Queen of Thorns herself. Jack Gleeson makes the absolute most of his final hour on Game of Thrones (and as a professional actor, apparently), driving Joffrey's gleeful sadism to its most cruel and cutting limits without ever tipping into arch self-parody. It's such a masterful act of high-wire acting that, may the gods forgive me, I'm actually going to miss the little snot. A little.

Directed by: Alan Taylor

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

The fallout from Ned's execution touches (almost) every story line, and unlike the disappointing "Mhysa," this season finale manages to reflect the audience's shock at the unexpected death along with the characters'. (Who didn't want Sansa to push Joffrey off that catwalk for exposing her to her father's severed head?) The episode also pulled off a major pivot in the show's attitude toward its fantasy roots with the awesome reveal of Dany's dragons. After the unearthly prologue that opened the show, Game of Thrones in Season 1 was essentially a medieval period drama. But after that baby dragon hopped on its mother's shoulder and let out its first wail, GoT finally let its freak flag fly.

Directed by: Alex Graves

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

So much went down in this episode — the Lord Commander bites it! — but really, it all comes down to one word:

"Dracarys!"

Directed by: Alik Sakharov

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

Think I'm being too generous? Well, Game of Thrones spends so much time either moving its characters like chess pieces across the board, or smashing them together, that it is a rare delight when they are allowed to settle and simply reveal themselves to each other. And there are many marvelous moments here, including Hot Pie's unexpected encounter with Brienne and Podrick, Dany ordering to Daario Naharis to show off his assets, Sansa building Winterfell from memory in the snow, and Littlefinger shoving Lysa out of the Eyrie's moon door.

But what has stayed with me the longest is a pair of haunting near monologues about the cruelty of family ties. The first: the Hound relating to Arya how his brother burned his face and his father let it happen, capped with the heartbreaking line, "You think you're alone?" And the second: Oberyn telling Tyrion of their first encounter, when Tyrion was not the monster he'd been promised by the venom-filled Cersei, but, instead, "just a baby." And then Oberyn declares he will be Tyrion's champion, and our hearts are filled with hope and excitement, perhaps for the last time ever…

Directed by: David Nutter

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss

We already know why this episode is so powerful, and I'm still recovering from it, so I'd rather not dwell on all the tragedy that unspools inside Walder Frey's dank banquet hall. But I would just like to add that this is also the first time all season that Bran has actually, you know, done something, and for that we should all rejoice.

Directed by: Miguel Sapochnik

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

The first half of this episode unfolds in standard GoT fashion, except that it's punctuated with a bounty of tremendously gratifying scenes, including Cersei brought low in the cells beneath the Sept, Reek finally confessing to Sansa that he hadn't killed Bran and Rickon, and, best of all, a pair of conversations between Tyrion and Dany in which these two Westeros expatriates begin the first steps of what could (and does! for a time!) blossom into a beautiful, and powerful, partnership. Benioff and Weiss took several major storytelling detours from Martin's books in Season 5; some really did not work (see "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken"), but having Dany and Tyrion meet, instead of having them remain excruciatingly separated for the rest of the season, was a brilliant creative choice.

It's almost as brilliant as what the showrunners chose to do with the second half of "Hardhome," which was no less than a mini master class of cinematic storytelling that rivals the best of what Hollywood has to offer. Unlike the other major battle episodes on GoT before and since, the horde of wights bearing down from the cliffs surrounding the wildling encampment came with no warning — not even from Martin's books. The battle that followed was GoT at (almost) its stunning, brutal, scream-at-your-TV best.

Directed by: Alan Taylor

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

So much attention is paid to the indelible climax of this episode (see above, if it wasn't obvious) that it's easy to forget that it is also filled with superlative work throughout, like Maester Aemon's revelation that he's the oldest living Targaryen, and Dany's desperation to save the life of her dying husband. In hindsight, placing Lady Catelyn's agreement with Lord Frey that Robb will marry one of his daughters in the same episode that killed off Ned Stark was an inspired piece of foreshadowing and fan service. And then, of course, Peter Dinklage won an Emmy for this episode, specifically for the scene in which he told Shae and Bronn about the time when his brother tricked him into marrying a sex worker and then his father paid other men to fuck her and made him watch. Those Lannisters and their practical jokes!

That said, it all comes back to the death of Ned Stark. Yes, yes, it was in the book, but imagine The West Wing letting Jed Bartlet's assassination attempt at the end of its first season be successful, or consider a world in which Buffy Summers stayed dead the first time she dies. The allure and power of this show stems from Benioff and Weiss's embrace of Martin's merciless fealty to the story he's trying to tell. Martin hasn’t finished telling that story, obviously, and Benioff and Weiss did wind up straying from Martin’s text, for good and ill, until there was no more published text to keep to. But still, this episode set the deliriously high bar for all the storytelling craft and nerve that has followed.