Every Episode of GAME OF THRONES… Ranked
The great undertaking has come down to this. This exercise has been done before in several places, but not with this methodology. Each episode has been scored against a rubric based on its storytelling, worldbuilding, and entertainment. If you’ve been following along with the season-by-season reviews, you already know why each episode ranks where it does. For more thorough explorations of each season, those links are provided, but if you really just want to see where your favorite episodes rank, then read on! The full list with a few additional episode blurbs awaits…
73. The Last of the Starks
The Last of the Starks, merely tied for the lowest score according to our rubric, nabs the bottom spot overall for fumbling important character arcs when there was precious little time remaining in the series. It’s the kind of misstep this series so rarely made, the kind so bad that it challenged our ability as viewers to “just roll with it.”
72. The Red Woman
71. Dark Wings, Dark Words
70. The Gift
69. Beyond the Wall
Beyond the Wall is also among the handful of late-period Thrones episodes that threatens, and maybe even breaks, the entire story’s internal logic. BtW atones for its transgressions somewhat with its thrilling action romp plotting, even if it will leave you scratching your head.
68. Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken
In case the episode title doesn’t ring a bell, Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken is the infamous episode in which Sansa is forcibly married to Ramsay Bolton. The final scene is difficult to watch and problematic for at least a few reasons (here are two: this is the most narratively-excessive rape scene in the show; and, of course, the key scene frames the violence against Sansa through Theon’s eyes, tempting the audience to empathize with him above Sansa). Those very real concerns aside, this is still a strong episode from start to (almost) finish. Ser Loras’ royal inquest scene is an all-timer.
67. Eastwatch
Eastwatch has a number of nice moments, but if you wanted to pinpoint the exact episode in which the series’ pacing problems became a permanent fixture, then this is the one you’d settle on.
66. Kill the Boy
65. A Man Without Honor
64. The Night Lands
Pretty much every Thrones season features a downshift in one of its first few episodes. In Season 2, that happened with The Night Lands. It’s not an offensive episode, it just doesn’t have a lot going on and overlaps a bit with the previous episode.
63. First of His Name
62. Garden of Bones
61. The Iron Throne
Well… how do you feel about the finale?
If you’re asking us, the first half would have served as an adequate wrap-up if it weren’t poisoned by the latter half.
60. Mockingbird
59. The Climb
The Climb will always be remembered fondly for how it intercut Jon and the wildlings climbing the wall with the “chaos is a ladder” conversation between Littlefinger and Varys. Great moment. Decent episode.
58. Walk of Punishment
57. Blood of My Blood
Season 6 was a thrill from start to finish. If there was a lull anywhere in the middle, Blood of My Blood would be the main culprit.
56. Fire and Blood
The first season’s finale, and the episode that gave us our first look at Daenerys’s dragons. For that storyline alone, this episode could perhaps rank higher, but the rest of its runtime is essentially a dirge in honor of the seismic events of Baelor.
55. The Ghost of Harrenhal
54. Sons of the Harpy
53. The Kingsroad
The Kingsroad is the second episode, but it feels significant that it’s also the first episode following the arduous process of polishing and reshooting the pilot. This episode benefits from essentially being “part two” of the pilot.
52. The Pointy End
51. The Bear and the Maiden Fair
How you feel about The Bear and the Maiden Fair may be tied to how you feel about castration. It’s that episode. It’s certainly memorable, and even features Jaime saving Brienne from a bear. You could make the case that this episode is Thrones in a nutshell.
50. Winterfell
The final season premiere would benefit from being thought of as “part one” of a double-bill with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. But as a stand alone episode… that’s why it’s down here.
49. You Win or You Die
Another supremely memorable episode, most notably for Cersei getting to deliver the episode’s namesake line in a conversation with Ned Stark. It’s ultimately a middle-of-the-pack episode but certainly has its charms.
48. The Broken Man
47. The Old Gods and the New
46. Stormborn
45. The Laws of Gods and Men
Tyrion’s rigged trial makes for one of the most showstopping set pieces of the series and no one even has to raise a sword. There isn’t much else going on in this episode but — in the parlance of our times — the Tyrion scenes slap.
44. The Prince of Winterfell
43. The Wars to Come
The Wars to Come is saddled with the responsibility to lay all kinds of track that leads to thrilling destinations throughout the fifth season, and yet it manages to deliver with a number of strong stories that make this better than a typical regrouping episode.
42. The Dragon and the Wolf
41. Oathkeeper
40. The House of Black and White
39. Home
Jon Snow returns. Tyrion pets dragons. Bran swims through time. Home certainly benefits from contrasting the funereal pace of the sixth season premiere, but it is quietly one of the best episodes for exploring many of the fantasy elements in the series.
38. And Now His Watch Is Ended
37. Lord Snow
36. Breaker of Chains
35. What Is Dead May Never Die
Theon’s tragic arc in the second season is one of the most compelling parts of that season. Also, if the scene in which Theon burns that letter isn’t meant to be a Barry Lyndon reference, please don’t tell me.
34. Dragonstone
Another highly entertaining season premier, Dragonstone takes us back to a time when the series was arguably still at its peak following Season 6.
33. The North Remembers
32. The Bells
The Bells is a controversial episode that sits somewhere near the middle of the pack. The dragon attack is harrowing and unforgettable, and the episode as a whole will age well for those who are at peace with Daenerys’s fate.
31. High Sparrow
30. The Queen’s Justice
29. Valar Dohaeris
28. Oathbreaker
27. Book of the Stranger
26. Mhysa
25. Valar Morghulis
Valar Morghulis is the excellent second season finale that wraps up Dany’s stint in Qarth, as well as Theon’s brief career as a conqueror. It also comprises compelling character resets for Arya, Bran, Tyrion and Stannis. There’s a lot going on, and it’s all mostly great, including first White Walker sighting since the pilot.
24. Two Swords
23. No One
22. Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things
21. The Lion and the Rose
Hilariously, there are quite a few famous wedding episodes in Game of Thrones. This one is known colloquially as “The Purple Wedding.” You probably can’t call it the most famous of the bunch, but it’s one of the rare times where the story twists in a way that both shocks and delights its audience.
20. A Golden Crown
A Golden Crown is one of the standout episodes from the middle of Season 1. The emergence of Bronn as a character of note and the tense, brutal scenes in Vaes Dothrak, make it indelible. The ending foreshadows the seismic events Thrones would become known for a few episodes later in Baelor.
19. The Long Night
18. Mother’s Mercy
17. The Spoils of War
We had seen dragons in combat prior to The Spoils of War, but with Daenerys finally back in Westeros, and from the perspective of the Lannister army, this Season 7 battle brought something new to the table.
16. The Wolf and the Lion
The Wolf and the Lion is the underrated Thrones episode that gives us our first substantive look at the Eyrie. It also provides plenty of worldbuilding in King’s Landing as the Starks learn that they may have bitten off more than they can chew.
15. Winter is Coming
Winter is Coming started it all! Despite being partially re-shot and recast after the initial try, the pilot works beautifully to introduce an unreasonable number of characters and set a number of story arcs into motion.
14. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
13. The Dance of Dragons
The Dance of Dragons features an atrocity that must be answered for, but not in the way that some of the series’s other questionable episodes do. Shireen’s sacrifice is a true horror, but it’s tragic rather than problematic and serves as a reminder of how moving Thrones can be at its best.
12. Second Sons
Second Sons is another relatively unheralded episode that actually hits pretty hard. Don’t let the following seasons’s recasting of Daario Naharis cloud your memory, Second Sons is deliriously entertaining from it’s first scene to its last.
11. The Mountain and the Viper
The title says it all; this one features decades of geopolitical strife all coming to a head with an iconic showdown.
10. The Door
Along with Shireen’s sacrifice, the unexpected revelation of Hodor’s backstory is among the greatest plot points in the show based on then-unpublished source material from Martin, debuting in bittersweet fashion on screen instead of in print.
9. Baelor
Ned’s dead, baby. It’s almost quaint to look back at Season 1 and think about how shocked everyone was, but the shock was real. After eight seasons, Baelor holds up as a signature episode.
8. Kissed By Fire
Kissed By Fire is likely the greatest Thrones episode not to feature a signature set piece, unless you count the baths of Harrenhal…
7. The Watchers on the Wall
Through no fault of its own, The Watchers on the Wall feels like the odd man out of conversations about Thrones’ best battle episodes. What Watchers has that some of the others lack is a palpable sense of sacrifice and camaraderie among men at arms, also the weight of choosing duty over all else.
6. The Children
The Children has it all; journeys coming to an end, new journeys beginning, savage combat, treachery, and a few surprise developments. Cathartic moments abound, and many characters’ stories are turned upside-down in this fourth season finale.
5. Battle of the Bastards
Battle of the Bastards isn’t the single greatest battle in the series, but it is undeniably elevated by Ramsay Bolton’s giddy villainy. Thrones is generally content to explore the grey areas of its fantasy world, but Jon vs. Ramsay is about as clear a battle of good and evil as you could dream up.
4. Hardhome
Hardhome is one of the series’ signature episodes for the way it took an event merely alluded to in the books and turned it into a cinema-quality spectacle. The White Walker ambush is the ultimate marriage of what this show is best at; propulsive storytelling, worldbuilding, and pure entertainment.
3. The Rains of Castamere
The Rains of Castamere is as good a candidate as any for the top spot for the way it successfully destabilized its audience’s sense of safety. Even on rewatch, the episode still captivates because every moment is so precisely engineered.
2. The Winds of Winter
It’s not a battle episode, but the opening sequence revolving around the Great Sept of Baelor, with the perfect music backdrop (“Light of the Seven“), is one of Thrones‘ crowning achievements. This sequence would be enough for most episodes, but to pair it in the same episode with a revelation about Jon’s parentage, and Dany beginning her voyage back to Westeros makes the sixth season finale an embarrassment of riches.
1. Blackwater
From the quiet, electric establishing scenes through the numerous twists and momentum shifts during the battle, Blackwater is an intimate look deep into the hearts of the main characters while they are at their most strung out. Game of Thrones at its best.
What do you think? Which episodes are ranked too high? Which are too low? We’ve got our reasons for everything on this list and we stand by it, but we’d love to hear your rationale as well.
Valar Morghulis. Valar Dohaeris.
Our Planet Burke 