The Best in the Game
When it comes to Thrones, whole episodes are beside the point. These are the standout scenes forever burned into our brains. By Alan Sepinwall
1. Cersei Bombs the Sept “The Winds of Winter” Season Six
Narratively, this is GoT killing off characters who’d grown superfluous. But it’s the best the series has ever been, between the editing, the direction and the unnerving inclusion of a piano (never before used in the show). It’s
The Godfather’s baptism/murder sequence by way of Hitchcock.
2. Off With Ned’s Head “Baelor” Season one
The moment when Game of Thrones fully became Game of Thrones.
3. Hodor Holds the Door “The Door” Season Six
For years, the Starks’ sweet servant had been a figure of comic relief spun around his dogged use of the nonsense word “hodor,” which became the name everyone called him.
But Bran Stark’s mental powers reach back to show Hodor’s life had been a cruel joke: Here is the once-talkative stable boy named Wylis, sacrificing himself to prevent an army of monsters from getting to Bran, screaming “Hold the door!” so urgently he became incapable of saying anything else. A devastating symbol of the collateral damage of this war among nobility.
4. Jon Snow Meets the Night King “Hardhome” Season Five
The assault of the Night King’s forces on the wildlings at Hardhome notified all other TV shows that they were competing for a distant second place in spectacle. A relentless mix of action and horror, the sequence builds until the undeads opposing Jon Snow and the wildlings are so overwhelming, viewers could be forgiven for forgetting to breathe. And the Night King’s meme-launching, raised-arm taunt of Jon is chillingly foreboding.
5. The Red Wedding “The Rains of Castamere” Season Three
The even bloodier sequel to Ned Stark’s execution, and a confirmation that the series would not be following a comfortable narrative tradition where the heroic characters suffer but inevitably prevail.
6. The Kingslayer Takes a Bath “Kissed by Fire” Season Three
Of the show’s many sets of unlikely traveling companions, the most appealing may be Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth, who develop a deep bond as she endeavors to fulfill a promise to return him to his sister. Jaime’s pained recounting of how he got his nickname, and what it has cost him emotionally, revealed him to be so much more than a preening villain.
7. The Mother of Dragons Speaks Her Mother Tongue “And Now His Watch Is Ended” Season Three
Every time Daenerys’ tale meandered, GoT would revert to a very successful formula: her screaming, villains burning. Here, she demonstrates not only the might of her dragons but her cleverness (she speaks her foes’ language) and devotion to human rights.
8. Tyrion Confesses “The Laws of Gods and Men” Season Four
From the start, Peter Dinklage’s bitter imp, Tyrion Lannister, was the breakout performance, walking a knife-edge between Tyrion’s wit and the lifetime of pain he uses his jokes to disguise. Every now and then, though, the full anger comes out, never more forcefully than during the trial where he’s wrongfully accused of murdering his heinous nephew. “I wish I was the monster you think I am!” he thunders at his father, sister and all who’ve judged him.
9. An EyePopping Defeat “The Mountain and the Viper” Season Four
In a bracket of championship bouts, this trial-by-combat between the Mountain and wily Oberyn Martell wins. Mountain’s victory was so brutal and memorable it was referenced in a Super Bowl LIII commercial.
10. An Oath to Fight a Giant “The Watchers on the Wall” Season Four
As a giant breaches Castle Black, terrified rangers recite the familiar Night’s Watch oath to muster the courage to protect the gate at all costs. A noble sacrifice presented with emotional economy.