Last Game of Thrones post, unless I think of another.
A few things about the episodes:
Most of the worst episodes came in the last season. As I said in the beginning of these posts, the ending is problematic. A couple of the last-season episodes are also quite good though.
It is undeniable that many of the best episodes come at the end of seasons, especially later in the series. A lot of storylines get set up early in each season, and then everything comes together in the last few episodes.
That said, let's do it.
The Worst
4. Season 8, Episode 6 - The Iron Throne: This is the last episode, and it is redeemed somewhat by some good scenes - Drogon's reaction when he finds Daenerys dead; Greyworm heading for Naath, where Missandei was born; Brienne filling out Jaime's Kingsguard page; Jon reuniting with Ghost; and the series-ending scenes that follow Arya, Sansa, and Jon to their various adventures. However, Greyworm executing soldiers, Daenerys promising to take her sudden murderous madness all across the world, the oddly easy selection of Bran as King, sending Jon to the Night's Watch, even Jon killing Daenerys seems a bit hasty. There are enough weak scenes to bring the episode down.
3. Season 8, Episode 4 - The Last of the Starks: The best scene is when Jaime and Brienne finally have sex. The dumbest part is when Euron and his fleet manage to hit and kill Rhaegal in flight at a great distance, somehow remaining undetected until the bolt hits, then destroy Daenerys's fleet with giant crossbows they call scorpions, which are incredibly accurate and destructive, when in reality that weapon seems like it would be useless in a naval battle. Then, Missandei is beheaded at the end in an ugly scene.
2. Season 8, Episode 5 - The Bells: There are some decent parts to this episode, as Tyrion lets Jaime loose to try to save him, Arya and the Hound have a nice last moment together before he heads off to die and she runs off to try to live, and the Hound and Gregor finally have their showdown. Also Drogon really lets loose the pyrotechnics as he destroys Euron's fleet, all of King's Landing's defenses, and the Gold Company in an impressive scene. But when Greyworm starts slaughtering soldiers who have thrown down their weapons, and Daenerys and Drogon kill hundreds of helpless civilians and destroy one street full of buildings after another after another, their transformation into maniacal war criminals doesn't ring true to the story.
1. Season 5, Episode 6 - Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken: In the middle of season five is one episode that stands out as clearly the worst episode in the series, a real stinker. There are some time-wasting events in the House of Black and White, where Arya plays a game that calls for her to get hit if she lies, but she is supposed to try. There is an annoying scene in which Myranda, Ramsay's girlfriend, tries to frighten Sansa by telling her about the girls Ramsay has killed. Then there are three of the worst scenes in the series, as three weak elements of Game of Thrones - Ramsay, the High Sparrow, and Jaime's trip to Dorne - all land in one episode.
Sansa has sex on her wedding night, and she seems willing, at least until Ramsay tears her dress and starts treating her roughly, but then he makes Theon watch as they have sex, which seems designed to make it particularly unpleasant for us. Also, the High Sparrow conducts his nonsensical inquest, which I described in another post. Then, there is undoubtedly the dumbest scene in all of Game of Thrones: after presumably weeks of travel and days getting across Dorne, Jaime and Bronn sneak into the palace gardens, pretending to be merchants, and easily get to Myrcella and Tristane, the teenage prince of Dorne, without encountering any guards. They hit Tristane, start to grab Myrcella, and then in an amazing coincidence, three Sand Snakes, who presumably have spent at least days planning to find and kill Myrcella, show up about one minute after Jaime and Bronn, and the five of them get into a fight that looks highly choreographed. Then, finally, the palace guards show up in big numbers and arrest all five of the intruders. To top it off, the head of the palace guards does a silly little pirouette to threaten Jaime with his axe. It all adds up to a strikingly terrible episode.
The Best
10. Season 8, Episode 2 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: This episode takes place only at Winterfell and is about almost everyone left alive getting together and reminiscing the night before the dead army arrives. We see Jaime and Brienne; Tyrion and Jaime; Jorah and Daenerys; Daenerys and Sansa; Sansa and Theon; Tormund and the Night's Watch arriving; Greyworm and Missandei; The Night's Watch friends - Sam, Jon, and Edd; Arya, Sandor Clegane, and Beric Dondarrion; Arya and Gendry; Lady Mormont and Jorah Mormont. The centerpiece is a group gathered around a fire that eventually includes Davos, Jaime, Tyrion, Brienne, Podrick, and Tormund, and results in Brienne getting knighted and Pod singing a song about Jenny. It's a great episode that gives us a last look at each of the remaining characters fighting for the living.
9. Season 7 Episode 4 - The Spoils of War: I somehow chose not to include this episode in the best scenes, so I will slip it in here. The episode is unremarkable until the last bit, when the victorious Lannister army is travelling along the road from Highgarden back to King's Landing. They hear, and then see, an army of Dothraki coming over the hill and heading for them. Then they hear, then see Drogon flying over the top. We have seen the dragons attacks a fleet before, but this is the first time Drogon has taken on a whole army on land, and he slices through them, destroying their lines and lighting hundreds of men on fire before the Dothraki ride through the rest. By the end, Jaime is convinced he can never beat Daenerys, and we are too.
8. Season 1 Episode 10 - Fire and Blood: A lot happens in this end-of-the-season episode. Arya, after her dad dies, becomes a boy, heads for the wall, and meets Hot Pie and Gendry. We begin to see that the Hound is actually more kind to Sansa than we would have imagined. Robb is crowned King of the North. Tyrion becomes acting Hand of the King. Daenerys loses her baby and then kills a brain-dead Khal Drogo. Jon learns that he will travel with Lord Commander Mormont north of the wall. But the highlight is when Daenerys walks into Drogo's funeral pyre with her three dragons eggs, presumably to die, and walks out the next morning with three live dragons, and suddenly she is a major force in Game of Thrones.
7. Season 5 Episode 10 - Mother's Mercy: Another action-packed last episode of the season, and I remember thinking the first time I saw it that they had jammed an awful lot into the last show, but it makes for a good episode. The most memorable scene is probably Cersei's long walk of shame, but also Stannis wakes up after burning his daughter to find out that the weather is getting better, but his wife hanged herself during the night, half his men deserted, and even the Red Woman is leaving. Then he goes to Winterfell, is attacked by Ramsay's superior forces, sees the remainder of his army routed, and then gets executed by Brienne. Sansa tries to signal Brienne, gets caught by Myranda, who gets thrown off a wall by Theon, who jumps off the walls of Winterfell with Sansa to escape Ramsay. Arya gets to Meryn Trant and brutally murders him, then goes blind as punishment, administered by Jaqen H'gar. Myrcella heads for King's Landing with Jaime, but Ellaria poisons her on her way our of Dorne, and she dies on the ship. And last, in another memorable scene, Olly lures Jon to a spot where members of the Night's Watch take turns stabbing him, until Olly puts the last dagger into his heart.
6. Season 8 Episode 3 - The Long Night: Melissandre shows up and lights the Dothraki swords on fire, they ride out to meet the dead army, and we're off. What is good about this episode is that it is constant action, with the dead pouring into Winterfell; the deaths of Dolorous Edd, Lady Mormont, Beric Dondarion, Jorah Mormont, Theon, and Melissandre; Arya sneaking around the dead in the Winterfell library; live dragons fighting the dead one; Ironborn trying to protect Bran; dead things rising from the crypts; the Night King raising his arms and raising hundreds of new recruits; Jon trying to distract a dragon; and Arya landing the final blow and saving all of Westeros. It's anticlimactic that the ultimate war for the future of men is decided in one battle, when the Night King's entire army is literally destroyed in an instant, but it's the last season, and we're running out of episodes.
5. Season 6, Episode 9 - Battle of the Bastards: This episode begins with the Sons of the Harpy backers from Volantis attacking Meereen with catapults launching projectiles from ships. When Daenerys shows up riding Drogon, the other two dragons break out of the dungeon and join the fight, and the Dothraki ride in and overwhelm the Sons, the nature of the battle changes in a hurry. The rest of the episode is devoted to the battle of the bastards at Winterfell, Jon and the wildlings versus Ramsay. The episode captures the chaos of a battle and the panic as Jon's army tries to escape over a huge pile of bodies. After Petyr Baelish and the Knights of the Vale show up and rout Ramsay's army, Jon chases Ramsay and doesn't quite kill him - that's left for Ramsay's hungry dogs to finish, while Sansa walks away smiling.
4. Season 4 Episode 10 - The Children: End of season, lots happens, especially Jaime releasing Tyrion, so that Tyrion won't be executed for supposedly killing Joffrey, and Tyrion killing both Shae and Tywin before heading to Pentos with Varys. But also, Stannis's army attacks and defeats Mance Rayder's army. Bran makes it to the weirwood tree beyond the wall, has to fight skeletons coming out of the ground to get into the three-eyed raven's cave, Jojen Reed dies in the fight, and Bran meets some of the Children and the three-eyed raven. Brienne beats the Hound in a fight, and Arya robs him and leaves him for dead. And in a nice final scene to the season, Arya gives a Braavosi captain a coin that Jaqen H'gar gave her, and it buys her passage on a ship to Braavos.
3. Season 6 Episode 10 - The Winds of Winter: I think more major characters die in this episode than in any other. The high point, and a really stunning development in the show, is when Cersei blows up the Sept of Baelor along with Lancel Lannister, Kevan Lannister, Margery Tyrell, Loras Tyrell, Mace Tyrell, the High Sparrow and all the little sparrows, as Cersei puts it. This is followed by Tommen jumping out the window and Cersei crowning herself queen, which I still don't understand, but we need a good villain. In other events, Sam makes it to the library at the Citadel, Qyburn has his little birds murder Grandmaester Pycelle, Daenerys names Tyrion Hand of the Queen, Arya kills two of Walder Frey's sons and bakes them in a pie before killing Walder himself, and Jon is declared the next King of the North. After Daenerys tells Dario he has to stay behind, the impressive final scene shows her crossing the Narrow Sea with her armada; the Dothraki and Unsullied armies; her new allies the Ironborn, Dorne, and Highgarden; and three massive dragons flying above.
2. Season 2 Episode 9 - Blackwater: This episode is one of a handful that focuses on only one event - Stannis's attack on King's Landing. The highlight is the first display of the power of wildfire, as Tyrion sends one boat full of the stuff out to meet Stannis's fleet and Bronn lights it on fire and sets off a huge explosion. The episode also features the Hound abandoning Joffrey and striking out on his own, Tyrion rousing the Lannister men and leading an attack on Stannis's soldiers, Podrick killing a Kingsguard who was trying to kill Tyrion, and Tywin's army showing up to save the day as Cersei prepares to poison herself and Tommen in the event of a defeat.
1. Season 5 Episode 8 - Hardhome: This is a perfectly decent episode before the events at Hardhome, but perhaps the biggest event is that Theon tells Sansa he didn't really kill Rickon and Bran. The real fun, though, is when Hardhome starts to get crazy, after Jon has convinced most of the wildlings to go with him and started ferrying them to ships. From the time the dogs figure out that the dead army is coming until the last scene, it's non-stop insanity. We get our first real look at what the full army of the dead can do, with White Walkers and the Night King leading, and it's awesome.
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