5. “Hardhome” (Season 5, Episode 8)
If it weren’t for periodic battle episodes, “Game of Thrones” could be accused of being all foreplay and no orgasm. But as comprehensively proven with bottle episode “Blackwater“– a notable omission from this list that is still strong, but has been eclipsed since–when it needs to, it can bloodlet with the best. Yet until this late stage in Season 5, we had only glimpsed the real battle-to-come in small skirmishes, with the White Walkers en masse still a tantalisingly unknown quantity. And for two-thirds of the runtime, they remain so, with a parley session between Jon (Kit Harington) and the Wildlings, the alliance of fan-favorites Daenerys and Tyrion, and Cersei’s ongoing humbling/torture forming the bulk of the action. But then there’s an avalanche rumble and… The White Walker battle is truly epic, full of sweeping camera moves, like that spectacular shot of the undead flinging themselves off the cliff into the fray. But as always, it’s the horror-beyond-the-obvious-horror that ‘GoT,’ and possible MVP director Miguel Sapochnik, 3 of whose 4 episodes are on this list, does best: the slaughter is bloody and cruel, but seeing instant star Karsi (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) cut down so soon, realizing there is a near-unkillable set of uber-White Walkers and finally, watching the piles of recently deceased rise again into zombiedom, gives the episode a pounding emotional pulse.
4. “Baelor” (Season 1, Episode 9)
As much as we had been enjoying “Game of Thrones” to this point, and as impressive a job as Benioff and Weiss had already done at world(s) building, narratively it had been, if not predictable, than certainly somewhat comfortable. Heroes’ arcs were unfolding along roughly expected upward trajectories; Jon Snow and Sam Tarley’s Frodo/Sam relationship was bubbling along nicely; ostensibly weak, underestimated and underdog characters like Daenerys and Tyrion were finding their strength. And that continued, for the most part, in this episode, with Daenerys asserting her Khaleesi-hood in the face of Drogo’s imminent death and Tyrion winning a battle he’d been expected to lose. Indeed, the subterfuge by Robb means we can have the double satisfaction of Tyrion winning his battle for the Lannisters and the Starks prevailing too, and regular seasons 1 & 2 director Alan Taylor somehow makes the canny decision not to show the larger of these two conflicts not feel like we’re being cheated. And. Then. What’s so clever about the execution of Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) is its desperate unfairness: surely his punishment is the loss of honor that comes from his humiliating false confession. But to have him make that awful speech and then kill him anyway? Suddenly, all bets were off, justice was not certain to prevail and a signal flare was sent that this is not a show with any room for his brand of blunt decency. Deviousness and deviance are the rules of this ‘Game.’
3. “Battle Of The Bastards” (Season 6, Episode 9)
Oh my, this episode. For a show that has been castigated for its treatment of sexual violence against women, season 6 basically breathed fire down on the idea that its female characters might be defined by victimhood. And this episode is a massively cathartic culmination of that: not only does Daenerys begin the episode by bait-and-switching a “surrender” to the Slavers’ fleet and burning the fuckers alive (classic Khaleesi!), she then goes on to make an alliance with Yara in a lovely witty scene in which the lesbian subtext isn’t even subtext anymore (the armshake that seals the deal carries quite the erotic charge). And just as her Queenliness starts to feel a bit abstract — she is literally riding around on a dragon, after all — up steps Sansa for her more earthily iconic moment in the winter sun, coming to the belated rescue of Jon’s nearly-defeated forces and then, of course, smiling like the Mona Lisa as she walks away from Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) being torn apart by his own dogs. But even better than these insanely satisfying beats, as well as other touching moments as Davos (Liam Cunningham) finds little Shireen’s charred toy stag, and the Giant is finally felled, is the battle itself: not only the best battle “Game of Thrones” has ever mounted, it makes a good case for being one of the greatest battle scenes ever filmed, with massive, geography-establishing wides, and grand choeography (Ramsay’s army’s encircling move is gorgeously rendered) pitted against thrilling close-quarters combat. Most impressively, regular ‘Thrones’ out-of-park-hitter Miguel Sapochnik summons the muddy confusion and panic of ancient warfare brilliantly, with the extended sequence of Jon getting trampled underfoot and fighting upward for air proving possibly the most breath-holdingly visceral moment of the show so far.