2. “The Rains Of Castamere” (Season 3, Episode 9)
Even if the next two seasons consist entirely of montages of Samwell Tarly cleaning up shit, “Game Of Thrones”’ place in pop culture history is pretty much assured at this point. And years from now, when the show is long gone, and even when how ever many spin-offs result from it are gone too, the first thing that people will likely think of when they think of “Game Of Thrones” is the Red Wedding. If you were an early adopter of the series, and talked to someone who’d read the books, and expressed shock at how brutal and unsentimental it was, they’d likely nod, and smile lightly, and say something like “just wait until you get to the Red Wedding.” But you wouldn’t think much of it. Through “The Rains Of Castamere,” the penultimate episode of Season 3, you found plenty to enjoy — the terrific return of David Bradley’s beyond-creepy Walder Frey as he makes Robb Stark grovel for his forgiveness before seemingly granting it, Arya convincing The Hound to spare a passer-by, a cracking action sequence where Jon’s treachery to the Wildlings is finally exposed, albeit at the cost of him only just missing Bran. And then comes the wedding of Edmure Tully to one of Frey’s daughters, a rare moment of happy celebration on the show, and one that suggests that Robb’s war against the Lannisters might actually have a chance of succeeding. But then, quickly, the song of the title starts playing, and an ominous mood takes over, and then everything goes to absolute shit. The swiftness with which the mood changes, the utter coldness of Frey’s betrayal, the brutality of the stabbing of the pregnant Talisa (Oona Chaplin) is still capable of inducing gasps second or third time around, and things only get worse from there, right up until the final shot, a beautiful piece of acting from Michelle Fairley as she gaspingly mourns her son and prepares for her inevitable oncoming death, which, after David Nutter’s camera holds on her a few beats more than you would expect in nail-biting session, finally comes. Even when you thought you were prepared, the show delivered something you truly weren’t expecting.
1. “The Children” (Season 4, episode 10)
Choosing your favorite episode of this epochal show likely suggests your individual reasons for watching it. There are those who’d put the Red Wedding or Nedd’s execution at number one, who are here for the surprises. Others might go for one of the huge battles — they’re in it for the blood and warfare. Still others gravitate towards the fantasy elements, the White Walkers or the giants or the dragons, while for many it’s the twisty drama of friends-turned-enemies, brothers-turned-traitors and adversaries-turned-allies. But for us, (and we did debate this slot quite a bit) what makes “Game of Thrones” so special is: all of the above. It’s a show of practically unparalleled scope, spanning a mythical age across continents with a cast so broad and deep that even the furthest-flung island and the smallest House has some fascinating personalities within. This also leads to a problem, however, and the chief flaw of the show’s weaker episodes: seldom are all the strands equally compelling. “The Children” is the absolute exception to that rule, though. Without a showy centerpiece battle or an unexpected massacre around which to cohere, the finale of Season 4 can on one level be seen as business as usual, it’s just that here, every one of the multiple storylines sings with urgency and new beginnings, even though it’s the end of a season. Bran (whose plotline has been a bit of a slog) is set upon by the undead, Jojen is killed (finished off by Meera, because ‘Thrones’ is nothing if not sibling-obsessed) and then a full-on “Village of the Damned” kid shows up shooting fireballs. Stannis descends on Mance and Jon, and reconfigures the Northern power balance once more. Brienne meets and fights The Hound, whom Arya, killer-in-waiting, then refuses to mercy-kill before setting sail to reunite with her shapeshifter swordmaster. And another boat sets out too, this time carrying unlikely but entertaining allies Tyrion and Varys, after Tyrion has, of course, strangled the duplicitous Shae and killed Tywin, the glittering, roaring Lannister patriarch, while he was on the toilet. Alex Graves‘ direction whips us from one storyline to the next with no let-up, but under that lovely choral version of the theme tune even finds time for a quiet, sad moment, when Daenerys, mother of dragons, chains up her “children” in a dank cellar. This 60 minutes is everything that ‘Game of Thrones’ is, and combines it all to better effect than any other single episode ever has.
The big episodes that just missed out, or that were at some point on this list but got cut as we worked our way through the rewatching, were “Blackwater“(Season 2, Episode 9), with its colossal battle all unfolding in the one location; “The Mountain & The Viper” (Season 4, Episode 8) with its fab gladiatorial duel between The Mountain and Oberyn; “Dance Of Dragons” (Season 5, Episode 9) for the sheer devastation of Stannis killing his daughter and breaking Davos’ heart; “Fire And Blood” (Season 1, Episode 10) in which Daenerys is reborn in fire and the dragons we’d been waiting for all season finally show up; and “The Lion & The Rose” (Season 4, Episode 2) in which, to much joy and celebration, Joffrey finally does something decent and dies.
But we love this show, and can also point out the following episodes (in chronological order, in case you fancy doing a greatest-hits rewatch): “The Wolf And The Lion” (s1, ep 5); “The Pointy End” (s1, ep 8); “The Ghosts Of Harrenhal” (s2, ep 5); “Valar Dohaeris” (s3, e1); “Kissed By Fire” (s3, ep5); “The Bear And The Maiden Fair” s3, ep7); “Mockingbird” (s4, e7); “The Watchers On The Wall” (s4, e9); “Kill The Boy” (s5, ep 5); and”The Broken Man” (s6, ep7).
Here’s to a great Winter, now that it’s finally here.