Season 1, Episode 1
The one that started it all. The premiere episode of the series helped establish basically everything that was to come in the world of Westeros. It was in this episode fans learned of Cersei’s evil plotting, her affair with brother Jaime, the honorable nature of House Stark, and Jon Snow’s bastardliness. The opening scene also gave fans their first look at the sinister White Walkers before anyone knew what a White Walker was.
Season 4, Episode 8
This episode certainly gave all the people who complain about “Game of Thrones” being too violent something to talk about on Monday morning. There was plenty to love in this episode — like Sansa gaining some new-found confidence, and Daenerys learning of Jorah’s betrayal — but everyone knows it for the fight between the Mountain and Oberyn Martell. After an acrobatic assault, Oberyn has the Mountain on his back and defeated but — like a Bond villain — chooses to grandstand and launch into a monologue until his feet get knocked out from under him, and has his skull popped like a grape in the Mountain’s hands.
Season 1, Episode 9
Before the first season’s penultimate episode, “Game of Thrones” was a solid show, but “Baelor” — and the beheading of then-central protagonist Ned Stark — elevated it to must-watch TV. The episode revealed to viewers “Game of Thrones’” hidden credo: nobody is safe and nothing is sacred.
Season 6, Episode 10
Daenerys finally has her ships and army! There was plenty to love from the Season 6 finale — Jon being named the White Wolf and King in the North, watching Cersei’s plot to blow the Sept of Baelor unfold to German composer Ramin Djawadi’s “Light of the Seven” — but seeing the Mother of Dragon finally set sail for home after all these years was a rare positive note to end a season on.
Season 6, Episode 5
Hodor’s death remains the most devastating moment in the entirety of “Game of Thrones,” hands down. It wasn’t just that he went out like a hero — holding off a horde of wights so Bran and Meera could escape — but that he was predestined to die this way since he was a kid. “The Door” also finally gave viewers a taste of how powerful Bran’s abilities as the Three-Eyed Raven really were.
