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Season 4

1 - Two Swords

• The opening sequence, depicting Ice being reforged into two blades. We later see one of them being given to Jaime Lannister, and it looks gloriously well-designed.
  • It's also one for Tywin, at least to himself. The war is over, his son has returned, and thanks to his careful planning, the Red Wedding ensured not only the end of the war, but the end of the Starks, and that no one will dare challenge House Lannister for a thousand years. So, what does he do to finally put the period on this sentence? He gives his family not one, but two Valyrian steel swords, which they have wanted for years. He doesn't smile, but you can see the satisfaction in his eyes. He has won, and he knows there's nothing anyone can say to question that.
• Oberyn's extended Establishing Character Moment, trolling Tyrion by skipping his own grand entrance to King's Landing, pinning a Lannister soldier's wrist to the table with his dagger, and finally fully laying out exactly why the Martells hate the Lannisters so much... and that they are not the only ones who pay their debts...
  • The sheer speed with which Oberyn humbles the Lannister dogsbody is fantastic.
• The Visual Effects of Awesome that Dany's children now represent even further than the earlier series moments. You truly believe those dragons are living, breathing and very dangerous animals when they interact so closely with Emilia.
• Grey Worm and Daario, while competing in an albeit rather stupid contest: they were engaged in when Dany found them — holding their swords flat, resting on their hands with their arms out perfectly straight, with the prize being the right to ride beside Daenerys on the road to Meereen. It's late morning by the time Dany comes to find them having heard they were "gambling", and they had been at it since the previous evening. And neither of them were showing any signs of letting up until Dany told them that the last man holding his sword could find a new queen.
  • Missandei's "I told you so" look as she turns and follows Dany away suggests that she knew exactly what the two men were up to, and the fact that it's cast solely toward Grey Worm says that she almost certainly told him it was stupid.
• Daario deserves some credit for the fact that he managed to get Dany on her own, bring her flowers, get away with it, and actually make it work, all while giving her genuine advice that she takes to heart.
• Dany coldly insists that she will look at the faces of all 163 crucified slave children on the road to Meereen. When she finally gets there, there will be no mercy left in her, and everyone around her knows it.
  • Missandei understands perhaps better than anyone.
    Missandei: They say a thousand slaves died building the great pyramid of Meereen.
    Daenerys: And now an army of former slaves is marching to her gates. Do you think the great masters are worried?
    Missandei: If they're smart, your Grace.
• Brienne visibly expects rejection from the Tyrells, and doesn't get it. Rather, Olenna is actually pleased, even thrilled to meet her — Brienne has a reputation, and it's impressive enough that the Queen of Thorns allows herself to be outwardly impressed by someone. Of course it's almost certainly an intentional manipulation — the Tyrells are always playing the game. But the fact that Brienne of Tarth is considered a valuable enough ally for them to go to the trouble speaks volumes.
  • She manages to browbeat Jaime into acknowledging that he still has the spirit of an oath to keep. Whether he appreciates the reminder that he has a conscience is another thing, but she does remind him.
• The Hound and Arya vs the punks that took Needle from her. Five men, Arya kills two. The last one she hits with a full blown Ironic Echo and it is glorious, if frightening as all hell.
  • Afterwards, the two of them leave. Arya on her own horse, even though Sandor spent a fair amount of time explaining why she had to keep riding with him.
  • Arya's calm, almost serene pleasure in killing Polliver. She enjoyed it, she enjoyed every second of it, and in the end she's proud of what she's done and has learned that not only does killing people she hates make her feel good, it is an excellent way to get what she wants. Maisie Williams nails Arya's quiet discovery perfectly, and it is chilling.
  • The reprise of the main theme that plays at the end of the episode, just on its own, is fantastic. It's dark and hopeful and triumphant all at once, as if to suggest that yes, the revenge of House Stark begins now. It also segues into a reprise of "Valar Morghulis". A man should be pleased a girl is following in his footsteps.
  • The Hound is possibly the only man alive who can take an exchange as ridiculous-sounding as this, and make it sound absolutely badass, followed by him taking on all five men at once:
    Polliver: You don't seem to understand the situation.
    Sandor: I understand that if any more words come pouring out your cunt-mouth, I'm going to have to eat every fucking chicken in this room.
    Polliver: You lived your life for the king. You gonna die for some chickens?
    Sandor: Someone is.
  • Restoring in-world memetic badass status after fleeing the battlefield also counts.
  • A guy with the dagger manages to get Sandor on the ground. Sandor grabs his head in one hand and his wrist in the other and slams the guy's head eye first into his own dagger.

2 - The Lion and the Rose

• Joffrey dies! And to whoever poisoned him, we give only the highest accolades.
• Sansa stares defiantly at Joffrey before she picks up the goblet he kicked and hands it to Tyrion, saving Tyrion from having to search for it any more. Another comes before this when Sansa calmly watches the horrible reenactment of the war that tore her family apart and ended with nearly all of her family dead. Not only does the actor playing her brother have a wolf head mask, reminding her of his ultimate fate, but when the actor for Joffrey proceeds to engage in a Westerosi version of teabagging after killing "Robb", Sansa still remains in her seat and keeps her cool when earlier Loras stormed off in a huff after seeing his lover's memory mocked.
• Tyrion refusing to kneel to Joffrey. And a bit earlier, doing one better than his "wooden cock" line by telling Joffrey to go into the mock dwarf battle himself, and be careful they don't rape him. And he says the whole speech in a completely clear, level tone, making everyone see it's not the wine talking this time. It also includes the not so subtle reminder that during the Battle of Blackwater Tyrion was outside the wall fighting and receiving a scar for it while Joffrey, who likes to boast that he defeated Stannis, had not fought a single battle.
• Oberyn's Refuge in Audacity conversation with Tywin and Cersei, coming so close to outright telling them he's after revenge on them, and also reminding them his family is holding Myrcella, though that might also be in order to emphasize that they'll never stoop as low as the Lannisters and mistreat her ("the rape and murder of women and children is considered distasteful...").
  • Tywin's speechless expression and barely contained fury to that remark practically sealed the moment. You would get the feeling if it wasn't for Myrcella being in the Martell's custody, Tywin would have throttled Oberyn on the spot.
  • Ellaria also gets in on the action when Cersei insults the fact that she's a bastard, staring her right down and boasting "I have ten-thousand brothers and sisters" without even flinching, not bothering to let the queen of the seven kingdoms faze her.
• Bran's abilities as a warg continue to grow in a big way, with him first spending hours inside Summer's body and then warging into a weirwood. That montage we see is awesome in its own right, including a welcome glimpse of the much missed Ned Stark wiping Ice and culminating in an awesome Money Shot of a Dragon's Shadow flying high over King's Landing. That creepy voice we hear is also cool.
• Loras's epic comeback when Jaime tries to intimidate him, saying that Loras will never marry Cersei.
  Loras: [smiles smugly] And neither will you. [pats Jaime on the arm]
• It's Evil Versus Evil, but after Roose Bolton's smug Evil Gloating with Walder Frey, it's kind of nice to see Ramsay Snow get in his face and take him down a peg by telling him that Bran and Rickon Stark are still alive; the This Cannot Be! expression on Roose's face is a sight to see. And all while Ramsay is casually getting shaven by Theon/Reek, fully confident that his plaything can hold a blade to his throat and yet won't dare to harm him. Likewise, Roose wiping the smile off Ramsay's face when he reminds him that the flayed man isn't Ramsay's sigil — it's Roose's. He's a Bolton, while Ramsay is still a bastard.
• How Margaery controls the mood of the wedding is awesome too, expertly defusing things every time Joffrey's Ax-Crazy nature upsets the party, changing the mood with a slight voice modulation.
• Cersei gets a rare moment of heroism when she swoops in and saves a Tyrell serving girl from what would have been a likely very intrusive examination from Pycelle. Then follows it up with an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the maester. Unfortunately she sent her to Qyburn, instead. We can only hope that he hasn't restarted his experiments, yet.
• Almost the moment after she makes the implication, Stannis decisively shoots down his wife's suggestion to sacrifice their daughter.
  • Speaking of Shireen, her refusal to take any of Mellisandre's crap. From Arya it wasn't much of a surprise, but it's quite a bit more powerful coming from this sweet, innocent girl.
• The sparring session between Jaime and Bronn is awesome for a different reason. Jaime's footwork is excellent and even though it's his non-sword hand he still uses it very well, even though he's crippled Jaime Lannister is still a force to reckon with, and he's merely Brought Down to Badass after being The Ace all his life, noting to Bronn that he hasn't used sparring swords since he was nine.

3 - Breaker of Chains

• Daario Naharis' defeat of Meereen's champion in about thirty seconds by killing his horse with a throwing knife and cutting him down right afterwards. And then after the duel, the Meereenese archers try to fire at Daario, but he manages to stand just outside their effective range. Once the arrows land, he then pisses on the ground right in front of them as a final insult.
• Dany's siege of Meereen. The opening volley of her catapults fling fragile wooden barrels that burst open on impact to reveal that they were filled with the slave collars from the slave children crucified along the road. There will be no mercy for Meereen.
• Tywin and Oberyn's inevitable face-off is awesome for both characters; Oberyn openly tells Tywin that he holds him personally responsible for his sister's brutal rape and murder, and Tywin (fully aware of Oberyn's feelings) willingly talks to Oberyn unarmed and unguarded, totally confident that Oberyn wouldn't dare harm him for fear of the Cruel and Unusual Death he would suffer in retaliation. This scene also marks the second time Tywin actually speaks to someone as an equal (the first being Lady Olenna); he admits that they "need each other," and the handshake he offers Oberyn is one man to another, rather than a superior giving orders to a subordinate.
• The Hound's blunt answer to Arya's blind idealism. Sure, he beats up a good man and steals his silver, but when Arya insists that he's a terrible man, his answer is hard to argue with:
  Arya: You are the worst shit in the Seven Kingdoms!
  The Hound: There's plenty worse than me. I just understand the way things are. How many Starks they gotta behead before YOU figure it out?
• Grenn and Edd manage to escape Craster's Keep and get back to the Wall — after having been held prisoner and presumably abused and starved for quite a while — with virtually no supplies and without getting caught by the mutineers, Wildings or White Walkers.
• Tywin's condensed lesson in statesmanship is quite impressive. In a single scene, he reasserts his political credo and acumen, while delivering one of his trademark "The Reason You Suck" Speech — posthumously — to several historical kings and still coming off as a cool mentor to his grandson.
  • And at the same time he's still completely playing the game, getting Tommen dependent on his help by the time he actually takes the throne.

4 - Oathkeeper

• The taking of Meereen. For so many reasons.
  • Firstly it is done by infiltrating Unsullied dressed as bondsmen to rouse the slaves into open rebellion with a Rousing Speech by Grey Worm, and by the next day the city is taken.
  • Secondly, Dany finally gets bloody retribution for the murdered 163 slave children. How you may ask? By herding exactly 163 masters out to the city steps and crucifying each and every one of them to similar mile-posts that they crucified the little ones to. When Barristan suggests she treat injustice with mercy, she icily replies she will treat injustice with justice. And gives him the mhysa of all death glares for daring to suggest otherwise.
  • Thirdly, the scene ends with a gigantic black and red Targaryen flag draped over the great pyramid's harpy statue. While Daenerys surveys her new Queensland from the pinnacle balcony.
  • Earlier, when one of the Meereen slave owners sees the "Kill The Masters" writing on the wall, his fury turns to unbridled terror when he notices the three-headed dragon sail adorning the great pyramid, he turns to run and then sees that all three exits are rapidly filling with pissed off slaves.
• Jaime has gotten better at fencing left-handed to the point that Bronn has to use two hands to fend him off. The sellsword also shows off his creativity this episode by pulling off Jaime's prosthetic hand and using it as bludgeoning instrument.
• And the revelation as to who killed Joffrey, and thus avenged not only Ned Stark, but countless other innocents for the shit he had pulled over the years. OLENNA MUTHERFUCKIN' TYRELL! (with assistance from Littlefinger) She was already a very popular character, but now she takes her rank alongside the most beloved characters on the series.
  • This wasn't part of her original plan, but Joffrey's death also serves as sweet revenge after the king publicly humiliated her grief-stricken grandson's love for Renly in front of the Westerosi nobility at the wedding feast. Olenna was pissed off over the vulgar display, and the regicide keeps Loras safe as well, as it was only a matter of time before Joffrey enacted a law that would make homosexuality a capital crime.
  • The exchange in which this is revealed is just perfect given how calm, yet dangerous she sounds in that moment.
    Olenna: The Queen Regent is rather distracted at the moment, mourning her "dear departed boy." Accusing her brother of his murder, which he didn't commit.
    Maergery: Well, he could have done.
    Olenna: Oh, he could have done, but he didn't.
    Maergery: You don't know, grandmother.
    Olenna: But I do know. [smirks ever so slightly as Margaery realises what she is saying] You don't think I would let you marry that beast, do you?
  • Long story short... do NOT fuck with the Queen of Thorns, or her family.
  • It's possible that Olenna decided to kill Joffrey in "Dark Wings, Dark Words" a season earlier, when she had Sansa tell her and Margaery the truth about Joffrey. If thats the case, Sansa was able to avenge her father without even realizing it.
• At the very end we get to see something not even the book readers have seen yet. The Leader of the White Walkers. Naturally this is crossed with a colossal dose of pure nightmare fuel.
• Sansa putting some of the "lessons" she learned in King's Landing to use when discussing Littlefinger's role in Joffrey's murder. It's not much, but it's solid proof that she's been paying attention to the game.
• When Jon asks for volunteers to deal with the mutineers at Craster's Keep, who are the first to stand up? Grenn and Edd, who just made it to safety from that place against all odds.
• Vile and twisted as Karl may be, it was still quite satisfying to see Karl make Rast his bitch.

5 - First of His Name

• Locke pulling some ninja-style moves to gather intel on the mutineers at Craster's. Later, he handily kills a few of them in the fight.
• Bran warging into Hodor and breaking Locke's neck is this, even if it ends with a tearjerker as Hodor realizes what he was made to do.
  • What really makes this awesome is the fact Bran managed save himself, Meera, Jojen, and Hodor without Jon's help. Took a Level in Badass indeed.
• Jon and Craster's wife killing mutineer Karl. It's also a Moment of Awesome for Karl since he went down fighting, vile as he may be.
• The revelation that Littlefinger instructed Lysa to poison Jon Arryn, essentially setting in motion the War of Five Kings. When Varys called him "one of the most dangerous men in Westeros", he was not kidding. What a Manipulative Bastard.
  • It also served to highlight just how long Littlefinger has been playing the game for — he'd seduced Lysa after being rebuffed by Catelyn, and then used her lingering affection to his advantage.
• Jon and the Night's Watch giving the mutineers exactly what they deserve while showing up just in time to prevent Meera from getting raped. Not only that, but as a result of their actions, Craster's daughters are finally liberated from oppression and able to improve their circumstances. Dolorous Edd and Grenn get some pretty cool kills as well.
• Jojen telling Karl about his death, while looking incredibly creepy doing so.
• Arya loudly adding "The Hound" to her list of future victims, after explaining to him exactly what it is. And it seems to get to him, given his Oh, Crap! reaction when he wakes up to find her missing.
• Arya's water dancing practice. She's got good at it. Doubles as a funny moment because, if you pay attention, once she knows the Hound is watching she really begins to show off.
• During Arya's waterdancing, Sandor starts insulting her swordplay teacher, getting in an awesome insult for his hated former king, Joffrey:
  The Hound: Braavos? Greasy-haired little bastard, was he? They all are.
  Arya: What do you know about anything?
  The Hound: I bet his hair's greasier than Joffrey's cunt.
• The Hound's hard life lesson for Arya. She may know how to somersault and everything, but Sandor proves that such things are useless when your opponent is well-armored and armed. She thrusts her sword into his chest with no effect, he knocks her to the ground and cements his point with these awesome lines:
  The Hound: Your friend's dead, and Meryn Trant's not, 'cause Trant had armor. And a big fucking sword.
• Where Arya displays her improving swordsmanship, her sister Sansa shows improvement elsewhere: playing the game. When confronted by an envious and raging Lysa Arryn about her relationship with Littlefinger, Sansa immediately bursts into tears about how Littlefinger always called her a 'stupid little girl'. Littlefinger never called Sansa stupid nor berated her, only telling her she is naive.
  • And when Lysa eerily snaps back into comforting, motherly mode and embraces Sansa, Sansa stops crying. It's clear that she was genuinely scared, as she should be, but her tearful cowardice was a deliberate exaggeration in order to get Lysa to back off, and it worked.
• Craster's wives declaring they don't need the Night's Watch's help and that they'll make their own way is awesome, considering all of the horrors they've endured.
• Rast having a giant Oh, Crap! when he realizes Ghost is out of his cage, and hears him growling somewhere, right before Ghost leaps on him from offscreen.
• Margaery smugly proves to Cersei that she doesn't fear the Queen Regent at all when the younger woman muses, "I don't even know what to call you: sister or mother." In the Season 3 episode, "Second Sons," Cersei had coldly threatened Margaery's life with, "If you ever call me sister again, I'll have you strangled in your sleep."

6 - The Laws of Gods and Men

• The Money Shot of our first glimpse of Braavos, the camera scaling up from Davos and Stannis in their fairly large galley that is dwarfed by the huge statue of the Titan of Braavos and in the background we see the city skyline.
• Yara reads off the letter Ramsay Snow sent to Balon Greyjoy last season and makes an epic Rousing Speech to her team before leading her men over the battlements of the Dreadfort, quickly reaching Theon's pen... only for a half naked Ramsay, fresh from both coitus with Myranda and wearing the blood of his butchered enemies to lead a small squad of Bolton men into the fray; effortlessly slaughtering a path through half her troops and unleashing his caged dogs to chase them out of the castle.
  Ramsay: This is turning into a lovely evening! [charges six armoured men]
• Tyrion's closing speech of the episode is just... terrifyingly awesome even if it is part of a massive tearjerker due to the frankly magnificent performance by Dinklage. After being put through a Humiliation Conga worse even than what Joffrey inflicted on him when Shae lies to the court about being his sex slave and him being responsible for Joffrey's death, twisting their most precious moments together to humiliate and incriminate him, Tyrion looks for a moment utterly defeated and on the verge of tears... but then he offers this speech.
  Tyrion: Father, I wish to confess. I wish... to confess.
  Tywin: You wish to confess?
  Tyrion: I saved you. I saved this city and all your worthless lives! I should have let Stannis kill you all.
  Tywin: Tyrion! Do you wish to confess?
  Tyrion: Yes, father. I'm guilty. Guilty. Is that what you want to hear?
  Tywin: You admit you poisoned the king?
  Tyrion: No, of that I'm innocent. I'm guilty of a far more monstrous crime. I'm guilty of being a dwarf.
  Tywin: You are not on trial for being a dwarf.
  Tyrion: Oh, yes, I am. I've been on trial for that my entire life.
  Tywin: Have you nothing to say in your defense?
  Tyrion: Nothing but this—I did not do it. I did not kill Joffrey, BUT I WISH THAT I HAD! Watching your vicious bastard die gave me more relief THAN A THOUSAND LYING WHORES! I wish I was the monster you think I am! I wish I had enough poison for the whole pack of you! I would gladly give my life to watch you all swallow it!
  Tywin: [as the court goes nuts] Ser Meryn! Ser Meryn! Escort the prisoner back to his cell!
  Tyrion: I will not give my life for Joffrey's murder! And I know I'll get no justice here! So I will let the gods decide my fate. I demand a trial by combat.
  • Throughout the whole thing, he keeps his enraged tone and demeanour, finally being able to vent his rage at the ungrateful bastards around him for a lifetime of mockery and contempt. Honestly, this might well be Dinklage's best performance in the series so far.
  • The final shot of him smirking at Tywin and not backing down one bit from his father. Before when Tywin glared at someone, they wilted after a few moments, but Tyrion stares him eye to eye not backing down one inch. Tywin's glare of disdain no longer has any hold on him, and Tyrion wordlessly tells his old man to go screw himself. The fact that not many would be able to get a rise out of the normally stoic Tywin Lannister by giving the ones attending the trial a massive "The Reason You Suck" Speech and giving Tywin a silent "fuck you" death glare is awesome in Tyrion's part.
  • Whether Tyrion knows it or not, he also finally destroyed any hope of Tywin making Jaime his heir and continuing his legacy.
• Jaime calling Tywin out on everything, including the fact that the trial is very much not in Tyrion's favour, how Tywin has always treated Tyrion unfairly, how Tywin is clearly using the trial as an excuse to get rid of Tyrion, and also pointing out that Tyrion is the rightful heir to Casterly Rock.
  • He also makes a point of telling Tywin that the last order Aerys gave him, the one that convinced Jaime to kill him, was to bring him Tywin's head. Tywin stops and pauses as Jaime tells him, and it's one of the few times he's clearly caught off-guard.
  • And then Tywin himself gets a villainous one when, after Jaime offers to renounce his oath to the Kingsguard and resume his position as Tywin's heir, Tywin simply replies "Done", and immediately tells Jaime how the scenario will play out, showing that there were two possibilities; 1. Jaime's heartbreaking offer was likely All According to Plan, and upon re-watching the conversation it looks like Tywin might have been leading Jaime's thoughts in this direction. 2. Tywin was never intending to execute Tyrion anyway, and Jaime has just pledged to renounce his recently-found honor for no reason. Seeing the look on Jaime's face as he realizes how Tywin has, once again, played everyone is a major Tearjerker, but it also reminds everyone just what a Manipulative Bastard Tywin is.
• While we're mentioning Tywin's awesomeness in this episode, his description of Barristan Selmy's dismissal from the Kingsguard as "insulting and stupid" was definitely a highlight. To have someone finally call Cersei out on her treatment of him is wonderful, even more so because only Tywin could get away with telling the queen regent what an utter failure as a ruler she is in front of the whole council.
• Davos getting the Iron Bank to back Stannis, with a Rousing Speech about how it's not only the right thing to do but also the most practical, as Stannis is the one man in Westeros who can get their investment back to them in a timely fashion. Stannis' stunned expression is also amazing to behold. Remember that line by Salladhor Saan about smugglers having to testify on behalf of kings. It's awesome that the only man who can get Stannis a loan from the wealthiest and most powerful bank in the world is a former smuggler who once tried to rob their ships (which they have obviously not forgotten).
  Davos: [shows his removed fingers] This is the payment that was demanded by King Stannis for my crimes. I consider it an honest accounting. He's an honest man, and he's your best chance to get back the money you've sunk into Westeros, which is a lot, I imagine. Wars are expensive.
  Tycho: The war is over.
  Davos: As long as Stannis lives, the war is not over. Who's the real power in King's Landing?
  Tycho: Ser Davos...
  Davos: Now, humor me.
  Tycho: Tywin Lannister.
  Davos: How old is Tywin Lannister?
  Tycho: Sixty-seven.
  Davos: Sixty-seven, and when he dies, who's in command? A half-grown boy, the product of incest? Cersei Lannister, the queen whose people despise her? Jaime Lannister, the man best known for killing the king he was sworn to protect? When Tywin's gone, who do you back?
  Tycho: That is a problem for another time.
  Davos: Begging your pardon, I think it's a problem for now. There's only one reliable leader left in Westeros: Stannis. He's got the birthright. He's in his prime. He's a tried and tested battle commander, and he doesn't just talk about paying people back, he does it.
• Varys' snark session with Oberyn Martell. He's utterly unfazed by the Dornish prince's teasing, and explains that he's always been quite glad to be free of fleshly desires, as they inevitably distract a person from other things — he says with a glance at the Iron Throne. When the show decides to remind you every so often that Varys is a badass, it leaves no doubt in one's mind that the man is dangerous.

7 - Mockingbird

• Littlefinger. Saving Sansa from being dropped out the Moon Door. Then immediately mixing this with Nightmare Fuel when he throws Lysa out of it instead.
• Oberyn volunteering to champion Tyrion against The Mountain. The scene provides an amazing counterpoint to Peter Dinklage's big scene last episode. After showing how well he can sell a big speech, here he gives a performance just as good while hardly saying a word.
  Tyrion: [choked up] If you want justice, you've come to the wrong place.
  Oberyn: I disagree. I have come to the perfect place. [music swells] I wish to bring those who have wronged me to justice, and all those who have wronged me are right here. I will begin with Ser Gregor Clegane, who killed my sister's children and then raped her with her blood still on his hands, before killing her too. ... I will be your champion.
• Arya and Sandor come across one of the men that Yoren had prisoner when they were going to the Wall in Season 2, one who had threatened to rape her. Sandor asks her if his name is on her list, and she replies no because she doesn't know his name. Sandor asks the name and the second he says it, Arya whips out Needle and stabs him in the heart. Sandor sums it up best just seconds before.
  Sandor: This day's really not working out the way you planned.
• Sansa finally decides she's taken enough shit from people and slaps Robin after the latter wrecks her snow castle. Doubles as a bit of a tearjerker since she's immediately horrified and apologetic because it's the first time in the series she's ever resorted to violence, but the little shit really had it coming. It may have been that she was finally able to hit somebody after a very long time of keeping the rage and anger she felt at Joffrey and others at King's Landing locked inside out of fear and it had just built up. Also may have been a the symbolism for her of losing Winterfell again, even just a small version of it.
• Cersei gets a quiet one when she meets Gregor Clegane, walking through all the gore and entrails of the people he's been killing seemingly as part of his exercise routine. She's fearless and cold talking to Gregor, the biggest and most psychopathically violent character in the series.

8 - The Mountain and the Viper

• The titular duel between Gregor Clegane, The Mountain and Oberyn Martell, The Red Viper of Dorne. With two weeks of waiting there was certainly plenty of hype for this from both book readers and non book readers, and it certainly did not disappoint.
  • Firstly, let's look at how Gregor did. Despite being toyed around with and ultimately skewered and stabbed multiple times by Oberyn's spear, Gregor was a fucking tank throughout the fight, hurling blow after blow at his opponent and tossing him around like a rag doll whenever he got his hands on him. While Oberyn was certainly faster and more skilled, Gregor's strength was nearly enough to give him the edge. If Oberyn had been wearing even a few more pounds of armour, Gregor probably would have won the fight. And of course there's what happened when Oberyn let his guard down after winning the fight...
  • Secondly, Oberyn. Put simply, Oberyn not just won, but DOMINATED the fight against the most feared knight in Westeros, while giving him a speech that could make Inigo Montoya blush. After starting the fight with an almost polite introduction to his opponent, he calmly reminds Gregor of how he raped his sister, murdered her, then killed her children, and as the fight goes on, and as he effortlessly avoids Gregor's blows, using his spear to tear away at Gregor's armour, he keeps repeating "You raped her, you murdered her, you killed her children", at first arrogant but growing increasingly enraged as the fight goes on and he wears Gregor down. Then, after unbalancing Gregor, he rounds on him one last time and furiously roars "YOU RAPED HER! YOU MURDERED HER!" as Gregor lunges at him, only for Oberyn to dodge, rip his spear down the back of Gregor's calf sending him to his knees, and then charge the prone giant with his spear as he screams "YOU KILLED HER CHILDREN!", impaling him through the stomach to the arena floor. Even his head being popped like a pimple by an angry Gregor after his arrogance got the better of him didn't take away from Oberyn's victory just beforehand.
    • On another note, Oberyn's preparation for the battle ahead. He chooses to wear light-armour and foregoes wearing a helmet, because his advantage is his speed and added protection would not be to his advantage, it would only slow him down. Also during the fight, the first thing he strikes off Gregor's own helmet to humiliate him. He further enrages his opponent by continuing to smile throughout the battle and continually retreats to force the Mountain to come to him. This tires Gregor out, and only then does Oberyn truly start attacking.
  • On that note... Gregor squashing Oberyn's head like a grape. Sure it is absolute Nightmare Fuel and possibly the most horrible thing yet seen in the series, but it sure as hell showed the audience just why Ser Gregor Clegane, whom had been relegated to Offscreen Villainy for almost the entire series so far, is the single most feared fighter in the seven kingdoms.
  • There's also the reason Oberyn demands the confession — he doesn't just want to hear Gregor admit he did it, but he orders him to admit Tywin told him to. After escaping retribution for so much including the Sack of King's Landing and the Red Wedding, it's satisfying to see someone try to force Tywin to take responsibility for what he's done, in front of the court no less.
• Sansa turning the tables a bit on Littlefinger by revealing her true identity to Lysa's counsel, after which she spins her own story that still makes him look good, but not without making him sweat a bit first. Then she explains she's decided to stick with the devil she knows, and we next see her wearing a Pimped-Out Dress designed after a mockingbird. What exactly she's up to remains unclear, but she's definitely learned her lesson about how to get ahead in the Crapsack World of Westeros.
  • It's also a surprisingly clever move on Sansa's part because by confessing her true identity, she's ensured that Royce and the rest of the Council will be looking out for her safety — which they would not have done for a half-witted bastard niece of a man they all openly dislike. If Littlefinger gets handsy with her again, he's probably going to buy himself a one-way ticket through the Moon Door or a stay in the sky cells.
  • More so, considering she told them that he had kissed her, and left the context ambiguous long enough to put ideas in their heads. If Littlefinger touches her without consent or attempts any other funny business, her accusations will be a whole lot more believable.
  • Even more so, she actually got the jump on Littlefinger of all people.
• The commander of the ironborn at Moat Cailin correctly refusing to believe Ramsay's peace terms, and furiously telling Theon off despite being so sick he can barely stand.
• Gilly noticing the wildling raiders sneaking into the town before their attack.
• Tywin Lannister is able to sow dissent and deal a major blow to Dany's team merely with just some quill and paper; a letter with the seal of the Hand of the King to Ser Barristan relating Ser Jorah's past as Varys' informer, which gets Jorah banished. A scene from two episodes earlier shows that it took Tywin less than a minute to devise this wedge when he was debriefed about Daenerys and his two advisors.

9 - The Watchers on the Wall

• Like "Blackwater," this episode focuses on a single battle (in this case an amalgamation of three battles from the books) and is naturally full of these, like:
  • The Epic Tracking Shot across the entire Castle Black courtyard, checking in with several major characters and their part in the fight.
  • Alliser Thorne finally steps up and shows himself to be a fine leader, giving a couple of nice Rousing Speeches before taking on Tormund Giantsbane and lasting longer against him than anyone else.
  • Ygritte pulls up the Watch's own flaming arrows on their assault of the southern gate to use in her bow. While firing in a kneeling position for greater accuracy, she does an epic Nonchalant Dodge of a tracer shaft then immediately puts her own arrow through the sniper's head!
  • Grenn and his chosen five men's Dying Moment of Awesome defending the tunnel from a giant after one last recitation of the Night's Watch oath. They all die, but they succeed in their job. The chilling bravery of this scene cannot be overstated. Five men recruited from ordinary thugs and criminals face down the medieval equivalent of a fucking tank, something they have never seen before and were in no way prepared to fight. (The other giant needed to be taken down with artillery, and they're armed with puny swords.) Actually managing to slay the damn thing was icing on the cake; standing tall where sane men would have fled was a victory in itself.
  • Pyp kills a wildling with an crossbow on his third try, and although he dies a short time later from Ygritte's arrows, he died knowing that he had played his part in the ultimate defence of Castle Black.
  • Dolorous Edd unleashing "the scythe," cutting several Wildlings off the Wall with a giant bladed pendulum.
  • Jon's fight with Styr, using several Improvised Weapons after he loses his sword and finally taking him down with a blacksmith's hammer. Conversely, Styr smacking Jon around for most of the fight and nearly killing him.
  • Jon's descent to Castle Black. He prepares to lead a counterattack, gives Sam the order to cross the Godzilla Threshold and release Ghost, and then when the elevator still has about 10-15 feet to go, jumps out and kills four wildings before the others reach the ground.
  • Throughout the battle, Tormund Giantsbane takes a multitude of wounds but just won't stop, and even after the battle is over and he's alone, surrounded by enemies, three arrows protruding from his broad back and one stuck in his gut; it takes one more quarrel to the leg and Jon disarming him before he'll submit to capture.
    Jon Snow: Tormund. It's over. Let it end.
    Giantsbane: This is how a man ends! [attacks closest crow]
  • The fact that this episode had a giant riding an equally large mammoth while shooting giant arrows at the Night's Watch.
  • The Giant Archer. Seconds after a Wildling fails to reach the top of the Wall with his own shot, the giant strolls up beside him, nocks an arrow the size of a small tree on a bow as tall as a house and on his second shot, manages to impale one of the Crows with such force that they are flung off the Wall, before crashing down right in the middle of Castle Black.
  • Every named character present does something awesome during the fight. Except Janos Slynt.
  • While most of the Brothers we see in the courtyard serve as Redshirts to be cut down the Stewards inside the great hall utterly stomp the wildlings who come inside using a pan, boiling soup, and everything except (maybe) the kitchen sink. Special note goes to the guy (possibly an unnamed Three-Fingered Hobb) who strides into battle wielding a massive cleaver used to butcher cattle caracasses and completely wrecks any wildling dumb enough to come at him.
  • Ghost being unleashed and mauling several Thenns.
    • And the circumstances imply he's the subject of Castle Black's Godzilla Threshold.
    • The cathartic irony of one of the cannibalistic Thenns getting partly devoured by his killer.
  • Olly proving he really was the best shot in his hamlet by saving Jon's life with a well-placed arrow. He even manages to gain some manner of vengeance as his target was Ygritte, the woman who killed his father.
• Pretty much everything Sam does during the episode.
  • Sam makes sure he doesn't die before getting his first kiss with Gilly.
  • While Pyp is freaking out over the impending battle, Sam is able to keep his cool and focus on preparing for battle while giving Pyp a pep talk to help psyche him up.
  • "I'm not nothing anymore." Those of the words of a man discovering that he not only has a pair, but that they're made of steel. His name is Samwell Tarly.
  • Sam and Pyp teaming up together with Sam reloading the crossbows and Pyp shooting so they can keep up a steady stream of arrows.
  • A Thenn notices Sam from across the courtyard and starts charging him. Does Sam run? Does Sam cower? Nope, he quickly loads his crossbow and puts a bolt clean through the Thenn's head.
• The fact that Gilly was able to avoid and not get spotted by the wildling army, after which she makes it to Castle Black. She might be undereducated, inbred, abused and out of her depth in a world beyond Craster's Keep, but her Hyper-Awareness, bravery and stealth remind you that Gilly is a wildling girl through and through. She could probably make a few Rangers blush: after all, it wasn't just Sam who navigated from Craster's to Castle Black. Her woodscraft, knowledge of "myth" and practical know-how was also pretty vital.
• Alliser Thorne has a simultaneous Moment of Funny and Awesome when Grenn drops a barrel off the wall when he tells them to hold. He immediately switches from the Badass leader figure to a nagging teacher. Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you realize that Alliser was the drill instructor for the Night's Watch, and that by lecturing the men, he's making them think of it as similar to his training — the tension of the moment eases slightly as he does his teacher routine.
  Ser Alliser: Archers nock! Everyone else, hold!
  Archers draw while Grenn slips and drops a barrel over the wall.
  [Ser Alliser winces]
  Ser Alliser: I said nock and hold you cunts! Does nock mean draw?
  Everyone else: No, Ser.
  Ser Alliser: Does fuckin' hold mean fuckin' drop?
  Everyone else: No, Ser.
  Ser Alliser: Do you all plan to die here tonight?
  Everyone else: No, Ser!
  Ser Alliser: That's very good to hear! Draw!
• It's goosebump-worthy reading the title of this episode was and what it's about. Despite most of the Seven Kingdoms not taking the Night's Watch seriously and how the once proud order had degenerated into a place where criminals and unwanted people are dumped (though noble-born and highborn bastard sons still join voluntarily), they have proven that they truly are the watchers on the Wall.

10 - The Children

• Stannis and his army reaching the Wall and rescuing Jon Snow and the Night's Watch during their darkest hour with a HUGE cavalry charge.
  • A specific moment is when Stannis and Davos dismounts to meet with Mance. A wildling charges at them with an axe, but Stannis doesn't even flinch or draw his sword, while a passing knight cuts down the wildling.
  • Plus, unlike the books, Davos actually gets to see the fruits of his labors firsthand.
• Cersei finally finding a way to truly hurt and fuck with Tywin in revenge for him forcing her to marry Loras... revealing her incest with Jaime. For the first time in the series Tywin is utterly shocked and can only walk away uttering quiet denials. Her "The Reason You Suck" Speech leading up to it is pretty awesome too, as she condemns him for ignoring his own family while obsessing over the name Lannister.
  Cersei: One look in the past twenty years, one real look at your own children and you would have known.
• A fight which was never in the books between possibly some of the biggest badasses left in Westeros: BRIENNE VS (an admittedly weakened) SANDOR CLEGANE. Long story short, after a protracted sword fight which Brienne wins handily, Sandor pulls her sword away and begins an extremely brutal brawl, which after some agonizing moments and extremely underhanded tactics... Brienne only barely wins. Special mention goes to a particular moment during the fight. Brienne has disarmed the Hound and is holding him at sword point. Does he surrender? Fuck that, he grabs the Valyrian Steel sword with his bare hands, and forces it out of her grip.
• After a lifetime of abuse, four seasons of suffering, betrayals, and humiliations, and half a dozen episodes of pure hell at the hands of his so-called family Tyrion finally... finally is able to get his long deserved revenge. Confronting Tywin, the most feared character in the series who is responsible for so much of the suffering seen so far, from the Red Wedding to Gregor Clegane's atrocities to the extermination of the Targaryen children, in the privy while armed with Joffrey's old crossbow, he forces his father to answer for his abuse....before flat out executing him for insulting his now-dead lover Shae. With two crossbow bolts, Tyrion single-handedly destroyed any hope of Tywin's precious legacy surviving and ensured the Lannister regime is effectively doomed now due to the countless crises faced by the crown (i.e. the Iron Bank, the wrathful Dornish, the continued Greyjoy rebellion, and of course the imminent threat of Winter) which only Tywin had a hope of handling. All with "The Rains of Castamere" playing for awesome irony.
  • An added bonus, Tyrion managed to give Cersei a final "fuck you" by foiling her wish to see him executed.
  • Especially gratifying when you see his thought process right after his rescue. His freedom is right in front of him, but then he pauses and looks back, clearly thinking, "Maybe I'll make a quick stop, first..."
  • To further add to that not only did Tyrion kill Tywin, he killed him in arguably the most humiliating fashion possible — the great and feared Tywin Lannister shot with a crossbow while taking a shit by his dwarf son.
• Arya gets the hell out of Westeros.
  • Plus, instead of giving the Hound what he wanted, she chooses not to Mercy Kill him and leaves him to die alone.
  • Also, look at the face of the Braavosi captain when he sees the iron coin. Seems like people don't just hand them out to anyone.
• The late Red Viper, Oberyn Martell, is likely smirking and chuckling to himself from wherever he is, as Gregor Clegane has been infected with manticore poison coated and inflicted from Oberyn's spear from their duel, leaving him to die a well-deserved long and painful death.
• Mance Rayder quickly deduces everything about Jon's plan since the beginning, the fact that there were far fewer men in Castle Black than Jon originally informed him, how the Watch would not hold against a second attack, and that Jon plans to assassinate him. Mance gains the upper hand in the negotiation and dares Jon to try to kill him before his guards can stop him. If it weren't for Stannis showing up just in time, Jon would have been completely screwed.
• Mance steadfastly refusing to kneel to Stannis despite the latter's implicit threat to his people if Mance does not kneel.
• While making their way to where the Three-Eyed Crow resides, Bran and his party are ambushed by wights. Meera does a good job handling herself against them, while Bran does his warg thing and bring out Fist of the North Hodor! When it looks like Bran's party is about to be overrun, one of the Children arrives in a Big Damn Heroes moment and starts blowing up wights with some kind of alchemical bombs, or what could even be bolts of magic power.

Season 5

1 - The Wars to Come

• The toppling of the gigantic harpy statue from the summit of the Great Pyramid.
• Under urging from Daario, Daenerys goes down into the catacombs in the dead of night and tries to tame Viserion and Rhaegal, but quickly undergoes a panic attack in the face of their viciousness and fire-breathing antics. However, you have to give the girl queen credit for plucking up the bravery to go down there alone in the first place when she had just admitted to being unable to control them anymore!
• When Mance Rayder is being burned alive, at first it seems like Jon can't bear to watch and leaves as a form of protest. Lo and behold, Mance's anguish is promptly spared when he's shot through the heart. Tormund and Stannis look up to see Jon was the archer who delivered the fatal arrow. The Bastard of Winterfell then walks off camera while tossing down said bow.
  • The King Beyond the Wall also has balls of Valyrian Steel to hardly betray a peep as he's subjected to slow burning from the feet up.
  • Mance is Face Death with Dignity incarnate; in his last scene with Jon he admits he's afraid to die, knows that the method will be particularly painful and humiliating, and he still prefers that to bending the knee to Stannis and pledging his people to fight in a foreign war.

2 - The House of Black and White

• Brienne curbstomping Littlefinger's hired goons, including pulling off a Big Damn Heroes and riding in the nick of time to bail out an unarmed Pod and shattering an opposing knight's sword.
  Brienne: You can stand up now, Podrick.
• Ten year old Lyanna Mormont's reply to Stannis' command for fealty and loyalty: "Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is Stark." All in a small girl's handwriting. Even Jon has to smirk at her audacity...
  • ... and because of that girl demonstrating how much power the name Stark still commands in the North, Stannis offers Jon the chance to serve him in return for being legitimized as both a Stark and as Lord of Winterfell.
• Kevan's dressing down of Cersei, in front of the entire Small Council. The sheer Refuge in Audacity leaves her unable to get a single word out.
• Jon becoming the new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
  • Before that, there was Sam's passionate speech about how Jon is the leader they deserve. And when Janos Slynt tries to make fun of Gilly, Sam reminds everyone that Gilly, her baby and Janos were all hiding in the Keep while everyone was defending the Wall. It cuts Janos down to size and undermines Thorne's own vote.
  • Lest we forget when the votes between Jon and Alliser are tied and Maester Aemon rectifies that by taking his own token out and placing it for Jon.
• Arya has another go at catching a pigeon, this time easily taking its head off (and with a sword designed for jabs).
• The yet unnamed Faceless Man scaring away Arya's bullies simply by showing up. Looks like Braavosi thugs know well to not mess with anyone from the House of Black and White. Even better, when he afterwards reveals himself to be a man once called Jaqen H’ghar!
  • And before that Arya was fully prepared to skewer the vagabonds if they didn't back down.
• Drogon's return and Dany's bravery as he looms over her. Every subsequent appearance of the black and red dragon makes him look more and more magnificent; the individual scales on his head and neck sometimes ruffle like a cat's fur.

3 - High Sparrow

• Margaery begins to take the reins of the realm, from the royal bed, without really breaking a sweat as she is withholding some if not much of the sex. She is clearly manipulating her poor, clueless husband, but her mendacity is ever so sweet. She also starts to land audacious and barely-disguised insults and blows to a deserving and increasingly powerless Cersei. Margaery even calls her "mother". Not so long ago, Cersei threatened to kill Margaery Tyrell if the word "sister" was ever pronounced again.
• Sansa and Littlefinger launching their plan to take back the North, complete with Sansa being able to smile and curtsy at the man who killed her brother in a way that would make Dany proud. Capped by her maid giving a simple "The North remembers," showing that she has more allies than she thought.
  • Baelish's power of conviction remains as magnificent as ever: "Stop running. There's no justice in the world. Not unless we make it. You loved your family... Avenge them."
• Jon promoting Alliser Thorne as First Ranger. Why is this awesome? Because Jon proves that he is a better man than Thorne. Jon could have abused his power as Lord Commander to get revenge for Thorne's mistreatment, but instead acknowledges Thorne's experience and valor and for his leadership during the wildling attack on the wall, and makes him First Ranger as a reward for his skills. Thorne can only react in shocked silence that the man he mocked and abused would give him such honor.
  • It's also Jon's fair treatment of Thorne that prompts him to stand aside and let the other brothers take Janos outside. Janos has been Thorne's number one ally/bootlicker since Tyrion sent him to the Wall, but continuing to partner with him would have been career and actual suicide for Thorne.
• Jon's execution of Janos Slynt for refusing his order, swinging the sword himself just like his father, and getting revenge for Slynt's betrayal of Ned completely within the law. He also produces a perfectly clean cut, like a true Stark, and with a Valyrian steel sword like his father as an added bonus.
  • The camera makes sure to show that while Janos is dragged outside and tied down for execution, Jon doesn't even bother to get up until he's finished his drink. Like a boss.
  • Stannis's nod of approval from the same scene.
• Tyrion, in a brothel with no money, no title, extremely drunk and looking like a ragged and disgusting dwarf rather than a well-bred one, successfully seduces one of the girls. His combination of jokes, compliments to her and insults to the rest of the world get her undivided attention and also show that whatever else he may have lost, his wit and charm remain undiminished.
• In a way, Lancel leading the Sparrows in dragging the High Septon out of Littlefinger's Brothel, and forcing him to walk naked in the streets. In the past seasons Lancel has been everyone's Butt-Monkey to kick around. Now he's the one doing the kicking.

4 - The Sons of the Harpy

• Jon resisting Melisandre's advances.
  • This is doubly impressive if one considers the Stark’s infamous history of poor romantic judgment; Robb’s affair caused the Red Wedding, Lyanna Stark possibly eloping with Rhaegar Targaryen triggered a massive war, and an ancient Stark was seduced by the White Walker Queen which nearly ended the world (to say nothing of Jon's most recent relationship, which got him stuck full of arrows). Rejecting Melisandre was more than just a a moment of restraint; Jon conquered an all-too-familiar flaw that had been plaguing his family for generations. Well... for now.
  • Even more impressive considering Melisandre's borderline supernatural powers in controlling people, and that she managed to "seduce" normally reserved and honourable men like Stannis and Gendry. Thus far Jon is the only one strong enough to resist her.
• Stannis telling Shireen about how she caught Greyscale. It was transmitted by a doll he bought her as a baby to celebrate her birth and though they burnt the thing, the infection had set in. Everyone told Stannis, he relates, that there was no hope and that they should send Shireen to live out a short, painful life with the Stone Men (a leper colony equivalent). Stannis told them all to go to hell. He then proceeded to call in every single Maester in Westeros, along with every apothecary and healer, to save his daughter's life. And they did. Just like Tywin beating Jaime's implied dyslexia, Stannis Baratheon managed to defeat one of the deadliest diseases in his world by pure, bloody-minded stubbornness and determination.
• We find out why exactly Littlefinger is marrying Sansa to the Boltons: He predicts that the Northern lords will never truly accept the Boltons, and that Stannis will soon rally the North to take back Winterfell and kill Roose and Ramsay; Littlefinger considers this a certainty. Stannis will then rescue Sansa, who, as the Stark in Winterfell, will then be named Wardeness of the North. The marriage puts her in the perfect position to reclaim the North, avenge her family, and become one of his strongest allies. How well this will actually go is hard to say, but it sure sounds like an awesome plan.
• Jaime and Bronn's fight against four Dornish horsemen.
  • To elaborate: After being ordered by the leader to drop his sword, Bronn does so and throws his kukri at the man's throat, dropping him. A second later, his sword is back in hand and stabbed into the gut of another rider charging Bronn from behind. He readies himself and then takes the leg off a charging rider's horse and leaves him for Jaime.
  Bronn: That one should be slow enough.
  • He then strides off toward the final horseman in an utterly casual and unworried manner. His victory is such a foregone conclusion that it isn't even shown.
  • Jaime's Moment of Awesome comes in when, after being backed down a sand dune by the mook and has been disarmed, he raises his gloved golden right hand to stop the blade, catches it between his thumb and fingers. Before the mook can react, Jaime seizes the opportunity by grabbing his own sword and skewering the mook like a kebab. Which then turns into a brief Funny Moment when he can't easily remove the sword.
• At the end of the episode, the Sons of the Harpy attempt an uprising. Most of Dany's forces are caught off-guard and quickly overwhelmed, but the platoon of Unsullied led by Grey Worm manages to put up a fight and kill many of the Sons, with Grey Worm alone dispatching at least seven of them.
  • The Sons manage to kill off all of the Unsullied except Grey Worm. They proceed to surround him and just as they're about to go in for the kill the sound of a sword strike is heard. One of the Sons falls dead to reveal none other than Ser Barristan Selmy, bloodied sword in hand. Most of the remaining Sons then charge towards Ser Barristan, who proceeds to decimate their entire group before being forced to his knees and taking a hit to the side, even then still managing to kill around three more Sons. Then just as the last remaining Son prepares to slit Ser Barristan's throat, he is promptly impaled by Grey Worm, granting the old knight a more dignified death.
  • Possibly a bit of Fridge Brilliance in that we are shown that the Sons of the Harpy are still outside slaughtering The Unsullied when Barristan arrives to help Grey Worm. How did he get around all those men swarming the area to enter that hall? By going through them, of course.
• After simply finding out Jorah is taking him to Daenerys rather than Cersei, Tyrion is able to Sherlock Scan his way to figuring out exactly who Jorah is and what's going on. And Jorah's reaction counts — given how many times Tyrion's been able to talk his way out of trouble, it was rather amusing to see someone completely No-Sell his line of questioning and smack him in the face for asking a question too many.
• We get to meet Oberyn's daughters, and all three of them are fierce, exotic, highly skilled warrior princesses. That's pretty awesome.

5 - Kill the Boy

• Daenerys demonstrating that she's tired of being harassed by the Sons of the Harpy by assembling the heads of all of the noble families in Meereen and making an example of one of them by having him burned alive and eaten by her dragons.
• Of all people, Hizdahr zo Loraq gets one when Dany is just about to push him into the path of her dragons, to which he stands up straight and calmly says, "valar morghulis." Slightly subverted when he later begs for his life and admits that he didn't want to die like a coward in that situation.
• Jon managing to convince Tormund to have the wildlings enter into an alliance with the Night's Watch. Jon calls Tormund a coward, which causes Tormund to get in Jon's face and claim that's an easy thing to say to a man in chains. So Jon unchains him.
• Brienne aligning with the Northern smallfolk to undermine House Bolton and help Sansa Stark.
  Brienne: I served Lady Catelyn. I serve her still.
• Ramsay gets a little too big for his britches when dining with Sansa, Roose, and Walda. So Roose gladly informs him that Walda is pregnant, and the maester says the baby is likely to be a boy. Meaning Roose will have two trueborn sons, and less use for Ramsay if he gets out of hand. In a way, Ramsay shutting down Myranda's Clingy Jealous Girl behaviour by telling her to stop boring him with her jealousy over Sansa, or else. It's a marked difference from his attitude in Season 4 when he was happy to hunt down Tansy just to pacify her.
• Missandei stepping up from being a mere interpreter and becoming one of Daenerys' advisors.
• The ruins of Valyria. It's like a wasteland full of Harrenhals.
• The look on Tyrion's face when he sees a dragon for the first time.
• Jorah fighting off the stone men attack on their boat and rescuing Tyrion from a dire fate off-screen. Too bad it doesn't stop him from being infected with greyscale.

6 - Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

• This episode gave us some impressive visual spectacles.
  • Ramsay and Sansa's wedding in the snowy godswood.
  • The introduction to the House of Black and White's room of faces is both epic and eerie.
• Littlefinger wrapping Cersei around his... ahem, little finger.
  • Specifically, he informs her that Sansa is being married into House Bolton, convincing her that they are traitors. He advises her to let the Boltons and Stannis Baratheon destroy each other in battle, allowing her to dispose of whoever remains. After he gets her to reveal her lack of help in the war department, LF kindly offers to rally an army from the Vale to take Winterfell in the name of House Lannister. Blinded by her desire to crush her enemies, Cersei consents to his only condition: that he be named Warden of the North.
  • There's also the casual way he explains how detrimental antagonizing the Tyrells can be, and makes another subtle jab at her relationship with Jaime.
    • There's also the fact that by doing this, Littlefinger is aiming to get everything he wants in one fell swoop — Roose and Stannis destroy each other and Littlefinger comes in with the knights of The Vale to crush the leftovers and become Warden of the North — and marry Sansa on top of it all (since Roose would keep Sansa alive for her political use, and Stannis wouldn't hurt Ned Stark's daughter), then presumably unite the Vale and the North to take the weakened South. The man has serious ambition.
    • Of course, he also accomplished this by exploiting the hell out of Exact Words.
      Cersei: If war comes to Westeros, will the Knights of the Vale fight for the king?
      Littlefinger: Young Lord Robin heeds my advice. And I have always counseled loyalty to the throne.
• Littlefinger not being fazed at all when surrounded by armed, pissed-off Sparrows.
  "I'm here on urgent business for the Queen Mother. Should I send word that I'll be delayed?"
• As Myranda tells Sansa about the previous girls Ramsay's had that he tired of and killed, Sansa picks up on what she's doing and asks how long she's loved Ramsay and if she hates Sansa for taking him from her. She then tops it off by proudly stating she is in her rightful home of Winterfell, and she won't let Myranda frighten her:
  Sansa Stark: I'm Sansa Stark of Winterfell. This is my home and you can't frighten me.
  Myranda: [wry smile, it's not her she has to be afraid of...] Are you done with your bath, my lady?
  Sansa: Go. I can finish on my own.
• Though totally outclassed, Trystane Martell gets points for recognizing the blood stains on Jaime and Bronn's stolen Dornish clothing, and drawing his sword to defend Myrcella from both.
• Myrcella gets a subtle one when one of the Sand Snakes tries to drag her away — she initially resists, despite having a knife waved in her face and being outnumbered and unarmed, because she doesn't want to leave Trystane's side. She does get pulled away, but she gets points for trying.
• Tyrion is captured, and yet again he evades certain death using his quick wits and persuasion skills. In a moment reminiscent of his recruitment of the Hill Tribes back in Season 1, Tyrion manages to talk the slavers (who have just caught him and Jorah and were about to slit his throat), into putting them into a position to get to Daenerys through shipping them to the Meereenese fighting pits.
  • It happens so often that Tyrion almost makes it look like it's not that big a deal, which is awesome by itself. This time he just manages to get the words out that stays the slaver's knife; almost averting the Like You Would Really Do It moment, as befitting of a long-running character.
  • Jorah also nonchalantly backing up Tyrion's claim of him being a master swordsman, and though the slavers spit on the accomplishment, the act of unseating Jaime at the tourney of Lannisport is no mean feat. They are more impressed when he follows this up with a quiet statement of him defeating a Dothraki bloodrider one-on-one. The amazing part is that both are totally true.
    Malko: Jousting. You're talking about jousting. A fancy game for fancy lads. The men who fight in the pits of Meereen will swallow him whole.
    Ser Jorah Mormont: I killed a Dothraki bloodrider in single combat.
    Tyrion Lannister: [beaming like a loon at this bit of news]
    Malko: [intrigued, gets up in Jorah's grill] Liar.
    Jorah: [placidly] It's no lie. His name was Qotho. He was bloodrider to Khal Drogo. Take me to Slaver's Bay, put a sword in my hand, I'll prove my worth.
    Malko: ... [face cracks into a grin and he nods his assent]
• Olenna Tyrell returns with her usual snark, sees right through Cersei's thinly veiled plot to discredit her house, and spells it out for her just why she needs to let her grandson go. Unfortunately, she is faced with a pig-headed stubborn fool of a woman, and her plan fails because Cersei is too stupid to grasp how dire her situation truly is.
  Cersei: As for your veiled threats...
  Olenna: What veil?
• Even if she is obliviously doing everything she can to shoot herself in the foot, Cersei managing to get both Loras and Margaery imprisoned by the Faith Militant using the sketchy Westerosi legal system is an evil awesome moment for her.

7 - The Gift

• As he's being brought out and unchained, Tormund Giantsbane stares down Ser Alliser Thorne, whom he very nearly killed during the battle at Castle Black. The stare continues until Tormund is free, and he proceeds to hold out his arms as if to say Bring It.
• Sansa calls Ramsay a bastard and tells him outright that Tommen Baratheon's own bastardy means there's no legitimacy to his Bolton name. All without blinking an eye as he subjects her to an insane Death Glare.
  • As soon as Ramsay turns his back on her, Sansa discreetly grabs a corkscrew.
  • That tough old serving lady who Ramsay has flayed; she did not break and give up her allies under even this extreme torture. A flayed man may have no have secrets, but an old woman certainly does.
• Gilly gets one, slapping the man from the Wall who won't let her pass without a kiss. Then, again, when the two go after Sam, she tries to tackle one of them. They overpower her, but she doesn't go down easily.
• In the same scene, having been badly beaten, Sam gets back up and tells the brothers to back off once again, and when they threaten to kill him, he says, "I killed a White Walker, I killed a Thenn, I'll take my chances with you." Granted he's saved by Ghost, or he probably would have been killed, but Sam is no coward anymore.
  • The Oh, Crap! expression on the faces of the two would-be rapists when first an ominous growl comes from behind Sam, and then Ghost stalks into the room, his teeth bared, snarling in fury and the pair quickly run for it, knowing their chances of coming out on top against an enraged direwolf are pretty slim.
• Everyone at the slave auction laughs at Tyrion when he claims to be a great warrior in a bid to go along with Jorah. He then drags one of the overseers to the ground and proceeds to beat the shit out of him, to everyone's amusement. In the end, his scheme works and Yezzan purchases him as well.
• The verbal sparring between the Queen of Thorns and the High Sparrow.
• Olenna's threats to Littlefinger aren't bad either. Finally Lord Baelish got himself a co-conspirator who isn't stupid enough to trust him.
• Jorah, who manages to live up to his reputation as a badass and takes out the competition in the slave pits to impress Dany. The most impressive part, though, is that he doesn't kill any of them — just knocks them out. Even before he enters the pit, Yezzan, his new slave master, tries to halt him. Jorah smashes his elbow into the man's face. No one's getting in the way of him reuniting with Daenerys.
• Tyrion's trying to hack off his chains so he can go present himself to the queen, only to be caught by a large, brutish-looking slave fighter. The man then slashes the chains apart with his blade, freeing Tyrion and giving him a respectful nod.
• Marg drops a great "The Reason You Suck" Speech on Cersei, saying what many have thought. This is especially noteworthy after revelations about the Sparrows' methods in "Hardhome". Margaery has been starved and tortured in an attempt to make her confess to having intentionally hidden Loras' homosexuality, and she still managed to have the strength to not give in to Cersei's gloating.
  Margaery: Lies come easily to you. Everyone knows that. But innocence, decency, concern, you're not very good at those, I'm afraid. Perhaps that's why your son was so eager to cast you aside for me. Leave. [...] Get out, you hateful bitch!
• And, of course, there's the High Sparrow's very passionate Break Them by Talking monologue to Cersei that culminates in her imprisonment in a cell just like Margaery's. While it is left ambiguous as to whether Lancel told the High Sparrow about Cersei's infidelity with him from the beginning or after Littlefinger or Olenna somehow persuaded him (the HBO Guide confirms Olenna persuaded him... which is awesome in and of itself), what's impressive is how it's strongly implied that the High Sparrow has actually been planning to imprison Cersei from the moment he took power, only waiting so that she could help him solidify his political position. Lancel getting justice through this for all the abuse and manipulation he suffered under her too.
  The High Sparrow: What will we find when we strip away your finery?
• Septa Unella's wordless, "Bitch, please" reaction to Cersei telling her to get out of her way.
• Cersei's Badass Boast that caps off the episode. It doubles as a Blasphemous Boast, given the setting and who she's saying it to.
  Cersei: Look at me! Look at my face. It's the last thing you'll see before you die.
• Stannis, who's grown increasingly dependent on Melisandre, is utterly horrified at her suggestion that he burn Shireen alive to ensure his success, and quite rightly tells her to get the hell out of his tent.
  • Subverted when he has her burned alive anyway in season 5
• Tommen's utter frustration at Margaery's arrest. Also proves that Dean can act an emotion other than "useless".
• Tyene once again proves herself to be perhaps the most impressive member of the Sand Snakes, being the first character in the whole stretch of the series to get Bronn's number. After five seasons of slaughtering his way through pretty well every enemy he's encountered, Bronn nearly dies to a poisoned dagger scratch on the arm, and only lives on Tyene's mercy. It should not be understated that Tyene is all of maybe eighteen years old.

8 - Hardhome

• You know the Zombie Apocalypse that Jon Snow's been worried about? It finally arrives, and it leads to one of the most memorable action sequences in the show.
  • The moment when Jon decides to stand and fight.
    Jon: [draws Longclaw] Night's Watch, with me!
  • Jon versus the White Walker general. After having his ribs caved in and spending most of the fight being thrown around like a Frisbee, Jon brings Longclaw to bear against the Other's metal-shattering ice spear... and accidentally discovers the White Walkers' second weakness: Valyrian steel. Cue a spectacular Oh, Crap! face from the Other as Jon forces its spear away and wastes it with a single blow.
  • This makes Jon the first man to kill a White Walker in single combat in over eight thousand years.
  • When Jon and the Magnar of Thenn are confronted by the White Walker, the Thenn doesn't hesitate for a second; he tells Jon to get the glass while he buys time by dueling the monster. He doesn't last long, but it's pretty awesome for someone who hated Jon a few minutes ago.
• While the retreat sequence is very bleak, there is one ray of glorious hope: THE GIANT
  • He kills several wights as if they were fleas, he treats them as nothing more than a minor annoyance. Goes to show that giants in Game of Thrones are awesome.
  • In the heat of the battle, Jon and Loboda the Thenn can't help but pause for a dozen of seconds to appreciate his raw power as he makes short work of the wights.
  • It's easy to miss but that giant is none other than Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun, or Wun Wun. As Tormund names him during their tactical withdrawal. During their retreat, Wun Wun singlehandedly turns around and holds the line, wielding a piece of burning timber like a club, and is last seen calmly walking through the freezing ocean to the Watch boats.
• The epic tracking shot of Jon running to retrieve the dragonglass from the meeting hut. He runs through the fray with massive chaos going on around him, killing wights as he goes, culminating with him reaching the hut, which is now on fire, and then Wun Wun bursts through a wall. All in one shot. During the tracking shot, Jon kills a wight without stopping, cutting it in half so hard that the wight practically disintegrates.
• The attack on Hardhome is acknowledged by Word of God as a deliberate show of strength on the part of the White Walkers. Their army of the dead quickly overwhelms the wildling masses and wade through all of their defenses and strongholds. The White Walkers even join in on the slaughter, with one slaying the new Magnar of Thenn as if he were nothing. Then, of course, there's the Night King himself coming down to the docks to personally taunt Jon Snow and the wildlings by resurrecting all the people he just killed in a clear display of his power. The episode ends on a note of extreme dread, so they certainly made their point. There is a hope spot in all of this, however. Benioff and Weiss acknowledge that the Night King sees Jon as a threat, and so confronts him face to face to assert his dominance over him. That's right, Jon intimidated the Night King.
• The Lord of Bones starts asking Tormund whether he's sucked Jon's cock. He doesn't finish saying it, as Tormund takes the wildling chief's staff, beats him to the ground with it and doesn't stop until he caves the man's own skull in. Then he proceeds to nonchalantly address the rest of the free folk.
  Tormund: [tosses away the bloodied bone staff] Gather the elders, and let's talk.
• The scene where Jon speaks with the wildlings to negotiate an alliance. The Rousing Speech on the part of Jon and Tormund are especially cool.
  Tormund: What he did took courage. And that's what we need today. The courage to make peace with men we've been killing for generations...
  Jon: ... I'm not asking you to forget your dead. I'll never forget mine! I lost fifty brothers the night Mance attacked the Wall. But I'm asking you to think about your children now. They'll never have children of their own if we don't band together. The Long Night is coming, and the dead come with it. No clan can stop them, the free folk can't stop them, the Night's Watch can't stop them, and all the southern kings can't stop them. Only together, all of us. And even then it may not be enough, but at least we'll give the fuckers a fight.
• While the book readers are still waiting for the long-promised meeting of Tyrion and Daenerys, the show delivers perfectly on it, with Tyrion offering a completely honest appraisal of why Dany would want his services, and even a balanced view of what she should do with Jorah, securing the job of her new right hand man. Daenerys also gets a major Moment of Awesome. Her "break the wheel" speech which people took issue with in promos becomes awesome thanks to the addition of a single word: Targaryen. That's right, Dany sees her own family as being part of the same feudal cycle, and she's vowed not to be like the Mad King or Viserys and selfishly chase after her family's Glory Days:
  Queen Daenerys Targaryen: Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground.
  Tyrion Lannister: It's a beautiful dream, stopping the wheel. You're not the first person who's ever dreamt it.
  Daenerys: I'm not going to stop the wheel. I'm going to break the wheel.
• Arya's sequence in Braavos, where she walks the streets in disguise and prepares for her first assassination. The editing combining Arya's activities with her playing the game of faces with Jaqen is quite good.
• Reek tells Sansa the truth about the fate of her younger brothers without being allowed to do so by Ramsay. There seems to be some Theon left in him.
  • The fact that Sansa got him to do so is awesome in itself too, especially the way she guilts Theon into confessing, assuming that he Can't Spit It Out because he wants to deny he killed Bran and Rickon, forcefully grabbing him to make him confess. Theon finally does so against his will.
  • Also, the moment when Theon opened the door clearly expecting to see Sansa curled on the bed. Instead, he sees her calmly waiting for him and he immediately goes Oh, Crap!.
  • Just seeing Sansa, the eternal victim, actually dominating a situation and striking fear into someone with her anger. Sure, it's probably easy game with someone as broken as Reek, but still, you gotta start somewhere.
• Ramsay's Badass Boast when he brings up his thoughts on how to take out Stannis, with Roose immediately illustrating to him how reckless such an action would be in their current situation.
  Ramsay Bolton: Stannis isn't from the North. You are, father. I think you're missing an opportunity to show the people of the North how House Bolton treats southern invaders.
  Lord Roose Bolton: And what do you recommend?
  Ramsay: That we not sit and wait for Stannis to decide what sort of fight this is going to be. That we hit first and hit hard and leave a feast for the crows.
  Roose: A smart commander does not abandon a defensive advantage. As long as we stay behind these walls, they can't touch us. Not to mention that the snow's so deep that we couldn't get an army through to engage them even if we wanted to.
  Ramsay: I don't need an army. I need twenty good men.
• After Jon's maddeningly vague excuses to Olly about why he's allying with the wildlings, Sam finally says to him essentially, "Would you rather be fighting giants or fighting with giants when the White Walkers get here?"
• Cersei learning of the crimes she's charged for (fornication, treason, incest, the murder of King Robert) and denying it all. Her denying is not the awesome part. It’s the fact that someone is finally doing something about them all and is in that position that makes it so damn satisfying.
  • Her receiving the same treatment as Margaery who's there because of her is also that. In addition to her attempts to intimidate being shut down and ignored.
  • There's also the fact that it's a step-up from the books, where Cersei was placed on trial for sleeping with Osmund Kettleblack, which only happened after Robert's death. Here, she's getting placed on trial on damn near everything she's done.
• Jorah putting himself back into slavery so he can go back to the pits and Danerys will have to see him and cannot object. That way, he can try to win back her good graces before being touched by the stone man likely kills him. If he's gonna die, it'll be on his own terms.
• The way that the last fifteen to twenty minutes of this episode seem to parallel the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the next episode, in much the same way as the first and last scenes of the first season. Ice and Fire, baby.

9 - The Dance of Dragons

• Divisive or no for getting one past Stannis, one can't deny that Ramsay managing to sneak inside Stannis's camp and sabotage nearly all of his supplies without anybody realizing he was ever there until he and his men are long gone is awesome; the bastard obviously learned stealth tips from his hunting/torture buddy, Locke.
• Arya, even as a trainee, is able to successfully track Meryn Trant and gain valuable intel on him, like a true assassin.
• Jorah holding his own as a gladiator, defeating both a priest of Norvos and a Meereenese spearman. Pity he couldn't quite match up against a Braavosi water dancer, though. He also manages to throw the aforementioned spearman's weapon from his position on the arena floor into the chest of a Harpy assassin sneaking up on Dany.
• Although he's a One-Scene Wonder, the water dancer in general. He's the only one who is able to match Jorah evenly, and even gets a few good swipes in. Jorah could have possibly died right there if it wasn't for the surprise spearman. Shows that Syrio wasn't shilling what might have been just another order of warriors, but was praising what might be one of the best groups of Master Swordsmen in the Game of Thrones-verse.
• A minor one, but Hizdahr winning the verbal Cock Fight with Daario is really satisfying, especially when you consider that Hizdahr has always been The Chew Toy since Daenerys's conquest of Meereen.
• Tyrion saving Missandei from a Harpy about to kill her.
• Dany resigning herself to her fate when it seems her Praetorian guard will be overwhelmed.
• Drogon makes his grand return to Dany's side by roasting a bunch of Harpies during their attack on Daznak's Pit. Followed by Dany proving her brother was at least right about one thing: brave people don't kill dragons, they ride them. His big entrance is a true sight to behold. He first makes himself known with his signature roars, then he appears over Daznak's Pit bursting through a huge column of fire, soaring around the colosseum, then landing in the arena, crushing two Sons of the Harpy under his talons and finally ripping another in two by the strength of his teeth before bathing crowds of the terrorists in flame.
• Daario unleashing a sick reverse clothesline launch-slam attack on a Son of the Harpy.
• Dany pulling a spear from Drogon's neck, who proceeds to unleash a devastating roar right in her face, and she doesn't even flinch.
• The awestruck looks on Tyrion, Jorah, Daario and Missandei's faces when they see Daenerys take off into the sky on Drogon's back.
• In stark contrast to the bleak and depressing ending of Hardhome (featuring a huge battle that sees the White Walkers dealing a massive blow to the Night's Watch and the free folk with their powerful magic and sheer numbers), The Dance of Dragons ends in glorious, fantastical triumph as we are reminded of exactly how mankind is going to overcome such a threat: DRAGONS, that's how.

10 - Mother's Mercy

• Reek knocking Myranda aside when she's about to shoot Sansa with a bow and arrow, then tipping her off the battlements to her death.
  • Much of those scenes at Winterfell are this: Sansa uses the corkscrew she pocketed to break out of her room and makes it to the Broken Tower to light her candle and signal for help. When Myranda aims the arrow in her face, she doesn't bat an eye. Then, following the, Reek/Theon takes Sansa's hand and leads her to the top of the castle, where the two jump into the snow drifts beneath Winterfell's walls, seemingly escaping Ramsay Bolton.
  • Just to make it perfect, immediately afterwards when leading Sansa to freedom we hear a brief yet heroic (for once) reprise of "Pay the Iron Price" showing that yes, Theon Greyjoy has truly returned.
• Let's give some credit to Stannis Baratheon and his army. Though they were totally outmatched and slaughtered by Roose Bolton's army, when the battle is over we see thousands (not hundreds) of dead bodies everywhere, both out in the open and in the woods. It seems that, despite being starved, worn down, disillusioned and on foot, Stannis and his men were able to kill as many (if not more) Bolton men for every one of their deaths. They still lose, but, to be fair, the odds weren't in their favor at all.
  • Before the battle begins, Stannis is just staring at the oncoming Bolton horde while his own soldiers can be heard saying, "We've got no chance!" and, "They outnumber us!" Stannis has a look of cold acceptance. Then he draws his sword and raises it in the air, marching forward with a Death Glare. Time to win or die.
  • As the battle starts, Stannis can clearly be seen at the head of his army. From Sansa's perspective in the tower, we can see that this is where the Bolton cavalry converged. As the battle winds down, we see Stannis in the middle of the woods. He likely got caught up in a failed retreat into the woodland areas, which he might have tried to prevent given his aversion to abandoning a fight. Still, going from the middle of an overwhelming battlefield to its dwindling outskirts, and probably having to kill countless enemies in between, is pretty impressive.
• A wounded Stannis managing to kill two Bolton soldiers looking through the aftermath for easy pickings. He is also hamstrung much like Barristan was before even landing a blow and still takes them down to the seven hells.
• Brienne finally punishing Stannis for his kin-slaying by summarily charging him with his first perceived misdeed and executing him with Oathkeeper. Or did she...? Yes. Stannis's grim acceptance of his defeat and follies along with his epic, character-reaffirming Face Death with Dignity line, "Go on, do your duty." is also this.
• Arya brutally murdering Ser Meryn Trant (who is revealed to not only be a pedophile but one who enjoys beating little girls) by putting his eyes out, stabbing him half a dozen times and then slitting his throat. Both incredibly disturbing and satisfying to watch.
  • Before that, when Arya is in glamour, her high degree of pain tolerance from being given the switch so much is proven when Trant breaks his cane over her head and she doesn't utter a peep or move an inch.
  • That Arya's actions managed to save the two little girls Trant was beating. After seasons of Arya witnessing countless atrocities and being unable to fight back, despite her natural instinct to protect the most vulnerable (going all the way back to defending Mycah from Joffrey in Season 1 and Harrenhall in Season 2) she takes a villain down and prevents him from hurting more people.
• This may well be a very unpopular belief, but in a sick, twisted way, Ellaria giving Myrcella the poison kiss of death and finally getting her revenge was awesome. After Ellaria and the Sand Snakes had been shown up as inefficient nuisances, failures, and The Scrappy all season long, they get thrown a bone in the form of a The Bad Guy Wins conclusion in which they get the last laugh and Jaime ends up suffering a huge loss. Extra props for the badass way they all just walk away from the docks once it's all done.
• Varys making his return, living up to his reputation as the world's greatest spymaster by tracking Tyrion all the way to Meereen. Even more awesome is him teaming up with the Imp to govern Meereen.
• Daario, of all people, provides a non-combative example when he easily singles out the strengths of every one of Dany's supporters. He's pretty much the one who plans the Meereenese storylines for next season!
• The culmination of Tyrion's story arc this season. From a fugitive hiding in a box to the de facto ruler of a city and second-in-command to the Mother of Dragons herself. He's one of the only main characters whose lot has actually improved this season.
• Drogon lounging on his cliffside bed of bones. Outstanding Visual Effects of Awesome. We also have the Scenery Porn of the Essossi foothills where Drogon took Daenerys to.
• Dany taking off her wedding ring to leave as a marker for her loyal men when she's about to be abducted by a twenty-thousand-strong khalasar and taken back to Vaes Dothrak.
• Though vastly overcome with plenty of other negative emotions, the fact that Jon is still standing, (albeit for a short while), after five shivs to the gut is testament to the words he never believed would apply to him: "You Starks are hard to kill." Also, Jon betrays neither hatred nor fear to his murderers until his face turns to heartbreak when a firmly corrupted Olly steps up to deliver the coup de grace—reminiscent of good old Jules.
• The Walk of Shame is five seasons' worth of karma finally catching up with Cersei. While a good portion of this is also a Tear Jerker, given that she's crying by the end, it's still immensely satisfying to see the people give her just desserts.
  • Cersei going through with it is also a twisted kind of Awesome Moment - she subjects herself to the treatment because it'll get her back into the Red Keep and therefore give her the opportunity to get her revenge on everyone.

Season 6

1 - The Red Woman

• Ser Davos and Edd's determination to protect Jon's body and avenge him. Ser Davos comes up with a plan of gathering the wildlings Jon protected to kick some turncloak ass. When Ser Alliser both tries to tempt Davos and co out with amnesty then obliquely threaten them, he sees right through his act, doesn't budge at all and becomes a total Deadpan Snarker in the face of danger. Edd, meanwhile, fearlessly races out to fulfil Davos's plan and is beforehand fully prepared to sacrifice himself for revenge. He even gets two badass boasts.
  Edd: I don't care who sits at the high-table! Jon was my friend... Those fuckers butchered him. Now we return the favour.
• "If you were planning to see tomorrow, you picked the wrong room. We all die today." Equally impressive is many of the Night's Watch members present at the common hall debate hurling insults and shouts of "Murderers!" and "Traitors!" at Alliser and his lackeys when he attempts to brush his crimes under the carpet. They seem slightly subdued by his excuses shortly after, but seeing how much of the Watch, which mostly comprises men who've committed their own despicable acts, remain still loyal to Jon is satisfying in its own way.
• Roose is not happy with Ramsay, and his "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards him is epic. Ramsay almost looks like he's about to burst into tears by the end of it. Plus, Roose almost echoes the memetic "do you feel in charge?" that Bane gives to Dagget in The Dark Knight Rises.
  Roose: Still, a great victory... Do you feel like a victor?
• Brienne and Pod rescuing Sansa and Theon from the Bolton men-at-arms. Brienne slashes one right out in a jousting charge, his light armor useless against Oathkeeper's valyrian steel edge. Brienne tries jousting at another, but a third right behind her foe knocks her off her mount (with the armor taking the blow). The horseman dismounts and kicks Brienne as she scrambles to grab her sword. He pays dearly for that, as Brienne makes quick work of him in a duel. The remaining horseman charges at her again, but she tackles him and the horse to the ground. After she recovers, she cuts his throat open as he begs for mercy. Meanwhile, Pod fights on horseback against another horseman, and eventually runs him through, but is dragged off his horse when the impaled soldier drags him down. Another Bolton soldier approaches him, puts him on the defensive and disarms him, but then a sword comes up from behind and stabs the mook through his neck; Theon had grabbed a sword off one of the fallen Bolton men and ran the last foe through.
• Theon faces the Bolton men alone, bluffing about Sansa's whereabouts, knowing full well that he'll be taken back to Winterfell and killed, or knowing Ramsay, much worse. It doesn't work against the hounds, but it took massive stones and shows just how far he's willing to go to protect Sansa.
• Four words from Dany at just the right moment before Khal Moro rips her dress off. "Do not touch me." She has proven time and again that a woman's courage doesn't equate to imitating male pursuits like a warrior; but through social intelligence, guile and utilization of her allure to manipulate male honour systems.

2 - Home

• The Big Damn Heroes moment when Tormund and an entire wildling army break into Castle Black to save Davos and the Night's Watch loyalists.
  • Prior to that when Alliser and the mutineers are threatening to break into where the loyalists are holding up with Jon's body, Davos and the others, despite being outnumbered, flanked by archers and Davos not being particularly good with a blade due to his lack of fingers, still all draw their swords as the mutineers begin to ram the door. The icing on the cake is that Davos takes up Longclaw.
    Ser Davos Seaworth: I've never been much of a fighter... [picks up Longclaw] Apologies for what you're about to see. [draws the Valyrian blade and determinately turns to face the door, in the first line of defence]
  • During that scene, one of the mutineers makes the mistake of shooting Wun-Wun in the shoulder with a crossbow. Wun-Wun grabs the idiot, splatters him all over a nearby wall, and then tosses what’s left of him in front of his fellow turncloaks as casually as someone might dispose of a piece of garbage. You can just see Thorne and his men having a Mass "Oh, Crap!".
• The moment where the High Sparrow manages to intimidate Jaime, by making him realize that the High Sparrow and his followers are perfectly willing to sacrifice their own lives to achieve their goals.
• Tyrion being able to survive an encounter with the dragons and even befriending one of them.
• Roose's death at the hands of Ramsay. While it's downplayed by the fact that by doing so Ramsay is now Warden of the North, seeing Roose get his long overdue comeuppance for his role in the Red Wedding is still somewhat satisfying. It's also a clear sign that the Boltons' dominion over the North is finally starting to crack, considering it's unlikely Ramsay has his father's political savvy and pragmatism to keep the increasingly restless Northern lords in line.
  • It gets even more fitting when you remember that Ramsay was only born because Roose took it upon himself to rape a woman under the swinging corpse of her dead husband. Roose brought Ramsay into the world in a moment of violence and cruelty and enabled his sadism. It’s only fitting that he be destroyed by the monster he created.
  • As extra Karmic Death points, Roose dies exactly the same way he killed Robb Stark: brutally stabbed in the heart by someone he trusted.
• Euron Greyjoy's Establishing Character Moment aka boldness incarnate. He shows up in the dead of night during a storm, shittalks Balon Greyjoy, deflects all of Balon's insults with a Badass Boast, then tosses him off a bridge.
  Euron: I am the Drowned God [...] I am the storm brother. The first storm and the last. And you're in my way.
• Jon Snow lives.

3 - Oathbreaker

• The battle at the Tower of Joy shows what the Targaryen Kingsguard's most famous knight was made of. Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, was almost a Total Party Kill for Ned Stark's group all by himself and only lost due to Reed's pragmatism. There is a reason why he and Selmy are regarded as living legends, their skills made them action heroes in a world of regular warriors.
  • Keep in mind that TV!Ned was capable of holding his own against Jaime Lannister for an extended period of time. The fact that Dayne was able to dominate him and three of his companions speaks volumes for his level of skill — and not just as a swordsman. He begins the battle more or less surrounded, and works his angles so that all four of his remaining opponents are to his front and fighting uphill. No one in Ned's party can bring powerful strikes to bear for fear of hitting their own allies, and he picks off the remaining fighters one by one, until only Ned is left, a skilled but comparatively inexperienced fighter, wearing lighter armor and wielding a single blade, against the steel-armored Kingsguard badass Dual Wielding both an ordinary and a special sword forged from the heart of a fallen star. The only reason he loses is because he knocked Howland Reed down early in the battle and didn't have time to check that he was dead.
  • Even though he lost, Ned also deserves credit for his part in the battle. He kills Ser Gerold Hightower and, although clearly outmatched, holds out against Dayne far longer than any of his companions.
    • Ned killing Ser Gerold becomes more impressive when one considers the fact that Hightower was a member of Aerys' Kingsguard, who man-to-man were of a higher caliber of warrior than Robert's Kingsguard, most of whom were political appointees and lacklustre warriors (with the exception of Ser Barristan Selmy and Jaime Lannister, the only survivors of Aerys' Kingsguard). This, together with him holding his own against Jaime Lannister, demonstrates what a formidable warrior Ned was.
    • Also, the fact that Ned never tries to escape the fight, even when alone against the World's Best Warrior. Despite facing impossible odds, he will not give up the search for his sister.
  • Hell, just the fact that this scene, being one of the most pivotal mysteries in the entire timeline, has been adapted to screen.
• Missandei showing a darker side when she advises Varys and Tyrion that the Masters only speak one language and it's time to take back Yunkai and Astapor but, this time, leave no survivors.
• Olenna Tyrell once again destroying Cersei's pretensions to greatness.
• After Jaime strong-arms himself and Cersei into having a seat with the small council, what does Kevan do? He and the rest of the small council abandons them to sit there like lemons. Finally, after five seasons of putting up with Cersei and her schemes, the people who are actually charged with governing Westeros are not going to let her or anyone still supporting her have their way and cause more problems for the realm.
  Lord Kevan: No, we cannot make you leave. And you cannot make us stay. Not unless you're going to have that thing murder us all.
• After weeks, perhaps months, of training in the House of Black and White, Arya slowly evolves into a Blind Weaponmaster. While her Loss of Identity is certainly tragic, seeing her go from frantically waving her staff around at nothing, to calmly taking the hits, then parrying them, and then finally striking the far more experienced Waif across the face is its own kind of awesome.
• Smalljon Umber not showing Ramsay and Harald Karstark any kind of respect and openly insulting the late Roose Bolton, clearly having a blast provoking Ramsay. All without showing any kind of fear at all. Very satisfying to watch if you're fed up with Ramsay's antics in the north.
• Jon Snow executes the men that betrayed and murdered him by hanging them. Then he gives his cloak to 'Dolorous' Edd, says his watch has ended and walks out of Castle Black. The awesome part about all of this is that no one tries to dissuade him from any of these courses of action. Let's recap this: he executes the First Ranger, the Master Builder, and a teenage boy who all murdered him, then quits the Night's Watch, autocratically hands another man command of the Watch (when in nearly all other cases, it had been left up to a mass vote) and walks out. And no one lifts so much of a finger to stop him. It might have something to do with the fact that they're scared shitless of a guy that was already a badass warrior but has now come Back from the Dead, or it might have something to do with him being released from his vow because he was murdered by his own men but is now Back from the Dead.
  • On the flip-side, Ser Alliser faces death with dignity, noting that he would do the same all over again if he had the choice, while Olly merely gives Jon a seething glare. They were both traitors, but faced death admirably and only did what they thought was right.
  • The awesomeness is slightly downplayed by Olly's complete lack of remorse and his clear hatred for Jon at this point. But the awesomeness comes right back when Jon gives Olly a disappointed look in return and steels himself to go through with the task that rips him up inside and does so.

4 - Book of the Stranger

• Daenerys is brought before the gathered Khals at the temple in Vaes Dothrak so they can decide what to do with her. She lays out her plan to have the Dothraki join her forces; the Khals laugh and say they'll never serve her and will rape her to death instead. She clarifies that they are not part of her plan, and knocks the four braziers over. The temple quickly goes up in flames and the entire Dothraki leadership burns to death except her. With the entire horde gathering around the blazing temple, the Unburnt strides through the doors in a gorgeous Call-Back to the end of the first season. The assembled khalasars are properly awed and reverent; the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea has united them all under her banner.
  • It's made clear that she engineered her escape plan long before Jorah and Daario showed up, and the outcome would have been exactly the same regardless of their presence.
    Emilia Clarke: I just stand up and I go, "I'm hearing what you're all saying, but funny thing, I'm going to kill you all. I forgot that I have an ace in my back pocket and now I win."
  • Before this, the Khals go on and on about how they're going to gang rape her, clearly wanting her to beg them not to. Instead, Dany keeps a Psychotic Smirk plastered on her face until Moro can't take it anymore and says she must be insane.
  • As a faction, the Dothraki horde had hitherto been untouchable. They had been raiding, raping, and killing at their leisure throughout the series and well into the backstory. Even the King of Westeros (Not of just one kingdom, but the whole damn continent) was convinced that if 40,000 Dothraki screamers could cross the sea, it would threaten his entire realm. Yet what the most powerful cities, kings, and armies couldn't overcome for generations, a single unarmed girl accomplishes in a single night with a bar of wood and a brazier of coals. Even if her authority doesn't last, she's wiped out their entire leadership during a major summit, effectively crippling one of the mightiest hordes Essos has ever seen.
• Despite her nightmarish ordeal at the hands of Ramsay and her knowledge of just what he will do to her if she is captured, Sansa's first thought after reuniting with her brother Jon is to rally the loyal northern Houses and go straight back and kick Ramsay and his House out of her family's home, saying she will do so alone if Jon does not come with her. When Jon starts reading Ramsay's letter out loud, he stops when it comes around to what Ramsay wants to do to Sansa, mainly to spare her. But Sansa's not having any of that; she just snatches it from him, reads it out loud grimly, tosses the paper down, then starts making battle plans. She's not scared anymore.
• A villainous one for Littlefinger, when he demonstrates to Yohn Royce how easily he can manipulate Robin Arryn by convincing him to execute Royce for treason and then immediately persuade him to spare Royce in the space of a single conversation. Royce's Oh, Crap! reaction when he realizes there's nothing he can do to stop Littlefinger is what sells it. His convincing of Robin to join the fight against the Boltons also serves as one, and his expression at the end calls back to what he told Sansa after Joffrey's death about what people do to those who hurt people they love. He knows EXACTLY why Sansa escaped, and is ready for some payback.
• Brienne walking up to Davos and Melisandre, the loyal advisors and supporters of Stannis and point-blank tells them that she executed him, as he killed Renly with the help of a shadow assassin, all the while levelling a very stern Death Glare in Melisandre's direction.
• Even though it fails miserably, Osha definitely deserves some credit for at least attempting to assassinate Ramsay. There's no way she would have got out of Winterfell alive, she was clearly doing it for Rickon.

5 - The Door

• Sansa confronting Littlefinger about letting her being raped by Ramsay. Her refusing his help despite the army of the Vale being capable of winning the battle by itself also counts. She is now fully aware that making himself expedient is how Littlefinger lures everybody into his traps, and she's not falling for it, even if it risks Rickon's life.
• Meeting with Kinvara, the "Pope" of the Church of R'hllor, Varys is quick to indulge in a "The Reason You Suck" Speech with all the venom he can muster. He calls out the idiocy of zealotry, the mistakes of Melisandre in anointing Stannis as the Lord's Chosen, and questioning what good Kinvara could do in Melisandre's place. Kinvara merely smiles and returns it in kind, explaining everything happens for a reason - even Varys' childhood mutilation - and reminding him that, much as he hates magic, something spoke from the flames that night. And she knows what it was. For the first time in perhaps the entire series, Varys doesn't just look perturbed. He looks terrified.
• The Waif beating the crap out of Arya barehanded, while Arya is armed with her staff. Just in case you were still questioning her skills.
• Meera kills several wights and becomes the third living human to kill a White Walker by throwing a dragonglass spear at it.
• Summer pulling a You Shall Not Pass! against the wights. Unlike his brothers and sister, who were unceremoniously executed, he goes down fighting, saving Bran one last time.
• Leaf's and Hodor's heroic sacrifices, with Leaf allowing herself to be torn to shreds by the wights before detonating her last firebomb and taking dozens of the undead horrors with her, and Hodor holding the door shut long enough for Meera and Bran to escape. If it weren't for both of them, Meera and Bran would have died as well.
• It turns out that while he was MIA for two seasons, Brynden the Blackfish has been retaking Riverrun and raising his own army, just in time for Sansa's attack on the Boltons... at least according to Littlefinger.
• We see Theon proudly affirm his true identity. And deliver another Rousing Speech, offering his support for Yara as queen.
• After Euron wins the Kingsmoot, Theon and Yara work together to literally steal the entire Iron Fleet right out from under his nose.
  • The Kingsmoot itself is pretty awesome, both for Theon and Yara almost convincing the Ironborn to break with centuries of tradition and crown a woman for the first time, and Euron, spoiling the whole thing with nothing but charisma and Refuge in Audacity.
  • Euron's ritualistic drowning is drawn out, and for a moment one might think this is just another case of boastful Greyjoys and Ironborn shooting themselves in the foot by being themselves. Then Euron miraculously comes back to life. While it might have just been dumb luck, the speed at which he composed himself after being "reborn" and immediately got back to plotting the death of his family (complete with Psychotic Smirk) makes one wonder if this Euron is as heavily associated with magic as his literary counterpart.
  • One must also give credit to Michael Feast's rendition of Aeron Greyjoy's "What is dead may never die" speech, which makes the entire scene absolutely chilling.
• The Night King destroying the Children's defense in a matter of seconds.
• Davos proving a wise and capable adviser, despite knowing next to nothing about the North. He correctly surmises that Karstark support is lost, and dissuades Jon and Sansa from making a catastrophic mistake.
• We get to see Ned's father, Rickard Stark, and we get a firm reminder that the Starks have always been a badass family.
  Rickard Stark: Don't get into any fights. But if you do, win.

6 - Blood of My Blood

• Benjen's rescue of Meera and Bran from the White Walkers and the wight horde.
• Arya saving Lady Crane from her own poison, warning her about Bianca, and reclaiming Needle.
• The High Sparrow turning the tables on the Lannister-Tyrell alliance by revealing that Tommen has decided that the Crown shall serve the Seven, playing some of Westeros' finest like royal chumps.
  • The House Baratheon theme plays as Tommen makes this announcement, showing how he has been purged of his Lannister roots, and that House Baratheon is reborn with him.
  • It's undercut because he's still a Puppet King, just with a different Puppet Master, but the fact Tommen managed what Tywin never could: getting Jaime to leave the Kingsguard.
• During the showdown, a mounted Jaime climbs the stairs with great élan and determination. It's ultimately pointless, but is a neat example of his character nevertheless, specially in contrast with the meek Lord Tyrell, the alleged co-commander of the day.
• Daenerys flying in on Drogon's back, and rallying the Dothraki to cross the Narrow Sea, and conquer the Seven Kingdoms, as Drogon roars. She truly has became Aegon the Conqueror's successor.
  • In fairness to her as well, she makes the enterprise of conquering Westeros not just about her. By appealing to both Dohtraki culture (invoking Khal Drogo's memory) and also expanding its scope (making every single Dothraki rider her bloodrider) a la Henry V, she not only takes over the hitherto-disparate Dothraki khalasars. She ensures, whatever happens, that her authority will not be contested by anyone else. Helps, of course, that her mount is the biggest of all of them.
• Sam eloping with Gilly and Young Sam and stealing his abusive father's prized Valyrian steel sword, Heartsbane.
• Lady Tarly standing up to her husband by leaving dinner with a single retort, taking Gilly and her daughter with her. Even Lord Tarly is impressed: he calls Lady Tarly a 'fine woman' and berates Sam for not being good enough for her.
• Walder Frey holds court with his sons, who inform him that the Blackfish did indeed retake Riverrun, meaning Littlefinger wasn't lying about that piece of information to Sansa as originally assumed. What's more, Walder's sons also inform him that the other Riverland houses are now rising up in revolt against the Freys. This causes Walder, the same man who took great pleasure in orchestrating the Red Wedding, to suffer a minor Villainous Breakdown as he angrily orders his sons to recapture Riverrun and quell the rebellion, despite their protesting that they lack the available manpower to do so. After spending the entire series up to this point as an insufferably Smug Snake, it seems karma is finally catching up the "Late Lord Frey".
  • Brotherhood without Banners are rallying the commoners against them and raiding their supply lines, and the Freys are just ineffective at dealing with any of them.
  • Despite his neglect and maltreatment in their dungeons, Edmure Tully still has enough wherewithal to stare daggers into his traitorous vassal.

7 - The Broken Man

• The first sign of something big happening is the cold open right after the "Previously On..." montage. It follows what appear to be a group of working smallfolk led by some sort of vaguely religious figure. The structure in question is a building made up of huge logs. Logs long enough and big enough that three men are required to carry just one. We see a few men pass by with their logs, except we linger on a man, on his own, carrying a log towards the building. The camera stops on a pair of legs, pans up and around to reveal a familiar, scarred, bearded face. SANDOR. FUCKING. CLEGANE. IS. BACK. At the episode's end, Sandor comes back from chopping wood to discover the entire group slaughtered by the Brotherhood Without Banners. After the rest of the episode had him being talked into a peaceful retirement, he now picks up his ax and heads off to get some sweet revenge.
• This episode also heavily features one Olenna Tyrell, who is as snarky and irascible as ever. "The Reason You Suck" Speech she gives to Cersei is massively satisfying.
  Olenna: I wonder if you're the worst person I've ever met. At a certain age, it's hard to recall, but the truly vile do stand out through the years. Do you remember the way you smirked at me when my grandson and granddaughter were dragged off to their cells? I do. I'll never forget it. I'm leaving this wretched city as fast as I can before that shoeless zealot throws me into one of his cells. If you're half as bright as you think you are, you'll find a way out of here, too. You have no support, not anymore. Your brother's gone. The High Sparrow saw to that. The rest of your family have abandoned you. The people despise you. You're surrounded by enemies, thousands of them. You're going to kill them all by yourself? You've lost, Cersei. It's the only joy I can find in all this misery.
  • Margaery in full fundamentalist mode tells Olenna to leave the city — but slips her a piece of parchment. On said parchment (implied to have been ripped out of the Faith of the Seven holy book) is a sketch of the Tyrell rose. It's made clear here that Margaery has staged an act beyond anything she's come up with since her introduction, and so played everyone in King's Landing, from the smallfolk to the High Sparrow and King themselves, for complete fools.
• Little Lyanna Mormont facing down Jon and Sansa before committing her house to their cause. Her courage can't be overstated. Despite having a pitifully small fighting force, she decides to remain loyal to House Stark and enter into rebellion against the Boltons. And rather than hang back at Bear Island and wait out the conflict, later on she's present when Jon's host makes camp. The little girl is standing behind her decision and is seeing things through, putting herself at very real risk of being captured, raped, tortured and executed by Ramsay and putting the future of her House on the line.
• Yara stealing not only the Iron Fleet, but Euron's master plan as well, by sailing to Meereen to negotiate a deal with Daenerys. It's likely she has a higher chance of success than her uncle ever would.
• After a few episodes of buildup, the Blackfish finally appears in the flesh again, first refusing to surrender under threat of Edmure's death, reasoning that he'd be killed no matter what, forcing the Freys to reveal it was an empty threat they can't pull again. Then he meets with Jaime and tells him plainly that there will be no talking him out of the castle, and he only took the parley because he was bored and wanted to size his new opponent up, finding him disappointing. Edmure himself deserves credit for managing to Face Death with Dignity every time the Freys threaten to kill him. With a rope around his neck, or a knife at his throat, he doesn't falter or beg, and comes across as more dignified than the men promising to kill him.
• Jaime making his contempt for his Frey "allies" clear when he pimp-slaps Black Walder across the face with his golden hand when he doesn't take Jaime's hint about "[making] threats he's not prepared to carry out". This was one of Jaime's most popular moments in the books and they adapted it basically perfectly.
• Though she doesn't manage to change his mind, check out Sansa's body language as Lord Glover rants about how much their House has lost because of Robb. Despite him being a warrior, she doesn't flinch, apologise or try to make excuses, she just listens to what he has to say. She really has evolved into Silk Hiding Steel.

8 - No One

• Seems like the theater troupe took Arya's suggestions about improvements into consideration after all. And the audience is loving it.
• The Hound effortlessly kills a group of four Brotherhood bandits. He's still got it.
• The ending. Arya kills the Waif, puts her face in the Hall of Many Faces, holds Jaqen at sword point and makes this declaration before calmly walking away:
  A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell. And I'm going home.
  • Before this, many viewers likely roll their eyes at Arya leaving so many obvious blood marks behind, especially after her pitiful showing last episode. Then it turns out she was deliberately leading the Waif into a darkened room where she has the advantage thanks to her time without her sight.
• The Mountain demonstrates why Cersei is so confident for her trial by combat by brutally dispatching a member of the Faith Militant who was trying to seize Cersei. He smacks the guy to the ground and rips his head clean off his body.
• Kevan continues to not give a single solitary shit about monstrous resurrected Mountain: When Cersei arrives with the Frankenmountain, literally everyone in the throne room backs away in terror, but Kevan not only doesn't move, he directly blocks Cersei's path and tells her she does not belong there. Cersei actually listens and shuffles away to sit with the other ladies of the court. Kevan Lannister must have balls of solid Valyrian steel.
• The Faith taking down Cersei's ace in the hole (trial by combat) with a very simple solution: calling it out for the bullshit it is and abolishing it. Even better: since the whole logic (such as it is) behind Trial By Combat is that the gods have decided who wins and thus whose cause is just, only the official religion would have the authority to denounce it.
• Meereen under siege from the slavers' ships, the entire city burning. Grey Worm, Missandei, and the other Unsullied prepare for the pyramid to be assaulted, when a thumping sound is heard. Cue Daenerys triumphant return, with the Unsullied bowing before her, the screech of dragons heard in the distance.
• By the time the Hound catches up with the three Brotherhood members from the previous episode, Lord Beric and Thoros have already disavowed their actions and have sentenced them to hang. It turns out that the Brotherhood never truly went rogue after all. Upon offering Sandor a chance to join the Brotherhood, Beric explains that his new mission is to stop the White Walkers.
• Riverrun being taken near-bloodlessly by Jaime, at Brienne's urging. Viewers heard about a single death between the Frey, Lannister, and Tully forces. Jaime's Character Development from the last time he was in the Riverlands has gone far indeed. He accomplishes this by not only Taking a Third Option, but by doing what the Freys repeatedly failed: Make a threat that his enemies know he will follow through.
• Blackfish Tully. He sees right through Jaime's plans, even if his men do not, and when it all comes down to, he decides to go out on his own terms. A man of honor to the last.

9 - Battle of the Bastards

• The Masters have an armada of ships. Daenerys has three fire-breathing dragons. One very short battle later, Daenerys now has three dragons and an armada of ships. Her first command of her dragons in open battle is a spectacular success.
  • Let's take stock. At the start of the season, Daenerys had the Unsullied army, an unstable city, dragons she had trouble controlling, and a fleet of ships burnt to charcoal. Nine episodes later, she has a stable city, the Unsullied army, the entire Dothraki khalasar, a fleet of ships from the Masters and Ironborn to carry them, and three reasonably obedient dragons which can reduce ships to burning flotsam effortlessly. Or, to put it another way, she has an army equal to almost any in Westeros (which has bled itself significantly with in-fighting) and a tactical advantage of air power that they do not possess. A long way from a girl with "no wealth, no lands, no army, only a name and a handful of supporters", as Tyrion put it.
    Razdal: Your reign is over!
    Daenerys: [calmly] My reign has just begun.
  • On a subtle note, this is the first time all the dragons are fighting together. (Normally, it's just Drogon.) We now see what happens when three full-grown dragons coordinate with their mother.
  • On a second subtle note, Tyrion more than made up for his underestimating of the Masters by coming up with the battle plan that saved not only Meereen, but earned them a new fleet and spared the citizens of the other Free Cities from further bloodshed while bringing them into line with Daenerys.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: Look at how Dany is standing when Drogon arrives on the scene: she's pointing at a spot on the ground, and Drogon lands right there. The most fearsome beast of his time will obey this girl like a loyal hound. Dany has embraced the Targaryen family power and birthright, as Master of Dragons.
  • When Daenerys tells Tyrion that she plans on razing the other slaver cities as a message for what happaned to Mereen; Tyrion stands up to a very pissed Dany. Tyrion tells her of Aerys' plan to destroy King's Landing rather than give it up to the rebellion. All people would have died, both the loyalists and the innocent alike to wildfire; Tyrion then explains that what Dany plans on doing is no different than what the Mad King would have done and everyone, the slavers and the innocent would have died to fuel Daenerys' vengeance. Tyrion is not only awesome for actually being what a good adviser is supposed to be (provide advice even if it's against the ruler's wishes) and for talking down Dany from killing countless innocents.
• Grey Worm calmly approaches the Masters, who have offered one of them up for sacrifice since "he's a foreigner and lowborn". Instead of killing him, Grey Worm slashes the throats of the two remaining Masters with one swift movement, then straightens his jerkin and walks away. Bonus points since they had just moments before threatened to sell him and the Unsullied (and Missandei) to the highest bidder. The Dog Bites Back, anyone? Shout out to Tyrion's short little 'pep talk' to the remaining Master. It's delivered in such an even way that you could be forgiven for forgetting that Tyrion is essentially telling him that he will die if even a hair is put out of line.
• The Sons of the Harpy are killing people by the gates of the city... only to look up and realize that the entire Dothraki horde◊ is bearing down on them. The fight between Riders and Assassins goes about as quickly as you would expect.
• It looks like all is lost, and the good guys are about to die. The Stark army is surrounded and routing, being brutally cut down by the Bolton shield wall. But then they hear horns in the distance. An Arryn banner unfurls, and The Cavalry of the entire Knights of the Vale arrive at last to help, commanded by Sansa and Littlefinger. Ramsay can only give a look of sheer disbelief and rage as he realizes he has lost.
• Sansa's tiny smile◊ as the Vale's army storms into the battle and outnumbers Ramsay's forces is the very epitome of triumph. In addition to that, you gotta love Littlefinger's shit-eating grin during this sequence.
• Ramsay Bolton has been forced to retreat to Winterfell, and is confident they can resist a siege. Wun Wun demonstrates why that's wrong by bashing through the main gate.
• Jon Snow giving Ramsay a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. This episode isn't nicknamed Bastardbowl or Snowbowl for nothing.
  • Their brief one-on-one fight: Ramsay, a crack shot armed with a bow, has a massive advantage over Jon, who has nothing but a shield. Jon walks straight forward without flinching, blocking three of Ramsay's arrows with lighting-fast reflexes at point-blank range before smacking him to the ground with his shield and making mush out of his face.
    • Also a beautiful Call-Back, but Ramsay is established to be one of the best archers in Westeros and had Jon at extremely close range. How does Jon stop him? He keeps his shield up!
    • And to add to that, the shield Jon uses to block Ramsay's arrows bears the sigil of House Mormont.◊ One or more of Lyanna's 62 men survived the rain of arrows, cavalry charge and the human crush to reach Winterfell. As strong as 10 mainlanders indeed.
    • The very fact that Lyanna's support paid off at a crucial moment. If she hadn't pledged her troops, that shield would never have been there, and Ramsay would have peppered Jon at his leisure. In a series were reality so often ensues, an idealistic ten-year-old was still able to make a profound difference by showing faith in a lost cause.
  • Just the fact that it's Jon who gets to beat Ramsay Bolton into the ground and then hand him over to Sansa for final judgment. This is the man who spent months raping his sister and not even an hour ago murdered his little brother, which is more than enough reason for Jon to fly into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. His Death Glare and Tranquil Fury when finally coming face-to-face with Ramsay tells everyone that he's about to have a very bloody and painful death.
• Before the battle, Ramsay boasted that his starving dogs would feast on his enemies once the battle was over. They get their feast, but it's their master who gets to be dinner.
  • The delicious irony that Ramsay's dogs, the one thing that he is actually loyal(ish) to, are the ones that do him in.
  • On that note, Ramsay tries to remain cool and denies the possibility that his hounds would eat their own master. Sansa reminds him that they haven't eaten in 7 days, as Ramsay said himself, and makes it clear about what they're going to do. Ramsay was internally panicking, and clearly becoming more and more afraid as the scene goes on, all while Sansa remains unflinching.
  • Sansa's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Ramsay before his hounds devour him:
    Sansa: Your words will disappear, your house will disappear, your name will disappear. All memory of you will disappear.
  • After the generally unsatisfying and disturbing way in which Joffrey died, Ramsey's richly deserved downfall and death was deliciously, gruesomely satisfying.
  • The fact that it was at Sansa's hand makes it even more satisfying. Of all the living characters on the show, only Theon has a convincing claim to having suffered as much from his actions. Theon got to be there in spirit because one of the hounds was named "Reek". One likes to think Ramsay came to this realisation before his richly deserved death.
  • Also, as she finally does walk away and hears the sounds of Ramsay getting torn apart in the background, Sansa smirks triumphantly.
• Sansa gets a Badass Boast before the battle: "You're going to die tomorrow, Lord Bolton. Sleep well." The best part, of course, is that she's right.
• The Stark loyalists tearing down the Bolton banners over Winterfell and unfurling the direwolf banner over the battlements. At long last, the Starks have taken back their home. This leads to another awesome moment the more one finally lets it sink in. After years of the Boltons and their allies reaping the rewards of their betrayal against the Starks, justice has finally been served. This time, the good guys have won.
• When Theon and Yara arrive at Meereen, Dany is naturally quite skeptical about their offer. They start to win her over by revealing that they intend to make Yara and not Theon the ruler of the Iron Islands, and Yara only needs a few seconds to agree to put an end to the Ironborn's pirate lifestyle. Dany closes by refuting Tyrion's worry as they're simply asking for their freedom rather than demanding, and she'll be willing to hear out any other territories with the same request once she's on the Iron Throne. After starting the episode saying she's nothing like her father, here's where she proves it.
• The awesome girl power handshake between Yara and Dany. Cue the slashfics. The fact that Yara went from fleeing for her life to bargaining with the most powerful woman in Essos is nothing short of miraculous. Dany's reaction is basically, "I like her."
• Tormund Giantsbane living up to his name by ripping out Smalljon Umber's throat with his teeth before shanking the turncloak multiple times in the face with a crude knife.
• While she doesn't participate in the battle personally, Lyanna Mormont is present when Jon, Sansa, Tormund, Davos, and the other lords allied with them, meet with Ramsay and his allies. The entire time, she sits on her horse fixing Ramsay with a Death Glare.
• After spending five seasons remaining neutral, the armies of the Vale show up in full force and easily crush the Bolton forces.
• Jon manages to evade a constant Rain of Arrows, stands up alone against the charging Bolton cavalry, and turns into an absolute demon on the battlefield, slaughtering countless enemies in one continuous long shot. He might as well have killed more enemies individually than anyone else in his army besides Wun Wun.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: The very first enemy that Jon kills is struck by Longclaw so hard that Jon shatters his sword and knocks him out of his horse.◊
• For those rooting for the bad guys: The fact that Ramsay all but won this episode. He had Jon right where he wanted him, with no escape in sight. If Sansa hadn't come to save the day, he would have won.
• Another for the bad guys: Petyr Baelish is back. Not necessarily in Sansa's good graces, but now in a position where he could find his way in.
• Jon attempting to fight Ramsay in single combat before the war, and then pointing out after Ramsay declines that his men will hardly fight for a man who won't fight for them. Even Ramsay admits that his gambit is a good one.
• House Mormont proving their loyalty to the Starks. Longclaw, their ancestral sword, helping Jon and Sansa retake Winterfell and their shield◊ protecting Jon from Ramsay.
• The shot of Jon Snow drawing Longclaw when he's facing down Ramsay's forces who are coming at him full force, only for his own forces to run right past him and meet them head on is already one of the most iconic GOT shots ever. Even better, none of that scene was shopped in — it was completely real. And Kit didn't even flinch!
• The episode reached a 10/10 rating on IMDb from over 100000 votes, shattering the record previously held by the Breaking Bad episode "Ozymandias".

10 - The Winds of Winter

• We have a Moment of Awesome right in the intro: After five seasons of being sacked and later under House Bolton's control, Winterfell once again displays the logo of House Stark.
• Davos stating the obvious to Melisandre when confronting her about Shireen's death:
  Melisandre: I only do what my lord commands!
  Davos: If he commands you to burn children, your lord is evil!
  • Much of that scene qualifies for Davos as he basically shames Melisandre into confessing what happened with a major What the Hell, Hero? and succeeds in having her exiled, something that he has tried on and off to accomplish since he was introduced in Season 2.
• Margaery remains as savvy as ever, being the only person to realize that something is very wrong when neither Tommen nor Cersei show up for the trial. It's still not enough to save her this time, though.
  • There's also something to be said for how upon realizing she’s not getting out of this, she opts to spend her final moments giving the High Sparrow a major Death Glare showing him exactly where the blame for everything lies.
  • The fact that as soon as the High Sparrow starts talking about "the gods" her response is a curt, "Forget about the bloody gods and listen to what I'm telling you!" Her Precision F-Strike is not only awesome in itself after all her saccharine religious platitudes, but it lets the High Sparrow finally realise that her conversion was staged all along; he never dominated her as he thought he had, and she had played him for a fool as easily as he had played Cersei and Tommen, despite the huge difference in their ages and levels of experience. Seeing the old queen Margaery, praised by her grandmother as being "even better" than she had ever been, return in all her glory is awesome, even if it doesn't last long.
• Olenna barely lets Ellaria and the Sand Snakes get two words out before she gives them a sharp and well-deserved Shut Up, Hannibal! speech, reminding them that they're both king and kinslayers — two of the worst crimes in Westerosi society — and have no right to hold diplomacy talks with legitimate royals like herself.
  • Since the whole Dorne arc has been quite unpopular with viewers, it's downright refreshing to see Olenna give them a verbal beatdown that's oozing with contempt and belittlement. She even tells Obara that she looks like an angry little boy, which actually describes her Ax-Crazy behavior pretty well and shuts up Nym and Tyene before they can even get a word in edgeways.
  • Olenna also serves as a rather heroic Foil to the Sand Snakes. While she's teaming up with Dany to avenge her murdered family, it was the Sand Snakes themselves who murdered their own uncle and cousin in a bid for power. Their concept and rationality of revenge and justice couldn't be more different.
• Cersei's final gambit is a glorious example of Rooting for the Empire, especially if you're a Cersei fan. She abstains from attending her trial in the Sept of Baelor because she found out about the casks of wildfire the Mad King planted beneath it, and detonates them. The High Sparrow, Margaery, Loras, Kevan, Lancel, Mace, and the Sparrows — all of Cersei's enemies are cleared from the board in one fell swoop none of them saw coming. The entire sequence plays out similar to The Godfather's final sequence, though arguably more heartbreaking. Also the High Sparrow and his fanatics are wiped out. Seeing these vicious, sanctimonious characters incinerated is very cathartic.
  • The only thing that makes this even more awesome is seeing Septa Unella, who obviously particularly enjoys bullying other women and has thus far zealously enforced the High Sparrow's violent and homophobic edicts, finally getting her comeuppance. Cersei pours wine over her her face, reminds her that she told her the her face would be the last thing she sees before she dies and then makes good on her vow, leaving the Mountain to torture her to death while chanting "Shame ... shame ... shame". Bet you never thought you'd find yourself cheering Cersei and the Mountain on.
  • Furthermore, she takes the Iron Throne for herself, ruling as queen in her own right. Queen Cersei Lannister, First of Her Name.
  • This may prove awesome in an entirely different manner as time goes on. Cersei has finally become queen. But almost every house in Westeros, aside from those in the Crownlands and Westerlands, is now standing against her, and a furious Jaime — who already carries the title of Kingslayer for preventing the Mad King from perpetrating the very atrocity she (partially) successfully did — is shown lurking in the background shooting Cersei a withering Death Glare. Cersei killed a staggering number of her enemies that day, but, as Olenna predicted, she's already lost.
  • Even considering it's the final sign that her sanity has finally gone bye-bye, her unflinching reaction to Tommen killing himself is this as well, as it shows that she didn't execute her plan under any delusions — she knew what price she would be probably paying for this all along.
  • It's even better. The Witch's prophecy said that she would reign as Queen, "...until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear." Well, Cersei has never ruled as Queen before now — she's only been Queen Regent. She's smirking because she thinks by killing Margaery, she's escaped the prophecy. In fact, she's made sure it will be fulfilled. And any viewer knows of the young, beautiful dragon-queen who is on her way to Westeros.
• After Walder Frey insults the Blackfish for getting killed by Lannister mooks Jaime starts to question him on his own fighting talents. Walder immediately picks up on what he's getting at and gives a "Not So Different" Remark about himself and Jaime, specifically about how their enemies mocked them yet they won in the end and killed them all. Jaime then viciously rips into him, not bothering to hold back his contempt and disgust, explaining that no one respects or fears the Freys and if Walder needs the Lannisters to come running and do his dirty work every time he has a problem, then he's not a winner and they don't need him. Walder is left sputtering as Jaime exits.
• A Frey servant girl reveals to Walder Frey that the pie he just ate is made up of the flesh of his own sons. The servant pulls off her face, revealing herself as Arya, and announces that the last thing he'll see before he dies will be a Stark smiling down at him. Arya then proceeds to slit Walder's throat in the same way her mother's throat was slit. With Walder's death, all the conspirators of the Red Wedding have met their richly deserved fates. Robb, Catelyn and Talisa's deaths have finally been avenged. Not only that, but all of them have died in the same way they killed the Starks: shot by crossbow (Tywin), stabbed in the chest by someone he trusted (Roose) and throat slit from behind (Walder).
  Arya: They're already here, my lord... Here, my lord.
• A longtime fan theory is finally confirmed as Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen are revealed to be Jon's parents.
  • In hindsight it's a Moment of Awesome for Ned Stark. In Season 1, he was the Butt-Monkey of a Decadent Court, which eventually led to his death. But it was he, of all people, the one who managed to keep maybe the most dangerous secret of Westeros, fooling for almost twenty years consummate chessmasters of the size of Tywin Lannister, Littlefinger and Varys.
  • Also with that comes vindication for Ned in the fact that he never fathered a child with anyone but Catelyn and was loyal to her through and through. One of Ned's few pitfalls was never true to begin with and, in addition to that, the real truth behind it all makes him even more awesome: Ned spent the rest of his life protecting his nephew (Jon), raising him as his own, and honored his sister's dying wish to save her son, out of love for them both. He accepted the stain on his honor and kept one of the most dangerous secrets in Westeros to protect the only child of his deceased sister.
  • And it is another awesome moment for Ned (sadly posthumously) in that it is a subtle refutation of how men like Varys, Littlefinger, and Tywin think: they're all so focused on the politicking and backstabbing way of thinking that they never could have imagined or expected Jon Snow to NOT be Ned Stark's bastard son. As far as they were concerned, Jon Snow was simply an amusing reminder that no one, not even noble and upright Ned Stark, is perfect and that everyone has skeletons in their closet. They never once stopped to think that Ned Stark would choose to stain his reputation and cause a rift in his marriage to Catelyn simply because he was willing to do the one thing that Varys, Littlefinger, and Tywin Lannister seem incapable of doing: selflessly think of someone other than himself. As a result? Jon Snow stands poised to contend as the true King of Westeros.
• Jon and Sansa reaffirming that they are brother and sister no matter what.
• Five words that have not been heard for too long: "The King in the North!"
  • And Jon Snow being named King in the North by the Northern lords in an Awesome Moment of Crowning, just as his late brother Robb was in the Season 2 premiere.
  • Lyanna Mormont successfully Shaming the Mob to get to this Awesome Moment of Crowning by stating, "House Mormont remembers." Indeed. Even Tormund is impressed.
  • The look on Littlefinger's face when Lyanna's speech begins to rile up the crowd. One of the smartest, most conniving men in all of Westeros just had his plans foiled by a child.
  • What better to accompany an Awesome Moment of Crowning than the main theme.
• Daenerys and her absolutely massive fleet setting sail for Westeros. Hope you like the chair, Cersei, because you ain't keeping it.
  • Not only has Daenerys emblazoned the sails of her ships with the sigil of House Targaryen (which makes them look awesome), not only do we get to see the dissident Ironborn fly their own banners and sails over their ships, but they are joined by House Martel and House Tyrell, who have set their hatred aside to take revenge on Cersei. Three of the Seven Kingdoms are now united against Cersei Lannister, and if Tyrion's assessment of her potential allies holds, the Starks and the entire North (as well as the Vale, who have allied with the North) with them may follow.
  • One should also note that Daenerys has the support of Tyrion of House Lannister, while House Arryn are aligned with the Starks. With the fall of House Frey, leaving room for House Tully to rise again, Dany has the potential to have members from all surviving major houses contributing to her cause.
• When Littlefinger tells her how everything he does is to bring into the world a picture of him on the Iron Throne and her by his side, and tries to kiss her, Sansa pushes him aside, and dismisses his life's ambition as "a pretty picture." Not to mention, last time Littlefinger kissed Sansa, she was too shocked to react and pretty much had no choice but to passively comply with it. Here, she shoves Littlefinger away when he gets too pushy and leaves him standing by the weirwood tree alone, telling Jon that only an idiot would trust him. She's no longer a pawn to be moved where he wants.
• Even though he's been set back, Littlefinger gets one during "The King in The North" when Sansa spots him in the crowd and he gives her a knowing look. He's not done yet, not by a long shot.

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