The Walking Dead’s Highest Rated Episode Revealed

Data gathered from IMDb user ratings reveals the highest-rated episode of The Walking Dead, as determined by the weighted average of all 146 episodes aired so far between 2010 and 2020. User ratings have been collected for every episode through Season 10 episode 15, “The Tower,” the last episode that will be released until the postponed Season 10 finale can air later this year, with a graph classifying episodes with ratings between 86-100 as green and “great,” ratings between 76-85 as yellow and “good,” ratings between 66-75 as orange and “regular,” and ratings less than 65 as red and “bad.”

The Walking Dead Season 4 episode 8, “Too Far Gone,” is currently ranked as the highest-rated episode of the show across ten seasons with a 97. On IMDb, the episode holds a 9.7 star rating from 21,452 votes cast. Only the Season 6 midseason premiere, “No Way Out,” comes close with a 96 (9.6 on IMDb from 23,759 votes cast).

“Too Far Gone” first aired in December 2013 and was directed by Ernest Dickerson, a Walking Dead regular through Season 5, from a script by Seth Hoffman in his debut episode. The Season 4 midseason finale saw Philip Blake (David Morrissey), a.k.a. the Governor of Woodbury, plot and carry out an attack against the nearby prison group led by Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln).

Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) were taken hostage by the Governor, who earlier caused the death of Michonne’s close friend Andrea (Laurie Holden). The episode also saw Daryl (Norman Reedus) learn Carol (Melissa McBride) was banished by Rick in part to protect her from Tyreese (Chad Coleman), who had yet to learn it was Carol who murdered his girlfriend, Karen (Melissa Ponzio), as well as David (Brandon Carroll), after they fell sick with a deadly flu-like illness that swept through the prison.

“Too Far Gone” is best known for being the death episode for Wilson’s fan-favorite Hershel, who was killed when the Governor used Michonne’s katana to decapitate Hershel front of daughters Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Beth (Emily Kinney).

The death occurred after the Governor rejected Rick’s plea for peace. Rick told both sides of the conflict, “We’ve all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive, but we can still come back. We’re not too far gone. We get to come back. I know we all can change.”

Similar data revealed the lowest-rated episode of The Walking Dead is Season 7 episode “Swear,” which carries a 5.6 rating.

The Walking Dead next airs “A Certain Doom” as a special episode later this year. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.