3 Underrated Game of Thrones Episodes That Are Secretly Masterpieces (#2 Was the Last GREAT Episode)

Game of Thrones is remembered for giving us some of the biggest, best episodes of TV ever made. Everyone has their own favorite, but any consensus list of the best Game of Thrones episodes is likely to include things like “The Rains of Castmere,” “The Winds of Winter,” “Hardhome,” and “Blackwater,” with the battle installments in particular getting a lot of attention. These are the things that made Thrones into such a watercooler phenomenon, with moments that broke the internet, our minds, and our hearts, changing the very idea of what television could be in ways that still reverberate today.

Still, Game of Thrones was so much more than shocking moments and breathtaking spectacle. It was the episodes in between that allowed those to soar, gradually building to those epic events, setting up the major twists, and making us care about (or despise) the characters. The show was incredible in its smaller, quieter moments, but the nature of them means those installments aren’t as celebrated. There are several that could be considered underrated (for these purposes, I looked at those rated below a 9.0 on IMDb, since almost 40% of the show’s episodes hit that impressive mark), and a few that deserve to be rated much, much more highly.

3) Season 1, Episode 1, “Winter is Coming”

IMDb Rating: 8.9/10

It’s rare the first episode of a show is the best: things are still being figured out, and a series needs time to grow and become the fully-realized version of itself. That’s true to an extent for Game of Thrones, but its first episode remains a remarkable feat considering just how much it had to accomplish. This had to introduce its medieval fantasy world, the different locations in it, the settings, the stakes, the history and rivalries, and set up its future too.

There are a few dozen characters featured, across multiple locations, ranging from beyond the Wall to King’s Landing and across the Narrow Sea in Pentos. It has men getting killed by apparent ice zombies, dragon eggs, and incest. It has more names than any newcomer could possibly remember. It’s full of heavy, complicated exposition and lore. It probably shouldn’t work. Hell, it didn’t work: the original version of the pilot was almost completely reshot, and will never see the light of day, because it was considered so bad.

And yet, somehow, it all comes together. The storylines are gripping, the characters are flawed and fascinating. We get a sense of who the good and bad guys are, but with a few questions. There are some shocking twists, great performances, and already lots of intrigue. Put simply, this episode absolutely hooks you in, and distills down so much of what we’d come to love about the series into a fantastic first hour. Because after this, who wouldn’t be ready to watch seven or eight more seasons of Sean Bean’s Ned Stark being the ultimate hero…

2) Season 8, Episode 2, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”

IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

Yes, Game of Thrones Season 8 was widely panned. The final few episodes, in particular series finale “The Iron Throne,” sparked a major online backlash that threatened to derail the reputation of the entire show. Six years on, it’s now the go-to answer for a TV show with a bad ending, and twists such as Bran becoming king and Daenerys Targaryen becoming a villain have been endlessly mocked and criticized. But for a moment, before the storm, there was a brief spell of calm where it truly felt like the Thrones of old. That was “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”

Many of the show’s best episodes are about the battle itself, but this delivered an incredible installment right on the precipice of one. With the White Walkers approaching, all of our heroes gathered at Winterfell to prepare, which meant drinking, joking, swapping war stories, and so on. Some of the very greatest scenes in the show can be boiled down to conversations in dark rooms, and this is an episode that’s absolutely chock-full of them. The final few seasons of Game of Thrones suffered by being overly plot-driven, rushing ahead to hit major story beats. This episode works so well by taking a pause and letting the characters take over.

It’s an hour that plays like a tribute to the show’s past, a love letter to all of these relationships and stories we’ve watched unfold, a paean to all that’s been lost, all the hurt and heartache and suffering, but the joy of it as well. That can be found across Winterfell: in Podrick Payne’s beautiful rendition of “Jenny of Oldstones,” in Tormund, Tyrion et al telling tales by the fire, in Jon Snow revealing the truth to Daenerys, in Samwell Tarly giving his house’s Valyrian steel sword to Jorah Mormont, and more besides. And, most of all, in Jaime Lannister knighting Brienne of Tarth, one of the single most perfect moments in the entire series. This wasn’t the finale, but it feels like a goodbye to the characters and the show we loved, and it’s a stunning one at that.

1) Season 3, Episode 5, “Kissed By Fire”

IMDb Rating: 8.9/10

Like “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” “Kissed By Fire” is another gem written by Bryan Cogman, and it’s one that, for my money, isn’t just underrated, but is among the show’s five or so very best episodes. It’s another installment that has character and lore work richer than the Iron Bank. It’s one where we learn so much about who these people are, and that they are all far more complicated and layered than we once thought, and that history does not always reveal the full truth about what happened.

Again, there are lots of just brilliantly done smaller moments here. We get to meet Shireen Baratheon – who would later, tragically, be “kissed” by fire when she’s burned at the stake – and see that there are people who are truly good and innocent in this cruel world. There are some classic Tywin Lannister and Littlefinger power machinations down in King’s Landing. And at Riverrun, Robb Stark makes a decision that will help seal his fate, as he decides to attack Casterly Rock – and ask the Freys for help. These are all masterclasses in quietly developing characters and pushing the show’s storylines forward.

Even better is what we get beyond the Wall, as Jon Snow breaks his vows with Ygritte in a cave. It’s a powerful, tender moment that stands as a high point of one of the show’s biggest and best doomed romances. Elsewhere, Sandor Clegane and Beric Dondarrion face off in a fiery, furious trial by combat, giving us a swordfight that burns with intensity and thematic resonance.

And yet it all pales in significance to the show’s crowning moment: Jaime, in a bath, revealing the truth about killing the Mad King to Brienne. It’s a raw, poignant scene, beautifully played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and it’s the sort of character moment – a complicated villain, tragic, redemptive, featuring the most unlikely allies, that sheds new light upon the past and the present – that represents the very best of the entire series.

All eight seasons of Game of Thrones are available to stream on HBO Max.

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