15 Worst Episodes Of Game Of Thrones, According To IMDb

"Game of Thrones" is one of the most popular and beloved shows of all time, as illustrated by the vast majority of its 73 episodes being rated above 8.0 on IMDb. The site's users love HBO's fantasy flagship enough to grant it three spots among the 10 best TV episodes ever; even the oft-maligned Seasons 5 to 7 are rated highly for the most part.

Still, there must, by definition, be a bottom to any ranking. On the list of worst-rated "Game of Thrones" episodes below, you will find that the lowest-placed are currently rated as high as 8.4 on IMDb — hardly anything to scoff at, but still not enough to raise them above 58 better-liked installments. There's only really one season of the show where episode ratings dropped into the abyssal zone; you can imagine which one. Do note that IMDb ratings are subject to constant real-time change, so, if the current ratings at the time of reading don't match this article, don't send us a raven!

The 15th-lowest-rated "Game of Thrones" episode on IMDb is the Season 6 premiere "The Red Woman." Here, Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) and the other loyalists at the Wall deal with the fallout of the mutiny led by Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale). Meanwhile, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is taken to Khal Moro (Joe Naufahu) by the Dothraki, the Sand Snakes continue their murder-strewn scheme, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) are saved from Ramsay Bolton's (Iwan Rheon) goons in the nick of time by Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and Podrick Payne (Daniel Portman).

Like other season premieres with less-than-stellar ratings, "The Red Woman" appears to have suffered from outsized expectations for the show's return, especially coming on the heels of the tepidly-received Season 5. The common theme among negative IMDb reviews is that it's a slow start to the season, with some more specific criticism directed towards the improbability of Brienne and Podrick's heroic rescue, along with the usual lack of patience for the Dorne storyline.

"Dark Wings, Dark Words" is the only Season 3 episode that makes this list. The second of the season's 10 episodes, it consists mostly of movement: Brienne and Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) continue their trek to King's Landing; Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) travels north through the Riverlands and comes across the Brotherhood without Banners; Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) follows Jeor Mormont (James Cosmo) in the arduous journey back to the Wall; Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and his party continue to head away from captured Winterfell, and meet siblings Meera (Ellie Kendrick) and Jojen Reed (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) for the first time.

Second episodes of the season getting comparatively low IMDb ratings is a common occurrence for "Game of Thrones," and, sure enough, criticism in the reviews is directed towards the hour's slower pace, heavy reliance on scenes of people walking, and what some viewed as a disjointed structure — the result of numerous subplots getting small, functional visitations to help set the season in motion. The least popular of those plots, unsurprisingly, seemed to be Bran's road trip.

Season 6's "No One" is as busy as third-to-last episodes on every season are wont to be: Arya fights for her life in Braavos, battles the Waif (Faye Marsay) in the dark, and reclaims her identity; Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) is blindsided by Tommen Baratheon's (Dean-Charles Chapman) decision to abolish trial by combat; Daenerys returns to Meereen with Drogon just as the city is being besieged by the Masters' forces; Brienne negotiates with Jaime a possible safe passage for the Tullys if they surrender, but fails to persuade Brynden Tully a.k.a. the Blackfish (Clive Russell) to stand down, leading to his death while she and Podrick sneak out.

The focal point of the negative reviews on IMDb is Arya's storyline, with numerous users accusing it of unfolding illogically, abounding with plot holes, failing to deliver on fan expectations, robbing viewers of a visible Arya vs. Waif showdown, and marking a frustrating and anticlimactic ending to the Braavos plot. A fair amount of criticism was also directed towards the decision to kill off Brynden offscreen, which some felt to be a waste of a character with significant potential.

Just two episodes before "No One" is the chapter that ranks immediately below it on the IMDb ranking: "Blood of My Blood." It finds Meera and Bran still fleeing from wights after escaping the cave, only to be rescued by Bran's uncle Benjen Stark (Joseph Mawle). In the Reach, Sam introduces his father Randyll Tarly (James Faulkner) to Gilly (Hannah Murray) and Little Sam, and is met with a hostile reception. Arya defies the House of Black and White and stops herself from poisoning Lady Crane (Essie Davis), Tommen and Jaime discover that Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) has repented and ostensibly converted to the Faith, and Daenerys rallies her Dothraki army.

Interestingly, there appears to have been little agreement among displeased IMDb reviewers as to what made the episode underwhelming, with qualms fluctuating between different plots depending on the reviewer. Some loved the writing and acting in Sam's family reunion, while others wished his screentime had been spent on more central characters; some enjoyed the surprise factor of Tommen's alliance with the Sparrows, but others were annoyed by the character; Arya's compassion for Lady Crane was alternately viewed as touching or out of character. The one constant among harsher reviews is the insubstantial, been-there-done-that feel ascribed to Daenerys' ostensibly triumphant scenes.

After the infamous final season, Season 5 is the one with the most episodes on the IMDb bottom 15 at four total, starting with Episode 3, "High Sparrow," which ranks at #11. The episode derives its title from the introduction of the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce), with whom Cersei meets and makes an alliance upon finding herself defeated by Margaery's marriage to Tommen. In Winterfell, Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Aidan Gillen) brokers the marriage between Sansa and Ramsay, while, in Volantis, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) visits a brothel and gets found and captured by Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen). As part of her House of Black and White initiation, Arya does away with her personal belongings — but still tucks away Needle in a safe hiding spot.

IMDb users unimpressed with the episode appear to have been mostly aggravated by Sansa's plot — not only Littlefinger's decision, which notoriously deviates from the book, but the fact that Sansa complacently goes along with marrying a monster in the name of a nebulously-defined "revenge." Also controversial are Tyrion's scenes, which, according to some, find him reverting to the least appealing version of his character. And, by this point, many viewers were still puzzled by Arya's Braavos adventures.

Coming right before "High Sparrow" is "The House of Black and White," which is placed right below it on the IMDb ranking. This table-setting Season 5 episode sees Arya reach Braavos and get accepted into the titular house by Jaqen H'ghar (Tom Wlaschiha), Jaime enlist Bronn (Jerome Flynn) to help him rescue Myrcella Baratheon (Nell Tiger Free), and Sansa turn down Brienne's offer of protection and continue on her path with Littlefinger. At the Wall, Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) offers Jon Snow (Kit Harington) lordship over Winterfell in exchange for support, only for Jon to be voted Lord Commander of the Wall instead.

It's another second episode that suffers, in negative reviewers' eyes, from too much exposition and plodding setup for upcoming installments. In the case of "The House of Black and White," another common complaint is wheel-spinning, with several scenes criticized for reiterating or recycling moments from the season premiere. The confusing logistics of Arya's rejection-then-acceptance into the House were also questioned by some, as was the soundness of Jaime's plan and the convenience of Brienne lucking into finding Sansa.

The entire stretch of Season 5's first three episodes sits together in IMDb ratings, with the premiere, "The Wars to Come," taking up the ninth spot in the bottom 15. Following a prologue in which a young Cersei (Nell Williams) is told by a fortuneteller that she will one day be usurped by a younger, more beautiful queen, we move into the present-day funeral of Tywin Lannister, where Cersei first gets word of the Sparrows through her newly-converted cousin Lancel (Eugene Simon). In Essos, Varys (Conleth Hill) convinces Tyrion to travel to Meereen to meet Daenerys, who in turn is dealing with political friction over her refusal to reopen the slave fighting pits. At the Wall, Jon tries unsuccessfully to get Mance Rayder (Ciarán Hinds) to bend the knee to Stannis.

The prevailing opinion among the negative reviews on IMDb is that this is the episode on which "Game of Thrones" begins to feel less than riveting. None of the storylines are consistently singled out for condemnation, but there's a hovering feeling among skeptics that nothing that happens in the episode is actually interesting or illuminating — starting with the flashback that only reaffirms Cersei's well-established situation, and on through the check-ins with characters whose situations remain pretty much where they already were at the end of Season 4. It was also here that protests against changes to the books started getting more intense.

The lowest-rated "Game of Thrones" episode on IMDb not to come from either Season 5 or Season 8 is "The Night Lands," the second episode of Season 2. It introduces the Iron Islands, where a returning Theon learns that his father Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide) intends to mount his own war effort instead of making a deal with Robb Stark (Richard Madden); the Small Council at King's Landing is similarly uninterested in Robb's diplomacy. At Dragonstone, Davos recruits a pirate fleet for Stannis, who attempts to father a son with Melisandre (Carice van Houten).

Aside from the recurring gripes about the pacing of the second episode of the season, several reviewers were bothered by the number of graphic sex scenes on "The Night Lands" — between Theon and the captain's daughter (Amy Dawson), Stannis and Melisandre, and the sequence at Littlefinger's brothel, there are three. Stannis and Melisandre's scene, in particular, was questioned by some for deviating from the characters' book personalities.

The seventh-worst "Game of Thrones" episode according to IMDb is actually the highest-rated Season 8 episode. Unusually, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" takes place entirely in Winterfell, following the quiet before battle as the characters prepare for the arrival of the Night King (Vladimir Furdik), and culminating in Brienne being anointed knight by Jaime and becoming the first woman in Westeros to be formally knighted.

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" arguably fell victim to the public vitriol against everything to do with Season 8, as it was generally quite acclaimed outside of IMDb, with some critics even citing it as one of the show's best episodes. Indeed, even on IMDb, save for a handful of complaints about the lack of plot, the reviews themselves largely praise the episode and cite it as the only good episode of Season 8 — which indicates that some version of blanket score-bombing may account for the low rating.

Per IMDb users, the worst "Game of Thrones" episode outside of Season 8 is "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken," the sixth installment of Season 5. It features Arya's introduction to the Hall of Faces, Tyrion and Jorah's capture by slavers in Essos, Loras Tyrell (Finn Jones) and Margaery's interrogation, Jaime and Bronn's failed attempt to rescue Myrcella from Dorne, and Sansa's wedding to Ramsay.

The bulk of the critiques against the episode comes, unsurprisingly, from Sansa's side of the plot, which ends with her being brutally sexually assaulted by Ramsay — a horror depicted by the series in rather unflinching detail. This choice, coupled with the fact that the storyline doesn't even exist in the books, left a bitter taste for many reviewers, who found the scene cruel, gratuitous, and in poor taste. Many were also critical of the action sequence at Dorne, deeming it convoluted and badly-shot, and some additional heat was reserved for flimsiness of Cersei's scheming during the Tyrells' trial.

The entire top 5 on this list is made up of Season 8 episodes, beginning with one of the lesser culprits among them: The season premiere, "Winterfell," which is mostly taken up with characters taking stock of Westeros' new situation. Daenerys arrives in Winterfell with Jon, but doesn't win the Northerners' trust; Jon and Arya finally reunite; Sam informs Jon that he's Aegon Targaryen. Elsewhere, Cersei tasks Bronn with traveling north and assassinating her two brothers.

While dragged down in the scoreboard by the Season 8 infamy much like "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," "Winterfell" did get significant flak for its overall writing and pacing; a large number of reviews accused it of feeling like a series of ticked boxes, with characters seemingly depleted of their personalities, and no scenes vivid or memorable enough to make an impression beyond their plot function. That lack of intensity would seem to extend even to Jon and Arya's reunion, considered by many to have been emotionally underwhelming.

Number four on the ranking goes to "The Long Night," a.k.a. the one with the Battle of Winterfell. The longest "Game of Thrones" episode, it runs 81 minutes and stays entirely fixed on the fight between the gathered armies and the White Walkers, while Sansa, Tyrion, and most of the castle's other non-combatants hide and wait in the crypts.

"The Long Night" is a hotly debated episode among "Game of Thrones" fans, and the same is true of its reception on IMDb, where a torrent of criticism offer point-by-point appraisals of why it was a letdown as the show's long-awaited climactic battle. The objections are primarily the very ones that have since become notorious: The dark and mushy coloring of the battle scenes, the lack of flow or narrative dynamism to the 80 minutes of action, the nonsensical behavior of several combatants, the plot armor around main characters, and the tossed-off way in which the Night King is finally defeated, making the whole storyline feel like a complete waste of time.

The third-worst chapter of "Game of Thrones" per IMDb users is "The Bells," on which, after executing Varys for his attempt to instate Jon as king, Daenerys easily overwhelms the defenses of King's Landing with help from Drogon. She proceeds to lay waste to the whole capital, killing thousands of innocent civilians. While this is happening, Sandor Clegane a.k.a. the Hound (Rory McCann) is finally able to duke it out with his resurrected brother Gregor Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), and Jaime just manages to meet Cersei again before they're both crushed by rubble in the collapsing Red Keep.

If "The Long Night" still counts several defenders on IMDb, "The Bells" is a new threshold on this list; from here on out, it's pretty much just pans and low scores all the way down. Simply put, large swaths of the IMDb user base were simply unconvinced by Daenerys' sudden flip from prideful but benevolent regalness to uncontrolled genocidal rage — and, on a show that had spent much of its first seven seasons building up Daenerys, this drastic change in her character irreparably soured many fans on the episode and the season. And that's not even getting into the insipid send-offs to characters like Varys, Cersei, and Jaime.

Edging out "The Bells" as the show's second-most-hated episode is its predecessor, "The Last of the Starks," which charts the aftermath of the Night King's defeat. While word of Jon's true parentage spreads to his siblings and then to Tyrion and Varys, Daenerys travels to King's Landing, where Rhaegal is killed with a giant ballista and Missandei gets captured. Meanwhile, Brienne and Jaime finally consummate their sexual tension, but their relationship isn't enough to dissuade him from dropping everything and running off to Cersei.

Unlike "The Bells," the poor reception to which largely stems from one big questionable choice, "The Last of the Starks" was received by many IMDb reviewers as an endless series of small frustrations. The instant resolution of the White Walkers threat leaves a vacuum of plot, which many found to be occupied by contrived, unengaging, and emotionally fraudulent storytelling. Daenerys' failure to see the Iron Fleet from the sky is a big recurring gripe, as is the impossible quickness of cross-kingdom trips that used to take whole seasons to complete.

The lowest-rated "Game of Thrones" episode by a mile is the series finale, "The Iron Throne," on which the characters scramble to respond to Daenerys' massacre. Tyrion resigns as Hand of the Queen and is arrested, Jon reluctantly kills Daenerys before she can take her thirst for power further, and, on Tyrion's advice, Westeros authorities ultimately decide to seat Bran as king and inaugurate an elective monarchy by council.

The episode's score is a whopping 1.5 point lower than even "The Last of the Starks," which tells you how loathed across the board the finale is among fans. Although the vast majority of the reviews on IMDb take aim at the whole season (after all, several fans ask to this day for a final season do-over) and the cumulative work of David Benioff and D. B. Weiss as showrunners over the series' back half, several reviewers also took the time to lambast Jon's mopey demeanor throughout the episode, the out-of-nowhere crowning of Bran, the handwaving of the enraged Unsullied and Dothraki armies, and the general preposterousness of Tyrion's speech to the lords and ladies.