Game Of Thrones: Every Penultimate Episode Ranked From Worst To Best

The funny thing about Season 5 is that it has a better episode 9 in episode 8, Hardhome, than in the actual penultimate episode. The Dance of Dragons is by no means a bad installment, it’s just that the action and intrigue usually reserved for the second-to-last one had been marked off an episode early.

That being said, The Dance of Dragons is memorable for two reasons. The sequence at the episode’s end, where the Sons of the Harpy attempt to assassinate Daenerys, is one of the most intense and exciting sequences in the show, especially once Drogon shows up and fries them all. And yes, for the first time, we got to see the Mother of Dragons ride one of her children, and it was glorious.

But the episode is far more memorable for the devastating loss of Shireen Baratheon. If you were rooting for Stannis up until this point, chances are you turned against him after this scene, as did half of his army.

No sound on Game of Thrones is as haunting or as upsetting as Shireen’s screams as she’s burned alive, and the fact that it was the doing of her own father as a sacrifice to the Lord of Light just makes it more upsetting.

Why, Game of Thrones? Why do you keep doing this to us?