10 TV Episodes NOBODY Was Ready For
1. The Rains Of Castamere - Game Of Thrones
Look, could it really have been anything else?
In terms of shocking TV misdirects, you don't get much bigger, better, more famous, and more deflating that Game of Thrones' love letter to human misery.
The Red Wedding.
At the end of The Rains of Castamere from the show's third season, we catch up with Robb Stark, his pregnant wife Talisa, mother Catelyn, and several other important figures in his army.
All looks to be going well, as the revellers celebrate the marriage of Edmure Tully to Roslin Frey. Then, as the happy couple are escorted away, all hell breaks loose.
Roslin's father Walder, spurned by Robb going back on his word to marry his daughter, orders a slaughter. The Stark bannerman are ruthlessly cut down, as is Talisa. A distraught Robb then falls to a Frey blade, before a defeated Catelynn also has her throat slit.
This was the epitome of the "anything can and will happen" philosphy that made Thrones so great. The death of so many major characters in such a brutal and unexpected fashion is still one of the most talked-about moments in TV history and few who have seen it will ever be able to shake it from their memories.