3. The Red Wedding Game Of Thrones ('The Rains Of Castamere')
OK, so it's pretty much common knowledge now that HBO will push just about every boundary they can in terms of how much profanity is acceptable on TV, and God love 'em for it! The wedding massacre at the end of episode nine, season three, of 'Game of Thrones' pretty much shocked everybody though. I think extra credit goes to the episode's director, David Nutter, who pulled off capturing one of the most important scenes in the whole series, stunned the uninitiated viewers, and wildly impressed those viewers who knew what was coming, assuring them that they 'got it right' aesthetically. It's just unrelenting and unsentimental to the end, concluding with the brutal, quiet throat-slashing of Catelyn Stark after her son is killed in front of her. Bloody powerful cut-to-black. A special shout-out goes to Jaime's hand, swiftly detached from his arm at the end 'Bear And The Madien Fair' of the same season. The acting in this scene is terrific, especially from my main man Nikolaj and Charlie's dad from the Charlie And The Chocolate Factory remake. It's often appropriate to frame a moment of shock with comedy as well, and there's a punk rock rendition of one of the shows folk songs over the credits following the cut-to-black. One thing's for sure it definitely knocked the wind out of you.