Ranking the Best Scenes in Game of Thrones Season 2

10. Theon Returns to the Iron Islands

Here’s a little spoiler for the rest of this list- this will not be Theon’s last scene on here. Theon has arguably the best side plot in this entire season, and I’m a huge fan of how his character develops over the next few seasons. The start to this is when Robb first sends him over to the Iron Islands- the fact that he expects a warm welcome is both hilarious and sad, especially when his father lets him know he wants nothing to do with working with the Starks. I have to also mention the music here- it fits with the scene very well.

9. Yoren's Speech

Arya’s subplot is also pretty amazing this season- probably my favorite Arya season. Yoren is a badass for first saving her from the Lannisters in King’s Landing, and then inadvertently inspiring Arya’s list. He explains to Arya about how he repeated the name of the kid who killed his brother over and over until he finally did kill him. Following this great bonding between him and Arya, he’s slaughtered by the Lannisters- but he left a lasting impact on Arya.

8. Stannis's Introduction

In my opinion this should’ve been the actual opening to the season, but this scene is still amazing regardless. The introduction of the Lord of Light, and the announcement of Stannis being ‘the prince who was promised’ tells us so much about him, Melisandre, and what his story is going to be like immediately. Add in the controversy of the Maester reminding everyone that they were raised in the faith of the seven- and another great track from Ramin, and it’s a very memorable introduction for Stannis.

7. Theon's Last Speech

“WE DIE TODAY, BROTHERS!” Theon absolutely cooked with this speech for no reason. His talk with Luwin to start off the scene is great- it’s awesome to see Theon’s conflict with himself, and it makes him a much more sympathetic character for what’s coming next. And then his actual speech is just batshit insane. Bro was speaking like he was about to lead a full army, and not like a dozen guys. The way it ends is also just hilarious, and in my opinion a fitting end to Theon’s fun little subplot in Winterfell.

6. Arya is nearly found out by Littlefinger

I had a few scenes in mind where Arya and Tywin are together, but I settled on this one because this was the one where I was the most scared for her. Tywin has never seen Arya, so I understand why he doesn’t realize that it’s her… but Littlefinger was just with her last season. The way the show builds the tension is great, they really play into this fear. It’s actually pretty debated if Littlefinger recognized Arya or not in this scene… and I don’t have an opinion myself. I can see it both ways- it’s entirely possible he didn’t realize it was her, or did and just didn’t want to reveal her to Cersei. I will say I don’t really understand his angle if he did recognize her- but Littlefinger does what he wants to.

5. Tyrion tricks the other council members

I somehow have not mentioned Tyrion at all yet which is a little ridiculous. Throughout this entire season, Tyrion is scheming in King’s Landing, trying to keep Joffrey in line and keep Cersei at bay. One of my favorite scenes of this is when he decides to figure out which of the three others in the Small Council is feeding Cersei information- he tells Varys, Littlefinger, and Maester Pycelle that he’s planning on marrying Princess Myrcella to different people- and when Cersei eventually finds out, he realizes Pycelle told her. I think this is an awesome scene because of the way its edited- and how it shows Tyrion’s proactiveness in King’s Landing.

4. Jaime kills his cousin

Jaime has a… weird season, to say the least. The dude is just imprisoned the entire time, but he does have one great scene this season. Randomly, they put his cousin, Alton Lannister, who’s been serving as a kind of messenger, into a cell with Jaime, and bro decides this is his moment to escape. After having a genuinely nice talk, where Alton reminisces about being Jaime’s squire, Jaime tells Alton he can help him escape. “How?” He asks, before Jaime straight up kills him just to create a distraction. It’s a pretty batshit insane scene, and it does a great job of showing just how obsessed Jaime is with trying to get back to Cersei.

3. Jaqen's First Kill

Another Arya scene- and I don’t think people remember just how hype Jaqen’s first season was. Out of nowhere, this guy who Arya randomly helped shows back up and offers to kill 3 people for her. Everyone says she should’ve said Tywin or Joffrey, but she says the Tickler first, likely to see if he’s being real. Later on in the episode, the Tickler, a torturer for Tywin, falls out of a tower and is killed- Arya looks up and sees that it was Jaqen who did it. I think this scene communicates so much to us in about 90 seconds, and it’s masterful for that. It quickly shows us that Jaqen is masterful, and he can quite literally kill whoever Arya asks. It’s a scene that got me so excited for the rest of Arya’s subplot this season, and in general for the Faceless Men.

2. Theon Executes Rodrik Cassel

In my opinion, this is the best Theon moment from the entire season. After capturing Winterfell without much resistance, Rodrik Cassel is dragged back into Winterfell by some of Theon’s soldiers. Rodrik shames Theon, reminding him that Ned Stark basically raised him. While Theon first wants to just imprison him, his fellow Iron Islanders goad him into making Rodrik pay the ‘Iron Price’. As soon as that word is uttered, another amazing track by Ramin plays and Theon sentences him to death. Bran and Rickon scream bloody murder as Rodrik says- “Gods help you Theon Greyjoy- now you are truly lost.” It’s kind of crazy how good the dialogue was in early Game of Thrones- and how well this scene portrays Theon’s conflict within himself. Theon was my favorite character from this season, without a doubt.

1. The Wildfire Explosion

The best moment of this season isn’t really a debate. The Battle of Blackwater is a top 3 episode in general, and the main catalyst and turning point for it is Tyrion’s use of wildfire to absolutely destroy most of Stannis’s ships. It’s a great culmination of all of Tyrion’s scheming in order to save the city- something he gets no respect for. It leads a lot of things to fall into place with this episode, and in the story in general. Firstly, the Hound is shook by the fire, and later on quits the Kingsguard. Davos is nearly killed, and is set off on a revenge plot of his own against Melisandre next season. It’s great visually, and my favorite moment of the season.