Although most TV shows never get IMDb ratings even close to perfect, HBO's smash hit fantasy series Game of Thrones has a few episodes that score an astonishing 9.9 rating. "The Winds of Winter," "Hardhome," and "The Rains of Castamere" are among the episodes that are rated at 9.9, but with nearly 200,000 votes, it's "Battle of the Bastards" that has the most votes and highest rating of all.
And unfortunately but unsurprisingly for GoT, it's the series finale "The Iron Throne" that comes it dead last with a gruesome 4.0 rating. However, "Battle of the Bastards" isn't without flaw, and "The Iron Throne" does have it's successes as well.
Wrong: Not Acknowledging Dany's Bad Behavior In Meereen
It's interesting to see the best and worst episode of the series link up in this way, because while a lot of fans hated "The of the Bastards" seems to be a portent of things to come.
After all, Daenerys defeats the slavers who are ri against her by destroying their army, an army that is almost certainly made up of many innocent slaves. If the show had acknowledged that, then Dany's dark turn wouldn't have been so surprising to so many.
Right: The Characters Stayed Gray
Something that set Game of Thrones apart from many other high fantasy stories is that the characters felt human, and no one was a pure villain or pure hero.
Even when Daenerys did something as monstrous as burning King's Landing, the audience and many of the characters in-universe still empathized with her. The show never reduced it's characters to one dimension or told it's audience that someone was a straight up bad guy or good guy.
Wrong: Including The Battle In Meereen
Honestly, the Battle of the Bastards is so intense and eventful that it's easy to forget that Daenerys basically torches an entire army at the start of the episode.
And while Game of Thrones is known for turning things up on the ninth episode of each season, the resolution of the Meereenese problem that had been driving the storyline in Essos for quite a while by that point deserved it's own episode.
Right: The Show's Chekhov's Guns Went Off
The principle of Chekhov's gun is essentially that if a writer mentions a gun in act 1 of a story, it needs to go off by act 5.
And while Game of Thrones made a huge mistake by waiting until the very last episode for many of it's Chekhov's guns to go off, it's still good that they actually made all of that prior foreshadowing relevant to the climax of the story.
Wrong: It Traded Character Consistency For Shock Value
Sansa Stark letting Ramsay be eaten by his dogs was more than justified, however that level of gruesome violence and Sansa's obvious enjoyment at Ramsay's suffering felt out of character.
It felt like the show wanted to kill Ramsay in the most violent way possible, even though Sansa was always repulsed by and afraid of violence. It felt like a nonsensical character development that was driven by the desire to up the shock value for the show constantly.
Right: Daenerys' Flaws Were Fully Exposed
The way in which Dany's fall came about didn't make sense, but it wasn't out of character either. She had talked about burning cities since season 2, and she had often let the innocent become collateral damage in her quest for the Iron Throne before.
"The Iron Throne" simply shifted the perspective of her actions and made the audience finally see that collateral damage for the innocents that they were.
Wrong: It Resorted To Unearned Cheap Shots
Obviously using Rickon as bait to draw Jon into a bad situation makes sense from Ramsay's perspective, and he'd certainly want a legitimate male heir to Ned Stark to be gone.
However, using Rickon as nothing more than a plot device in the episode feels weak. Rickon didn't even have a line of dialog, and it would have been interesting and felt more powerful had they developed Rickon Stark as a character at all.
Right: Character's Choices Mattered
Even prior to her burning King's Landing, it was evident that Daenerys was the wrong horse to back for the Iron Throne.
However, Tyrion's decision to help Dany invade Westeros having legitimate and serious consequences for him made it much more real.
Wrong: It Ditched Logic For Excitement
When it looks like Jon and the Starks are going to lose the battle, suddenly the Knights of the Vale show up at Sansa's behest and save the day.
It is a good twist the first time the audience sees it, however it's really a one-trick pony that makes absolutely no sense logically. Sansa is meant to be a pretty clever politician, so the fact that she doesn't tell anyone that the Valemen might be coming is baffling.
Right: There Was Consequences To Actions
While most fans weren't happy to see Daenerys go, it's impossible to deny that she didn't deserve to be executed for her crimes, and to be honest it was hard to believe she even made it as far as she did.
What set Game of Thrones apart is that people's bad choices caught up with them, and Dany had done a whole lot of winning with almost no losses for her entire conquering career despite the fact that so many wanted her dead.