This episode imo deserves to be in every conversation about the best episode of GoT but I don't think it is, which is why I am writing this review twelve years later.
The whole episode is like a giant countdown towards the climax at the end - the confrontation in the throne room and Littlefingers betrayal of Ned. Every noteworthy character in Kings Landing is there and the atmosphere is so tense. I can still feel my heart racing every time I rewatch the episode, which shows how well it is crafted and doesn't rely on cheap shock value, that loses its magic already on the second watch.
Prior to the final confrontation all the little plays and dialogues are very good. The dialogues get long time to breathe but it never gets boring in the slightest, they make sure that there is always just enough development of the situation at court going on, so that one is just glued to the screen.
And all of this is achieved without any fantasy-element at all. They are very rare in all of season one, this episode for example could almost feature in a historical-fiction series as well. The white walkers, dragons or big battles are nice of course but THIS is the backbone of GoT: The scheming and the politics. 10/10 perfect episode. It is difficult to come up with a solid ranking of the GoT-episodes but I think it ranks at least as #3 for me and the competition is very fierce.
The whole episode is like a giant countdown towards the climax at the end - the confrontation in the throne room and Littlefingers betrayal of Ned. Every noteworthy character in Kings Landing is there and the atmosphere is so tense. I can still feel my heart racing every time I rewatch the episode, which shows how well it is crafted and doesn't rely on cheap shock value, that loses its magic already on the second watch.
Prior to the final confrontation all the little plays and dialogues are very good. The dialogues get long time to breathe but it never gets boring in the slightest, they make sure that there is always just enough development of the situation at court going on, so that one is just glued to the screen.
And all of this is achieved without any fantasy-element at all. They are very rare in all of season one, this episode for example could almost feature in a historical-fiction series as well. The white walkers, dragons or big battles are nice of course but THIS is the backbone of GoT: The scheming and the politics. 10/10 perfect episode. It is difficult to come up with a solid ranking of the GoT-episodes but I think it ranks at least as #3 for me and the competition is very fierce.