Game of Thrones Season 1: Every episode, ranked

It’s time to take it all the way back to the very first season of Game of Thrones.

Adapting a book series can be touch and go, especially in the early days. Do you stay faithful and nab as many readers as possible, or simplify things? Fortunately, HBO mostly favored the former at the start of Game of Thrones, and it didn’t disappoint.

So let’s take a trip in the time machine back to the halcyon days of 2011 and a simpler time of Game of Thrones, then proceed to rank every single episode of the first season.

10. “Lord Snow”

Episode number: 3

Original airdate: May 1, 2011

Writers: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

Director: Brian Kirk

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 80%

Welcome to Game of Thrones‘ first real set-up episode, where hints get dropped and plotlines begin to really thicken.

Here, we get to meet a slew of new people and get our first taste of King’s Landing. Almost immediately upon arrival, we also learn that Ned Stark is not meant for the capital. His outburst during his first small council meeting proves it.

Ditto with Jon Snow up at the Wall. He gets to learn some very valuable lessons about the sorts of men with whom he serves in the Night’s Watch. (It’s a shame he doesn’t learn to smooth things over enough to actually be Lord Commander, but that’s five seasons later.)

Meanwhile, Cersei also drops yet another line that could serve as a motto for every single family, “Everyone who isn’t us is an enemy.”

But it does slow things down for the first time in the show, and proves to be more concerned with the long game than anything else. Perhaps the biggest reveal is Daenerys’ pregnancy, and even that won’t pay off for quite a while.

Next: 9. The Wolf and the Lion