Thanks to the Internet Movie Database, fans have been able to rank their favorite TV episodes for years.
Unsurprisingly, all of the top 10 episodes on IMDb were released in the 21st century, and two shows account for six of the 10 slots.
To narrow things down, Watch With Us excluded anime and animated programs from our roundup of the 10 best TV episodes as ranked by IMDb.
All of the episodes listed below are readily available to stream, and most of them have near-perfect IMDb scores.
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10. ‘Chernobyl’ (2019)
Season 1, episode 5: “Vichnaya Pamyat”
HBO’s Chernobyl was a dramatization of the nuclear disaster and the aftermath that took place in 1986, and it followed the aftermath as well. In the final episode, Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) refuses to go along with the Soviet Union’s cover story and testifies that he perjured himself in his earlier account. He then spells out how Soviet mismanagement of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant led to the deadly accident that has been forever associated with it.
Chernobyl is streaming on HBO Max.
9. ‘Six Feet Under’ (2001 – 2005)
Season 5, episode 12: “Everyone’s Waiting”
Series finales are always difficult to get right, but Six Feet Under satisfied fans by using the last episode to reveal the fates of the Fisher family. As Claire Fisher (Lauren Ambrose) sets out on a new path for herself, flash forwards reveal the deaths of Ruth Fisher (Frances Conroy), David Fisher (Michael C. Hall), Keith Charles (Mathew St. Patrick), Brenda Chenowith (Rachel Griffiths), Federico Diaz (Freddy Rodriguez) and Claire herself. Most of them lead long, mostly happy lives, but all of them have the same ending — death. The finale drove home what the series was all about — that since we all will eventually experience the same fate, we might as well savor the most of out life while we can.
Six Feet Under is streaming on HBO Max.
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8. ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011 – 2019)
Season 6, episode 10: “The Winds of Winter”
The sixth season finale of Game of Thrones didn’t have a major battle, but Cersei (Lena Headey) made her move to eliminate all of her enemies in King’s Landing at once by destroying the Great Sept of Baelor and everyone inside.
That leaves Cersei as the queen of the seven kingdoms, and all it cost her was the life of her last remaining child. Meanwhile, the true parentage of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) was revealed and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) finally sailed to Westeros to take the kingdoms for herself.
Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Max.
7. ‘Better Call Saul’ (2015 – 2022)
Season 6, episode 7: “Plan and Execution”
For the first half of Better Call Saul season 6, Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) built an elaborate con to trap their former boss, Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian).
In “Plan and Execution,” the trap and the con are successful and ruin Howard’s reputation. His final confrontation with the couple elevates the episode to another level, before a cliffhanger ending raises the stakes even higher.
Better Call Saul is streaming on Netflix.
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6. ‘Breaking Bad’ (2008 – 2013)
Season 4, episode 13: “Face Off”
Giancarlo Esposito reinvigorated his career as the menacing Gus Fring on Breaking Bad, and he was the biggest threat to Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul).
All of Walt’s previous plans to take out Gus failed, but his masterstroke arrived in “Face Off” when he discovered someone who hated Gus more than him. The last moments of Gus’ life have become one of the most famous scenes in the series and produced a visual that literalizes the episode’s title. Face off, indeed.
Breaking Bad is streaming on Netflix.
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5. ‘Mr. Robot’ (2015 – 2019)
Season 4, episode 7: “407 Proxy Authentication Required”
Mr. Robot was a thriller that was often more preoccupied with technology and social upheaval. “407 Proxy Authentication Required” dialed things back considerably during a forced therapy session between Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) and his therapist, Krista Gordon (Gloria Reuben).
Fernando Vera (Elliot Villar) orchestrated it because he wanted to know more about Mr. Robot and Elliot’s dissociative identity disorder. He got the breakthrough he wanted from Elliot’s confession, but probably not in the way he intended.
Mr. Robot is streaming on Netflix.
4. ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011 – 2019)
Season 3, episode 9: “The Rains of Castamere”
Readers of George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire novels knew all about the “Red Wedding” ahead of time. It took the better part of three seasons for Game of Thrones to catch up with those events in “The Rains of Castamere,” but the results were still pretty devastating.
In this fantasy world, it was unthinkable for guests to be attacked while under a host’s hospitality, especially at a wedding. Robb Stark (Richard Madden), his bride, Talisa (Oona Chaplin), and his mother, Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley), found out the hard way that the rules had changed. The episode marked a turning point in the series as no one, not even fan-favorites like the Starks, was immune to getting killed.
Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Max.
3. ‘Breaking Bad’ (2008 – 2013)
Season 5, episode 16: “Felina”
The final episode of Breaking Bad brought Walter White’s story to a close, but not without giving him some emotional closure with his wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn). Walt also came back home because he wanted revenge on his enemies, and he got it in spectacular fashion. The show’s story came full circle, and this is widely considered to be one of the greatest series finales.
Breaking Bad is streaming on Netflix.
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2. ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011 – 2019)
Season 6, episode 9 “Battle of the Bastards”
It became a tradition for Game of Thrones to have the biggest battles in the penultimate episodes of its later seasons. “Battle of the Bastards” elevated that tradition into a truly cinematic experience as Jon Snow and the forces loyal to House Stark faced Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) and his allies on the battlefield. Few fantasy films have matched the scale the series achieved here, and the medieval warfare is depicted with stunning brutality.
Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Max.
1. ‘Breaking Bad’ (2008 – 2013)
Season 5, episode 14: “Ozymandias”
This is the fall of the house of Walter White. Breaking Bad didn’t wait until the final episode to expose Walt’s double life as a drug kingpin. His wife, Skyler, already knew the truth. But in the aftermath of the shootout in the desert, Walt’s son, Flynn (RJ Mitte), learned about his father’s dark side as well. The resulting implosion of Walt’s family brought the series to its final turning point, and this is one of the rare TV episodes to score a perfect 10 on IMDb.
Breaking Bad is streaming on Netflix.
To be considered “the best,” these films and series can be visually engaging, intellectually stimulating or simply just fun to watch, but the one trait they must have is that they are all, in some way, entertaining. We then check which platform they are streaming on and how you can access them as a subscriber. No algorithm nonsense or paid endorsements here — our recommendations are based purely on our love and interest for the films and shows we love.
