*Spoilers for The Walking Dead Seasons 1-7*


Season 8 of The Walking Dead; titled ALL OUT WAR, where the Hill Top, Alexandria, and the Kingdom join forces to take on Negan and the Saviors, I have decided to take a look back over the last 8 years of this show and pick out my own personal top 10 episodes.
A lot of these choices are your stereotypical “best episodes ever”, but a few of them are a little unique to me, so you may have thought of other episodes that were some of your personal favourites. Naturally let us know what we have missed off in the comments.

I am still very much a huge fan of this franchise, despite the fact that zombies have been colossally milked in modern media. Mainly I am still a fan of the comics and have continued to read and collect them, but the show does have a special little place in my heart. I love it when it sticks close to the source material and some of the best episodes mentioned below have been so close that it recreated the magic that I felt when I first read those moments all those years ago.
The most recent season, while it has been questionable amongst some fans, has done well at building up season 8 and getting us used to the characters, so that when they do start getting popped off, we will feel the impact. It is a tactic that the comics have done and that the show has only touched upon a few times, so with that in mind, I think we are in for a good season this year.

It is strange to think that this show has been going on for nearly a decade. Over the last 8 years, the show has been a roller coaster of highs and lows. Moments like the ones below when we thought to ourselves that this was one of the best shows ever, and others like when the survivors were endlessly wandering across those bastard train tracks and we wanted to cut our own wrists with boredom.

Anyway, let’s get on with my own personally collection of greatest The Walking Dead episodes…

10 – Save the Last One – Season 2, Episode 3


In this episode we finally saw Shane take off the mask he had been wearing this whole time. It had been building up since the first time we saw Shane after Rick arrived in Atlanta, but this was the first time we truly saw him do something brutal.
In this case it was when he and Otis had gone to gather supplies from an overrun camp set up in an abandoned school. After getting inside and getting what they needed, the dead swarmed inside and after both men running for their lives, so much so that they were both fatigued and couldn’t go on any longer, Shane shot Otis in the leg to slow down the horde so that he could escape. SAVAGE!
It was a barbarous action that caused something inside Shane to break; something that had been building up for a long time. He shaved his head and started wearing hill-billy clothes after that.
I am sure that some other stuff happened in this episode, but with all of these, I am focusing on the key moments of the episodes.

9 – No Sanctuary – Season 5, Episode 1


This might be a running theme for me; brutality. Maybe I am a little sick in the head and only enjoy the show when it is being horrific… yep. I just looked over the rest of this list and I can confirm this.
Anyway, so No Sanctuary is the build up that seemed to take forever to get to. The second half of season 4 was when the crew were wandering the train tracks before finally arriving at Terminus, and then getting locked up in a shipping container.
“They are going to feel pretty stupid when they find out”. “Find out what?” “They are fucking with the wrong people” (the show said ‘Messing’, but the comics did it better. I think there is a alternate ending on the DVD when Rick said ‘fucking’).
So it is the episode AFTER that one, when the insane residence of Terminus revealed themselves as cannibals and had Glenn and Rick leaning over a troth ready to smash them over the head with a baseball bat (bit of foreshadowing for Glenn) before slitting their throats, as they did with the survivors before (who were the same ones Rick had met the season earlier for one episode).
It was also the episode that Carol came into her own to become this badass harbinger of death. She covered herself in the zombie guts poncho, and staggered through the horde, she had let in, armed with a sniper rife, taking out Terminus residents as they tried desperately to fight against the escaping other survivors and the mass of undead that were taking.
It was a vicious action packed start to the season and started off the ‘Fear The Hunters’ storyline where the group are being stalked by a group of cannibalistic hunters.

8 – This Sorrowful Life – Season 3, Episode 15

The penultimate episode of the season. If Game of Thrones has taught us anything, it is that the penultimate episode is always better than the finale, and that was certainly true in this case. While the finale of this season did see war break out between Woodbury, under the watchful eye of the Governor (Watchful eye! Haha) and the inhabitants of the Prison, resulting in a few deaths, it was ultimate a poor finisher when the Governor retreated and randomly murdered everyone, only to then prat about making a new group and using them to attack the Prison later.
Anyway, this episode saw the build up to what we thought was going to be the end of the Governors story, where he made Rick an offer to settle the matter if he handed him over Michonne (who had previously ‘murdered’ his undead daughter).
But this was not the main focus of the episode. The real reason this episode made it into the list wasn’t Rick making a moral decision whether or not to hand over Michonne, it was because Merle (played by the brilliant Michael Rooker), having realised that no one at the Prison likes him, has decided to prove himself and heads off on a solo mission to assassinate the Governor. Daryl, realising what Merle has left to do, goes after him.
Merle tries his hardest, but unfortunately gets captured and slightly tortured by the Governor and his men for Merle’s betrayal.
Daryl eventually finds him, but he has been shot in the heart and has reanimated, trying to now feed upon his brother, and we are given this real emotional moment that marked the end of this gone too soon character.

7 – Too Far Gone – Season 4, Episode 8


Too Far Gone was the season 3 finale that we wanted. It was the closest end of the Governor/Prison storyline to that of the comics (which to this day is still the greatest moment in the comic book series). Although the build up to this was poorly done, the actual showdown at the Prison was well executed.
We saw poor old Hershel get his head savagely hacked off with Michonne’s sword, as well as the end of the Governor himself. While his actual death was nowhere near as good as when he died in the comics (sorry to keep going on, but you should really read them if you haven’t done so), it was still a monumental moment, as the only salvation that Rick and the others had found; the Prison, was now completely overrun and no longer safe. The group had to just get out of dodge as soon as possible to avoid getting killed, causing them to all split off and become separated from one another. Some of them would not meet up again until the end of season 4 or even the beginning of season 5! (Mid season finale if you think in terms of Rick and Beth).
It was a great showdown that could have been handled a lot better, but the episode itself was still had us on the edge of our seats.

6 – No Way Out – Season 6 Episode 9


No Way Out was an episode when the TV show stuck close to the comics pretty much frame by frame. It was a horrific moment when we saw network television show a child being eaten alive by the dead, which no doubt shocked a lot of viewers.
The entire first half of season 6 was all set around the same sort of time. It showed the survivors of Alexandria trying hatch a plan to lure an enormous herd of walkers away from their settlement, and, while the plan was going well at first, naturally everything went tits up and, thanks to the help of the Wolves (those savages living in the wilderness with Ws on their heads), the army of the dead marched right in to gated community.
Fast forward a little bit to the mid-season finale when the walls came down the dead swarmed inside. Rick, Carl, Rick’s new girlfriend; Jesse, and her boys; Sam and Ron, have covered themselves in zombie guts and are hand holding their way through the herd now occupying the streets that their children had once played in.
Suddenly Sam is grabbed and starts getting eaten. Jessie won’t let go of her son and she too is pulled down, but she is still holding on to Carl’s hand. Rick has no choice but to hack off her hand with a hatchet as she is eaten alive (talk about a bad day).
Ron picks up his mother’s gun and aims it at Rick, ready to kill him, until Michonne stabs him through the chest, causing him to fall into the dead (naturally being torn apart) as the gun falls to the ground and goes off.
Rick hears the word “Dad?” said by his son, and as he turns around, he is horror-stricken to see that Carl has been shot in the eye and a large chunk of his face is missing before collapsing on the ground.
After this the survivors managed to slaughter the dead and take back the community, rather than running off, like they had done so many times before.
This episode also included Daryl blowing up a group of men with an RPG, who had previous told them that everything they have now belongs to Negan. This marked the beginning of the Saviors storyline, which is where we are now in the show.

5 – Thank You – Season 6, Episode 3


Staying with the first half of season 6 and the horde that the residents of Alexandria tried to lure away from them. When the plan went to shit and the dead turned around and followed the sound of that blasted truck horn (fuck me that horn went on and on and on for about 3 episodes solid), the survivors had to run off rather sharpish in order to get back and prepare for the approaching dead that was staggering towards their sanctuary.
Some of them did not have as safe a journey back as others, and in an attempt to try and split the walkers up a bit, they are pursued into an alleyway and become trapped on top of a large dumpster.
At this point, Nicolas has been nothing but a pain in the arse. He has been bloody useless, and even attempted to kill Glenn, but Glenn being the ‘other’ type of survivor, gave Nicolas at a chance at redemption, which personally I really wanted to see.
Let me explain, there are two types of survivors in this world (the zombocalypse). One who adapts and becomes a total badass (Michonne, Rick, Negan), and then the other that tries and hold on to their humanity (Glenn, Hershel, Beth). One type will shoot you dead for trying to steal some food and putting the group in danger, while the other will maybe give them a second chance, or prefer to lock someone up rather than outright kill them. AS people need to remember that this show is about surviving in this harsh world, rather than the actual zombies themselves.
Anyway, so Glenn and Nicolas find themselves trapped on top of this dumpster, now completely surrounded by the dead. Glenn is naturally thinking of a way for them to escape, and we are a little worried that maybe Nicolas might toss him overboard to give himself a chance, given his history, but really we are all hoping that Nicolas will do something epic and save the day, totally redeeming himself…
But no. Turns to Glenn and says “Thank you” before putting the gun to his temple and blowing his brains outs right in front of Glenn’s face, as he desperately tries to get him to stop, resulting in him covered in blood.
But oh no… that isn’t enough. Thank isn’t true Nicolas style. Nicolas is a man who has caused nothing but hassle for Glenn the moment he first met him. So naturally as his body falls into the hungry mouths gnashing up at them, he pulls Glenn down with him.
It is a little bit of a cop out that Glenn didn’t die here. The intentional misleading shots of Glenn staring in terror as the dead tear organs out and blood flies everywhere, was amazingly done, but it turned out it was Nicolas body on top of his, and Glenn managed to slip underneath the dumpster without a scratch and hid there until it was safe. We did not discover this until a few episodes later, which spawned millions of memes about how ridiculous it is that if you are in trouble, just hide under the dumpster until the next season.
Some other stuff happened in this episode, such as a lot of deaths and action packed scenes, but the actual ‘Thank you’ moment of this episode is what won it for me.

4 – Last Day on Earth / The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be – Season 6, Episode 16 / Season 7, Episode 1


Although this is technically two episodes (the finale of season 6 and the beginning of season 7), I am just going to label these together. In a way, it is one episode. If you sack off the first half of the first episode, and the second half of the second, we have this amazing middle episode that introduced the infamous villain; Negan, who has been built up for this whole season, as well as leading up to that moment that fans of the comic book had been looking forward to.
This episode saw Rick try and outsmart the Saviors, who he still believed were only small fry, become overwhelmed when he realised just how big and powerful they really were.
Suddenly Rick, the man who always has a plan and gets out of any situation presented to him, became broken. He was surrounded with no way out, on his knees with the people he was suppose to protect, who look at him as their leader, was powerless to do anything.
He watched as Negan emerged from that trailer in the clearing of the middle of the forest, Lucille; the barbed wire covered baseball bat, in hand, and made his monumental début. It truly was pee-pee pants city.
It was this episode that he told them the new world order and how things were going to go from this point onwards. He said that he was now in charge and that they owed him for the death of his men; a debt that could only be paid in blood. For you see Lucille was a vampire bat, and she was thirsty.
Negen brutally battered Abraham to death in front of them. Which did kind of feel like a cop out as it was Glenn in the comics and he had his eye popped and everythi… OH SHIT! He killed Glenn as well! Popping out his eye and battering his head into a pulp! Out of nowhere he slammed that bat on the season 1 character’s head, right before his pregnant wife. He tried to call out to her, telling her that he would find her, as she looked on helplessly and cried. It was a horrific moment and one that caused a huge outcry from ‘fans’ claiming that the show was too violent, causing the makers to cut back on the gore and violence for the scenes that they were currently filming (which really showed towards the end of the season. See: Richard’s death at the hands of Morgan. They didn’t even show his face. I thought it was some sort of trick Richard and Morgan had worked out).
Anyway, I pray that they do not cut back like this with season 8.
This episode didn’t earn a closer finish because it was spread across two episodes, two seasons, and about six months of waiting. Also the rest of both episodes are a little naff to be honest.

3 – Pretty Much Dead Already – Season 2, Episode 7


This might seem like a strange choice for some, but this is a very personal episode for me. This was back when I was a massive fan of the show, instead of the “Oh the comic is better” dick head that I am now.
It was only for one really powerful moment that I rate this as one of my own favourite episodes. It was at the time when the survivors were still living at the Farm. They had only been here for a few days and Carl had only just recovered from his accidental gunshot wound that Otis gave him. For you see the group had originally been on the road and ventured off after Sophia; Carol’s daughter, had gone missing. This lead them to Carl getting shot by Otis, and Otis taking them back to Hershel’s farm to recover, introducing some key characters that are still in the show to this day, or have died in very powerful moments throughout the show.
Hershel, being one of the type of survivors who try and hold onto their humanity, had told them to stay away from the barn, and in true zombie genre fashion, it was only an episode before that we had discovered why.
It turns out that Hershel had been keeping capturing walkers who wandered onto his farmland, and putting them into the barn. There were Hershel’s neighbours and even some of his family held in there. He didn’t want to accept that what had happened to them was incurable, and believed that one day, maybe even through God’s will, they will come back to them. With that in mind, he didn’t want the survivors to kill the walkers. He would rather lock them up in his barn.
Well naturally that went down like a brick with the group when they discovered his secret, and were furious. They were on his land and in his home, however, so they didn’t want to rock the boat as they had it pretty good here. But they were not happy with it. They talked about going in there and slaughtering the dead, but Hershel said that they can’t as his wife (and possibly his son – I can’t remember from the comics to the TV series) was in there.
Rick allows Hershel to continue as he has gone in order to keep the peace, but Shane, no going rogue, decides that it is too dangerous and opens up the barn with the intention of killing all the undead as they come out.
Hershel is powerless to watch as they all flood out of there, only to be met by a bullet fired from the gun of his new house guests. The survivors mow down the dead with ease, including Hershel’s family members, and he sobs on his knees as the dust settles from the walker slaughter.
Just then, one final figure emerges from the barn. A young zombified girl shambles towards them and in that moment they realise that it is Sophia. All the episodes they had spend searching for her were wasted as she had been undead and inside the barn the entire time.
The group watch in horror as she slowly walks towards them, gnashing her teeth and clawing at the air. Carol breaks down into tears at the fate of her daughter, and there is this powerful moment when the group see things from Hershel’s perspective and how if it is one of their own, then it is far more difficult to put down compared to just some unknown walker. Even Shane, the big bad wolf who had caused this incident to occur, cannot bring himself to put the young girl down.
In the end, Rick, who had not participated in the previous zombie shoot-fest, walks up to her and ends the young girl’s life, resolving the one thing that had to be done.
It was a powerful scene and an excellent way for the show to end for the mid-season break of their second series.

2 – Days Gone Bye – Season 1, Episode 1


This was the first episode of the series. The show had stuck so closely to the comics that it was like reliving the pages of the book over again. It set up the entire series as a whole and was the first time that zombies had featured on a prime time network television series, and had been done right.
I was a massive fan boy of the comics at this point in time (more than I am now) and so when they announced that they were making a TV series of it, and showed us the trailer of the two hour pilot episode, I was wetting my knickers with excitement.
And Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile movie adaptations) was leading this. It was solid gold! (although that stuff with Darabont ended horribly).
This episode introduced us to our star of the show; Rick Grimes, as he awakens in an abandoned hospital, having previously been in a coma following being shot, and finds himself in a world turned upside down.
He finds the infamous “Don’t Dead, Open Inside” door… in mean “Don’t Open, Dead Inside”, and finds the hideous girl walker on the grass, acquainting our hero with the horrors of this new world he has been thrown into.
He meets Morgan and his son Dwayne, who tell him what has happened and what he must do in order to survive. Rick is lost. His home is empty and his family are gone. He has no idea where they are or wheat might have happened to them. Thankfully Morgan is there to tell him about Atlanta and how the military tried to get everyone there, so if Rick’s family is anywhere, then they would be there.
Morgan faces his own moral decisions with his zombified wife outside the door, who seems to hold onto some part of her humanity that knows he and her son are waiting inside. Morgan knows he must put her down, but does not have the courage to do so.
Rick meanwhile heads off to Atlanta, gaining a horse and seeing some terrifyingly gruesome things along the way. It shows us just how few survivors there are in this world and how truly alone he is.
Eventually he makes his way into the city, which is a massive no-no as every zombie fanatic knows, and Rick finds out all too late that the city is completely overrun and is now trapped. His horse is torn apart right before his eyes and he runs and hides inside a tank. He appears trapped. He is completely surrounded with no way to escape, until he hears a voice over the sound of the radio and the episode ends, leaving us gagging for more.
While the episode is not as intense or action packed, or even as well written as later episodes, this is still one of the most important episodes of the show. It sets the tone and doesn’t try to build up too much in terms of a story. It is some good old fashion zombie fun. Intense and horror plays well here, as well as showing us the world that rest of the series would be set in. Even as a standalone episode, to watch just this one, it is pure brilliance.

1 – Spend – Season 5, Episode 14


This might seem a random-ass choice for Bearded Robot’s greatest The Walking Dead episode ever made, but it really does come down to a personal choice for me, and since I wrote the article, you sit there and read to what I have picked!
For me, this was one episode that really left me shaken after the credits had finished rolling. It gave me the same feeling that I had when the Viper faced the Mountain in Game of Thrones, and we all know how that ended. This has a similar horrific moment that leaves you cold.
It was an episode that did not use Michonne, Rick or Daryl and proved that you do not need these apparent “badass” characters in order to make a good quality episode. Instead it focused on Glenn.
It had a lot of death and some really intense zombie action that has even a little hard to watch at times.
The episode sees Rick and his group trying to fit in with Alexandria. They are trying to not rock the boat and get along find, but Aiden Monroe; the community leader’s son, is a bit of a wild card, and him and his rag-tag team of wannabe zombie killers are causing a bit of trouble.
Noah has been fitting in rather well, and Reg; Alexandria’s leader’s husband, tells him how he can fit in here and gives his life purpose, to which he is really happy about… so naturally something is going to go down as everything is going all too well.
As the power in the safe-zone has been a bit knackered recently, a small group, lead by Aiden and featuring Glenn, Noah, Tara, Nicholas, and Eugene, decide to go and check it out.
The group encounter reanimated soldiers inside the warehouse. Aiden, being a cocky little shit / completely ignorant, shoots it and accidentally hits the grenade attached to its belt. The resulting explosion causes Aiden to be thrown back and impaled on some metal, as well as leaving Tara unconscious in the office nearby. Nicolas says that he is dead and that they should keep moving. However, he is revealed to be alive and cries for help now that walkers are fast approaching and beginning to swarm the warehouse. Glenn, Noah and Nicolas agree to go for Aiden while the rest of them go and get the van and deal with an unconscious Tara. Nicolas, in true Nicolas fashion, tries to save his own skin and decides to leave Aiden, leaving Glenn and Noah powerless to help him. They too, to much regret, are forced to leave Aiden, who confesses that he had gotten people killed. Aiden is then torn apart by the approaching horde as Glenn and Noah flee.
They managed to catch up to Nicolas, who has just entered a revolving door. Glenn and Noah enter it, causing all three of them to become trapped. Glenn and Noah one side, and Nicolas on the other. The horde catches up to them and they realise that in order to get out, someone is going to have to die, as pushing the door one way will expose the other side to the undead.
Glenn, being Glenn, desperately tries to think of a solution to the problem, as he can see that Nicolas is on edge at the thought that he might die. As Glenn tries to smash the glass, Nicolas (whose only purpose in this life is to make life difficult) panics and pushes his way out of the revolving door, causing Noah to get grabbed. Noah looks at Glenn with a truly terrified face, as he is pulled out, allowing the revolving door to be closed and saving Glenn, and literally torn apart before Glenn’s eyes. He can’t do anything but watch Noah ripped apart and eaten as he cries out in agony.
It was a really disturbing moment (even for me) and one that shocked to its very core. It was a fantastic standalone episode that did have other things that helped build up moments to the rest of the season, but for me, this episode was The Walking Dead at its finest. I know it is a random choice, but I remembered the episode leaving me stunned, with it playing on my mind for days afterwards.
I saw the making of (which you can check out on here: http://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead/video-extras/season-05/episode-14/spoilers-making-of-episode-514-the-walking-dead-spend) and it shows how they made a Noah doll with a horrified frozen look of terror on its face, which was filled with blood and gore, and the zombie extras were told to just literally tear the thing apart, which is what they did. It was very powerful stuff and might even require me to have a rewatch of it…. if I can


Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these The Walking Dead episodes and remembered some of the greatest moments throughout the series as we head off into the brand new one, full of bloodshed where any one of our favourite characters could meet their untimely end.

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