Game of Thrones 2011

I can tell you that Game of Thrones is phenomenal, visual beautiful, fantastic, exhilarating and action-packed thrilling rollercoaster that in many ways has not been seen yet in a tv show. I could say that and be absolutely right about it, but unless you have been living under a rock without an internet connection for the past 2 years than no doubt you already heard, seen or read for yourself what a masterpiece the books and/or this tv series is.

Game of Thrones is exactly like the title says: A game for the throne. Played by the people who think its their right to claim, conquer or inherit it. They all have different goals and different ways of getting to that point, but their goal is in essence in one way or another the same for all of them: to be recognized and remembered for their deeds. Off course that is not so weird since everyone in real life at some level thinks like that. But the main characters in Game of Thrones are different, either through noble descent, the power and money they have, intelligence or sheer luck they have become a member of one of the noble houses that rule the countries and can decide the fate and lives of hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people within the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos.

The story, setting and characters are all taken from a broad range of European history. Most of what we see of the continent Westeros (castles and tournaments) is taken from High Medieval Western Europe from around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. But the story takes bits and pieces from other time periods as well. For example the wildfire that was used in season 2 in a brilliant strategic move of "The Imp" Tyrion Lannister during the Battle of the Blackwater is in fact Byzantine "Greek fire" which was invented and first used in the 7th century during battles between Muslims and Byzantines. This and other historical events, devices and characters based on real people out of history are all as it seems perfectly interwoven into each other into the fictional world of Game of Thrones by the author of the books George R. R. Martin.

For the actors who play the characters i have nothing but utmost respect. The performance they manage to show episode after episode is definitely what makes this tv show so popular. There is one in particular that without a doubt is one of the more popular stars of this tv show: Peter Dinklage who plays the role of "The Imp" Tyrion Lannister. In the 1st season he was portrayed as nothing more than someone who took advantage of his noble status and money to do whatever he wanted. But in season 2 (and hopefully the next seasons too) he transformed despite his disadvantage of being born as a dwarf (who during medieval times and in this fictional world are considered "lesser" humans) into a brilliant military and political strategist and someone who can very good and enjoys as he so very accurately said himself "play the game".

Game of Thrones is without a doubt the hit tv show of this decade. It started out with a story about medieval times, but slowly with every episode we see the world of the Seven Kingdoms transform into a place where mythical creatures exist, magic and dark powers are used as a weapon against enemies and where the dead are once more walking again.... Winter is coming, and i have no doubt it that it will be as spectacular and story-wise phenomenal as we have have seen in the previous seasons.

Funny, in case of Breaking Bad I am actually one of those people claiming it's sort of the best drama in television history and can't understand most of the criticism that it gets from the "haters" (you know the drill).
While in case of Game of Thrones I am on that other side, the "haters" side, I assume.

Generally spoken, I am genuinely interested in plot driven shows where you have a complex society and their circumstances explained to you. In lack of a better example, I enjoyed the anime MAOYU (Maoyuu Maou Yuusha) a lot. It focused on the improvement of society in a middle age like time. That involved for example trades for profit as well as for political pressure or education for the common men to improve the live of all. Compared to GoT it was obviously much simpler but you hopefully get the point that I am not condemning GoT for what it is or tries to be.

I just can't get into this show. I get where it is coming from, the scenery is actually really good, costumes are very well made, some likeable characters but all that is left after watching an episode are the basically countless breasts, some pointless violence, profanity and a lot of confusion due to the cutscenes that you see in every episode and the sheer endless amount of characters. Cutscenes from one house and plot to another. Because of that it feels like it's not moving forward at all and as a watcher I feel tortured and bored to death with all the unnecessary anecdotes, side characters and sideplots not bringing anything to the table.

The whole show tries way too hard and puts too much into the pot to attract as much people as possible. Sex, nudity, portraying women almost only as whores or otherwise pleasure material, incest, profanity, violence, partly even gore, all kinds of characters mixed together, great scenery, outstanding props/environments.
As soon as something starts to make just a bit sense another cutscene and you're left hanging in the air until you forgot where you were or what happend before until you get back, resulting in you not caring for a single or at least most of the characters.
Having partly awful actors doesn't help this show either (the guy playing Viserys Targaryen for example, wow is he bad). Actors who rigidly recite their text with almost no (plausible) emotion in voice or facial ex-pressi-on (basically every private scene of Eddard and King Robert).
In addition it seems like this show is on of those where you have to prepare before watching it to be able to follow it, like reading up on Wikipedia, the books, searching for a relationships chart (which I did, cause I lost track of all the connections pretty fast) and the like.

Concluding I must say as a TV show this one fails big time (for me). It's bad. Really bad.
After watching 5 episodes, that are roughly 5 hours, a sixth of the whole show for now I can't watch another episode.
Getting back to the hater thing, I can't leave this being unsaid: It's a hilariously overrated show.
Maybe I am going to take the risk and read the books instead, in some years when the hype is over. Instead of watching this I rather waste my time on Homeland that picked my interest from the start and was actually able to make me care about the characters.

Out of all the fan theories that circulated over the years, you would be hard pressed to find one that was dumber and more disappointing than what the actual final season turned out to be. You would be better off watching Cats the movie in its place, because then you would at least be able to laugh and cringe rather than feel immeasurable disappointment and emptiness.

If you can stop yourself from watching the entire show, you might do well watching seasons one through seven and picking your favourite fan theory to close out the series. Truthfully, even seasons five, six and seven were weaker than the first half of the show, but at the time it seemed forgivable because of the show's strong beginning and the expectation that everything would tie together nicely at the end.

Those foolish enough to watch to the end will be faced with an experience similar to the five stages of grief and loss as they make their way through the final episodes. Denial that this episode is actually part of the series and not an out of season April Fool's joke. Anger that you let yourself get so invested in this show after refusing to get on the bandwagon for so many years. Bargaining, that these were fake episodes to "subvert your expectations", or that the season could be remade. Depression, that this is actually the real thing and it somehow turned out so poorly. Finally, acceptance. Just an empty feeling, no anger or sadness over increasingly stupid and illogical scenes and outcomes. Just coming to terms with this really being the end of the show and this somehow managing to get released.

It comes together about as well as a project finished in the last hour of the last day before a deadline, despite having had vast resources to pull from over the two preceding years. The only remotely redeemable aspect of the final season is the endless amount of hilarious critical reviews and memes that come at its expense.

As for the rating, it would be unfair to give a give a 1 the entire series as a whole because of the incompetence of the writers in the final season. The series did start strong and everyone involved in the project aside from the writers obviously invested a lot of time and quality work into the show. The acting, music composition, cinematography, editing, visual effects, etc. all ranged from great to amazing.

5/5 Rating for the entire series and overall review: A show like this was always going to end in a way that wouldn’t please everyone, but Game of Thrones really polarized viewers and critics alike with how everything got wrapped up. Like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it became very trendy to just dismiss it all as unequivocally rubbish. But like that infamous Star Wars film, the truth of Game of Thrones is more complicated and not as bad as some say. Overall, this is without a doubt one of the best series ever made, and one I was majorly obsessed with throughout the past decade. Pretty clearly seasons 1-4 and 6 are where most of the best episodes reside. Below is a breakdown of general thoughts about each season.

Season 1
Not one of my favorites until years later when a rewatch with perspective on where the show went reveals a restrained, wonderfully written introductory season with complex, developed characters and increasingly dramatic political deceptions in the second half that gives way to the more anarchic and scattered later seasons. 10/10 Best episode: Baelor

Season 2
Has a lot of strengths and also ups the brutality from season 1, especially in the first half of the season. I love how dark and increasingly fantasy-centered this season is, with an incredible battle episode to cap it off. However, I have to deduct a point for butchering the amazing Danaerys in the House of the Undying scene from the second book, A Clash of Kings, and the muddled climax to Jon’s storyline where he gets captured by the wildings, which is far more exciting in the book. 9/10 Best episode: Blackwater

Season 3
The fan favorite, this fantastic season sets up the increased action and face-offs that’re plentiful in season 4. The Rob Stark storyline and tragic ending to him and his mother is heart wrenching, and I absolutely love all the amazing Icelandic scenery throughout. I don’t like the Theon dungeon scenes in the middle episodes, but everything else being so perfect still means this is a 10/10 season. Best episode: tied with The Rains of Castamere and Kissed by Fire.

Season 4
Perhaps the juiciest season yet, comprising of the climactic second half of A Storm of Swords, the best book of all five. Suffice it to say, there are numerous highlights across nearly all episodes, especially involving Tyrion Lannister. Really no weak moments aside from maybe 1-2 random scenes. The season that cemented the show as one of the all-time greats. 10/10 Best episode: The Lion and the Rose, with The Mountain and the Viper, The Laws of Gods and Men, The Children, and The Watchers on the Wall as runner-ups.

Season 5
Oof, this season was a doozy which began the second half of the series with fallout from all that happened in seasons 3 and 4. 5 here meanders around from one miserable nightmare of an episode to another, including Sansa and Theon's storylines, Jon Snow and what eventually happens to him, and Stannis and his daughter. The only real highlight is Hardhome, and I suppose the final scene in the following episode with Drogon escaping captivity in the gladiator arena. 8/10 Best episode Hardhome, duh.

Season 6
The other side of the coin that was season 5. Season 6 is a monumental achievement, finally doing away with the unnecessary “sexposition” and rivaling 4 for being an amazing climax of a season with one highlight episode after another. Sure the Arya storyline is weak, but literally everything else is excellent. High 10/10 with Hold the Door, Battle of the Bastards, and The Winds of Winter all tied for best episode in the season and basically of the whole series.

Season 7
Aaaand here’s where it starts to go downhill. But there are still some amazing moments to be found! The Loot Train Attack and Lady Olenna’s final appearance are without question two of the finest scenes of the entire series. The Beyond the Wall episode is full-on fantasy schlock, but at least it’s fun and enjoyable to watch so I don’t mind. I also like how the extended season finale emphasized character interactions and development, which was very interesting to watch. 7/10 Best episode The Spoils of War

Season 8
A shaky final season with filler episodes and some bewildering climactic episodes too. The Long Night was well executed, but felt anticlimactic after just how much the show built up the white walkers, and they don’t even fight any humans the whole time! The real problem though is with The Bells, a miserable slog where Dany suddenly decides to be a violent mass murderer because seeing the capital of King's Landing made her crazy? Why didn’t she just fly over there and burn it down with Cersei inside and then declare herself queen, instead of doing what she ended up doing. I’ve heard some say she was slowly getting crazy but we didn’t notice, like making her dragons execute people, but come on. It’s an insane jump to go from executing traitorous prisoners of war to slaughtering a city of innocent people. And Grey Worm immediately joining in on it is even more far-fetched. I don’t know, all of that just didn’t work for me. It was well done on a technical level, but I just did not buy the writing on The Bells. The final episode I actually like, call me crazy. Was a nice breather after all the aforementioned craziness, the dragon melting the iron throne was a series highlight, and I thought where all the characters were left was satisfying. I rate this season 6/10 with the best episode being the series finale, The Iron Throne.

Top 25 episodes ranked: 1. Battle of the Bastards 2. Hardhome 3. The Door 4. The Winds of Winter 5. Baelor 6. The Lion and the Rose 7. Blackwater 8. The Mountain and the Viper 9. The Spoils of War 10. The Rains of Castamere 11. You Win or You Die 12. Kissed by Fire 13. The Laws of Gods and Men 14. The Children 15. And Now His Watch is Ended 16. A Golden Crown 17. The Watchers on the Wall 18. Oathkeeper 19. The Wolf and the Lion 20. First of His Name 21. Two Swords 22. Book of the Stranger 23. Winter is Coming 24. The Queen’s Justice 25. Second Sons

Not sure if that even makes sense, but "Game of Thrones" could be an excellent example of a down-to-earth fantasy. Magic and superstition have a tangible impact on the events - you could replace the dragons with nuclear weapons and it will still make sense. You can see blood, sweat, and all kinds of body fluids in a hostile world where there is (almost) no plot armor for anybody. Revenge is hardly direct, and good guys don't always get to win.

My favorite thing is the focus on the sociopolitical implications rather than empathy with individual characters. It doesn't matter if a major character gets abruptly killed mid-season; their house's story will keep going on without losing its main thread. Characters can change sides and do the most questionable things, but there will always be a detailed sociological setup that had led to those decisions. Everything is affected by chaos and chance, but it still seems to happen in the function of someone's story arc.

The early seasons are more focused on character development and world-building, with most minor battles happening off-screen. It's probably due to budget restrictions rather than storytelling necessities, but the action for each season is limited to one "zombie" episode and one traditional battle episode (usually the penultimate). The rest is primarily dialogue-driven. The second, third, and fifth seasons are the least eventful, but they also happen to have at least one memorable episode or a mind-blowing plot twist towards the end. The pacing got remarkably tighter from the sixth season, which also happens to be the first after the writers ran out of material to adapt from the books. There the writers did a remarkably good job and remained coherent with the source material.

Unfortunately, the writing took a significant turn for the worse with the seventh season, getting much closer to any other mediocre TV show, flirting with soap-opera level dialogue and filling pages with logical fallacies and forced or incoherent character development.

The meticulous construction of the source material has been both GOT's strength and weakness. For the portion that covers Martin's books, the central plot was mostly kept on hold while expanding the scope sideways, with tons of new characters and locations each season. This made the show remarkably rich, but at the same time it made it hard to wrap up coherently. It might have worked if they were planning to keep going on for decades, but there's no way that a couple of seasons could close so many meticulously built-up character arcs. From the sixth season onwards, you can clearly notice that the showrunners started to purposedly cut storylines and kill off characters just to make the load lighter and write themselves out of the corner with many situations. The overall direction of the plot is still coherent with the previous seasons, but the ways the characters end up to their outcomes became highly questionable. Many character arcs that have been carefully drawn over have been conveniently cut out, some regressed or lost their whole purpose, some even ended up being exploited for mere fanservice purposes. Another big flaw comes from the fact that the characters that would take on a more prominent role towards the end also happen to be the ones played by the most terrible actors in the cast, killing any further chance to add nuance to their relationships.

Regardless of the problems with the writing, the show has outstanding production value, compelling world-building, and, even at its worst, it always manages to be gripping and engaging. That's not obvious for a show that is made of 80% talking, 15% action, and 5% boobies in the air. It's also one of the rare cases where slow pacing becomes a necessity, as it takes time to remember all characters and their intricate relationships as the plot keeps turning, twisting, and subverting expectations. Characters are first introduced as either black or white, but as the show progresses, things get more and more ambiguous. It's rarely to the point you will change sides, but there were many moments I could get into the bad guys' shoes and empathize with them as much as with the protagonists.

S4 > S1 > S6 > S3 > S2 > S5 > S7 > S8

I didn't give this show a chance until recently because I've never been a huge fan of the genre and I heard the last season sucked. What a mistake! A little context - I tend to like dramas like Mad Men or Better Call Saul. I despise shows that have limited backdrops (zombies, vampires, etc) and I've never been a fan of movies like Lord of the Rings.

Season 1:
The opening scene of the first episode gives you a false idea about what the next several seasons are about. The season is generally good and then late in the season you get your first feel for how the series is going to go for you.

Seasons 1 - 4:
The show settles in to a nice pace and there are ebbs and flows along the way. Some storylines are better than others but I can say there are few bad scenes

Season 5:
I started to get a bit itchy. The season is very good but because there are so many storylines it feels like the plot is moving forward ever so slowly. This series really could have gone on forever if they wanted it to.

Season 6:
We start to see the end in site and storylines start to converge (or end)

Season 7:
And then it happens. All of the sudden the episodes went from "this is really good" to me wondering if I could call in sick tomorrow because I want to binge the rest of the season. It really is that breathtaking. It really was a joy to see the storylines come together and to see actors who had not acted together in the series working together. But more importantly, you began to see the results of all of the setup that had been done in the previous seasons. There is probably a stretch of 10 - 12 straight episodes that are just ridiculously good.

Season 8:
There are few shows where you feel like you are losing an old friend when it ends and this show ended up being that for me. I could not imagine that I would ever feel that way about it. Anyway, I can't fathom why this season is so reviled. The finale was only "good" given how poor series finales tend to be I was happy with that. The ways that the stories wrapped up were true to the overall series. I can't imagine what people expected - more fighting? The show was never about that. Anyway, I felt a huge weight off of my shoulders during a certain episode ended - I can imagine that others did as well. It may not have reached the heights of Season 7 but it was still really good.

Overall I would put this series in the same place as Mad Men, The Wire, Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul.

Absolutely loved this series from start to finish, the ending can be seen as a little bit of a let down but I found it very satisfactory. If you are looking for a high fantasy series to get in to then this show is definitely for you. It's full of complex storylines and amazing script writing.

The acting by this massive cast is also superb, some of my favourite being, Emilia Clark as Danerys Targeryen, Maisie Williams, as Arya Stark, Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark, and Lena Headey as Queen Cersei, and Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister but honestly every actor stood out in their own right.

some episodes are slow throughout the eight seasons but it's definitely worth it when you reach the big battle sequences such as the Battle of the Bastards in S6 and the battle of Castle Black in S4.

Look below to find a more in depth review.

Season 1: I will admit that the show took my a little while to get off with and I think that it is down to the slow start of season 1. We are introduced to a mass amount of characters including the entire Stark family and the Lannisters among others. I struggled to understand what was going on for a while but still found mass enjoyment from the show. It really picked up in this season for me at around episode 5 when we have the whole crown of gold scene - this first established for me that Game of Thrones knows no bounds and that is why it became the iconic staple of fantasy television that it is today.

Season 2: I found season 2 to be rather slow if I'm being completely honest, sitting here and writing this review I can't think of any major that happened in this season apart from the battle in about episode 9. The amazing acting and storytelling did still persist however. I just found everything to have a slower build.

Season 3: This is where my love for Game of Thrones became well and truly established, we had so many amazing moments here. From Danaerys gaining the unsullied, and showing her true power as heir to the iron throne, to the Red Wedding near the end of the season. This season had so many iconic and heartwrenchincg moments.

Season 4: Such a great season with so many great moments but sitting here, thinking back on season 4 all I can think about is how great the battle of castle black was and that is my best memory of this season.

Season 5: I only have one thing to say about this season and that is: where the hell was Bran?

Season 6: Hands down the peak of Game of Thrones. Iconic moment after iconic moment including the Battle of the Bastards and the Destruction of the Sept of Baelor. We also got a lot of Aryas character arc in this season which I loved.

Season 7: Notably this is where Game of Thrones started to take a step down. It hit it's peak with season 6 but it's still going strong. The standout moment of this season however is Olenna Tyrell's confession to Jamie.

Season 8: The most hated season of TV in history but I have to say I didn't mind it. With a show like Game of Thrones they were always going to struggle to find that perfect ending so they chose something and they went with it and whilst I don't think many of the choices they made here were great ones I saw that because of how great the show had been I don't think it was destined to have that brilliant ending. The main thing about this season that annoyed me though is how much of a broken record Jon Snow was. How many times could we hear him say, 'You are my Queen'

I am definitely late to the Game of Thrones game, but I just watched it in its entirety, and I was underwhelmed I suppose. After hearing so many glaring praises, I believe I hyped it up too much in my head. Don't get me wrong, it is a really really solid show. Cinematography and musical scores are incredible from start to finish. The plot is complex and pushes boundaries in the fantasy genre. HOWEVER, let's be real, the first season is pretty slow and confusing. At other times throughout the eight seasons it does slow to a crawl. Maybe it has more to do with my general disinterest in the fantasy genre, but I found it hard to get invested and stay invested the entire time throughout the series. There were undoubted high points. There were undoubted "page turners" that made me wanting more. But at no point was I hooked to the point of thinking this show was "amazing" like so many people built it up to be. Not to mention the ending. The show got substantially worse once the show creators ran out of book source material, but that ending was simply not good. Hard to call a whole show "amazing" when it falls off so hard by the end. Overall, solid show, but will definitely be better if you are interested in the genre or have read the books.

Average Season Review: 8.19/10

Recommendation - At Least Give it a Whirl (for Fantasy Genre Fans)

EDIT (After Spin-off House of the Dragon: Season 1)

The spin off was good. As someone that was never fully in love with Game of Thrones, and believed the original show took a bit to get going, I never expected this one to immediately hit the upper tier of GoT seasons. I am curious where the plot builds to in future seasons!

Average Season Review: 8.17/10