Game of Thrones, Season 5
Jun. 7th, 2016 08:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroJethrien and I continue to run almost exactly a season behind, though at this point she doesn’t know most of what’s going to happen from having read the books. It’s refreshing to be off the rails.
I maintain an optimal preference for the resolution of most of the plotlines: Arya stabs a dude. She got a very nice session of stabbing a dude in this season, and I think we could do with more of that.
The timeline makes sense as each season being approximately one year with a major exception: Baby Sam should seriously be Toddler Sam by now. Too much upheaval (not to mention too much traveling) has occurred over the past two seasons for it to only be a few months. If I recall correctly, the first season established that it took several weeks to ride from Winterfell to King’s Landing. That means we need more than one several-week jumps over the course of this season just so characters (most notably Littlefinger) can get where they need to be. But for that matter, there are a number of things that only make sense if they have some time to develop—the High Sparrow’s ascendance and inquisition, most notably.
I spent this season being thoroughly unimpressed by the combat prowess of the Unsullied. For a group of elite troops, they spend a lot of time getting slaughtered by randos in gold masks—randos who Tyrion can take out. (Jethrien points out that they were trained as infantry, not bodyguards; though I think this is a middling excuse at best.)
The pacing is a bit off this season—it makes me wonder if they thought they were going to stretch out plotlines more, then realized that, no, they weren’t. Especially in Dorn, they have a bunch of meaningless filler scenes and then speed through the actual resolution of things very quickly. The Sand Snakes accomplish basically nothing; and for all the time it takes the only thing Jamie really accomplishes is “Not being in King’s Landing to stop Sersi from being really stupid.”
Jethrien was apparently spoiled for Stannis’ terrible decision in episode 9. I maintain that “Stannis makes a very poor decision” isn’t actually a spoiler. It’s up there with, “A bunch of recurring characters you probably like get killed.”
Relatedly, a review called this “the bloodiest season ever” which, I suppose if you consider the death count at Hardhome and Winterfell…maybe? In terms of named characters who died, there weren’t that many. One or two from each plotline, at most. (And the end of Stannis’ long and winding story, of course.) I have on good authority that Jon Snow gets better, and I’d be shocked if Sansa and Theon didn’t survive their leap from the walls.
Predictions for next season: Sersi is going to have a lot of people murdered by her brand-new murdergolem. Melisandra is going to revive Jon Snow and they’re going to team up (after all, she’s fresh out of king’s blood at the moment). Arya is going to stab another dude. Brienne is going to actually find Sansa. Someone is going to get fed up with Ramsay and set him on fire. (Please let it be Sansa! …I know it won’t be. It’ll probably be Theon.)
Overall: More of everything you’ve come to expect: Terrible people, poor life choices, boobs, blood, death, and vengeance. We’re contemplating getting a month of HBOGo to watch Season 6.
I maintain an optimal preference for the resolution of most of the plotlines: Arya stabs a dude. She got a very nice session of stabbing a dude in this season, and I think we could do with more of that.
The timeline makes sense as each season being approximately one year with a major exception: Baby Sam should seriously be Toddler Sam by now. Too much upheaval (not to mention too much traveling) has occurred over the past two seasons for it to only be a few months. If I recall correctly, the first season established that it took several weeks to ride from Winterfell to King’s Landing. That means we need more than one several-week jumps over the course of this season just so characters (most notably Littlefinger) can get where they need to be. But for that matter, there are a number of things that only make sense if they have some time to develop—the High Sparrow’s ascendance and inquisition, most notably.
I spent this season being thoroughly unimpressed by the combat prowess of the Unsullied. For a group of elite troops, they spend a lot of time getting slaughtered by randos in gold masks—randos who Tyrion can take out. (Jethrien points out that they were trained as infantry, not bodyguards; though I think this is a middling excuse at best.)
The pacing is a bit off this season—it makes me wonder if they thought they were going to stretch out plotlines more, then realized that, no, they weren’t. Especially in Dorn, they have a bunch of meaningless filler scenes and then speed through the actual resolution of things very quickly. The Sand Snakes accomplish basically nothing; and for all the time it takes the only thing Jamie really accomplishes is “Not being in King’s Landing to stop Sersi from being really stupid.”
Jethrien was apparently spoiled for Stannis’ terrible decision in episode 9. I maintain that “Stannis makes a very poor decision” isn’t actually a spoiler. It’s up there with, “A bunch of recurring characters you probably like get killed.”
Relatedly, a review called this “the bloodiest season ever” which, I suppose if you consider the death count at Hardhome and Winterfell…maybe? In terms of named characters who died, there weren’t that many. One or two from each plotline, at most. (And the end of Stannis’ long and winding story, of course.) I have on good authority that Jon Snow gets better, and I’d be shocked if Sansa and Theon didn’t survive their leap from the walls.
Predictions for next season: Sersi is going to have a lot of people murdered by her brand-new murdergolem. Melisandra is going to revive Jon Snow and they’re going to team up (after all, she’s fresh out of king’s blood at the moment). Arya is going to stab another dude. Brienne is going to actually find Sansa. Someone is going to get fed up with Ramsay and set him on fire. (Please let it be Sansa! …I know it won’t be. It’ll probably be Theon.)
Overall: More of everything you’ve come to expect: Terrible people, poor life choices, boobs, blood, death, and vengeance. We’re contemplating getting a month of HBOGo to watch Season 6.
