Game of Thrones (Season 5)

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

Season 1 is the season of Ned, 2 is Robb, 3 is Tywin, 4 is the Hound, and 5? Season 5 is none other than the season of Stannis fricken Baratheon!! Who would have thought? The most intentionally boring character somehow steals the show this season, acting the part perfectly.

So, season 5 is a clear downgrade in most respects. You get some really terrible arcs, like Arya in Bravvos, the Sand Snakes, Dany in Mereen, and the fricken High Sparrow. It's insane to me how I'm in the next season, and most of these arcs are STILL going. These all feel like 1 episode characters that are waaaay overstaying their welcome. Guess that's what happens when you kill off all the actually cool and interesting characters 🤔

However, Stannis is still there, and his arc interweaves with Jon's who is still really great. The whole thing here is still pretty good, and you love to see Jon move up the ranks with Stannis brooding, nodding approvingly in the corner. Stannis also has that terrific line about keeping your enemies close. "Whoever said that didn't have many enemies." He's really the only character left that feels competent and wise, while still kinda being the bad guy.

Well, despite all this, he turns into the biggest bad guy in the end. And while I think that scene is unacceptable and crossing too many lines to be aired, I think the fallout from it is perfect. One of the few moments of justice in the show, and I love that Stannis realizes this before the end.

Speaking of crossing lines, again I cannot express how much better a rewatch is when you can skip all the scenes you know you don't want to watch. This season featured very little Ramsey Bolton this way once again. He's hardly in this show now! Perfect, because he's unwatchable and should have died 2 seasons ago.

Otherwise, I dunno. I have a ton of complaints, and yet I can't deny there is something special about his show even still. That Hardhome scene is one of the best in TV. In zombie movies, they always give you 5 minutes of the main characters living a normal life so you understand why the apocalypse is so shocking. This gives you 5 seasons of very few supernatural occurrences, so it really defies your expectations.

One other quick hitter I'll mention is the scene with Old Valyria. What a magical, haunting scene. A full tv series could be made from that idea. I'm glad the showrunners had the courage to give us just a tiny bit.

So that's basically it. It's not a perfect season by any stretch, and yet I find myself not wanting to be picky, because this is still so much better than any other fantasy TV show we've gotten. We will never have another show like this.