Game of Thrones (Season 6)

⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

*a few spoilers*

Lemme tell ya, we are totally flying through this show, and I think that alone is a credit to how exciting things are. This season is undoubtedly not as good as earlier seasons, but it packs a ton of punch, especially at the end. Indeed, I daresay it's even better than season 5, which I think is an unpopular opinion.

So, for the most part, the arcs are kinda meh here. Arya's is horrendous, which is a huge shame because I think Maisie Williams is really great, especially as she's really growing into her role by now. The Dany stuff is mostly boring and pretty strange. I think Tyrion's arc is totally under-baked, and he's kinda just saying stuff now. The Dorne stuff is bizarre. I hate zombie-Mountain. The Sparrow is pretty exhausting.

Actually lemme take a second on the Sparrow. So this arc sucks, and I think that's pretty well agreed upon. However, i actually think it's a pretty good depiction of religious extremism. The high Sparrow is actually a kinda cool guy, but it's everything else around him that's awful. He's certainly better than Cersei and Jaime and the Tyrrells, and yet we have this great sense of satisfaction when he's blown into the stratosphere. I just thought it was a cool depiction of the ups and down of devout religion, and a believable depiction of how they win people over.

Anyways, enough of the negative, because most of it is just carry-over from season 5 (which is an issue - we don't need 2 seasons on most of these people). I thought Jon's arc was consistently compelling, and he takes the MVP this season. However, it's the final 2 episodes that honestly are as good as anything in Game of Thrones. I remember the Battle of the Bastards being cool, but now I think it might be the best bit of battle-choreography in any combat sequence that does not involve Bernard Hill. The long take of Jon running around the battlefield is breathtakingly chaotic. Never forget what this show accomplished.

We also get the battle of Meereen which is Dany's first great moment as like, the most powerful person alive. We get the big Jon reveal which is actually a little more abrupt than I remembered, but still gave me chills. And then of course we get Cersei's plot which somehow maybe upstaged the Battle of the Bastards and maybe even the Red Wedding. The music, the build up. Masterpiece.

So that's it. Basically 8 meh episodes with nice moments interspersed, and then 2 of the best episodes in the show. The cracks are showing here pretty clearly, and we get some strange stuff like Varys doing some world-hopping, and a lot of contrived drama that helps set up some epic sequences a little too tidily. But I can't complain because those sequences are incredible. I was quite pleased with this season.