Game of Thrones season 5 review

Let's this out of the way, as someone who has really enjoyed the series thus far, season 5 was in my opinion the weakest season of Game of Thrones. In this review I will focus mostly on the last few episodes, and this review will have spoilers, big ones, you have been warned.

A lot of people think Game of Thrones is a show desperate to be shocking, and after season 5, I'm falling into that number, this season is the most shocking yet, by far, and a few times I personally think it went too far. Like all seasons of the show, 5 focuses on several main characters in different places suffering through various hardships. But this time not all of those stories were interesting, the King's Landing and Winterfell stories didn't have my attention, on the other hand the castle black story, while still less interesting ta n previous seasons, was interesting enough, same with Meereen, same with Braavos. This season was less interesting because it was slow, not a lot of important things happen a first, and the attack on Winterfell story really didn't sit right with me, more on that later.

Tyrion Lanister, as usual, is the character I was most behind in this season, his quest across the narrow sea after killing Tywin was actually interesting, and Jorah is cool, so it's good to have him back. The Dorne story was flat, it's cool to see Jamie trying to do something good, trying to protect someone he loves, but the vipers' plot to start a war with the Lannisters was where it lost me, It did however end on a cliff-hanger that got me interested in where it goes. Braavos, it was fun watching Arya training to be an assassin, except it wasn't, she did a lot of sweeping floors and selling clams, when she finally takes a life, it's joyous, but then her story ends in a cliff-hanger, I'm interested in seeing where she goes, pun intended, but her story wasn't exactly thrilling. In the north both stories I personally found repulsive, with the Winterfell story riding almost entirely on your hatred of Ramsey, and Stannis' story riding on your desire to see him end the Boltons' reign over the north. But both of these stories had 1 shocking scene. Ramsey rapes Sansa on their wedding night, no doubt a very uncomfortable scene to watch, and one that makes me hate Ramsey more than I thought possible, bearing in mind what he did to Theon. This scene does however give Theon new power, that he uses to help Sansa escape from Ramsey, so all good on that front.

Stannis, I hate Stannis now, this was the first instance of this season being disgustingly shocking in my opinion. For fucks sake, a little girl was burned alive as a sacrifice by her dad's order. That did not need to happen, that was horrible, and this is coming from someone who was able to stomach the red wedding. Another vile scene was in he last episode, when Cersei is stripped naked and forced to walk the streets of Kings Landing, having shit and rocks and verbal abuse thrown at her the whole way. Cersei is a horrid woman, and I want bad things to happen to her, but something a bit less tasteless please, that was horrible. The biggest cliff-hanger by a mile is Castle Black, Jon Snow is dead. I'm going to be honest, I was gobsmacked, genuinely gobsmacked. But now what for the wall, Jon Snow was the only character up there that I cared about now Sam is off to the citadel, and I'm scared that the story at castle black will be nothing without him. Which is why I believe he isn't dead, if he is dead then the Castle Black story will die with him, and since that's one of the most important stories in the show, that would be quite a blow.

In all honesty I didn't like season 5 that much, it had good moments, like the sweet battle with the white walkers at Hardhome, but overall I don't have a lot of hope for season 6. Of course I'll watch it when it starts, but I fear season 5 is the season hat lost me as a loyal viewer to this great fantasy series. I hope to god season 6 is better than this.