#Game of thrones season 1 8 series#

Quick in pace, Season 6 manages to maintain the brilliance of the slow-burning earlier seasons while delivering “GoT’s” greatest one-two punch with “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter.” The perfect balance between human and supernatural, personal and political, Season 6 is no doubt the climax of the entire series.Written by David Benioff and D.B. If that wasn’t enough, Jon’s true parentage is also revealed, introducing a flurry of new conflicts to be dealt with in later seasons, and Daenerys finally sails toward Westeros, a story arc 60 episodes in the making.

#Game of thrones season 1 8 series#

And fueled by two seasons of humiliation from the High Septon, Cersei pulls off the most explosive scheme of the series and eliminates a handful of her enemies in one big, green kaboom. Arya serves her sweetest revenge on Walder Frey. Season 6 is when it all comes together, and the series’ most anticipated, unexpected and rewarding moments play out continuously throughout 10 of “GoT’s” most exciting episodes. And the epic battle between the living and the dead in “Hardhome” turns the stakes up to 11 and sends shivers down any warmblooded person’s spine.Ībove all else, “Game of Thrones” is a show about payoffs. Members of the Night’s Watch kill Jon, causing millions of viewers to scream at the TV. Stannis kills his own daughter to become King, but instead loses everything.

But despite its low points, Season 5 is important in its escalation of the show’s overall plot. Jaime and Bronn’s venture into Dorne is underwhelming, despite the emotional scene between Myrcella and her uncle-dad on her fatal trip home, and Sansa endures more unnecessary manipulation and torture from Littlefinger and Ramsay.

And Cersei embarks on the walk of shame, brilliantly setting up the explosive events of Season 6. A faceless Arya shucks Meryn Trant’s eyes out like oysters. Jorah returns and Drogon saves Dany in the fighting pits. However, all three of these storylines have great payoffs. Daenerys’ struggles in Meereen drag on, Arya’s training in Braavos gets boring and the High Sparrow’s crusade of King’s Landing is frustrating. Sandwiched between two of the show’s most exciting seasons, Season 5 is just a bit stuck in place. The loot train attack in “The Spoils of War” is electrifying, Littlefinger’s death is oh-so satisfying and the White Walkers claiming one of Dany’s dragons is one of “GoT’s” best “holy shit” moments. Despite its issues with pacing, Season 7 does have some of the show’s most iconic scenes. Nearly all the major characters come face to face, and the “great game” truly begins. Still, Season 7 takes on the tall task of consolidating the biggest show on television, narrowing “GoT”’s countless storylines into two major conflicts and bringing together the show’s most beloved characters in two major locations. For a show that meticulously mapped out its made-up world and spread out storylines across multiple seasons, “Game of Thrones” completely abandoned the concepts of space and time in its seventh season. While not entirely bad, Season 8 was ultimately too rushed and devoid of many of the things that made fans fall in love with “Game of Thrones” in the first place.ĭaenerys spends the first six seasons traveling to Westeros, and in Season 7, she zooms back and forth across the continent within a couple episodes. Still, even the worst season of “Game of Thrones” is captivating and has its virtues, like Arya claiming her most important kill in the series - a moment that will be YouTubed for eternity. And Cersei, one of TV’s greatest villains, spent all season staring out her window. Jon’s parentage and claim to the throne, which became one of the primary plotlines of the back half of the series, was never adequately addressed. Though hinted at throughout the series, Daenerys’ descent into madness was smushed into two episodes, arguably ruining the character arc of the Mother of Dragons.

Storylines that developed for seven seasons were either ignored, rushed or glossed over, and some of the show’s best characters didn’t get the justice they deserved. Abandoning the show’s core principles in favor of fan service ironically angered fans who had gotten used to “GoT”’s cruel realism that set it apart from rivaling fantasy series.

Plagued with the impossible task of writing television’s most anticipated final season, Benioff and Weiss failed to live up to “GoT” fans’ towering expectations.