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EDITORIALLY INDEPENDENT. EST. 2010 22nd July 2015
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Stop Throne a Tantrum Beware spoilers ahead! for this season 5 review of Game of Thrones in all its brutish, gory glory
Katie Milne Managing Editor
G
ame of Thrones has faced a lot of criticism this season, something I believe is caused by the unusual disjunction of the character stories. In previous seasons, all main characters except Daenerys were settled in Westeros, and therefore their stories involved a lot of overlap and symbiosis. This season, since the escape of Tyrion Lannister and Arya Stark to Esos, the point of view of the characters has become a lot more compartmentalized. King’s Landing is no longer the main setting of action, and the series focus has shifted even more to Daenerys’ hold on Meereen, with the other main characters being scattered across the Seven Kingdoms.
vourites. The strong and loyal Brienne had been drifting around for 10 episodes waiting to rescue Sansa Stark. Varys disappeared for most of the season after having Tyrion snatched away from him in the night by Ser Jorah Mormont. Even Petyr Baelish, whom we love to hate, has been absent for most of the season. It is these characters traveling between stories in the previous seasons, which helped to prevent the feeling of disjoint that has been so prevalent in Season 5.
Cersei’s naked walk of shame through King’s Landing, and of course Jon Snow’s betrayal at the hands of his fellow Watchmen. Game of Thrones has proved that it is still not afraid to shock its viewers. Perhaps the beginning of the season was slow moving, but after the events of the finale I believe that the show is in a prime position to develop the game of thrones intensely fast next season.
There are several things I am hoping to see next season, that either the show runners haven’t Having said this, I believe (or hope) that there had time to include in Season 5, or are natural is a good rea- developments from the events of this season. son for this dis- I want to see the return of Bran Stark, since he sociation. The was cut out of Season 5 because his story was main charac- progressing too fast for the rest of the characters have been ters. I also want to see what happens to Arya pulled so far after she was blinded by the Faceless Men. apart, they are exploring parts The tail end of this season had started to fall of the Game of back in line with the books, in which case I Thrones world have high hopes for her Season 6 storyline. that we have I am also praying that the show runners alnever seen before, that I am confident that low Sansa to blossom this season (if she surthis is a means to bring them all together again vives that jump off of the wall) and grow into next season or the season beyond. The produc- a strong person; something more than the ers have suggested that they will be wrapping perpetual victim that she has become. And up the series within a few years, perhaps this of course, I hope against hope that Jon Snow spreading of the characters is the necessary set turns out to be perfectly okay, or at least conup to slowly drawing a conclusion to the series. tinues his reign of having the best hair on The Wall in some form or another. MelisanDespite the problems with this season, I think dre, you killed Shireen, you can at least do it is worth noting (or perhaps claiming) that us all this favour and work some Lord of Game of Thrones is still fields ahead of any oth- Light magic on poor Jon’s body. Ultimately er television drama currently airing. Although though, I expect great things from Game of Season 5 has been poor for Game of Thrones, Thrones next season, and they always deliver. it is still the most thrilling and shocking thing on television. The finale in particular had almost too many ‘Game of Thrones’ moments to count, from Arya crossing Meryn Trant off of her list and subsequently being blinded, Brienne getting her justice for Renly Baratheon’s murder, Reek finally helping Sansa and them both jumping off of Winterfell’s wall,
“Game of Thrones is still fields ahead of any other television drama currently airing.”
I think that this problem has partly been caused by the increasing divide between the books and the television series. Over recent years the series has cut out and changed many parts of the book series that were loved by fans, including Lady Stoneheart, the story of the Iron Islands, and the complete restructure of the Dorne storyline. Because many characters that were integral to the books have been cut out of the TV series due to time constraints, there is less cohesion between the main characters that are still included, and a lot of them are now doing vastly different things to what they were doing in the books. This is why poor Sansa has been subjected to probably the worst luck of any TV character ever; in the books she is still at the Vale being cunning and maturing into a strong character. Knowing this, you can see why book readers are disappointed in this season. The television show is not necessarily better or worse, but at some points seems to be going in a vastly different direction. Another common criticism of this season has been the diminished presence of many characters who have grown to be our fa-
4/5