I Finally Watched Game of Thrones (Season 4)

We’re at the peak of the mountain, ladies and gentlemen. The writers ran out of good books here and we’re running out of good television. So let’s just appreciate it while it lasts!

The War of the Five Kings has reached a stand still. Stannis continues his preparations to resume his assault and the Ironborn maintain their control of the North. When King Joffrey is assassinated at his own wedding, King’s Landing is thrown into chaos and Tyrion is put on trial for the murder. Meanwhile, Daenerys struggles to rule over the lands she has liberated and far to the north, the battle between the wildlings and the Night’s Watch comes to a head.

This is my favorite season of the show so far. Out of all the many plot threads it presents, of which there are many, only one doesn’t do much for me (that being Theon’s, because I hate Theon more than I hate Sansa, which is saying a lot). We get Arya hanging out with Sandor Clegane, who is one of my favorite characters! Jon and Sam struggling to prepare the Night’s Watch for the coming battle is super tense and culminates in the best battle of the show so far! Even Bran gets some exciting stuff, with him and his crew going beyond the wall to find the Three-Eyed Raven and fighting ice zombies! And all of that pales in comparison to Tyrion’s trial!

Although, while said trial is definitely the highlight of the season, it isn’t flawless. For one: the new characters introduced in that plot thread, mainly the prince guy who gets his skull crushed by the Mountain, is more annoying than anything else. It feels like this guy should have been introduced several seasons ago. Especially given how important he is to this particular plot thread.

Daenerys’s plot this season is also the most forgettable of the lot. It’s got some highlights, like her banishing Jorah and everything focused on the dragons. But aside from those scenes, it doesn’t really stick out in my mind.

The production values this season are just as good as ever. In fact, I’d say they’re at their best! The CGI looks incredibly good and all the sets and costumes are just as amazing as they’ve ever been. We even get some tracks that are actually memorable that aren’t just a remix of the opening theme song!

That’s about it, really. It’s the final truly amazing season of the show and it deserves the good reputation that it has. At this point, it would probably be smart to just abandon ship and wait for the books to (never) be finished.

But I can’t afford to stop now!