A truly spectacular season of a truly spectacular television show. I get done watching these and am amazed at how emotional and amped-up they've made me, the same feelings I get after a good epic movie. TV shows that can do this to me are exceedingly rare (The Sopranos and the modern A truly spectacular season of a truly spectacular television show. I get done watching these and am amazed at how emotional and amped-up they've made me, the same feelings I get after a good epic movie. TV shows that can do this to me are exceedingly rare (The Sopranos and the modern Battlestar Galactica are the only other two that come to mind on this level).



This was perhaps the most cohesive and coherent season so far, which is saying a lot, actually. For the most part we've stopped meeting hordes of new characters, and we've time now to get more deeply-invested in the ones we do know. Obviously we're going to lose some along the way, that's the beauty of a series like Game of Thrones (or Walking Dead, for that matter). Unless you've read the books, the not knowing what's coming is pure joy. This season felt somehow even more frenzied than the last several, leaving viewers dangling from perilous event to perilous event, from show to show. Although I've been impressed with every season so far, all the stakes feel even higher this season. Set design, cinematography, writing, direction, acting, action scenes, costumes, CGI - all still completely stellar - with the usual highlight being the ability of the writers to layer together all these concurrent stories seamlessly. Yes, this is a show it is mandatory to watch from the beginning of season 1. There are 8 million plotlines going on. And that's where the magic remains with the program. The fact that viewers are never allowed to get lost or become disinterested in any of these storylines. It's a tremendous dance, and one that is bringing all the lines together - slowly at first, and now much more rapidly. This season is bookended by a premiere and closer that are among the strongest episodes from any season. And the season ends looking forward, with many of the aforementioned plotlines having grown increasingly complex, with the highest stakes yet.



This really is the pinnacle of what TV can be. … Expand