Ranking the seasons

[ctid1977]

Assuming that actually happens in the show!

[Jack Bauer 24]

This. All this.

The north is generally watered down in the show in favour of more Lannister action. I understand why they do this because they're the fan favourite characters but it does seem detrimental to the story as a whole.

Lannister's are the fan favorites?

[Dragon in the North]

Lannister's are the fan favorites?

Jaime and Tyrion sure are. Even Tywin gets some love. I'm not sure about Cercei, though.

[lancerman]

#1. Season 3. Had everything. The fallout of Black Water. John's dealings with the Wildings and his climbing of the Wall. The politics of Kings Landing heated up after major status quo changes like Tywin as hand, Tyrion getting isolated, the Tyrell's flexing their muscles, Joffrey at the height of his evilness, Sansa getting seriously played multiple times. Dany started getting real momentum as she amassed her army and started running over Essos. Arya's story getting darker. Jamie getting a bit of a redemptive turn. Ramsay getting weird. Capped off by the Red Wedding as the biggest shocker in the show thus far.

#2. Season 4. With exception of Joff's death, the battle of Castle Black, all things Oberyn, and Tyrion's trial, most things felt like a lateral move. Which still kept the show strong, but not enough movement. Sansa had a good story, but Dany's felt lacking compared to last season. Basically a fantastic first two episodes and a fantastic last 4 but a lull in between.

#3. Season 2. Pace picked up compared to the first season. The King's staking their claim and war breaking out was awesome. A great build up to Blackwater. Tyrion was at his all time classic Tyrion. Dany's story was pretty bland. Sansa was more of the same as last season. Jamie spent most of his time in cage. Stannis/Davos/Mellisandre really lit a fire under the story, and Jon finally got some forward momentum. And a great build up and payoff to Blackwater. But it really felt like a season building and leading to one event. I particularly remember episode 8 just before Blackwater being a chore to get through.

#4. Season 1. Still a great season, but the show only got better. It was more of a slow burn from episode 2 until Ned's imprisonment. A solid amount of good moments (Dany with the Dragons, Visery's death, Ned's death, Jamie vs Ned, Ned confronting Cersei). But the early episodes took their time building up and getting the plot that would drive the rest of the series going.

[Annara Snow]

I wouldn't be surprised if most unsullied don't understand what happened until S5 when they come to Winterfell and Roose scolds Ramsey.

The show's revelation about the burning of Winterfell broke one of the essential rules of television: "Show, don't tell."

[sj4iy]

The show's revelation about the burning of Winterfell broke one of the essential rules of television: "Show, don't tell."

How? When Bran and the others leave Maester Luwin, they look back and see Winterfell burning. It's most definitely shown.

[jaimereborn]

1

2

3

4

awkward

[hatbar]

1 - because it was most faithful to the books, we got to spend more time with the characters (or it felt like it!) and Sean Bean was in it and I fancy him. It is also the only season I have really enjoyed Dany's storyline.

4 - Nearly as good as the first season but it just lacked something. Maybe I was just expecting it to be my favourite knowing what was coming up but my expectations were too high. They finally did Sansa justice though and Oberyn was perfect.

3 - all I can think of when people mention Season 3 is Cat's face and that scream at the end of Rains of Castamere. On re watching this season I found it a bit of a drag in places and the season finale was a bit of a letdown after episode 9 but there were some great moments such as the Red wedding of course, the Hound and Beric and even Jon and Ygritte. King's landing stuff could have been trimmed down for other stories though.

2 - whereas the other seasons flowed this season stood out as great episodes and less geat! Night lands and Prince of Winterfell are my least favourite episodes so far while Old gods and the new and Blackwater are two of my favourites.

[jaimereborn]

fleshing out my thoughts

1- The tone was all there, great acting, great adaptation, edge of your seat television.

2- Tone was still there, a bit less direction with some of the plots (eg Dany/Jon) but the Harrenhal and Iron Islands stuff was all incredible, as were the tight focus in King's Landing scenes, which was lost after this season.

3- Too little focus on the Riverlands and what focus there was given to Robb's awfully unconvincing romance with Talisa, sidelining Cat- the heart of that plotline. Way too much time spent with the Tyrells, Theon, and with needless King's Landing Lannister soap opera scenes. Not enough time spent developing Sansa, Jon (again) and Arya. The Red Wedding was fantastic though, as was the Jaime plotline, and Dany's arc was well done.

4- The only one I won't rewatch. Terrible dialogue in places, terrible pacing and plotlines eg Craster's/Yara's random attack/Arya and the Hound going to the Vale. Lack of focus on the Wall made the battle an anticlimax and we had next to no investment in those characters. Also made no sense delaying the battle until episode 9, making the advance of the wildlings seem like they had all stopped off at a hotel for a few weeks on the way for a rest. Character assassination of Brienne and Jaime following the excellent depth we saw in those characters in s3, and absolute butchering of Tyrion's escape from KL. Only really enjoyed the Oberyn scenes, Sansa scenes and a couple of the Arya scenes. Dany's plotline was also a mess and badly acted.

[Lars Penry]

1. 1

3

2

4

[Roose Trollton.]

1>>4=3>>>2

I didn't like Season 2 at all. The only really good episodes were the first, Blackwater and the finale.

About Tysha/Jaime Tyrion becoming enemies not being in season 4, I understand why they did that, not many show viewers remember who Tysha is.

I think, however , that a good way to mend that would be if in that scene where Jaime and Tyrion are talking in his cell, instead of a huge ass monologue about beetles, Tyrion started talking about Tysha. It would be far more fitting for him.

[Konradsmith]

Rotten Tomatoes seems to think that the order is 3, 2, 4, 1. Make of that what you will.

[Roose Trollton.]

TBH 3 did have some of the best episodes in the show ever. And Now His Watch Is Ended and Kissed by The Fire are probably my favorite episodes of the show. It also had Rains of Castamere and that finale, which had some great scenes.

I don't get the prejudice with Season 4 over here, they did a very nice job adding new stuff that feels like something that came out of the books. Oberyn is far better in the show than in the books, for instance.

[Konradsmith]

S4 was my favourite for sure. I didn't rank a single episode lower than an eight, which is definitely a first. S2, for example, had at least 3 episodes that got only a 7.

[MakeThemBurn]

I'm new to the show so I'm yet to see the fourth season, but I feel like the show keeps deteriorating as it progresses. I loved the changes they had made in the first season, mostly how they had given Varys and Littlefinger more screen time. But then they started to distance themselves more from the source material and add more sex and comedy. I've watched many of the added scenes thinking what was the purpose of them. Especially the Tyrion scenes in s3 were plain silly.

By season 3 I also felt that the show started to suffer from GRRM's mistakes. The plot is all over the place and they should've been brave enough to cut the unnecessary twists and move on with the story. (For example, Daenerys could have easily taken posession of the unsullied in s2, instead of her thin Qarth storyline being dragged on and on). This would have given more time for the last books. I fear they've spent too much time with books 2&3 at expense of books 6-?. They're going to have to cut out A LOT of stuff from the upcoming books if they plan this to be an 8 season show.

[sj4iy]

I'm new to the show so I'm yet to see the fourth season, but I feel like the show keeps deteriorating as it progresses. I loved the changes they had made in the first season, mostly how they had given Varys and Littlefinger more screen time. But then they started to distance themselves more from the source material and add more sex and comedy. I've watched many of the added scenes thinking what was the purpose of them. Especially the Tyrion scenes in s3 were plain silly.

By season 3 I also felt that the show started to suffer from GRRM's mistakes. The plot is all over the place and they should've been brave enough to cut the unnecessary twists and move on with the story. (For example, Daenerys could have easily taken posession of the unsullied in s2, instead of her thin Qarth storyline being dragged on and on). This would have given more time for the last books. I fear they've spent too much time with books 2&3 at expense of books 6-?. They're going to have to cut out A LOT of stuff from the upcoming books if they plan this to be an 8 season show.

7-season show, actually. 7 seasons is the plan.

[oierem]

(For example, Daenerys could have easily taken posession of the unsullied in s2, instead of her thin Qarth storyline being dragged on and on).

And what would Dany do in seasons 3 and 4? One plotline cannot go much further ahead of the rest. That means some storylines have to be sidelined in certain seasons.

[MakeThemBurn]

And what would Dany do in seasons 3 and 4? One plotline cannot go much further ahead of the rest. That means some storylines have to be sidelined in certain seasons.

Have her take Yunkai and Mereen in season 3, have her do the DwD in s4. Now they made her story in book 3 last for 1,5 seasons at the expense of her Mereen storyline. All we've got out of Mereen is her locking up her dragons. That's it. Yet they felt it was necessary to add a silly romance between Missandei & Grey worm and scenes about Dany joking about eunuchs. Those scenes were totally unnecessary.

I took Dany as an example only, since I think ALL the characters could have been moving at a faster pace. For instance the first half of a clash of kings could have been wrapped up in a couple of episodes. Now they're gonna have to rush with the remaining books because they felt it was necessary to spend minutes on laughing about eunuchs and Peyton's magic penis (on several occasions).

[Colonel Green]

Yet they felt it was necessary to add a silly romance between Missandei & Grey worm and scenes about Dany joking about eunuchs. Those scenes were totally unnecessary.

There were no "scenes" about Dany joking about eunuchs. That was a joke in one scene. The point of the Missandei/Grey Worm scenes (of which there were, what, three, over the whole season?) is the humanize their characters and give the actors something to do.

[cade]

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