Rewatch: S5 bad, like real bad
Forgive this long rambling write-up but I have a lot of thoughts lol.
I originally thought season 5 was just not that memorable when I first watched the show but on rewatch, the drop-off between season 4 and season 5 is massive.
Obviously, Dorne is the worst of it. The scenes in Dorne are barely watchable; Ithink everyone agrees on that. The whole plot of Jamie going with Bronn to retrieve Myrcella is contrived, the sand snakes and Ellaria are cringe as hell, the fight scene is hilarious when it shouldn’t be, and Prince Doran is so clearly set up as this “honorable” guy who’s going to be killed. The scene where Bronn is poisoned and it happens to kick in mid conversation before she gives him the antidote is just unbelievable.
But on top of that, everything that isn’t Jon or Cersei is just terrible as well. All of the “big moments” they try to make feel contrived, when it hardly ever feels that way in season 1-4. Even within the season’s big moments they feel handled wrong. An example is Shireen’s sacrifice. I could see Stannis and his wife getting to the point of zealotry and desperation that they sacrifice her, but then for some reason they have his wife break down and scream when they burn her. She’s her mother, I get it, but the energy that Stannis’s wife gives up to this point is that she’d be the one that burns her first, she’s even more of a zealot than Stannis, so this just doesn’t track, and it just shows how they didn’t properly understand the characters and just wrote moments to be moments.
Myrcella accepting Jamie as her incest dad in a weirdly heartfelt conversation is…odd. And then she dies, I guess they wanted to act like Jamie cared a lot about her even though he’s never shown that before. Doesn’t track. Ramsay taking out Stannis’ supplies with “20 good men”. Doesn’t track. Littlefinger giving Sansa to the Boltons? Doesn’t track. Barristan’s meaningless death in the streets feels contrived.
Arya’s entire storyline here is nonsense. I think they were trying to make it mysterious and confusing, and I haven’t read the books so maybe there’s something there, but here in the show, it’s just a big nothing. I’m not sure what she’s supposed to be learning in the house of the Undying at all. Ser Meryn happening to show up and all the “look how evil and bad this dude is” spectacle is all insane. I know he’s on Arya’s list and I guess because he beat Sansa in the first season they decide to make beating little girls his kink but, again, it feels contrived because dude hasn’t been in the show for forever, and now comes back just to die. It doesn’t feel earned, and on top of that he is overpowered by Arya, a literal child. Idk everything in Braavos is bad.
Hardhome is cool, it establishes just how unstoppable the army of the dead is, I like when Jon fights the walker too because it really feels like he’s fighting something superhuman the way that it’s shot, although there’s a lot of times where he should get killed and just gets punched, another gripe I have with the later seasons. Even Hardhome has its issues though. Again, a bunch of wildling characters introduced only to die. This season is where they start doing this a lot, bringing back characters only to die or introducing new ones and trying to get us to care about them in the span of an episode only to kill them.
On top of this, the shots start looking really “cinematic” and it looks like a different show. That shot of Sansa in the window of the tower feels like I’m watching the Avengers.
When Tyrion and Daario and Jorah are conversing, they’re just bored sitting around with nothing to do while Dany is away. Earlier in the show, the characters would have intention and reason to meet, they’re not just hanging out because they’re bored and have nothing to do. I’m not even sure what Daario is ever actually supposed to be, he’s like a cool dude? A badass? Idk what his character is at all.
Religion bad. Idk. It’s not the worst plotline honestly. Loras being incriminated by his birthmark is dumb. Margaery screaming at Cersei in the cell doesn’t track, I don’t think she’d let Cersei have that. Cersei’s walk of shame is a great scene, it’s excruciatingly long and you feel every second of it.
Sansa rape is an insane scene, I don’t think I need to elaborate. Also Myranda confronting Sansa with a bow in a really high place that she could easily be shoved off of and monologuing for way too long.
Roose Bolton says “a good leader never gives up a defensive advantage”. And then he gives up a defensive advantage and charges out into the snow against Stannis. Brienne showing up out of nowhere to kill Stannis is goofy. Stannis going down fighting I guess is cool but he never struck me as much of a fighter so sort of rings hollow.
I always thought S5 was just where the cracks start to show but on rewatch, the show actually becomes a different thing as soon as this season starts. It goes from a good show to an extremely mediocre show at S5 E1, full stop.